Latest / Loud & Lifted / Bloom Boldly: Cultivate Courage, Clarity, and Community with Julie Webb

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Bloom Boldly: Cultivate Courage, Clarity, and Community with Julie Webb · Loud & Lifted

• 0:00
  Welcome to Loud and Lifted. I'm your host, Betsy
• 0:02
  Hamm, and today we're getting professionally
• 0:04
  powered with Julie Webb, a powerhouse in the
• 0:06
  insurance industry as a leadership consultant
• 0:09
  and founder of JMW Collective. Julie's on a mission
• 0:12
  to help women lead with more courage, connection,
• 0:15
  and clarity, not just in insurance, but in every
• 0:18
  room that she walks into. From launching her
• 0:20
  own agency to championing women in business through
• 0:23
  networks and masterminds, Julie is the kind of
• 0:25
  leader who shows up with both strategy and soul.
• 0:28
  She also goes back in big ways supporting the
• 0:30
  next generation through Girl Scouts, Girls on
• 0:33
  the Run, and more. In this conversation, we talk
• 0:36
  about cultivating courage, taking up space, and
• 0:39
  building a career that actually fits your life.
• 0:42
  So get ready to bloom. Welcome, Julie. Thanks
• 0:54
  for having me, Betsy. Happy to be here. You and
• 0:57
  I only met recently. Well, actually, we met a
• 1:00
  while ago. And then we just were sort of reunited
• 1:03
  recently at an event. And I heard you speak.
• 1:06
  You did an amazing job. And I was like, we need
• 1:08
  to talk at the podcast. This is such a great
• 1:10
  concept. But let's start with you and your story
• 1:13
  and how you ended up where you are today. Yeah.
• 1:17
  Yeah. And I'm so glad that we reconnected. And
• 1:21
  my story. Gosh, how much time do we have, Betsy?
• 1:26
  The highlight reel. I'll give you the highlight
• 1:29
  reel. Yeah. So I've always worked in insurance
• 1:33
  and like so many women in insurance, really all
• 1:38
  of us, we usually fall into insurance. No one
• 1:41
  really grows up thinking, I want to be an insurance
• 1:43
  agent unless they've got someone in the family
• 1:46
  that's in the business. So I fell into insurance
• 1:49
  because I thought I was going to go and work
• 1:51
  for a nonprofit and save the world. And that
• 1:55
  was really because making a difference was important
• 1:58
  to me. And when I realized that I couldn't pay
• 2:01
  my student loan debt back after college on a
• 2:04
  nonprofit salary, I had to pivot. and I found
• 2:07
  insurance. And more specifically, I found a leadership
• 2:10
  program in insurance. And that's important because
• 2:14
  I was listening to one of your other podcast
• 2:16
  episodes and you were talking about how you have
• 2:19
  taken lessons that you learned from a woman very
• 2:22
  early on in your career and still apply them
• 2:24
  today. And I feel the same way about my first
• 2:27
  career out of college. It was very... focused
• 2:31
  on learning not just insurance, but leadership.
• 2:33
  And I've carried that with me some 20 years later.
• 2:37
  That's awesome. And so I've been in the industry
• 2:40
  for 20 years. I tried to leave twice unsuccessfully,
• 2:43
  and it just kept sucking me back in. And then
• 2:46
  a little over a year ago, I just had this restlessness
• 2:51
  inside of me to do more. I like to say I was
• 2:55
  always dancing around the edges of women's leadership.
• 3:00
  I just was at a point where I wanted to go all
• 3:04
  in on it and dedicate the foreseeable future
• 3:08
  of my career to helping women get into higher
• 3:13
  levels of leadership. And to your point, more
• 3:17
  importantly, as you mentioned in the opening,
• 3:20
  finding a career that aligns with who they are
• 3:23
  and what their values are. And that was a little
• 3:26
  over a year ago. And I haven't looked back. And
• 3:30
  it's been a great ride so far. And I'm excited
• 3:32
  about what the future holds. Oh, I love that.
• 3:35
  And it's funny because you mentioned wanting
• 3:36
  to do not fluff it in the very beginning, which
• 3:38
  I would think was driven by wanting to help people,
• 3:40
  right? So that was sort of your driver. And now
• 3:43
  here you are in a different capacity, being able
• 3:46
  to help people. Yes. Yeah. And I found that.
• 3:50
  And insurance as well, you know, insurance gets
• 3:52
  a bad rep. It really, if you think about it,
• 3:56
  it's really a helping industry, right? It's helping
• 3:59
  people, you know, put their life back together
• 4:01
  when sometimes the worst has happened. And so
• 4:04
  I found that drive to make a difference as an
• 4:07
  insurance agent. And you're right now. I find
• 4:11
  it even more in helping women be better at. being
• 4:16
  an insurance professional or banking professional
• 4:18
  or whatever it is, but that's what fills my cup
• 4:21
  now. I love that. So when you work for another
• 4:24
  company, there's good and bad, of course, but
• 4:26
  one of the good is that you have a consistent
• 4:29
  paycheck, right? You know that you're going to
• 4:30
  get paid. There's that stability there, consistency,
• 4:35
  and then you decided to go out on your own, which
• 4:38
  is risky and not always sure how it's going to
• 4:42
  work out. and not always consistent. So how did
• 4:44
  that feel and what made you decide to take that
• 4:47
  leap? Yeah, it was scary. It felt scary and it
• 4:51
  still feels scary some days. I would share a
• 4:57
  couple of things though that helped me make the
• 5:01
  transition. And the first is I'm very fortunate
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  that I I am partnered with someone who is supportive
• 5:09
  of my ambition and has the stable job with the
• 5:17
  benefits and the salary. And so I don't want
• 5:20
  to discount that because that is important and
• 5:23
  something that I'm fortunate to have. What I
• 5:26
  will say, what I could control when I decided
• 5:29
  to go out on my own was One, doing research ahead
• 5:33
  of time. So proving demand for this idea I had
• 5:37
  to lift up women in leadership, I had probably
• 5:41
  a dozen or so conversations with executives in
• 5:44
  the insurance space that I knew saying, hey,
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  here's what I'm seeing. Are you seeing the same
• 5:49
  thing? Is this something that you would invest
• 5:50
  in? And so it was important to prove demand before
• 5:53
  I went out and launched this business. And then
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  the other thing I would share is I lined up a
• 6:00
  lot of different revenue sources and I would
• 6:04
  recommend this to anyone who's thinking about
• 6:06
  going out on their own and even starting some
• 6:08
  of it before you make the leap, right? So like
• 6:12
  I commented on my blazer. So it's a cabi blazer.
• 6:16
  And so I've been a cabi client for almost a decade.
• 6:20
  And so when I was thinking about going out on
• 6:21
  my own, I thought, Well, I wonder what it's like
• 6:24
  to be a stylist and could that be an additional
• 6:26
  revenue source for me? And so I researched it
• 6:30
  and the more I learned, the more I loved. And
• 6:31
  so I signed up to be a cabbie stylist and I'm
• 6:35
  enjoying it. I love the fashion, but I also love
• 6:38
  the community, which I know we're going to talk
• 6:40
  about later. So I do that. You know, insurance
• 6:45
  is like a profession, just like accounting or
• 6:48
  the legal field. And so you have to do continuing
• 6:51
  education every two years. And so I teach some
• 6:54
  of those classes now. And so that's another revenue
• 6:58
  source that comes into my business in addition
• 7:00
  to the consulting and the coaching and the speaking
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  that I do. That's great. That's a really great
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  point is having alternate revenue streams is
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  important. Yes. Because when basket gets a little
• 7:10
  challenging. Yeah. Yeah. So it's, you know, if
• 7:13
  one thing's not performing at the level that
• 7:15
  I want it to, it's like, it's okay. I've got
• 7:17
  this other piece that I can rely on. Yeah. And
• 7:20
  hey, being a stylist, that's just an added bonus.
• 7:22
  So you'll always have cute clothing too. This
• 7:24
  is true. Yes. I like that idea. I like that idea.
• 7:28
  And I will say talking about collars and details
• 7:32
  of a shirt are a lot more fun than No offense
• 7:34
  to my friends in insurance, but premiums and
• 7:36
  deductibles and coverage limits. I'm sure they
• 7:39
  even have to agree with you on that. Yes. But
• 7:42
  it's funny, we've only done a couple episodes
• 7:44
  and there's already these themes that this women
• 7:47
  are all saying with very different backgrounds,
• 7:49
  different points in their career. But you know,
• 7:51
  Margaret from Three Little Birds talked about
• 7:53
  having to have that support at home. Hers was
• 7:56
  also her husband. So like making sure you have
• 7:58
  that support and continue to build out your circles.
• 8:01
  Because I think, you know, I even go through
• 8:03
  my career, a lot of my opportunities came from
• 8:05
  just people I knew and people reaching out. So
• 8:08
  when we talk about that power of a circle and
• 8:11
  strength, and that's probably benefited you is
• 8:13
  you have these connections, you have these relationships
• 8:16
  with people. So it helps to make it at least
• 8:18
  easier to be able to move forward. Yeah. Leadership
• 8:24
  and entrepreneurship can be really lonely. Very
• 8:27
  true. And you're right. The community is so important.
• 8:31
  And I'll just share a little story that has sort
• 8:35
  of come full circle for me. When I started the
• 8:39
  insurance agency, back in March of 2020. And
• 8:42
  I always like to say yes, that March. I had left
• 8:47
  a very collaborative environment. I was leading
• 8:51
  an agency network where I was interacting and
• 8:54
  networking with agents and insurance company
• 8:57
  folks from across the country on a regular basis
• 8:59
  in person. And then I went and started this agency
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  and I was all by myself and COVID happened. I
• 9:07
  was like, what have I done? Where are my people?
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  And so for me, I found this mastermind group
• 9:14
  through my network. And it was a virtual masterminding
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  group for women who were agency leaders. And
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  so there were 10 of us and we would meet monthly
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  on a virtual platform. And these were the women
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  that I could go to when I said. when I would
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  say like, you know, you never are going to guess
• 9:32
  what happened today. And they're like, Oh, yeah,
• 9:34
  been there, done that, got the t shirt. And so
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  that was my circle for three years. And when
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  I went out on my own, you know, I was talking
• 9:42
  about different revenue streams, the woman who
• 9:44
  leads that came to me and said, hey, why don't
• 9:48
  you facilitate some masterminds for me? And so
• 9:51
  now I'm able to facilitate a group of women who
• 9:55
  were in the same shoes that I was in, you know,
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  not so long ago. And so it's really been a full
• 10:00
  circle moment for me. And it just, again, reinforces
• 10:03
  the importance of finding a community. You don't
• 10:07
  have to do it alone. And frankly, it's more fun
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  to do it with a group. I totally agree. Do you
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  have any tips or best practices of how to help
• 10:16
  build that out? Did you just happen to fall upon
• 10:18
  those groups, especially when you weren't running
• 10:20
  out and having coffee at that time? Right. How
• 10:23
  did that happen? Yeah. I think if you're intentional
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  about it, you will find them, and especially
• 10:30
  now. I mean, that was five years ago. In 2025,
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  where we are now, there are so many groups, especially
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  for women, whether it's locally or on a national
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  scale. And so if you just Google or Ask Chat
• 10:44
  GPT, here's what I'm looking for from a women's
• 10:47
  group. What's out there? I'm sure you'll get
• 10:51
  probably a dozen responses, right? And if you
• 10:54
  don't find what you're looking for, what I would
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  say is start your own group. And just start small.
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  You know, if you're looking for other female
• 11:03
  entrepreneurs, find one and just say, hey, would
• 11:07
  you like to go to coffee with me? And chances
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  are, if you say to her, I'm looking to start
• 11:13
  a group and here's what I'd like to get out of
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  it, I bet she'll say yes. So, you know, communities
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  are really having a moment right now. So I'd
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  be surprised if you couldn't find one that meets
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  what you're looking for. But if you don't just,
• 11:26
  you know, start your own. Yeah. Oh my gosh. And
• 11:29
  you're just going into Satine's episode that
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  we've just recently dropped where she's in the
• 11:34
  restaurant industry. And granted, yeah, she had
• 11:36
  the company behind to help that. But she said
• 11:38
  the same thing if it's just asking somebody to
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  coffee and starting those relationships. And
• 11:44
  I'll tell you, LinkedIn is amazing for this.
• 11:47
  Oh my gosh. Yeah. I've used it. Throughout my
• 11:50
  career and especially even when I took on a new
• 11:52
  role and I wanted to know whether CEOs in the
• 11:54
  restaurant industry, I just started looking for
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  them on LinkedIn or I'd pick a brand. I would
• 11:58
  message them and like nine times out of 10, I
• 12:01
  got a response. and I had a call. And it's awesome
• 12:04
  that some of those relationships continued for
• 12:07
  years and people I still talk to. And it was
• 12:08
  all just because I sent a random message on LinkedIn.
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  And some people I've met in person at conferences
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  through the years. Others, it's just been a phone
• 12:16
  call, maybe a Teams meeting, but you just got
• 12:18
  to reach out and got to make the effort for sure.
• 12:21
  Yeah, yeah. And be intentional about it, even
• 12:24
  if it's just like, I'm going to reach out to
• 12:26
  one person a day and make it genuine, right?
• 12:29
  Make it you know, I'm sure we all get those sales
• 12:31
  pitches on LinkedIn. Take the time to mention
• 12:35
  something personal about that person. And like
• 12:37
  you said, you can get so much information from
• 12:39
  LinkedIn. And to your point, I bet they will
• 12:42
  say yes. Yep. Yeah. And you don't know if you
• 12:44
  don't try and you might get a few notes, but
• 12:46
  for the most part, people are just, they want
• 12:49
  that relationship and connection too. So I think,
• 12:51
  I think LinkedIn's a great tool. If you don't
• 12:53
  know where to start, I would say go to LinkedIn.
• 12:55
  Yeah. Or, and then start with us because you
• 12:57
  and I will say yes. If you reach out to either
• 13:00
  one of us on LinkedIn, I guarantee you'll respond.
• 13:03
  You can warm up with us. Absolutely. I heard
• 13:06
  you talk recently about cultivating the courage
• 13:09
  to bloom, and I love that. We're in that time
• 13:12
  where the grass is green, the flowers are starting
• 13:14
  to bloom. It's a perfect time, I think, to talk
• 13:17
  through how you visualize this and how we can
• 13:20
  help other women think through this for themselves
• 13:23
  too. Yeah. It was a really fun exercise for me
• 13:29
  to put together. And it was a beautiful event
• 13:33
  that a mutual connection of ours put together
• 13:35
  at a lovely spot. And just like today, it was
• 13:39
  raining. And even though it was rainy, we were
• 13:42
  all commenting on how to bloom flowers need rain,
• 13:46
  right? So it can't be roses and sunshine every
• 13:49
  day. But when she asked me to open this event
• 13:53
  that she was having, this women's event, and
• 13:55
  that the theme was, I think the theme was bloom
• 13:58
  babe. And so I thought, you know, how can I tie
• 14:05
  my message and what I talk about a lot, which
• 14:07
  is values and leaning into your experience and
• 14:10
  protecting your energy? How can I translate that
• 14:13
  into this blooming theme? And this idea of a
• 14:16
  flower came to mind for me. And I'll run through
• 14:19
  it just at a high level and then I want to dive
• 14:21
  into a couple of the pieces that I think would
• 14:23
  resonate with your audience. So flowers start
• 14:27
  with roots, right? And it was funny because at
• 14:30
  the event I asked everybody to draw a flower
• 14:33
  and very few people included the roots, right?
• 14:37
  Because when we think of a flower, we don't always
• 14:39
  think of the roots because they're below the
• 14:40
  surface and we don't see them. But to me, that
• 14:43
  is one of the most important parts of the flower,
• 14:45
  right? And just like it is for the flower, it
• 14:48
  is for us too, because I liken the roots of a
• 14:50
  flower to your values. So what grounds you when
• 14:54
  the wind picks up, right? Then of course, those
• 14:57
  roots are in the soil, and I liken that to your
• 14:59
  environment. You know, what mindsets, boundaries,
• 15:02
  energy sources are feeding you or depleting you,
• 15:05
  and how do you get more of what's feeding you
• 15:07
  and less of what's depleting you? And then you
• 15:10
  move up to the stem, so now we start to see the
• 15:12
  flower, right? So the stem I liken to your courage.
• 15:16
  And I'm a big Brene Brown fan, and she talks
• 15:20
  about having a strong back. and a soft front
• 15:24
  and couples those two things with a wild heart,
• 15:28
  which I think is so beautiful. And the wild heart
• 15:32
  really links back to courage because here's a
• 15:35
  little linguistic, I think that's the right word,
• 15:38
  lesson for you. The root of the word courage
• 15:41
  is the word core, which means heart. Oh, I did
• 15:45
  not know that. Yeah. And so it takes heart to
• 15:48
  have courage, right? And to build this strong
• 15:50
  stem. So then of course, you know, everybody
• 15:52
  thinks of the flower and that's really your purpose
• 15:55
  You know, what do you want the world to see from
• 15:57
  your bloom? And then you can't forget about the
• 16:00
  garden and that's what we've already been talking
• 16:02
  about Which is your community and just like flowers
• 16:05
  we grow better together. And so a high level
• 16:09
  that's what That's what I came up with. And I
• 16:13
  think it resonated with the women that were there
• 16:16
  that day. And I hope everyone took home their
• 16:19
  flower, their picture, and posted it somewhere
• 16:22
  to remind them of all the great pieces that make
• 16:26
  who they are. And to your point, it's pieces.
• 16:29
  I think sometimes we get hung up on just the
• 16:32
  top of the pretty part of the flower. And especially
• 16:34
  with social media, it's really easy to think
• 16:36
  like, oh, look at that. beautiful flower. They
• 16:38
  have everything together, not realizing the time,
• 16:41
  the effort, the roots, watering it and taking
• 16:44
  care of it in sunshine that goes into making
• 16:47
  it look beautiful. Yeah. Yeah. And I'll just
• 16:50
  go back to the roots because, and I know we wanted
• 16:52
  to talk about that a little bit more. You're
• 16:55
  right. Because, you know, I shared with you,
• 16:56
  first jumped on how I transitioned from corporate
• 17:00
  to entrepreneurship. And You know, that was a
• 17:05
  really quick explanation, right? And what I didn't
• 17:08
  share was like you said, like it was sort of
• 17:12
  like the shiny version of me leaving my corporate
• 17:15
  job and going into entrepreneurship. But what
• 17:17
  we didn't talk about is like just what you don't
• 17:20
  see on Instagram or LinkedIn or Facebook or wherever
• 17:22
  is, you know, the burnout that I experienced
• 17:27
  before the like sleepless nights, the stress.
• 17:33
  and just the wondering of, you know, what's next
• 17:37
  for me from a professional sense, you know, and
• 17:41
  that's, you know, that restlessness that I talked
• 17:43
  about earlier about wanting just to do more.
• 17:46
  And the way I got really clear on that was at
• 17:50
  first I thought, well, I'll just find, you know,
• 17:55
  I'll find my purpose in another corporate job.
• 17:57
  you know, and maybe it'll like I mentioned to
• 18:00
  you, I tried to leave insurance twice. This was
• 18:03
  my second failed attempt. And you know, I thought
• 18:06
  I would, you know, go work for an organization,
• 18:09
  you know, focused on women's leadership or leadership
• 18:12
  in general. And The more I looked, and first
• 18:16
  of all job searching, I love LinkedIn, but job
• 18:18
  searching on LinkedIn is like the worst. It's
• 18:22
  like soul sucking. But I just wasn't finding,
• 18:25
  I wasn't finding what I was looking for in another
• 18:28
  corporate role. And that's when I took a step
• 18:32
  back and said, okay, I've got to really... look
• 18:35
  at what is important to me, not what's important
• 18:38
  to the company I work for now, what's important
• 18:41
  to me. And so I worked with a coach to get really
• 18:44
  clear on my own values. And I realized that the
• 18:49
  things that I value are relationships, trust,
• 18:52
  making a difference, which I've said a couple
• 18:54
  of times now, growth. I love to read and learn
• 18:57
  and always expand. my horizon, my viewpoints,
• 19:02
  my knowledge. And then my last value is courageous
• 19:06
  authenticity. And I love that word courageous
• 19:10
  again, because of the core and the heart. And
• 19:13
  I love the word authenticity, but it gets overused.
• 19:18
  So courageous authenticity is important to me
• 19:20
  because it means not just showing up as yourself
• 19:23
  when it's easy, but also when it's hard. What
• 19:27
  I would say is once I got really clear on those
• 19:30
  values, it made things a lot easier for me. It
• 19:33
  made decisions a lot easier for me. It made deciding
• 19:36
  what I was going to do next a lot easier for
• 19:38
  me. It made like when you asked me to jump on
• 19:41
  this podcast with you and you were sharing with
• 19:43
  me that it's all about lifting up other women
• 19:46
  and finding community. I look at my values and
• 19:49
  relationships as one of my values. And so that's
• 19:52
  a yes, right? And so that was so helpful to me.
• 19:56
  that I coach and I talk a lot about that when
• 20:00
  I do workshops on coaching with women is I help
• 20:05
  them get really clear on their values because
• 20:06
  I know how freeing it was for me. And I just
• 20:11
  want to share that with as many women as I can.
• 20:13
  Now, that's such a great point. And it's something
• 20:15
  that we probably don't pause and think about
• 20:17
  until somebody literally ask you as you're saying
• 20:19
  that it's like flying through my head. Like,
• 20:21
  what would I say are mine? Like, what am I looking
• 20:23
  for? And sometimes I think we're quick to know
• 20:25
  what we use. don't want, right? Yeah. And start
• 20:28
  to get there by ruling things out. But to really
• 20:31
  be intentional and sit there and figure out what
• 20:34
  values you have and what you need to be fulfilled
• 20:38
  is a huge opportunity to really get clear on
• 20:43
  how you're going to spend the rest of your career
• 20:45
  or next year or whatever it is. Yeah. That's
• 20:48
  huge. Yeah. And you know, there's a lot of, I
• 20:51
  have a list that I use, but If you just again
• 20:55
  search online for a list of values, you'll find
• 20:58
  words to at least start like percolating ideas
• 21:01
  for you. And you said something that was really
• 21:05
  important. I just want to reiterate is pausing.
• 21:09
  We get, especially women, we get so busy and
• 21:12
  busy is a four letter word to me. We just like
• 21:14
  keep going, going, going. We never give ourselves
• 21:17
  the gift of pausing to just like sit, even if
• 21:20
  it's just for a minute. And so that's one of
• 21:23
  the gifts that I like to think that I give women
• 21:25
  when I do these workshops is we actually, you
• 21:28
  know, during the workshop we get quiet and we
• 21:31
  pause and we just sit and think and it's uncomfortable.
• 21:35
  Right. So valuable. Especially doing it in a
• 21:39
  group, I'm sure. I think you have that pressure
• 21:42
  of like, well, what are they going to say or
• 21:43
  are they going to do? But even taking that time
• 21:45
  on your own to really think about it, no one's
• 21:48
  looking over your shoulder, no one's judging
• 21:49
  you, and there's no wrong answers. Everyone's
• 21:51
  going to have a different list, which is great.
• 21:54
  Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And that's the nice thing too,
• 21:57
  I think, about being in groups of women is that
• 22:00
  you don't have to explain yourself. And I've
• 22:03
  done this exercise several times and I've never
• 22:06
  had someone be too uncomfortable or not comfortable
• 22:11
  enough to share. Right. Yeah. Because we all
• 22:14
  have similar thoughts. I think we're a little
• 22:18
  different. But yeah, to your point, I mean, we
• 22:20
  all minimize the stress and the anxiety and the
• 22:24
  sleepless nights of whether it's because you're
• 22:26
  changing careers or going for promotion or just
• 22:29
  a lot of times the higher up you go, the more
• 22:32
  stress you're under and people don't realize
• 22:34
  that they think, oh, I want that bigger title
• 22:36
  or the bigger, the bigger title means bigger
• 22:38
  responsibilities. And, and that can be very overwhelming
• 22:41
  for, well, I think everybody just set various
• 22:44
  times. So I was trying to keep that to the minimum,
• 22:46
  but you know, it's not going to always be sunshine
• 22:49
  and roses. We're going to have the rainy days,
• 22:51
  hopefully no tornadoes, hurricanes, like nothing
• 22:53
  natural disaster, but can stick to stick to the
• 22:56
  rain and the wind. Then that's just part of life.
• 22:59
  Yeah. Well, and you know, you have to. I don't
• 23:03
  wish burnout or chronic stress on anybody, but
• 23:07
  you do have to experience the bad days because
• 23:11
  that makes the really good days all that much
• 23:14
  better. Yep. That's such a great point because
• 23:16
  you're going to go through life where you have
• 23:18
  those bad days or maybe you have a bad boss.
• 23:20
  I've had some of those and sometimes you learn
• 23:23
  just as much from the bad as you do the good.
• 23:27
  It's just what you can learn and how you can
• 23:29
  grow. Absolutely. Can we share your flower online?
• 23:36
  Oh, yes, please. Maybe we'll make that little
• 23:39
  activity where once people see your visual and
• 23:42
  I'll share mine too. I need to redo mine. I got
• 23:45
  to be honest. When I did it at the event, first
• 23:47
  I was way too small and I'm not a good artist.
• 23:49
  So I might cheat and have my artististic daughter.
• 23:53
  There you go. Using your resources. Using my
• 23:58
  resources. Yep. Yep. But at least I know. Yeah.
• 24:00
  I started off too small. You're right. I didn't
• 24:02
  have the roots. I was just this little circle
• 24:04
  that you probably learned to draw a flower in
• 24:06
  when you're in like second grade. That's my flower.
• 24:08
  Yeah. As we grew growing and I had to pivot.
• 24:12
  Yeah. So what other advice do you have when it
• 24:16
  comes to cultivating courage? Those, I think,
• 24:18
  are two words that go together. If someone's
• 24:21
  struggling with that, how do you get them to
• 24:24
  feel a little bit more comfortable? You're going
• 24:26
  to feel uncomfortable, but how do you continue
• 24:28
  to cultivate that courage to make a change or
• 24:30
  to grow? Yeah, that's a really good question.
• 24:34
  For me, it's practice. It's practice, and then
• 24:39
  it's also like what I was mentioning earlier.
• 24:42
  So I'll share part of going into business for
• 24:46
  yourself is being in sales. And what I love to
• 24:51
  do is deliver the content that I create and create
• 24:55
  that content. Sales is not my favorite part.
• 24:58
  And so for me, I have to be really intentional
• 25:01
  about that and cultivate courage to keep asking.
• 25:06
  And one of the lessons that I learned in my first
• 25:10
  year of business and I'll probably keep learning
• 25:12
  it until the last day, is that I'm not for everyone.
• 25:18
  Sure. And that's OK. I think when you first go
• 25:22
  into business, it's easy to have this scarcity
• 25:25
  mindset, where if I don't say yes to every opportunity
• 25:29
  that comes my way, there might not be another
• 25:32
  opportunity. And I'm trying to. reframe that
• 25:36
  scarcity mindset into an abundance mindset and
• 25:39
  say that there's enough business to go around
• 25:42
  and by going back to my values and getting really
• 25:46
  clear on what it is that I, when I say I want
• 25:50
  to make a difference, like what does that mean?
• 25:53
  And making sure I'm bouncing opportunities off
• 25:56
  of those values before I say yes. But again,
• 25:59
  to get those opportunities, you have to be really
• 26:01
  intentional about prospecting. And so it's, I
• 26:06
  would say, intentionality and practice is what
• 26:09
  will cultivate that courage in the long run.
• 26:12
  That's great. And just to recap, and again, we'll
• 26:14
  share this in a visual too, but the roots are
• 26:18
  your values. Soil is your environment. Stem is
• 26:22
  your cord. Flower is your purpose. And the garden
• 26:26
  is your community. Yes. Yeah. Love that. So this
• 26:29
  is a great opportunity. You can take those, break
• 26:31
  those down and think about that, and then draw
• 26:34
  your flower. And again, it's not just about the
• 26:37
  top that's pretty, it's everything that's around
• 26:39
  it in the garden. Yeah. What do we do if there's
• 26:42
  weeds? So they they grow in the soil and so I
• 26:49
  would consider them. Those are those people We've
• 26:52
  got a you know, pluck out or things we've got
• 26:54
  to pluck out and do less of right? Right, but
• 26:57
  only it were as easy as pulling a weed, right?
• 27:02
  We're paying somebody else to do it or your husband.
• 27:04
  This is true. Yes That's great. Well, that's
• 27:09
  awesome. This is such a great exercise I think
• 27:10
  for people to go through and like you said taking
• 27:13
  that pause and just really thinking about your
• 27:16
  values is such a great thing for every woman
• 27:19
  to go to no matter what part of your career and
• 27:21
  whether you're just starting off or been doing
• 27:23
  this for 20, 30 years. We all need that pause.
• 27:26
  Yes. Yeah. And it's one last thing I'll share,
• 27:29
  Betsy, is when you think about stress, it's important
• 27:32
  to complete your stress cycle, right? And that
• 27:36
  means you have a stressor You have the flight
• 27:41
  or fight response and then you come back to this
• 27:44
  neutral state and so often in this world that
• 27:46
  we're living in we don't get back to that neutral
• 27:48
  state but one of the ways to help complete that
• 27:51
  stress cycle is actually creativity and So I
• 27:55
  think this exercise not only helps you get clear
• 27:57
  on your values but it's also a creative outlet
• 28:00
  and like you said like when was the last time
• 28:03
  you just like sat down and drew a flower. So
• 28:07
  use it for that, too. Oh, that's awesome. I love
• 28:09
  that. Julie, thank you so much for being here.
• 28:11
  I enjoyed this conversation. And I know the listeners
• 28:14
  are going to enjoy this exercise. So thank you
• 28:16
  so much for sharing your wisdom. And how can
• 28:19
  people find you if they want to reach out more
• 28:20
  information about your leadership opportunities?
• 28:24
  Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you for having me on.
• 28:26
  I enjoyed the conversation as well. As we mentioned,
• 28:30
  LinkedIn is the best place to find me. I also
• 28:34
  have a website jmwcollective .com and I'll share
• 28:40
  my link tree with you also because that has all
• 28:43
  the links to, I do a newsletter that I love to
• 28:46
  share on a monthly basis and the link to my cabi
• 28:49
  site, all the links. So yeah, if you can't find
• 28:53
  me, you might be doing something wrong. Awesome.
• 28:56
  Thank you. And we'll make sure we share all that
• 28:58
  as well. So thank you so much. Julie just dropped
• 29:00
  wisdom rooted in real world grit and grace, whether
• 29:03
  it's launching a business, mentoring the next
• 29:05
  generation or tearing down outdated expectations.
• 29:08
  She reminds us that professional growth starts
• 29:10
  with personal courage. So if you've been waiting
• 29:13
  for permission to lead or start something new,
• 29:16
  this is it. Start the conversation, build a community
• 29:19
  and design the future based off of your values
• 29:22
  that you want to be part of. If you like this
• 29:24
  episode, please share it with a friend. Let's
• 29:26
  continue to support each other in cultivating
• 29:29
  the courage to bloom.