The Visionary Woman Podcast
The Visionary Woman Podcast
Redefining Luxury and Living In Abundance with Jessica Zweig
When I first met my dear friend Jessica Zweig, founder and CEO of Simply Be, I was struck by her dedication to helping others shine by tapping into their personal brand. In our powerful conversation, we discuss her journey from $75,000 in credit card debt to redefining her definition of abundance and prioritizing joy and pleasure in her life.
Together, we explore the concept of redefining luxury and the importance of investing in ourselves. Jessica shares her family's stories of making the most of what they had, and how her experiences traveling and connecting with people from different cultures have shaped her perspective on abundance. She offers valuable insight into living in luxury and the transformative power of prioritizing joy in our lives.
As we dive deep into Jessica's wisdom, we learn how to embrace our authentic selves and redefine what it means to live in luxury and abundance. Whether you're an entrepreneur looking to level up your personal brand or simply someone searching for more joy and meaning in your life, Jessica's story is a testament to the incredible impact that can be made when we invest in ourselves and make joy a priority. To connect with Jessica, follow her on Instagram @jessicazweig and visit jessicazweig.com and simplybeagency.com.
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Don't put your dreams to bed. You've done that enough. Now it's time to stir them up. This is your friend and host, Kirstie Fleur, with the Visionary Woman podcast, and I love resourcing the Visionary Woman, the creative, the artist, the business owner, the risk taker, and on this show, we will talk about what it means to get out of your own way and take your dreams to the next level. Join the conversation. Welcome to the Visionary Woman podcast. This is your host, Kirstie Fleur, and I'm here today with my friend, Jessica Zweig, who is the CEO and founder of Simply Be. Simply Be is a personal branding company with offices in Chicago and Nashville woohoo, Nashville.
Jessica:Just get me back there, girl. I miss you, I know.
Kirstie:Well, Jessica is an author of the bestselling book Be, so if you haven't heard of this book, you have to go get it. It is absolutely amazing for rebranding yourself, and we've had the privilege of using her services and it's been absolutely foundational for our business. But the name of her book is Be, a No Bullshit Guide to Increasing Yourself Worth and Your Net Worth by Simply Being Yourself. She's also the host of a top-ranked podcast called the Simply Be podcast. Her accomplishments have garnered her extraordinary praise, with the Cranes Chicago business naming her as one of 2020's most notable entrepreneurs, titling her a top digital marketer to watch, and Forbes and a personal branding expert. She is a dynamic and highly sought-after speaker and presenter. She's spoken on national and international stages, including those on Google, Mindvalley, Microsoft, Kellogg, School of Management, Bumblebiz, Pinterest, Blackstone Investments Version and more. Jessica has also facilitated workshops and masterminds, teaching the power of personal branding to corporations such as Heineken, USA, Mars, Nike, Red Bull, VBMC, Mortgage Bank and the Bank of America. Fueled by her personal belief that branding isn't a vanity play but an opportunity to make the world a better place, Jessica and her 25-person team at Simply Be have gained a national reputation for defining and enhancing the personal brands of corporations, teams, executives and entrepreneurs.
Kirstie:Jessica splits her time between Chicago and Nashville with her husband and her two dogs. So sweet, Jessica. We're super excited to have you on the show today. We're honored and so blessed. Tell us a little bit about you. I know we just heard your bio. Sometimes it's super weird to hear all these amazing things about yourself, but you are a powerhouse and so I didn't want to leave that part out. You're so sweet. Tell us something about you.
Jessica:Yeah, it's so weird. I'm listening to you say all these things. I'm like whoa, like, is that me? I didn't do that, no, but in a way I'm like I don't identify as those things. I identify as a friend, a sister, a wife, an aunt, a dog, mom, a leader, a spiritual seeker, somebody who is doing this thing called being a human, and it's hard and beautiful.
Jessica:And I've just tapped into a purpose a couple of years ago, six, seven years ago and I started this thing called Simply Be and I've just kept focusing on that and all of these things that you just said on paper, you know happened, but I've never steered the course. I've always stayed the course. I want to help people. I feel like I'm here to be of service, to help people like you and your husband, yeah my, clients and the world I touch, shine and can be fully themselves and to feel safe and to feel supported and to feel clear and confident on what that even means. So I'm so much different, I think, in a way, than when I first started the business and was hoping to get all those awards and accolades, right, I'm grateful for them, but I'm kind of like, yeah, that doesn't really matter to me. You know right, i'm connecting with people like you and having what you said about at the beginning. Like, " me and Chauncy have had the pleasure of working with Simply Be and it's been foundational to our business", like, that's why I do it.
Kirstie:That part, yeah, absolutely. That's so amazing. What you said right there is. You know I'm thinking at what point, or have you always been this way? Were you like a little girl and you were like, this is what I want to do, when you know, I want to grow up and I'm going to help businesses do this, I'm going to help corporations do this or at some point did you have like this aha moment and you were like this is what I'm good at and this is what I want to do. This is the gift that I want to give. Like, how did that come about?
Jessica:Yeah, short answer is no. But I was like kind of lost as a kid. You know, I was never cool. I was gawky. I had acne and bad hair and like 25, 30 pounds of baby fat. that stuck around until I was like 22. I, you know, I was just. I never really felt like I belonged anywhere. I didn't have a big group of friends. The boys didn't like me. I didn't have my first boyfriend until I was like 19. and you know, I yeah, I struggled. I struggled with bullying. I had a tough kind of road growing up. I had a lot of dysfunction back at home. So because you know, I often say like we can't teach, we can't be a teacher unless we are the student not only first, but like simultaneously right.
Jessica:So I teach authenticity. That's kind of what I'm known for right now. But I can't teach authenticity, authentically, unless I understand the other side of that, which is inauthenticity. And so long of the short of it is, I grew up gawky, awkward, not cool. By my mid twenties I became cool. I launched a magazine. I was this it girl around Chicago. I was getting invited to all the night clubs. I had this huge following.
Jessica:I was some, somehow overnight, like, validated from all my high school trauma, that I was like somebody special, and that was just insecurity and ego that led my life for about seven years.
Jessica:Late twenties, early thirties. had a breakdown at the end of that road crashed from toxic business, partnership broke as a joke, full scarcity, $75,000 in credit card debt, a sick from auto and disease, because I was drinking so much alcohol and eating like shit and had all this inflammation in my body. I was like on the floor of my life in so many ways and I had to go through my own breakdown to break through, to then get to the other side. And that's when I started Simply Be and I was like okay, girl, you're not here for, you're not here for you, you're here, you're here for others, you're here for service, you're here to help people with what you know, not just help yourself. And that's really one thing. Truly, all the success, all those beautiful accolades that you just read off, that's when things started to happen for me, when I clicked into the power of being of service versus being led by ego, which is just insecurity.
Kirstie:Whoa, whoa. I think so many people can look on the outside and this is going to lead us into our topic but so many people can look on the outside and see the beautiful person that you are, see the work that you're doing and think, okay, man, you know they may try to start or try to do what you're doing right where you're at, but the journey on the road, the path that you've taken to get where you're at, you saying yes to the journey, first of all, like I always tell women, that you have to say yes to your own journey. It doesn't matter where I'm at, what I'm doing, but you have to say yes to your own journey, whether it's hard or good or whatever it is, but you've got to say yes to it. And at that point that's what I call the tipping point moment, where something just breaks in your life and you're like the whole being inauthentic, the people pleasing, doing whatever other people want you to do, like when that stuff starts breaking off for you, and then you can walk in your rhythm and your lane and what you said, like being a certain, realizing that I have to be a service to other people, and I'm like I'm going to go with what I've walked through, what I've gone through, what I'm learning and give that back to the world. Oh my gosh, like, yes, simply be, like, that just makes all the sense in the world. I love that. Thank you for sharing that. Yeah, listening.
Kirstie:So today we're talking about redefining luxury and living in abundance. And again, when you look on the outside, you see Jessica. Please go to her Instagram. You see her Instagram. She looks like a star, she's absolutely beautiful, she's gorgeous. She's living a life in abundance. You can see it on the outside, on the exterior, but it's something different. It is something that she exudes from the inside out, and so that's what we want to talk about is normalizing the concept of abundance and ease versus the perfect, the pervasive hustle culture where, you know, women have become accustomed to hustling to get everywhere. So, yeah, just your philosophy around living in luxury and abundance.
Jessica:Girl, I love that you want to go here because this is so real.
Jessica:This is my favorite thing to talk about these days. This is so real time for me. So I guess I'll start by saying I played the game most of my career up until about a year ago. So I'm not standing on any soapbox like being like I have it all figured out. I don't, but I've definitely taken strides in healing from the toxic masculine hustle work addiction, fire, ambition drive always on 24 seven. I played that game and I built my business. You know I'm not going to deny like there's something to be said, like a lot can come from it when we work hard, we, you know there's. There's something beautiful about like paying your dues and earning your cash and like you know it is, it's empowering. But there's a real shadow side to it If we don't really look at it. Like where, where is it really coming from and what are we trying to prove? And who are we trying to prove it to? And what are we trying to compare ourselves to? And who are we trying to keep up with? It's like I never really stopped and asked myself those questions because I made the comment that I had been broke before. Like I was in $75,000 worth of credit card debt.
Jessica:I opened my book Be with the story of driving to my my parents house in the suburbs at 33 years old because AT&T was going to shut me off because I had no money in my checking account. It's negative $117. Like I couldn't pay anything. My boyfriend at the time, who's now my husband, had floated me for months and I was like I can't ask him for one more thing and they're going to shut off my phone. And so I went into my parents house and that was a turning point in my life because my parents, they weren't even mad, they weren't even disappointed. They literally were so confused because they thought that I had built this life. They didn't know I kept it so behind the scenes. There was so much shame in that moment, so much self-loathing in that moment, that I had no choice but to turn my own life around, and I started to count my blessings. I like had no money in the bank but I was like, okay, i'm going to start to be grateful for the fact that I have blue pens on my desk at home and I like blue pens versus black pens, like you know, like that was the kind of mindset I started to practice, right, and then things started to turn around for me And you know, yeah, I live in luxury and abundance and we'll get there. But I really want to say something that's important, why I added that nuance of that moment. Going through brokenness, being in scarcity, like real financial scarcity, is a trauma.
Jessica:It's it. You have PTSD after that. Okay, it doesn't leave your system. And so I thought I was in abundance, like, okay, now Jessica's making all this money and she grew this big business and she said she's hit multi-seven figures in revenue. Okay, fine, there's still this undercurrent, this little hum of like, don't go broke again, don't go broke again, don't go broke again. Yeah, that's why you're running. So, just, I was kind of running away from scarcity instead of embracing abundance. Does that make sense? (Yeah, absolutely.)
Jessica:So all this came crashing down in 22. I've talked about this publicly. I reached physical burnout, full on body, mind, spirit depletion, and I was diagnosed with depression , and for about three months, I couldn't leave my house, I couldn't like, I barely could shower. I really this was in Q1 of 22. And my business is now double. This is after my book launch. Like I am suffering inside, and I really had to go through the eye of the needle.
Jessica:It's what I like to call it. Like I had to face it and really look at it and I got medicated. I went through therapy, like my depression healed, but I didn't. It took me another probably nine months to really heal my addiction to the hustle. And I've come out on the other side of that and I still have moments of it. But really I, my body, has changed. I've healed my nervous system, I've practiced joy, pleasure and like my definition of abundance is no longer money, it's spiritual wealth. There we go, it's getting good night's sleep, it's not having my days be freaking wall to wall. Like that's abundance today. Yeah, absolutely, so, it's a lot. But I love this question. Like I said, i could talk about it forever. I'm so, I'm so in it right now.
Kirstie:I mean, you are where, where you were at was where I was in 2017 when I hit this wall, this what I call it, my aha moment. I hit this wall where I was like, oh my gosh, what in the world? What is going on? I just felt shipwrecked, like nothing was moving, all the things. And you know, we were me and Chauncy, were like at the point of foreclosure on our home. It was crazy. And at the point where I'm like hiding in our washroom and our five bedroom house, I'm like this is my dream home, all the things. And I'm like somebody's going to come take my car, somebody's going to come foreclose on our house and and take the things that we have that we've worked so hard for, and we had been hustling, working, doing all the things, my husband's top general contractor in his field doing all his things. I'm running this nonprofit doing all these things for women, etc, etc, and I'm like what is happening? Like what? What is going on? How is this happening? You know it just went crazy on us for a second, but I needed that moment.
Kirstie:That rock bottom moment is what taught me. Everything, you know taught me. You know, I didn't even think I really cared about the idea of like things as luxury, not like that. But as I start going through the process, I was like there is so, so many things that are so much more important than having things as the, you know, that's the, if things are the, the overflow of health and abundance internally, joy and ease and rest. And then things just come from that place. That is beautiful because it comes from a healthy place and now you can steward it with a completely different heart. You can look at it completely differently once it comes from that place, and just, I just love that so much because I feel like so many people who are at the place where you're at, doing what you're doing, influencing culture and moving things for it, and hit that same, that similar moment. It may not be the exact same story, but had that same moment where they had to move forward through it in that way to to get where you are right now.
Jessica:Thank you, thank you, and you know what you're talking about. I love that you shared that and think it's what the real flex I think of, like an embodied woman in her abundance, is the energy of receiving, like really opening yourself up like a clamshell and just letting the tide like roll over you. You don't do anything like trusting the universe, surrendering to the outcomes, not gripping, not planning, not controlling, not trying, just being. I often say it took me my whole business Simply Be to learn that it wasn't simply do, it's actually simply be. Jessica, I, I think that's, and it's so hard because that we're in a program, right, we're in a matrix that's telling us all that we have to, we have to be on this hamster wheel in order to win, and that's, it's such a construct, and that there really is magic when we slow down and stop, stop exerting and and and wait for it to come instead and allow ourselves to receive. That's what I'm practicing right now in a big way.
Kirstie:Oh wow, it's so, you know you can feel like, because you're not running to go get something, that you know you're not working hard enough. You know it's like work harder, work harder, and you can definitely strum up opportunities from working harder, working harder. But, like you said, the real flex, I mean is just like being able to be at ease and be there, and these things are coming to you, like you are attracting what is for you. You know, right, I love that, I absolutely love that. That in itself has brought so much peace to my life. And I know we all view it like, we say it a different way, we view it a different way, but it's the same thing. You know, we were just like okay, I can't continue carrying on the way that I was, like something about this system is broken. The hustle culture and we, I love that.
Kirstie:You call it a masculine energy, because it is like we don't have to compete with men to be first place or being the this is how we carry is women. You know and I say that to him like I'm a woman, I'm pregnant, I'm this far along in my pregnancy and I can't have 15 meetings on the books. I can't do that. I can do one, I can do two, I can do this. I'm a woman, I'm bearing life, this is what I'm bringing, this is what I do, and I'm not a man. You know that masculine energy where you just got to go, go, go, hustle, hustle, hustle, and I love that you bring. Of course, you're a woman, but you don't have to compete with that masculine energy. You can bring femininity into it and be confident about that.
Jessica:You know and own it 100% And I want to make a really important distinction, because both the masculine and the feminine are divine, right, we need both. We have to have both. That's how the universe is created, like the harmony, the yin and yang. You know, we, we need both, and the masculine is beautiful. We have in the masculine, we have protection, we have assertion, we have problem solving and linear thinking and fire and action. Those are beautiful qualities. In the feminine, which is also divine, we have stillness and empathy and beauty and receiving and surrender and letting go and all the things we just talked about. Both have toxic sides to them. There's a toxic feminine who is like a victim and we can blame me and way too much in her emotional drama that she can't get anything done. Then there's the toxic masculine. That's like I'm going to grind until I succeed. Both men and women can fall into both. I think this is my personal statement, but I don't think many people would disagree with me. We are living in a toxic, masculine, patriarchal society.
Jessica:That is about power, control, money, greed. We're all hooked in on an unconscious level. It doesn't make us bad, it's just part of what we're, the society and current state of the world. The divine feminine is very much in her power too. She doesn't play that game. She's unhooked from that.
Jessica:Women I think more than men even are unconsciously wired into the toxic masculine. What you were just saying. It's so profound. You are female, creating life. Right now. We create the universe as women in our wombs. Your pace has to go slower, t he pace of Gaia, of the Earth, the rotation of the planet.
Jessica:You're one with her, we're all one with her. In fact, we've been so cut off from her that we can't feel our own innate desire to root back down and how healing that actually is. We're all running on these hyperwired nervous systems that are not serving us, let alone the collective. That's really my work now in my own life, it's like how do I plug back into being rooted into Gaia so that I can harmonize back to this level of the divine feminine, but it also includes the divine masculine? I'm still going to get shit done. I'm still going to be a leader and an entrepreneur, but not at this toxic level. I think the whole world needs to heal that on many of their own unique levels. I just wanted to clarify that because I think I don't want to demonize the man. Men are beautiful. I love men. I know you do too, and not that we were, but just that there's shadow and light sides to both.
Kirstie:Absolutely. I love that you clarify that. Something that me and Chauncy talk about often is that within femininity and the feminist culture, there is this undergirding of the spirit that you can feel that's so anti not all of the spaces where it's a feminist culture, but you can feel that undergirding of we're against men and this whole thing. I'm like you can be absolutely feminine. You can absolutely own who you are as a woman and not take away from who a man is, while also still being this piece that is toxic and patriarchal. I don't have to lean into this and I don't have to partake in this or partner with this. I love that. It all things in balance. That's really good. I'm so glad you clarified that. We talked about this. You're like I'm going to get into luxury, I'm going to get into abundance, but first this, yes, first. I'm so glad you did that first. Now let's get into your perspective on luxury and abundance.
Jessica:Well, girl, all this to be said, I'm very bougie. I am a bougie bitch. I like things. I like to travel in luxury, I like style, I like clothes, I like beauty. I love those things. They make me feel like a queen.
Jessica:I think that I did a podcast a couple of, or a year ago, on just how to make money like a goddess. I think that was the title of the podcast. One of the tips I gave was that you've got to spend money like a goddess. You have to tip people really well. Like 20 percent isn't enough. I gave a server once a 100 percent tip on a $90 bill. It was $180 that I spent because she was so phenomenal and I was sitting by myself.
Jessica:I went to a restaurant by myself and that move which I didn't do for reciprocity, I just did it because it felt good. I didn't need her boomerang anything back to me. She took care of me at the hottest hot spot of Chicago. It was the hottest restaurant at the time. Anytime I needed a client celebrating a birthday. We created a relationship. She took care of me after that and it was just this beautiful.
Jessica:When you really show up in abundance, you never know what's going to happen. That was a micro example, but I feel like we have to invest in ourselves because we're our most precious assets. We're all familiar with the equity. We invest in stocks, we invest in our houses, we invest in our cars. But you, your mind, your body, your spirit those are worth investing in more than anything. What's going to make you feel good, I think, when you move through the world believing that you are worth it.
Jessica:I don't stay at a nice hotel because I need to prove anything to anybody. I say that because I like the way the sheets feel and I get a beautiful night. I wake up the next day energized and ready to take on that city. I want to be comfortable. I don't want to have to worry about the little things so that I can show up for the big things.
Jessica:I just went to Costa Rica to write my second book. I was there on a three-week sabbatical and I thought about renting an Airbnb. It cost me a little extra money to spend at the hotel, which was a nice hotel, and I thought to myself well, if I spend the extra money, I'm not going to have to worry about what I'm going to eat every day. I'm not going to have to worry about directions around town. I'm not going to have to clean my room every day, like someone else will do it. There we go, not because I'm snobby, but because I'm in abundance and I believe that I'm worth it. And that's because and I want to just follow that example I was there to write a book. I was there to be of service to the world as my work.
Jessica:It's going to create more space for me in the day to write my book than have to worry about running to the store and getting groceries.
Kirstie:I thought about that in advance.
Jessica:I think living in luxury and living in abundance is less about the material and more about your worthiness and what's going to make you show up in your highest light, so that you can be available and ready to serve, to be the magnet that you are Right, yeah, i like clothes. I have a stylist. I like to shop, buy things. I started investing in a stylist about five years ago. She's become my best friend and worth every penny because I wake up in the morning and I don't have to one think about what I'm wearing at stays. Yeah, there we go, yeah, and then I put on clothes that make me feel like a queen when I step out the door and I'm confident.
Jessica:Ok, I like the way I look and my makeup's good, and my hair and my accessories and my shoes, like everything, not every day, but I'm not that girl. That's why I actually love living in Nashville, because I can just like roll to a restaurant with Brian and sweatshirt and no makeup. I love living in Nashville, it's all the things there. But I'm just saying all of this to your audience and to you so that, like you know, we can, when you see a woman like in her luxury, like that's a woman in her power you know, if the energy's right and we should all feel we deserve it.
Kirstie:Wow, that is amazing. I'm thinking what does this have to do with mindset shifts, Like how has it affected your business, you operating this way in luxury and abundance? How has it affected the culture of your team?
Jessica:Yeah, I mean, my team knows my heart is there to support them, to spoil them, to make them feel like, you know we pay a lot of all of our employees like above market, like everyone has got a really great salary. You know we give bonuses when we can, we offer perks, benefits, we host events. You know we, like they have this beautiful office that I have furnished that feels less, you've been to it, It feels less like an office, thank you, and more of like a home. And so I think, you know leading with abundance isn't just about things and money, you know, it's trusting. They have the most flexible work from home policy. Like they have to come into the office one day a week, all on the same day, and the other day they get a choice day and it's twice a week. The rest they can work Monday, Wednesday, Friday from home if they want. We give them two weeks' work from anywhere.
Jessica:Like we're abundant in our culture in ways that have nothing to do with money, right, we're abundant in love. We're abundant in their autonomy. We're in abundance in their empowerment and their growth, and the sky is the beginning, as I often say for anyone who wants it. Like there's no cap, at Simply Be we're a small business and we're growing fast and you raise your hand for a lane to grow, we'll help you get there, you know like. So abundance comes in I, think, in the way that you ultimately act and show up for your you know team, versus what you say, and I think my team feels, more than anything, loved, like, deeply loved, by the leadership here and that's the ultimate, like flex of abundance is that feeling of, you know, so right.
Kirstie:I love that. Basically, you as a CEO and you as a leader of your company, this really flows down and I always say that, like even when I've been a part of any organization. Like if you see issues or problems or whatever, you usually look up at the top and see what's flowing down. But this is your mindset. Your mindset is you know, I'm living in luxury and abundance, but it's coming from this place. It's not coming from this external place of things and stuff, but it's coming from a place of ease and rest, joy, fulfillment, and that is overflowing onto everything you touch. I imagine the well-being of your marriage and relationships as well, and friendships are affected by it as well.
Jessica:Yeah, yeah. Well, you've met my husband. He's the best and we've been on a journey with our finances, you know, 11 years together. He's been killing it when I was down, he's been down when I've been up and now we're like really a team and I just think abundance yeah, it's a mindset, it's not a material thing, and when you have abundance and trust in your marriage and you have abundance and fun in your relationships, if you've been abundance and connection, you have abundance and freedom, like that's what makes life worth living.
Kirstie:I love that because when we met him, I met him in Chicago, but when I really feel like I got to experience him was at your event here in Nashville and I got to sing for that event for you, for you, beautiful ladies. That was amazing. But I just saw him like putting everything together. You just felt like he was just like I have I've got to make sure this is right for her. But it was so sweet, it was intentional and he was making sure the fire was right for the fireplace and the lights and everything. And me and my musician and my husband, we were both like he's trying to make sure he gets this right for us. So it was felt, you know, it wasn't like a I'm doing this because I just got to do this, because Jessica's going to get me. It was like you could just feel that he really loves you. You felt that I was like this is precious.
Jessica:I really love him too. He's the greatest. But you have a great man too. I love the two of you guys together. Chauncy's the best. You guys, we're obsessed with you. When we, I, first met you in my lobby, in my office, I was like is that, Kirstie Fleur? I mean it, like you have a light, you have a sparkle around you and you can see that, you're like you have an it factor really, and you do, and your husband adores you as well, with that same level of like, I just want her to shine, kind of thing.
Kirstie:Yeah, yeah, yeah, there's luxury and abundance all wrapped up into that. Being able to show up, you know, as as how you want to show up as a woman, and feeling supported in your marriage and not suppressed, and stuff like that is gold, totally gold. I love that gold. So, about your philosophy on luxury and abundance, one of the things when I was thinking about this topic was I thought about my grandmother and my mom, but more specifically my grandmother, who we grew up, we didn't know we were poor. It was one of those things where we thought we had everything. We were like, oh, we have everything we need. And so, as I started writing you know, script out and everything, I'm like luxury and abundance.
Kirstie:I always think about my grandmother because she would have the, she would say, the look, she would sew her own clothes. She was a seamstress. She had the best of what she could have for wherever she got it from, you know, from whether she was getting it at like secondhand shops or whether she was making it herself. She made everything feel and look quality, like we never looked like we didn't have. She never looked like she didn't have. And then my mom always wore like minks and like the best shoes and her hair was always, we were just, we were always really well taken care of, really well presented, and not from a place of performance. It was like we, my mom and my grandmother, wanted to see us care about what we looked like. You know so how we built in the inside as kids, it was manifested on the outside and my grandmother always just had this sense of joy and ease and she was just a sweetheart.
Kirstie:And so whenever I think about luxury and abundance, I always think about it has nothing to do with being a baller shot caller, number one. And you know, I'm like, if you can be poor or you can have less than, and you can have this mindset that has nothing to do with material gain and you can actually connect it to the thriving of your soul and things like you know, quality and excellence and ease. And you know they talk about the soft life. Yes, we need a soft life as women. But then there's also the piece you talk about. Well, we got to work, we got things to get done, to get across the line. We can do it and we can look beautiful while we're doing it.
Jessica:So I love that you said this because I was thinking as you're talking, my family and I started going to Mexico for vacation when we were really when we were in high school.
Jessica:So my dad came from nothing to like when my parents were self made, and we didn't start going to travel like internationally, until I was like 17 years old, we would go to, like Wisconsin, you know, for the week, like the holiday, we would take road trips, but finally, when we were late in high school we got to travel. And so, we went to this town, little, this little town called Zihuatanejo, which is like on the Pacific side, and we started going every single year for like years after, actually ended up getting married there to Brian. We had our wedding in Zihuatanejo, but anyway, it's this tiny little fisherman town, right, and in Mexico this is like a middle class town in Mexico, but it's very poor right In comparison to our country, and I remember being there at like 18, 19 years old and like making, having a consciousness that these people who have very little are some of the happiest people I've ever seen, like you could feel culture.
Jessica:They were all in alignment with, like the best values of life, which is family, food, love, music, nature, weather like, sunshine, ocean like. And it dawned on me, it's like they don't know what they don't know, they don't know access, they're not comparing their lives to anything they don't have because they don't see it, and therefore all they are is focused on what they do have and it's enough and it's beautiful. And that's it's like, what you just said reminded me of dropping in and how you know, in our culture in America, like it's, you know, I guess, a great place to live. On a lot of this is a really fucked up place too, on lots of levels, and we just are so hooked into, like you know, a status game and we lose that inner locus of beingness and enoughness. So I just, I love what you just said about your grandmother and your mom. Just it was about what made you feel wealthy and beautiful and abundant. It was. It came from a different place And I just I think it's vibrational.
Kirstie:Wow, that is amazing. Like, of course this is. I have all these thoughts because I've been to India a few times, and Mexico, and those are my similar thoughts in India. I'm like, I, mean, I just felt like a hot mess. I'm like I'm over here complaining I'm living in this five bedroom, almost 5,000 square foot house in Louisiana at the time, and I'm complaining about a couch that I don't have, that I want this certain thing or whatever that I want, and I'm like we're eating rice sitting on the floor, you know, and we're sharing and everybody is happy and they're whole.
Kirstie:Motto is all around friendship and everybody wants to hold your hand, and that you know, it was all about being. You know, like you're talking about right now and something I always talk about is being before, doing like, even like that withness with people, being present with people, and I'm like they have got to drop on something Like they, they've got it, they, they've got it. We're trying to get it. We're trying to make sure that we stay connected to ourselves and to our souls, and they are a beautiful reminder. Other countries, beautiful reminder of being connected to ourself, connected to our soul. Yeah, it's amazing.
Jessica:So amazing, so I love traveling for that reason.
Kirstie:Yeah, absolutely Okay. so what's the number one luxury for you?
Jessica:The number one luxury for me today, girl, is time, free time. Yeah, like that's how I value time. I mean I can talk to you about like my new Nikes I just got like my routine but I, what came to me when you asked me. that's like, if I have a spacious day, that is a little luxurious.
Kirstie:Yes, yes, absolutely yes. Now, only thing I have to say to that is just yes, yeah, I know you get it. So I guess, for our final thoughts here, Jessica, what advice can you give our listeners on how to welcome more joy and success in their life?
Jessica:Okay, i have lots to say about this, but I'll try and keep it concise. First things first. In the most tactical, practical way, you've got to prioritize joy. You have to make time for joy on your schedule. You have to make joy your job, not checking emails and taking meetings on Zoom. So, looking at your calendar every single week, do you have play time scheduled, whatever play, do you have a nature walk? Are you going to dance class? Are you going to block out a half a day to just be with your partner or go out with your girlfriends? Literally, shut it down at a certain time so that you can go do that and make those times on your schedule equally as precious and non-negotiable as your executive meetings that you have on your calendar. Like that. You have to keep yourself accountable to joy, because life will just sweep you up, and that's one. Like that was a huge game changer for me.
Jessica:I was like no, my job is no longer to be the CEO and put out fires all day and hustle and grind. My job is to be in my light and to have fun. Life is fun. What am I doing all this for if it's not fun, if I'm not having some fun? So make room for fun and joy, and I think too, like realizing joy can be simple.
Jessica:Like it's joy, happiness is fleeting. Right, like you're happy when it's sunny, but can you be grateful when it's raining? Right, like joy is an embodiment. Joy is like, joy can come, sitting at home, watching, you know, the clouds move across the sky. Like practicing boredom. Can you be joyful in a moment of boredom? It's really the best. The mundane, the mundane, and then finally just feeling like you deserve it, like joy is your birthright. And we really lose sight of that. We've been programmed to feel like we're being indulgent or selfish, or you know, if we take time out for ourselves and make joy our priority, and so we have to really work on that programming as well. And yeah, that's my word for the year is joy and oh, my goodness, play.
Kirstie:You are definitely embodying that. Ok, I love to see you skipping across Instagram, your videos, and dancing, Like absolutely, love it, love it. So of course, that question is fitting for you, because you exemplify that. Jessica, where can our visionary women on this podcast, where can they find you and follow you?
Jessica:Please come find me. I love Kirstie and I often say like attracts like and your vibe attracts your tribe. And so you're following Kirstie. I'm sure of a similar frequency, and it would be an honor to hear from anybody. You can find me on Instagram at Jessica's Zweig. It's just my first and last name. You can go to jessicazweig. com to learn more about me, and you can go to simplybeagency. com to learn more about my business and what we've done for Kirstie and Chauncy on their branding.
Kirstie:Amazing. Thank you so much for being here with us today. Love you,(love you.) (Thank you for having me). Thanks for listening and joining the conversation today here on The Visionary Women Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode and would like to join our growing community, the FF Social Club, please comment, like and subscribe so that you can be updated on our upcoming episodes and more happening over at freedomfleur. com. To catch the latest from me and to access amazing resources for visionaries just like yourself, please visit me on the web at www. kirstiefleur. com. Thanks again for hanging out with me and I'll see you next time. Until then, don't forget to be visionary.