Love & Lightning: A Heart-Centered Take on Work & Life | Jadah Sellner

Jadah SellnerImagine, after years of struggling to find your way in different careers and trying out business ideas, you created something that exploded in the best of ways. A business serving thousands of people, a great living, security, possibility, an amazing channel of expression. And, then, over time, you realized you’d bought into a way of doing things that went against the essence of who you were. And, you started to feel called to do something else?

Would you walk away from that success, trusting once again, that joyful lightning could, in fact, strike twice, without even knowing what your next move would be? That is exactly the question today’s guest, Jadah Sellner, faced. After co-founding and growing Simple Green Smoothies into a viral phenomenon and a flourishing 7-figure business in an astonishingly short period of time. She did the unthinkable. She exited the business, selling her interest, and bet on herself, and her belief that she could figure out how to craft her living, once again, in a way that better fit her evolving values, lens on life, and approach to service. Leaving behind the never-stop-working hustle culture approach and betting on creativity and love.

Jadah Sellner is a bestselling author, business coach, international keynote speaker, poet, and host of the Lead with Love podcast. She is the founder of Jadah Sellner Media and She Builds Collective, and in her day-to-day, Jadah’s on a mission to help women build their businesses and lives in a way that works for them. She’s also the co-author of the best-selling book Simple Green Smoothies and her new book, She Builds: The Anti-Hustle Guide to Grow Your Business and Nourish Your Life, uncovers a framework for women entrepreneurs to create a business on their own terms that we dive into a bit in our conversation today. 

Together, Jadah and I explore her journey to entrepreneurship and the success she’s amassed today, and we dive deeper into what it takes to create multiple thriving businesses as she did, all without sacrificing her health, her family, or her livelihood and her values around space, creativity, self-care, and yes, love. 

You can find Jadah at: Website | Instagram

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Transcript: 

 Jonathan Fields: So imagine this after years of a struggling to find your way in different careers and trying out business ideas, you create something that explodes in the best of ways, a business serving thousands of people, tens of thousands of people generating a great living and security and possibility an amazing channel of expression, and then over time, you realize you bought into a way of doing things that went against the very essence of who you were and how you want to live. And you started to feel called to do something entirely different. Would you walk away from that success, trusting once again, that joyful lightning could in fact strike twice without even knowing what your next move would be. Well, that is exactly the question. Today’s guest and my dear friend, Jadah Sellner, faced after co-founding and growing simple green smoothies into a viral phenomenon and a flourishing seven figure business in an astonishingly short period of time. She did the unthinkable. She exited the business selling her interest and bet on herself. And her belief that she could figure out how to craft her living once again in a way that better fit her evolving values, her lens on life and approach to service, leaving behind the never stop working, hustle, culture approach and betting on creativity and love. And Jada is a best selling author, a business coach, international keynote speaker, poet and host of the lead with love podcast. She’s the founder of Jadah Sellner Media and She Builds Collective and in her day to day job, as really on a powerful mission to help women build their businesses and lives in a way that works for them. And she is also the co-author of the bestselling book, simple green smoothies, and her new book. She builds the anti hustle guide to grow your business and nourish your life. She introduces a framework for women entrepreneurs to create a business on their own terms that we dive into in our conversation today. And together Jada and I, we explore her journey to entrepreneurship, the success that she’s amassed, and we dive deeper into what it really takes to create multiple thriving businesses. The way that she did all without sacrificing her health or her family or her livelihood. And her values around space, creativity, self-care, and yes, at the center of it all, love. So excited to share this conversation with you. I’m Jonathan Fields and this is Good Life Project. 

 

Jonathan Fields: Jadah Sellner it is so awesome to be hanging out with you. We go back a way. Now we have been rolling together in various shapes and forms, friends and families, business ventures. I’ve been incredibly blessed to have you as a part of the SPARKED Braintrust in our sister podcast, offering wisdom on the world of work and careers. When you first came to me and you’re like, okay, I’m writing this book. I was super jazzed because I know there’s so much different wisdom bottled up in your head and your heart that especially at this moment in time the world really needs. And I was super curious to see what was going to come out. And when I saw the book, finally I was  like, Oh, this is a lot of juicy, really good stuff, both on an idea level and then on the nuts and bolts practical like how do you live this on the day to day level? So I want to dive into a whole bunch of those ideas before we do that, it occurs to me that some of our fantastic listening even though you may not be aware of some of the bigger moments of the journey that got you to this place when you and I first met, I think it was right when you and an old friend of yours had envisioned this thing called simple green smoothies that kind of exploded into the public consciousness. Take me back a little bit into what that was and how it actually came to be and will trace a little bit of the journey to this moment.

 

Jadah Sellner: Yeah, I think it’s so beautiful that it’s almost been a decade since we have known each other. And you are one of my mentors from afar, you know, listening to the podcast when it was video only back in the day and it was twenty thirteen when I decided to come to a two day event with you. And in that time we had just done eighty six thousand dollars in ten days and my life was flipped upside down.  And at that time my husband was able to quit his full time job and Jen Hansard and I, we co-founded simple green smoothies, which was not supposed to be a business. We thought we were going to have this thriving parenting mommy blog that never made any revenue. And I had been an entrepreneur start a brick and mortar business before that. And George and I, it was called the little sprouts playhouse in Hawaii. It was something where we had Zoe, by our side. Really, it was two thousand eight and the economy was crashing at that time. We were in a recession. And that was one of the reasons why I connected so deeply with your work because you had started your first brick and mortar business during a very intense season that was going on in the world. And so when I started that business, the brick and mortar, I really wanted to build something where I could have my daughter by my side and really thinking we could build something meaningful and be a service of the community. But it didn’t, ended up being forty two thousand dollars in credit card debt, so it actually didn’t help us get the financial freedom that we needed. But I was really committed to how can I find a way to build meaningful work while also having my child by my side. And so I was on this journey, this exploration of really trying to find how do I balance or integrate this life of business and meaning and contribution as well as being present with my daughter. So we moved in with my in-laws, which is hashtag, worst case scenario.  Where we weren’t able to really figure out what that next thing was and simple green smoothies was just a bit of an accident where a friend of mine said, why don’t you post your green smoothie recipes on Instagram? And I was very resistant. You know, I, while we were on Twitter, we were on Facebook and all of these things, I decided to post the recipes with all the resistance. And in that my friend said, I’ll give you a shout out. And we grew our following to eight hundred followers, and I was just like, yes that’s, you know, we’re, we’re on a roll.

Jonathan Fields: Just for context, this was the pretty early days of Instagram. You guys are very early on this platform, which now everybody looks at is like this global, like massive thing and, but you were really early to sort of like saying, Oh, there’s something interesting happening here.

Jadah Sellner: Yeah, absolutely we. And in that time I was falling in love with the platform of actually connecting and engaging with the community online. So it wasn’t about looking at our post. I think we were only posting two recipes a week, but we ended up hosting a free thirty day green smoothie challenge and that grew from, you know, eight hundred followers to thirty thousand followers and then growing our email list to a substantial amount from there.  And so really just doubling down on what’s working and stopping, what’s not, but it was a lot  of trial and error to get to that place, but I would say the core foundation of how we built that business was from a place of love.

Jonathan Fields: So this is interesting, right, because when you and I first started talking, which I can’t believe it was almost a decade ago, this way I was watching from afar. What you were doing. And yeah, like I was just like, I don’t understand how this is what’s happening behind this. Like what is the, what’s being gamed here? What’s, what’s the marketing like there? Are they spending a gazillion dollars to make this like huge thing, just explode into this global community, and your numbers shot up across every metric. And then, you know, I learned that you’re actually Building a really substantial company around it and business and revenue stream. And I think I may get this wrong, but I think I reached out to you and I was kind of like what’s, what’s happening and you kept saying variations of, it’s all about love, man. Yeah, yeah. And I’m like, no, but what’s really happening and you just keep going back to it.

Jadah Sellner: There was no paid advertising. We didn’t have affiliate promotional partners online. You know, when you’re building a business online, it’s a little bit different than Building a brick and mortar. But it truly was, I  had more time than I had money and I had a whole lot of love to give.  And so for everything, even our signature sign off was peace, love, and leafy greens. It was just really for me, how I look at business today. Is using vehicle as an expression of love, of generosity, of making people feel seen, acknowledged, and heard. And so the love that I want to receive for myself, whether inside a company or outside, I’m pouring that into the businesses that I built. 

 

Jonathan Fields: So this becomes like a really meaningful business and a couple of years in, you know, you have an opportunity to exit, which you do. It’s an interesting moment because a lot of people figure you know, like, okay, so I just did something fantastic. I exit, you know, I’m just filled with purpose and joy and like, but not just for you, but for almost anyone like when you wake up the next day, oftentimes there are more questions and it can actually be a bit of a dangerous window just from a personal standpoint for you, that was an interesting moment from what I recall.

 

Jadah Sellner: I think one I was wearing entrepreneurial golden handcuffs and building something that was so successful on the outside, but also feeling my heart being called in another direction. And I was so torn, I mean, when I met you in twenty thirteen, I wanted to do the work that I’m doing right now in twenty thirteen, but you’re like, hold your horses, let’s slow it down. Let’s not destroy everything that you build. And so really learning how to be a little bit more intentional about my, my timing and my spacing of moving on to that next step. And one of the things for me exiting Simple Green Smoothies is my heart even though it didn’t make sense on paper and everyone thought I was crazy. Like what are you doing letting go of that I, I just felt like I knew that I was being called in another direction and the timing was here. And I remember after leaving Simple Green Smoothies, I went on a vacation to Japan and Tokyo and Kyoto with my family. And it was actually the first vacation that I ever took since being an entrepreneur where I didn’t bring my laptop with me. And so I was fully present and engaged with my family, but also I was holding this paradox of well now what do I do feeling in that sense of identity crisis? Who am I, what am I , what value do I have to offer the world? So I was testing and experimenting different offerings, but I did feel this like Oh, what did I just do? And also feeling really excited, expansive, and free. So I just know any time that we make the leap of where our heart is calling us to next, we’re still going to feel a little bit of that trepidation of did I make the right decision that I do the right thing? Can I rebuild again and I just keep leaning back on what you shared with me was, you know, I’m saying, am I crazy for wanting to leave this company and you’re like, you are asking the wrong question. And the question is, can magic strike twice? And the answer is yes, and for me, that was exactly what I needed to believe in myself, that I could walk away from one thing and step into something new and trust myself. So that’s been a big part of my journey, is rebuilding that self trust that I’m able to build something in a way that works for me.

 

Jonathan Fields: Yeah, I love that. And it’s interesting, right? Because we’re having this conversation at a moment in time where so many people are thinking about, well, well, okay, so I have said yes to certain opportunities for the last five, ten, fifteen, twenty for maybe my entire working life. And there’s been a bargain that’s been involved in that, you know, and I’ve been okay with that bargain or maybe not. Okay.  But really just didn’t want to deal with the possible repercussions of ending that bargain and trying to figure out what is the bargain that I want to make with the way that I bring myself to the world of work for the rest of my life, or at least for the next season. Right? Yeah. But now we’re in this moment where the world has been turned upside down. Whether people are voluntarily just saying this feels like a good time to re-examine this or they’ve been forced into it. Everybody is in this moment of saying, okay, so the bargain that got me here isn’t necessarily the bargain that I want to get me there. And so many people who have been largely working full time jobs or some combination, like part time job, you know, they’re looking and they’re thinking is this the moment where I explore the world of entrepreneurship, whether that means a solopreneur or starting a private practice starting a bigger business, a service business, a product business, whatever it may be, a lot of people are stepping into this question right now. And on the one hand, I think that’s amazing and you and I are both not believers necessarily that that’s the path for everyone. For some people it is, and for some people it isn’t, you’re actually like you can get everything that you need, like within a larger organization or another container.  I’m actually curious what your take is on this now because we haven’t actually talked about sort of like that dance in quite a while. What’s your take on sort of like how people would explore this question of even does this path feel interesting or right to me, especially at this moment?

Jadah Sellner: Yeah, I think that there’s something that we have to think about in how we’re showing up in our day to day. So thinking about the conversations that you’re having at home outside of how you’re showing up in your work and whatever that may look like. And so something that I notice if I start to complain about something over and over again, this little ping and that’s not my normal way of operating or showing up that I know that that’s a moment to evaluate what’s happening here. And can I shift and change what’s here without needing to leap or exit right away? And that was something that I learned from you as well, of really trying to figure out how can I use the current company that I’m in to express myself more fully or to be fulfilled or have my needs met. So really looking at what is it that I really want and how do I ask for it in the current context that I’m already set up. And so instead of feeling like escape leave, go flee. We don’t have to shut everything down right away. Let’s see what we can play with in this current situation that we’re in. I think that’s a powerful practice and starting to communicate and express within where you are currently. And then I like doing test pilot experiments on the side. You know, so it’s your day job is your cash project that’s you know, making sure that there’s food on the table that your needs are met, that you’re providing for your loved ones and yourself. And then we have the heart project where we can start to carve out micro bits of time to try something else on.  And so that’s the dance that I still like  to do to this day of like, okay, what’s my fundraiser? Like, what’s the fun thing that I can do to make some money to fund the thing that I really want to do, and it could be an hour or two hours for me. I would set aside two hours on a Monday afternoon from two to four PM and just work on my heart project and just try things on to see is any of this landing? Because oftentimes we can see something or a little bit peanut butter and jelly or jealous of something that someone else has. And so to me that’s a signal of I need to try that on and see if I actually want that. Because sometimes we think we want something because we see someone else doing it, and then we do it and it’s actually not as fulfilling. And so that’s why I don’t like making that immediate leap into the next thing because we actually don’t know what we want. So there’s a little bit of asking ourselves those deeper questions of what do I really want, what is energizing me, what is lighting me up. But then there’s also the experimentation, part of actually physically getting out in the world using our hands and seeing if this is actually something that we want to pursue even further.

 

Jonathan Fields: Yeah, that makes so much sense to me. It’s sort of, I think we look at what other people are doing and often we see only the parts that we want to see. And I remember back in the past life when I was transitioning out of the law and running similar early pilot experiments, I loved how king of that rock climbing. I love mountain biking, I was like, wouldn’t it be cool to have a company where I was guiding people doing this? So we ran a couple of sample trips and by the end of I think like the third one I was like, Oh, I want nothing to do with this.

Jadah Sellner: Never mind.

 

Jonathan Fields: Right? I was like, I want to be on these trips, you know, and I would even work for somebody else, but I didn’t want to end up actually like it just, it took the part that I loved most from that activity. And it stripped the joy from it for me. Yeah. And I realized this is a pursuit. It’s a passion, it’s a devotion. But it’s not the thing that I want to center and try and like force it to earn my living and turn it into a company or a business.

Jadah Sellner: Yeah, and I think that’s really important to name that. Sometimes we think do work that you love, right? Do what you love, and then it becomes a job and something that you have to show up for, you know, 9am to 5pm. That it can  actually strip the joy. And that’s why we really do have to redefine what it is that how we want to be spending our time. And yeah, I just think that’s such an important conversation and distinction to think about where are we and how we want to actually spend the time and how we’re showing up in our work in our lives. And sometimes we turn our creative expression or our hobbies into something we get paid for and it does, it does take all the joy and just now it’s a have to and a should. And now you don’t have this place to have some sense of relief and relaxation to sink in to you because it’s, it’s a you have to show up for it now to get paid.

 

Jonathan Fields: Yeah, no, I think it’s so true. 

 

Jonathan Fields: So let’s say you run the experiments or let’s just say like you’re ready, you’re just like I’m doing this thing called starting my own thing. And I think a lot of people are there right now. Like we said, like a lot of people are leaving not just for other jobs, but they’re like, you know, what, worst case scenario I’m going to try. I’m going to go and do this thing if it works. Awesome.  And if it doesn’t, the marketplace is still pretty good, like I can sort of like, go back or move it in a different direction. So they’re giving it a try. When people are stepping into sort, really the world of I’m going to try to create my own thing. What’s the dominant narrative that you’re seeing in the space about the quote, right way to do it these days?

Jadah Sellner: Yeah, so well, I think that people are, for me how I see that is we’re, we’re stepping into a paradigm that doesn’t actually fit with our own personal values. And for me, the biggest mistake that I made in building my first entrepreneurial venture was actually doing it alone. You know, I had my husband, but neither of us had business experience or college degrees and my invitation for anyone who’s like yeah, I’m ready. I’m going to lean in, I’m going to start this thing is, not to do it alone. We think that okay, I’ll have all the freedom and be able to have control of my time. But I feel that in any creative endeavor, whether it’s starting a business writing a book, working on any meaningful project that we need, people in our corner to support us. And so that was a really big shift for me when I started to build my second business was I’m not going to figure this out on my own. I’m going to actually lean on support versus I can do it myself. You know? Because I think part of us leaving one thing to the next is like, all right, I’m free. This is, I will figure it out. I’m resourceful, I’m resilient. And I think that we need to lean in more to having the support in our corner.

Jonathan Fields: I love that it’s interesting to me also because I think part of the narrative now is sort of like the quote self-made person, which is a complete mythology like there is no one self-made person. And, but we like, I think our ego wraps itself around it and it’s like if this thing actually succeeds on the level that I dream of succeeding, I want to be able to point and say like I  did that. Yeah. But not only is it never true, but it’s also so much more fun if it’s more of a we did that. 

Jadah Sellner: Yeah. And I think there’s also not even just the ego, but it’s wanting to have a sense of control. So if you can get it done faster, if you just do it yourself and kind of keep in control of everything that is around you and we actually have to lean into more of the serendipity and the uncertainty of not knowing every step that’s in front of us but actually leaning on people to have those ups and those downs in that moment. And a high value of mine is collaboration and connection and community. And I just didn’t realize that I needed that within Building a business. But now I double down ten X my support and the more projects I do, the more support I realize I like to have whether it’s writing my book or having, you know, I do masterminds and hot seats and just being able to have people cheer and you know lean on when things get hard. 

 

Jonathan Fields: So masterminds, hot seats, things like that.  The part of what it seems like has become the culture to a large extent. Also as you write about this hustle culture. Like there’s this sense of the right way to do entrepreneurship. Is push, push, push, push, push until your eyeballs bleed. And the ethos is dominance. You know, it is, it is a heavily misplaced ethos which is all about, you know, like this is a zero sum game. If you’re not dominating and crushing, then you’re being dominated and being crushed. And the only way to actually win the game is to outwork everybody on the planet. And that means giving up so much. I mean is, is that just the lens that I’m bringing to this or do you see that as like what so many people encounter when they first step into the space?

Jadah Sellner: Absolutely. And I subscribed to the hustle culture as well. I think I got guilty of it where I was building a business. 

 

Jonathan Fields: I’m raising my hand too, but yeah.

Jadah Sellner: Building a business on love and service and creative expression and then moving into this place where it’s I had defined my enough number as I was building my second business and I was clear, okay, this is how much my ideal lifestyle would cost. And then we reached that number and then I was hungry for more so I just pushed the goal post a little bit further and then reached that and then further and more. And I just remember people saying you’re sitting on a golden egg. You know, you should do this and try this strategy and all of these things and then you build this, you’re already busy as an entrepreneur. So now you’re building this external to do list from others who are putting this extra pressure on you to perform, to show up to kind of reach the next level. And so for me, I had to create my own business detox to step away and not move so fast. I just was in this place of, I’m not doing enough. I’m not smart enough. I’m not a real entrepreneur. There are all these things that just made me feel like I was starting to shrink, even though I was trying to expand and scale and grow to the next level when I had already reached where I wanted to be several years earlier. And yet now I’m on this hamster wheel and I can’t get off. And so I had to make some pretty intentional decisions of saying no to things to not only help myself get out of the hustle culture but to help others. I can share an example. I got invited to attend an event with Richard Branson, Necker Island, and I, I remember seeing Marie for Leo and she had a picture next to Richard Branson and I was like, that’s what entrepreneurship means that has success. And I found myself realizing that I was perpetuating that, that’s what success looks like in order to be a successful entrepreneur. You need to be standing and in a photo with something someone who is also a very highly esteemed business owner, entrepreneur. And so I made an intentional decision to not continue to post those type of pictures of like that’s what success means. And so that was kind of like my initiation into starting to like opt out of that is not the only way to build successfully. We can actually build a lot slower and something I like to say is give ourselves permission to be a slow cooker.  Instead of a pressure cooker, you know, we get food on the table, the same result, but at a different pace and time, and allowing things to simmer, allowing it to rest, allowing things to take a little bit longer. Even if it will take you two, three years to get there, that you actually enjoy the process instead of everything just concentrated into this short amount of time.

 

Jonathan Fields: And you know, I buy into that too, even though I don’t always live it or operationalize my business. And thankfully, like, you know, like we have two companies now and teams, they buy into it enough that they will often pull me back to my own values. They’re like, is this really setting you up to live the way that  you want to live, or you say is important to you. I’m like,  Ooh, no, thank you. You know, it’s nice to sort of be able to share that. You know, it occurs to me also that part of the reason that so many folks buy until like this is the way they do it. This is the thing to aspire to is because, and also the timing of, you know, like, and it needs to happen as fast as humanly possible. Mm hmm. Is that So much of the things that we take in so much of brain put these days comes from technology and social. And the speed of that is, is profoundly accelerating. You know, like on a monthly basis. It’s literally we’re barraged like over and over and over. And so much of because so much of what happens there is wanting to present a version of ourselves that is admired and respected by other people. That has a secondary effect of saying. But this is the truth, this is the reality. When behind the scenes, I know a lot of the folks who are posting this NGS, and that is not the reality yet. But it sets us all up, but still we all buy into it. Yeah. You know, and we don’t realize that it creates a script that’s running often subconsciously, which says like, this is how we have to live and this is what  we have to aspire to. And it can be incredibly damaging.

Jadah Sellner: Yeah.  So something I talk about in the book that I learned from my life coach, Rebecca McLaughlin, talks about vitamin V, which is to validate yourself. And when I hear you and me talking about, we’re seeing what’s happening on social media and we’re seeing a certain picture of what that looks like. And it’s because we want to feel seen, we want to be validated to know that we are value. And so we have to turn that when we’re looking for something outside of ourselves. How can we start to validate ourselves instead of looking at it from a post on social media too like look at me, I am worthy, I am lovable. I am doing good. I am being seen and recognized and so that’s the shift that I always have to come like, what am looking for out there? What is the intention of this and how can I point that back to me and bring that sense of validation from the inside out versus looking for it from the outside in. So to me that’s why Building a practice of celebration of acknowledging progress along the way, the micro moments and having people to like I did this, I celebrating myself or I feel proud of myself. That’s something I’ve taught my daughter, you know, and she’s like, look at  this, look at this, and I’m like, she’s like, what do you think? And I’m like, well, what do you think? And I want her to start to think for herself to validate herself first. And now she’ll have conversations of, I’m really proud of myself, I did this and then I can say like, Oh, I noticed that you were working really Hard and you were studying on something that you’ve never done before. You thought you were going to fail and you did this and so that it’s just kind of training us to start to find that value within ourselves. Instead of seeking it on the outside and it’s not an easy task at all. I still need that reflection, a reminder to do that, but taking some vitamin V I think is very important practice to put it in for ourselves.

 

Jonathan Fields: Yeah, I love that. I think it really enforces the idea that entrepreneurship or even work in general. It’s not something that makes you whole, it’s, it is a channel through which you have the opportunity to express your wholeness or your lack of wholeness.

Jadah Sellner: Yes, yes, yes. 

 

Jonathan Fields: but it’s not the thing that actually plugs the hole and completes the circle. Yeah, it’s more this, this thing that lets you sort of like share it in a meaningful way when you decide then, okay, so I need to rebuild. But I need to do  it in a way which is much more aligned with a lot of the work that I’ve been doing who I  am. I want to opt out of some of the things that I opted into in the company that it just built and exited. You effectively need to create an entirely new philosophy about how do I do this in a way that feels much more holistic. Tell me about the way that so like you dive into this and what emerges from that reflection. 

Jadah Sellner: Yeah, so a philosophy that I’ve been building for some time and still has to face it at each season of growth is, is love over metrics. And that doesn’t seem very aligned with business when we need money. We need to reach people, we need conversions and clients and all of that. But I’ve had to really keep setting with what does that really mean to me when it’s putting people first. And then the numbers will follow. But what I notice for myself as I’m always putting that context, that philosophy into business growth, community building, being generous and being of service to clients and customers. But I’ve had to really put that into my own sense of being love over metrics for myself. And really unhooking my net worth from my self-worth. Like those are the things. It’s like a magnet that keeps wanting to come back, how much money I make, how much, how many people I serve, like I have to keep unhooking that, that I am not my business.  The identity of how much I make does not define my worthiness and the essence of what I bring. So for me, I’m having to continue to build a relationship with myself of like the essence of who I am. Not just what I’ve built and created and being for me, I identify as being a creative, an artist first and a business owner second. And so I have to constantly revisit that message and go myself from that because I’m not going to just create one business, scale it. And that’s it. I’m a creator, I’m going to keep meaning making meaningful work. And I even face that with working on this book of the marketer hat in me, you know, wants to like make all the strategic moves and lead people through an email sales sequence that has people become customers. And I’m like, I might not even have the same business in two to three years. So I want to build a body of work that is evergreen. That is something that can last the test of time and doesn’t freeze me into being in just a box of this one person.  This one identity I want space to grow and expand and change over time.

 

Jonathan Fields: Yeah, I love that. And I think it’s so important that you’re connected and also placed or like in first priority like that creative side of yourself, that idea. The artist side. Very often that side is very drawn towards, you know, like I, I love to plant seeds and grow them into saplings or like small things. But then they’re whole bunch of other seeds and you could be really, really happy doing one and then another and another. And then blessing them on or letting other people like run with them or whatever you’re selling them or, and from the outside looking in like you, you had happened to you with simple question with these people like how can you do that? Like you’ve got like, like one hundred times more growth in ten more years, like in this brand in this thing that you started, you know, but it’s like you are so tuned in to sort of like the, like the impulse that animates you, that you’re like, yes, and yeah, there’s a part of it that really wakes me up in the morning, but it’s not always easy to center that. Because sometimes depending on what that impulse is, people will raise an eyebrow when you really center in your life because they wouldn’t center it in there. 

Jadah Sellner: Yeah. It’s for me, it’s been a reclamation of artistry.  And allowing myself to remember like that is the heart of what I do is art creativity expression. That’s when I feel most alive, most fulfilled. And I had to prioritize doing activities on my schedule and committing to things that actually weren’t about business growth. Because, you know, I’ve been an entrepreneur for over fourteen years. Everything can turn into monetization and money, and my brain can go there. So I have to do some counterintuitive things of I am just doing this just for the joy just for the Play, just for the creativity, just to be in, in relationship with my artist self and not to let that Well run dry because it actually ends up always fuels my business growth and my ideas, but when I ignore it, then I get stagnant and I’m not a fun person to be around and I’m not an interesting person that people would want to even work and play with. So I have to really feed myself in that way creatively too.

 

Jonathan Fields: Love that.

Jonathan Fields: Part of the thing that you end up building as the next sort of like the evolution of you stepping back into creating and being of service and supporting a family like you like the practical always plays a part of this. You know, we’re both parents, you know, like we have families and we have to think about these things. You know, is you trying to figure out, okay, so what’s the new model for me, but also building on that, like that original ethos. Love over metrics to say, okay, so how do I actually operationalize this a bit more like, what’s a more grand like, what is a frame for this look like where it actually will help really guide. Not just you as you’re building like the next season of contribution because part of what you end up building is the offerings that are nurturing, and guiding, and mentoring other people in their own journeys in business. How do you actually transmit this in a way that is consistent and thoughtful and actionable? And you land on this on a framework that you shorthand as as loved yet the letters l-o-v-e. So deconstruct this a little bit for me.

Jadah Sellner: Yeah, and I just want to say the way that I came up with this framework for the book was actually experimenting and playing and leading these group coaching programs with clients that became my own incubator. It’s like I’m holding the space for them to grow and build their businesses while also making sure they have time to enjoy their lives. And I feature a lot of my clients within the book and all of the exercises and tools and questions that I just repeat over and over again. I just started to see themes and patterns, whether I’m working in a group or one on one or at a retreat. This book is really holding that you wouldn’t, you wouldn’t have to hire me as a coach if you could just go through this process book your own, you know, staycation mini retreat to go through that. So it’s been such a fun, creative, delightful process to get to this place and also really challenging as you know, writing writing books. And so the love framework is just about Building with love. So lead is the L, and that is about leading from the inside out and really getting clear on what is enough for you. And enough does not put a damper on our ambition. It just allows us to throttle in a way that we can grow at a pace that works for us. And that we’re also getting really clear on what it is that we really want and putting some meaning behind the metrics. So we can go after the metrics, but why? And so that is really what lead is about and then optimize is the Oh and that is about really looking at our identity. What are the hats, the many hats that we wear as caregivers, whether you’re caregiving for yourself and your own chronic illness, or you have little ones at home, or you’re caring for your elders. But oftentimes we have many identity shifts in our lives and that we have to honor those seasons and look at our time and our energy and capacity of how do we want to spend our days? How do we want to spend our weeks? How do we want to spend, how we’re showing up inside our businesses and our lives, or any type of body of work? And then V is visualize and that is about turning your dreams, your vision, your ideas into reality, like actually taking action. I always talk about taking imperfect action, but this is a call to take visionary action, which is looking at the big picture, the totality of your life life through a holistic lens. And being able to actually start to move through the distraction, the stagnancy, the plateaus that come when we’re Building something. And then E is for expand and this is about what I was talking about, refilling your well being able to take care of yourself and pouring from that place of overflow. And also how do we pace ourselves based on what’s happening in our lives? It could be grief, it could be loss, it could be a new loved one, but you know how we relate with the world and how do we deepen into Building a solid foundation for sustainable growth?

 

Jonathan Fields: I love that framework. I want to drop into each one of those four elements a little bit more. So when we talk about leading, you know, I think when most people hear that word lead, it’s like, Oh, it’s like there’s this very traditional context of leadership. Well, it’s one person. It’s a team or a group of people or a company or whatever it may be. And like you are charged with like taking them from where they are to where they want to be and it’s all about the skill of leadership.  And yes, that those things are all important when you’re actually trying to create something, especially something from nothing because they’re going to be a lot of challenges and adversity along the way and, and you’ve got to hold the container, you know, like as you move people and help them through it, but you use it in a different context, at least that’s my read on it. Like you’re talking much more about internal leadership. That was interpersonal and more personal.

Jadah Sellner: Yeah. So I think that so often again, we’re kind of looking from the outside in and it’s to start to build this self-awareness. And this is something that I’ve really built in myself of. I know when something is off and is not right. And I need to look at it in a deeper context and lens. And so it’s really leadership of self and how we interact with the people that we care about with our loved ones, with our community that supports us. And so it’s really looking from that frame of what do I really want, how do I want to lead my life? And then how can my body of work, my business, whatever venture you’re building, creating can support that versus us trying to squeeze our lives in to what is already taking up so much time and space. So it’s starting with ourselves first and what we’re wanting to create and build.

 

Jonathan Fields: I thought was really interesting also that you and this started out the conversation around this in the book with something that you referenced earlier with, effectively detoxing from all of your current assumptions and your current context and your current containers and saying okay, before I can actually really think about how do I want to like lead my own life from the inside out. I need to reexamine and potentially jettison the whole bunch of the assumptions that got me here. Because if we don’t like that leads to overwhelm and that can stop everything else in its tracks. 

Jadah Sellner: And that’s one thing kind of my commitment that I learned in that part of the book is burnout is not an option in being able to make a decision. So it makes it easier for when we catch ourselves, because burnout will happen. It’s a stress response. We’re overwhelmed, but it’s being able to catch ourselves and say, hold on, pause. Something’s not quite right now, we’re compromising our health and our relationships. This isn’t sustainable. We’re staying up too late, we’re pushing and it’s costing us it’s costing the humans that are trying to, to bring this endeavor forward. And so when you make that decision, then you can start to shift and you are your own boss, like that’s, that’s the beautiful thing, right? Is that you are your own boss. And at the same time, that’s the downside to is you are your own boss and sometimes you’re not that great of a boss to yourself. And so to me, that’s a commitment that I like to make with myself with my family, with my team is burnout. Is not an option, so if we start to fill those signals, you know glassy, eyes, we’re tired, we’re exhausted. Then it’s like, what do we need to shift? Do we need to ask for more time? Do we need to extend the timeline? Can we adjust? We are in charge here.  I, you know, even with my book writing process I, my editor was gracious and honored the anti hustle way in order to push some Deadlines. And then there were times where I actually had to like, no more extending the timeline. Now I’m now I’m in resistance and avoidance and all of that. And that’s something that I talk about is us getting caught in the fierce cycle of forcing exhaustion avoidance and rigidity. And it’s this loop that we will keep playing over and over again. And each one leads to the next, and that is, that is the recipe for burnout when we are operating in that place all the time. 

 

Jonathan Fields: I mean, what’s your take though, on? Because burnout can often feel like other things. Right, burnout. It can mask itself and other things can mess themselves burnout. So like when like fear versus burnout, right? Like the resistance like this is like I’m hitting take your book for example, take a business for example, I take. Okay, so I’m hitting a moment where, you know, like honesty is required. Hard things to think through or face or grapple with or integrate. And then figure out how to express or there is like in a business, it’s tough conversations are just, you know, every, everything that, that we stick to for more than a hot minute. We’re going to meet windows where it’s just really challenging and Hard. Yeah.  What’s your take on how to distinguish between something that is just either fear driven or just really Hard, but like requires you to sort of sustain through it versus burnout? 

Jadah Sellner: Yeah, so there’s a chapter in my book chapter four in part one called gather your support squad, and there’s kind of three buckets in there, your peers and your colleagues. Then there’s your mentors and your advisors, and then therapist healers life coaches. So any of those people that are supporting you who are in your closer inner circle that know you, they’re great mirrors when you’re not sure, you know, and oftentimes for me, it tends to be an, IT could be an emotional block and not a logistical block. It’s like, Oh, I’m afraid of something, I’m thinking, something’s not going to be good enough and just unpacking that naming those emotions. We don’t need another strategy or a tool or a step by step blueprint of anything. Sometimes it’s just an emotional block and so having people in your corner and you can find affordable and accessible ways to get this type of support. Having someone on the outside looking in who knows you deeply knows your values, knows what you care about. Can really help you if you can’t see it because you’re spending, you’re just fed and spending, and you need someone on the outside looking at. And they say you can’t read the label from inside the jar. And sometimes we just need someone who’s just one level removed from us, but not too far out. And this is something that I see people struggle with. They get in a coaching program or something where it’s going, it’s violating their own values and what they care about. And that can be a recipe for burnout in itself because you’re operating outside of your true values in alignment.

 

Jonathan Fields: Mm. Yeah, I definitely rely on people who are close to me or you know, like, and who know, be honest with me to sometimes pull me out.  You know, it’s interesting that as you’re talking like what occurs to me too, and I wonder how you feel about this, is that burnout and fear, or the bandwidth that can be consumed by fear based spin can actually be one of the compounding factors that would lead an otherwise Hard situation into a situation that now has pushed you past your own capacity, because the bandwidth that’s being taken up by your own inner spin is the thing that actually tips you into burnout. And if you actually could deal with that and figure out a way to like to, to bring that down, you would actually be capable of moving through the Hard thing. Yeah. Tapping into burnout. What does that, how does that land with you? 

Jadah Sellner: Well, I’m just like mental exhaustion over thinking our way into burnout of repeating the same loop over and over again. And you know, some of those negative thought patterns like for me I have what I call patronizing Polly, who is like, you’re not doing it right. And I can spin and spin and have that sense of perfectionism not publish. Not put it out there. And it’s exhausting, just thinking you’re brain. So I love that you bring that to the forefront that sometimes it’s not even about time and energy, but also paying attention to what are you consuming? Because that information overload, whether it’s your own information and thoughts about yourself or what you’re doing or the information that you’re getting from consuming, you know, social media or different articles that are kind of putting you in this anxious alert state. That sometimes we have to take a break and kind of unplug from ourselves and from the thoughts and information that’s coming. Because that is that mental loop is very, very exhausting. And can definitely take up a lot of bandwidth and capacity and lead to that sense of burnout.

 

Jonathan Fields: Talking from personal experience over here. And probably will be in some point in the future, you know, sort of like learning slowly and then not listening to anything that I say slowly than having to pay the price for it. Yes, the, the O, in your model stands for optimize. And again, I’m struck by the fact that when most people hear that word, they think about system scale, like, let’s optimize for efficiency so that we can build this thing as big as it can be. And you don’t necessarily say that’s not important, but that’s not what you’re talking about here.

Jadah Sellner: Yeah. So when we think about systems, you know, sometimes we think it’s not very sexy, but it’s, it’s almost system sizing. How we spend our time. And being really honest about what matters the most to us in that season. And so for me, I’m looking at how do we optimize our output, our energy, and how we show up in our work.  And also getting that logistical support or that human support, you know, I talk about the dream team and being able to have people kind of hold you and free up your time in different and creative ways. So we’re not creating these same as we were saying, the mental loops over and over again. That can be very exhausting. So that is a thinking system of how we can think differently about lightning the load on our plates because we, we do we take on a lot. We say yes to a lot and we really have to look at where are we feeling more energized in our day and where are we feeling more drained and really looking at how do we want to spend our time and not getting caught up and time scarcity but more of a sense of abundance, and that is us making really clear commitments and also some boundaries of I’m available for this. I’m not available for that.

 

Jonathan Fields: Part of the conversation or not the managing you introduced the idea of sustainable business growth. Sort really streamlining and this, this is where I kind of feel like optimizing for your own humanity and your own energy and time meets okay. And the business too. Yes. You know, and you and you share this idea of like these five different modes. Yeah. That aren’t necessarily a linear thing, but it’s almost like a thing where you choose where is like the right place to focus and, and yeah, and that’s right for both you and the business.

 

Jadah Sellner: Yeah, so I talk about the five S’s of sustainable growth, which is share, sell, serve systemize and sustain. And that sustain should be the constant loop that is weaving through all of them. As we’re thinking about how do we want to show up and serve. How do we want to attract the people that we want to support and always asking from this place of, how can I do this  in a way where I am leading with love? So that’s the systemization that I’m talking about in sustainable growth is. How do we share with the community that we want to attract in the most loving way? Because that’s what sustains us. You know, how do I want to serve? What are the products and offerings? What do I want to sell and then also the systems and I’m not just talking about the optimizing systems, but systematizing love within your business care for the humans that are actually running your company. And then how do we sustain, not only ourselves, but also our team who, who are part of that front line of service and so to me it’s more cyclical than linear and what needs the most attention in any specific season in your business. And when I share these five s’s, it’s very foundational business, right? It’s like marketing, one hundred one, it’s growth. And but for me, I think we have to revisit how we do business, how we do work through an anti hustle lens. So my invitation is, and even if you’re working inside a company and you’re an entrepreneur, I actually have many of my clients who run through many of the exercises with their team. Because they think they something very powerful and knowing what are your people care about? What do they want and how could they start to think strategically and help you grow your business too? So I love, I’m like the whole family. Everybody is welcome to play here, but we really have to look at that way of, of systemized love inside our business. And doing it without the hustle lens, we’ve got to go anti hustle and revisit all of your business foundations. Even if you are a company who has scaled and you’re growing, but you’re also burning out and not even sure if you want to stay in the company that you’re in right now. We’ve got to revisit it from that place.

 

Jonathan Fields: Yeah, I wanted to touch back into something because as you’re sharing this, you know, effectively like operationalizing love into, you know, the daily principles and the decision making that you doing in the business. Some folks may start to, again, be like, come on really. And as you’re sharing that, you know, like it’s reminding me not only of the way that you’ve built your business and the way that you’ve mentored others to build the businesses. But very recently on the podcast we had our lines.  Mike has built this incredible company, the zingerman’s community of companies around really, really similar principles. You know, he brings a bit more energy into it. He brings. But even when he says that, he’s like, it’s about, like, when he says that it’s about equality and dignity, not mayhem and chaos. You know, and here’s somebody who’s built and this was his choice. You know, he’s built a company that is somewhere between five and seven hundred people and like fifty to seventy million dollars. So these, these ideas. And at the same time, people would be like, Ooh, he’s got led into a big business and you tell you, other people have been telling him the whole time. You should franchise this globally and turn into a multibillion dollar business. And he’s very consciously said no, that is not in service of these values.  Yes, I want, I want to bring it back that these ideas, they may sound light to some people. They may sound sort of contrary to the way we’ve taught or thought. This is how you but in fact, they can be incredibly profound and powerful. Not just in your ability to build something at whatever scale feels appropriate for you. But in the way you feel while you’re doing it the way that others feel while they’re participating in it.

Jadah Sellner: Yeah, there’s this, this fun exercise that I do with myself, even though you know, I’ve been an entrepreneur for a long time.  But I like to look at career positions and read applications and how that company is positioning themselves. And kind of putting myself in the shoes of, if I were to look for a job, which company would I feel drawn to and feel I could be of service of. And I feel anyone would be really lucky to have me on their team if I ended up being there. And I’m drawn to the companies who are valuing contribution and service and taking care of the employees and the team. And so this can be a, just a fun activity for anyone whether you’re not trying to leave your job, but just kind of shop around and look at what are companies putting out there as their company ethos and what they care about and seeing what signals that you’re like, I would work for that company, it’s a really fun practice to play with. And it also keeps me on my toes with my own company and business too. Of like, Ooh, those are some fancy. Some fancy perks that are very human based and very love based, and that is what draws someone like me and who is a strategic thinker, thinks about the big vision, has you know, being able to have executive functioning skills and thoughts and how we take care of people in the process to

 

Jonathan Fields: You mean you’re not looking for another Ping pong table or another ale on tap in the cafeteria to keep you engaged in what you’re doing. It is so interesting how that was the culture for so long. And now people are kind of like, I’m not quite what I was looking for. I’d been there, done that more and more. Yeah. One of the other things you talk about is visualization. And I think this is really interesting in the context of entrepreneurs, especially because so often in the beginning, if you said, tell me exactly what you want this business to look like three years from now. The honest answer is I have no idea. And even if  I did, even if I painted a picture, ninety percent of that picture would be proven wrong either because it didn’t fit the way that I wanted to live while creating that, or the market didn’t want it. Yeah, you are a big believer in visualization exercises, but done a bit differently.

Jadah Sellner: Yeah, yeah. So I think one to revisit the future vision, I remember doing these questions and prompts with you at a retreat and being able to step away and re-envision reimagine what it is that I really want. I think that’s something that we have to come back to over and over again and.  And right now I feel a little,  it’s on my to do list of all right, I’m ready for my next future vision. 

 

Jonathan Fields: You and me both like I’m kind of smack in the middle of that right now.

 

Jadah Sellner: We need to do a retreat together and just get away, gather the gang. And let’s do this because I can feel the upgrade. You know, when I look at my current one, I’m like, Oh, I’ve actually already accomplished a lot of these things. So there’s kind of the woo side of things of setting the intention of, of what you want to build and create and just releasing it like truly release it. Don’t look at it, just let it be. There’s just a lot of power. They call it encoding. When you write something down and then let your subconscious do the work. And then I also have quarterly planning, where we’re setting more short term vision of what we want because that’s more iterative to the changing landscape, not just of strategy and working with the marketplace, but also with your own energy and capacity to learn. How much does it really take to show up and deliver this type of project? So for me, I always have my clients write their quarterly plans and pencils because I’m like you’re going to change. You’re going to realize this, you committed to too much. There’s too many things here, but we start to learn our own natural rhythm of execution and completion. And then that’s where we start to build the confidence. So I’m always inviting people to, all right, if that’s what you say you want, go ahead, write it down, see how it feels, and then go off and do it more, come back in three months to assess. And being able to do, you know, very popularized term of retrospective, of what worked, what didn’t work, what might we do differently so that this is a more fluid breathing, living vision of what you’re wanting to create or pursue those type of projects that align with that bigger vision that you wrote and released and just see what happens to extend that timeline.

 

Jonathan Fields: Yeah, I love it. Sort of like this thing matters. But let’s hold it lightly and keep revisiting it and allow it to allow it to grow and change as you grow and change and learn more about like the thing you want to create and also just about yourself and how you want to feel along the way Yeah, the last element there is Expand and we’ve talked about a lot of the ideas. Yeah. We bundle under that. You know, it’s really about like allowing a self this sense of taking care of yourself along the way, expanding your own well being really being intentional about the pace you know that you’re working at. And you have one exercise in there, which is writing a letter to your future self. What is this and why is that important in this particular part of the model?

Jadah Sellner: Yeah, so I love leading this when I’m doing retreats, surrounded by like redwood trees and just out in this expansive energy and being in nature to ground us and immerse us. So if you were to do this for yourself, go, you know, sit on a park bench or go hike up a trail. And it’s really writing a love letter to your business, a love letter to your future self. Because entrepreneurship or Building anything meaningful is hard work. And so this is an opportunity to really express a little bit of a pep talk. Or it could also be a sense of humor, of being able to catch and remind yourself of, of what you are capable of and what you are stepping into and deepening. I think the written word for us to write what it is that we want or what it is that we want us to remember is important to our nervous systems that pen to paper, that heart to page is it just allows us to really settle into that and being able to, you know, seal it up and look at it a year from now, two years, three years of just seeing what are the intentions that you want to create and build. And what are the pep talks that you need to give yourself along the way to remind yourself of how resilient and capable and resourceful that you are. And so it’s breaking up that mental loop that negative mental loop that we talked about earlier on is really kind of easing that and that wiser self that knows to really talk to that part of you inside your heart and just all right, let’s settle. Let’s remember, let’s, what are we celebrating and how are we getting there and how are we moving through challenges and struggles and roadblocks that we will face along the way.

 

Jonathan Fields: Yeah. Do you ever do this exercise and then have people tell you, I just can’t access that part of myself like I can’t, you’re asking me to write a love letter effectively to my future self. I’m really having trouble accessing that.

Jadah Sellner: Yeah, so lots of tears can come up and any retreats that I lead, and I think we tend to fall into two different camps. The people that love the strategy, the steps, the processes tell me what to do, what to implement, how to take action, like give me it and they’re so happy and joyful. And then there’s the visionary types who are like, I don’t want to follow the steps, please don’t give me a timeline. Deadlines aren’t real, I’m in that department. So dreaming, and visioning is really easy for me. So that’s why I think if you do struggle with making the time to connect to what it is that you really want or to be able to write a letter for yourself to go into a structured container, even if it’s just with a friend and setting the intention, hey, we’re going to go to a coffee shop or we’re going to stay in a cabin for a couple of nights and hold the space for it to actually happen because that is where the big ideas come from. I think about lin-manuel Miranda with Hamilton. It’s like he took his first vacation, you know, first vacation in a really long time, and that’s where the idea for Hamilton came up. So it’s a stepping away from our day to day. And sometimes you need someone, I’m a button seat learner, so I need to pay people to like make sure that my butt is in the seat. Like that’s what I did with you. It’s like, okay, I’m going to do this because I invested in myself, but you can do that through friendship and accountability as well. So if you find you are struggling with any of those pieces to find that structure that support that accountability that can hold you for that because I don’t do it when I’m on my own. But that’s the same for me. I have to wait till my husband and I have our annual retreat in Lake Tahoe for our annual review, or go to a retreat myself because that’s where I show up the best for myself as I need to have that structure in place. So if you do struggle with that, then I would just ask for you to find that structure and support. 

 

Jonathan Fields: Okay, so now I have to ask a question about that annual retreat that you do with your husband. Is that a review and a reflection on your personal relationship or in your business relationship. Now I’m curious about that.

Jadah Sellner: Yeah. So it’s all of it. It’s sense. And I remember he used to resist it so much and now he’s so on board for it and will have tears. And now we’ve brought Zoe into some of the exercises that I share inside the book as well, which is really, really cool. But truly the exercises that are in the book we do on the retreat. And so, and what I’ve learned, so we do our annual review of celebrating our wins from the last year.  We’re looking through our iPhones and trying to see what photos and memories we’re kind of reminding each other like, Oh yeah, I forgot about that. And so it’s such a beautiful practice too. And we’re dancing. I literally, I make what I do with my retreats for my clients. I’m guiding my husband through of like come on, let’s get up. Let’s dance. What do we want? What do we want to experience? What do we want? How do we want to serve? And so we’re brainstorming all the ideas of putting the meaning behind the metrics of whatever it is we want to build. And then we are also sometimes we do the future vision exercises together. If we need that update that upgrade, I’ve tried the quarterly planning with him, but that’s where I lose him. That’s where I lose him. He’s the creative, he runs his own business, but that he just like pops out. So I know to do that with my business besties, and instead then we start to look into our own relationship as, as a family and you know, we’ve been married for seventeen years now.  So he’s more implementation focused. So it’s like, alright, we’ve dreamed we’ve celebrated now, how do we put this into action at home on a day to day basis? And that’s where I’m like hmm, but it’s really good. That’s how we complete each other. So we start to create some commitments and rituals that we will step into for the new year together as a family and it’s really very beautiful, very sacred. We cry, we laugh. I’ve got a schedule like the printout, the timing. I treat it like a retreat where I’m like, okay, that took us that amount of time to do that. So we have enough time to do this and All right, we’re going to take our hot tub break and it’s, it’s a really beautiful ritual that we do together. 

 

Jonathan Fields: That sounds amazing. I may have to take your lead on some of those things. 

Jadah Sellner: I’ll send the schedule.

 

Jonathan Fields: Awesome. So you wrap up with a manifesto, a rally, cry, a poem like a verse, and I know that you know, like you have a poet inside of you also. I have heard you do spoken word on stages in front of thousands of people. It’s this piece called the builders. I don’t know if you have the book in front of you could I invite you to actually share that.

Jadah Sellner: All right, let’s do this. For the builders. This is for the builders. The bold ones who speak their dreams out loud and continue to face failure. This is for the difference makers and the imperfect action takers. This is for the visionary rule breakers, the wild ones who dream a better world and believe in something greater. This is for the movement starters and the trailblazers. This is for the daring creators, the resilient ones who paved their own path and trust lives flow. This is for the answer seekers and truth speakers. This is for the courageous leaders, the brave ones who won’t give up and surrender when it’s time to let go. This is for the movers and shakers. This is for the freedom chasers, the unapologetic ones who are unshakable and have nothing to prove because they are enough. This is for the builders who build with love.

 

Jonathan Fields: Hmm, beautiful.  And that feels like a great place for us to wrap our conversation. And so you know, it’s coming. As I always ask this final question in this container of a Good Life Project, if I offer up the phrase  to live a Good Life, what comes up?

Jadah Sellner: Yeah, to live a Good Life for me is making time to work on meaningful projects and to surround myself with meaningful people. I just know I am most excited, most engaged, most inspired when I am doing creative work, and spending time with people that I love. And I feel that my day to day, how I spend my time truly is a Good Life of projects and playing with the people that I love.

 

Jonathan Fields: Thank you. 

 

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