Ever wished you could infuse more joy into your daily life? Get ready for a dose of infectious positivity as we engage with our vibrant guest, Jessica Eastman-Stewart, owner of Joyfully Managed Life. Here's a woman who's truly turned life's lemons into lemonade, transforming personal loss into a heartwarming celebration of kindness. Jessica's journey from nonprofit executive to inspiring entrepreneur offers intriguing insights into how simple acts of kindness can change lives.
In this captivating conversation, Jessica shares her innovative approach to being a 'mompreneur', her novel ideas to create welcoming atmospheres, and her unique perspective on the profound connections between management and parenting. You'll learn about her annual tradition of celebrating kindness on July 3rd, a touching tribute to her late brother. Listen in as we delve into the ripple effect of small gestures - like leaving books with uplifting messages or covering someone's laundry expenses. This episode is a heartfelt reminder of the power of kindness, not just towards others, but also towards ourselves. So, prepare to be inspired to create your own ripples of positivity in the world.
Did you find this episode uplifting, inspiring or motivating? Would you like to support more content like this? Check out our Support The Show Page here.
Ever wished you could infuse more joy into your daily life? Get ready for a dose of infectious positivity as we engage with our vibrant guest, Jessica Eastman-Stewart, owner of Joyfully Managed Life. Here's a woman who's truly turned life's lemons into lemonade, transforming personal loss into a heartwarming celebration of kindness. Jessica's journey from nonprofit executive to inspiring entrepreneur offers intriguing insights into how simple acts of kindness can change lives.
In this captivating conversation, Jessica shares her innovative approach to being a 'mompreneur', her novel ideas to create welcoming atmospheres, and her unique perspective on the profound connections between management and parenting. You'll learn about her annual tradition of celebrating kindness on July 3rd, a touching tribute to her late brother. Listen in as we delve into the ripple effect of small gestures - like leaving books with uplifting messages or covering someone's laundry expenses. This episode is a heartfelt reminder of the power of kindness, not just towards others, but also towards ourselves. So, prepare to be inspired to create your own ripples of positivity in the world.
Did you find this episode uplifting, inspiring or motivating? Would you like to support more content like this? Check out our Support The Show Page here.
Kindness, we see it all around us. We see it when someone pays for someone else's coffee or holds the door open for another person. We see it in the smallest of gestures, like a smile or a kind word. But it's different when we turn on the news or social media. Oftentimes, what we hear about what outlets are pushing is the opposite of kind. Welcome to the Kindness Matters podcast. Our goal is to give you a place to relax, to revel in stories of people who have received or given kindness, a place to inspire and motivate each and every one of us to practice kindness every day. Hello and welcome everybody to the Kindness Matters podcast. I am your host, as always, mike Rathbun. I have an amazing show for you today because I have an amazing guest. Well, I'll just go ahead and introduce her. Her name is Jessica Eastman-Stewart. Hi, jessica.
Speaker 2:Hello, I'm so glad to be here. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:You are so welcome. Thank you for because you're a pretty structured person. I gather that's true.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Because you own joyfully managed life. That's right, jessica Eastman-Stewart, and okay, all right. So tell everybody a little bit about what joyfully managed life is.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, I've realized, you know, as I've gotten older and into my, you know, midlife years, that my purpose in life is to help more people have more joy and ease, and I think that for me, the way I can contribute to that is by helping folks both get organized at work and at home, because I think that contributes to having more ease in life and also find ways to, you know, build in joy to our lives, and so that's what I do. So I like to create, you know I love to create more of that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. I like to create things that help people do that you know, like whether it's you know figuring out what you want to do in the fall season to have fun, and like really deliberately planning that joy. Or, you know, getting your email account under control if it's creating a lot of stress for you. So those are the things that I do.
Speaker 1:Delete all is not a management tool. No, I mean, if it doesn't stress you out to do that.
Speaker 2:Then you should just declare email bankruptcy and just say we're going to start fresh.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure. So, but before you started this, before you came to the realization that this was your calling in life, your purpose, you were and correct me if I'm wrong you were a nonprofit executive. Is that correct?
Speaker 2:Yes, yes. So I got to lead a team that was doing education policy advocacy.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:And it was. It was an amazing experience. You know both helping build the organization that you know it was a new organization, so building. You know all the structures of the ground up. Well, yeah, doing all of the, all of the you know advocacy work to help try to make our schools better for kids.
Speaker 1:Wow. So, and the only reason I ask is because I seem to be, I seem to have hit upon a theme when I'm looking for guests on kindness. A lot of my guests either currently are or have been in the nonprofit space. Yeah, and I maybe. I mean it's probably by design on my part, although with your, in your case it's not but a woman who started a nonprofit to house pregnant or expecting young ladies who were not currently housed. I had a woman who is the outreach director for a battered women's home here in Minnesota and the guy who's the executive director of an emergency housing homeless shelter here in the Noka County, minnesota, and the thing is they were all in some sort of nonprofit For most of their careers.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, it's not surprising, you know, I think, for For folks who really care about making the world a better place, you know, Non-profits can be a great way to do that. But I mean it's also important that you know you don't have to have your career be tied to necessarily making the world a better place in order to do it and Many you know.
Speaker 2:I'll just give an example. Let's say, if you work for a large corporation but what you're doing is trying to help, you know you know that corporation is doing, you know Real innovation that helps with climate change, you know that that's, that's important work. Or you're helping a corporation, you know the people be better managers within that corporation. That really matters too, because people's manager is a very important part of how you know happy they are.
Speaker 2:You know so absolutely being better managers is important work in the world, you know. So there's lots of ways to do do good in the world, and they don't have to be your, you know. You don't have to be running the local Red Cross in order to feel like you can do good in the world.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah. No, I'm not saying that if you're not working in the nonprofit space, that that's you know you're, you're not a worthy person or something. That's not what I'm saying at all, but what I just coincidental that I happen to have totally people who are in that space on the show. So Now, most people focus when, when, when you're, when you, when you do what you do. They usually focus on One or the other either how to be better management or how to be a better parent.
Speaker 2:You're like I can do all of that, I can just boom, you're one-stop shop and I think I think that's because there's so much, there's so many connections between them. You know. So, you know whether it is. You know, for example, like I think, when running Meetings at work or team retreats, like planning deliberately for how you're gonna incorporate, create safe spaces and, you know, welcome people into with, you know, an icebreaker question or those types of things, like the best meeting leaders do, that kind of thing that those kinds of ideas can be brought into, how family Meals go at home.
Speaker 2:You know like, instead of just you know, because you, if you're more intentional than just saying you know, okay, you know how was your day. You know, if you, instead asking your kids like more thoughtful, you know Prepared questions, you know you might get some more. You know like, okay, let's, you know Pull. You know getting those little conversation cards and pulling on the mountain, saying, okay, would you rather? You know, you know, you know, have no dessert for the rest of your life or, you know, never get to ride your bike again.
Speaker 2:You know and like you know, I just made that up, but you could, you know, asking those kinds of questions like could get you into some more interesting conversations and create more joy. You know, and Just like you know, checklists at work can make things way more efficient and make sure the balls don't get dropped, because we know that. You know, every time we Post a blog or host an event, there's these 13 steps that need to happen. With that, you know, um, the same is true for, you know, um, hosting things at your house. You know, like we actually I just created a checklist for what things to remember when we're hosting people at our house. You know, and I we actually had my son's baseball team over for an end of year party and a season party, and you know, pulling that list out helped me remember All sorts of things like, oh, I should get some sunscreen and set it out for folks if they didn't bring it, you know.
Speaker 2:And oh right, like I should turn on music before everybody gets here. These are things that can easily get dropped the ball before, as you're like scrambling, but that checklist helped me and it helps me at work to have great checklist too, so lots of the things that apply at work or at home can be brought in and kind of applied across. You know, um planning my week at work or having a weekly family meeting, they both accomplish the same thing Getting clear about what's coming up next and who's doing what you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. And Speaking of that checklist for having people over, you might want to get that by the time this comes up. You'll only have comes out and in the late September Our listeners will only have about 60 days before you start having people over.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 1:Oh, you may want to you and and I will say this, that your website is absolutely phenomenal and From the that you put out two emails Is it a monthly and a daily?
Speaker 2:That's right. I put out a weekly and a monthly email.
Speaker 1:That's right a weekly and a monthly, okay, and just on how, how, how you can be better organized, better prepared, better, better person. Really, let's be honest.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's. I love sending those emails. The weekly one is the Friday five and it's just five Kind of tips for life. You know, it's like a little life hacks and you know, like, I got this thing for catching flies and it's really working. So if you have a fly issue, you should probably get this thing. You know, or you know that there's unclean property. You should go look on this website, see if you have some. You might get some money, you know. Or you know, I really read this. I like this book.
Speaker 2:It was great, you know, or some of the podcast episode was really good, so I love sharing those types of things. And then the monthly one is actually for leaders at work. It's specifically for managers and it's just I actually, you know, I do something borrowed something to pursue something bold and something new, so kind of the you know the wedding. You're riffing off the wedding thing that's right, you know, but it's it's just, you know, helping people be better, more effective and happier managers and leaders of good teams. So that's the monthly one, and I love writing both of those and your store.
Speaker 1:Yeah, now are those all your products those are yeah, so those are things that.
Speaker 2:I've created, you know, to help people, you know, mostly because I create them in response to questions. I get you know and, oh sure, so people ask you know, how do I, you know, how do I get my email under control? And I'm like, well, here's my recommendations for you, but I should probably make a little course about how to do that, because but a lot of people need to get their email under control, you know yeah you know, and so it's great.
Speaker 1:I love, I love creating things for people at, speaking of which and this does not apply to me, but I absolutely I laughed for a good solid half hour at world's okayist mom yeah, that's true, I love that mug.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because sometimes you know you just need to be the world's okayist mom, not the world's best mom yeah, yeah, you're not super mom, don't pretend to be.
Speaker 1:You're the world's okayist mom. I saw a book at a friend's house and then said and at first I wasn't quite sure what to think about it said there are way worse moms than you. So it's a title of the book. I'm like I hope like he didn't give his wife that for me. I didn't have time to read it, I didn't. I wanted to look through it but I didn't. It's that's fine.
Speaker 1:It's fine, it's all fine it's all fine and I say that a lot, but probably with your guidance, I could not have to say that so much, that's right.
Speaker 2:So when did you start joyfully managed life about a couple years ago, so in the fall of 2021, I had spent, you know, over 11 years of the nonprofit and was just really ready to spend my time on. You know, I was finding myself like blogging on the weekends about, you know, work topics and home topics and I realized I want to see if I can spend more time doing this, and so that's when I started it, and it has been, you know, quite the journey since then, trying all sorts of things, failing at things along the way and finding, you know, things that do work and help, and I'm having a lot of fun with it that's fantastic.
Speaker 1:I just I love that. I love people starting businesses for themselves. I have not been in corporate since 2004 yeah so I talked to people in their incorporate and you're talking about managers and meetings and this stuff and I'm like I don't have any of that and I'm not really upset about it, that's true, yeah, it's hard to imagine going back into a traditional job.
Speaker 2:I really enjoy what I do, but you know.
Speaker 1:I mean there are plenty of us still out there Totally In that environment. Most people are yeah, most yeah, yeah. Yeah, entrepreneurs are a different breed, aren't we?
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 1:Not saying it's good, not saying it's bad, just different.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's for some of us. Yeah, some folks really like the structure of the job and just don't want to be responsible for all of it, so everybody can choose what works for them, but for me this has been a great fit.
Speaker 1:That's perfect. Yeah, I could see how this would be a good fit. Just from talking to you, both on the phone and here today, you're a total mompreneur. Is that a thing? It?
Speaker 2:is.
Speaker 1:It is. Yeah, I think I just made that up.
Speaker 2:No, I didn't make it up, is it? Well, you could have made it up, but other people have also made it up, so Great Mark.
Speaker 1:So in the middle of starting up a business and you've got a family of your own, you've got two kids right, that's right and your husband and, but you still manage to find some time to show a little kindness. But there's a reason behind it.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 1:yeah, you knew you were going to get to this. It's a show about kindness.
Speaker 2:That's right. That's right. Yeah, so my brother passed away unexpectedly my younger brother in 2015 in an accident, and so it was really unexpected and obviously terrible tragedy. The reality is that most of us are going to deal with losing somebody really close to us during our life, so it's tragic, but also it actually has been provided comfort to me to realize how I'm not unusual, I'm just human and that losing people is kind of part of life, and so Bad ladies.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So about three months after he died it was his birthday and I wanted to figure out how to remember him in a way that would be really positive, and so I decided to just spend that day, which is July 3, doing acts of kindness in honor of him and we use the hashtag Nick was kind, because that's his name, nick, because he was really kind, very funny, and he would have given you the shirt off his back, kind of guy. And so since then we've been doing acts of kindness every July 3. And I've got a Facebook group that folks are that people have joined people that know me, knew Nick or don't know us and they've just found it over time, and so folks join that group and share their acts of kindness around the year, but mostly on July 3, as they do it.
Speaker 2:But it's been so fun to see what people do kind of, and it is really just such a fun way to remember Nick because that day we get to focus on all the kind things that are being done in his memory.
Speaker 1:What a great way to remember somebody.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and he's like so. I mean all sorts of fun things have been done. I mean people have done they actually turn it into like a date night. So they're like we're gonna go on a date that night and the date is all about just going around town and doing acts of kindness.
Speaker 1:You know like what a fun idea you know or we've had.
Speaker 2:A couple years ago I specifically asked you know, everybody that I knew to if they weren't already to get on the bone marrow registry, which just requires getting you know a little free kit and you like, swab your cheek and they keep that on file. And if you ever pop up as a match for somebody who's you know in need of a bone marrow donation, you could do that, which is, you know, a little bit more complicated than donating blood.
Speaker 1:You know it does require you know going to the hospital but it it is still a relatively minor thing, you know it.
Speaker 2:You know takes a couple days, but you know it's it saves somebody's life and so you know a lot of people signed up to do that, which has been great We've. You know I usually am doing easy stuff too. You know, throughout that day, like I'll often pick books that I finished, that I know I'm not gonna read again but have enjoyed, and, you know, leave a little note in them and then just drop them, like you know, at the little, you know Creamer station Starbucks that says like, oh, I'll read book, and you know people will. You know just, you know, hopefully, grab it. You know kids books or adult books and just a little sign that says free book. And you know, hopefully somebody picks it up and is like, oh, neat, and they get to read a note. You know in there that I print out about Nick. Or you know pay for the person behind you in the drive-through or Leaving you know quarters or just a $20 bill at the laundromat to set.
Speaker 2:You know it was a little note that says like hey, here's, you know, laundry's on me today.
Speaker 1:That's one that's a lot of fun ones, yeah, I.
Speaker 2:I saw I was remembering that a friend was at on vacation and so every time they found one of those Elongated penny stations, you know what I mean, or you put in quarters and then a penny and it like stamps it with the location.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they would. They just had a little Tape and extra change and they would just leave, you know, 51 cents or whatever it was, you know, with like a little taped nearby so that if somebody really wanted one and didn't have the change, they, you know, would find it there. Or there you go it's. There's just been so many creative ideas that people have been lovely.
Speaker 1:Yeah, your group is really Creative. Yeah, I love that. I love the date night thing. Yeah, it's so fun, that is fun, and all to honor your brother.
Speaker 2:That's right, yeah, so.
Speaker 2:Perfect way yeah it's, oh, it's just, it's just great, I mean, if folks are like expired by, inspired by this, and want some more ideas. There's a couple of other fun ones that have really inspired me. There's one couple who every year, on that day, they Anonymously pay for ice cream for every, every person that orders ice cream at their local pool. They are then given the ice cream for free and given a little handout that says, like your ice cream is paid for in memory of Nick, which is so fun. There's, let's see.
Speaker 2:But also people just do things like that. They come upon, you know, I remember somebody saying like hey, I was on a bike ride, there was this broken glass and I noticed it and avoided it, but I actually decided to stop and clean it up because I didn't want anybody to break their tire, you know, on this. And so people also just do like just everyday kind things that they couldn't have planned for. But they realize, you know, hey, you know what? Let me take a minute and just like, make sure that nobody else ends up with a bad Day by something that I could easily fix, you know that's incredibly kind, doing something that probably nobody saw them do.
Speaker 1:Right and will probably never know that glass was there. But how many? How many flat tires or or cuts did that person prevent?
Speaker 2:Exactly exactly. Or you know donating stuff, going through the closets picking things to donate. You know it's donating to really strategic things. So you know, for example, my brother liked to play PlayStation and so he actually, when he died, we had his PlayStation and we were like how could we Like put this the use? And we found a Children's hospital that like needed that so that kids could play video games. And so, like, you know figuring out, like Especially, if you've got something like that, like what is the the way that this thing could stop collecting dust and do some good in the world? You know yeah.
Speaker 2:I think can be, can be really fun or like another. Another fun one I did that was easy and low cost was I went and got a bunch of Red box. It's like that movie rental service.
Speaker 2:You can always find outside gas stations and grocery stores and I just went and printed out, like you know, they're only a couple dollars for like a little gift card and and I would just go tape the gift card To the red box machine, you know. So whoever was coming up was like hey, there's a gift card here, you know, you know that I could just.
Speaker 2:Just leave there and so, and I'd write a little note, like you know this is, you know, hashtag Nick was kind and so if they wanted to, they could go look on the line and see if they could find our. You know our group and our story, but you know I welcome anybody to. You know, do those acts of kindness on July's 3rd and or any day, and use hashtag Nick was kind to connect people, because I also think that when people my guess is and I don't have a lot of evidence of this my guess is, when people are the recipient of these acts of kindness, they probably Often are paying it forward you know like it's giving them the?
Speaker 2:idea like oh, that's really nice, you know, you know I just ripples it really does ripples like crazy.
Speaker 1:And you're right. People who are the recipients of kindness, a random act of kindness, whatever it might be, are absolutely more likely to go out and return that kindness or do a kindness of their own. Totally. That's a cool thing about kindness, isn't it? It's a superpower.
Speaker 2:It is. I realized I shared a lot of ideas too that also cost a little bit of money, and I would just say leaving quarters or things like that. But, honestly, one thing I'm a bit of an introvert and so I'm not the kind of person who's out there talking to everybody that's in the store. But I've pushed myself to act on my impulse to say something nice, like if I think it, then I try to say it. So, for example, if I'm in Starbucks and I'm like, wow, her hair is really pretty, I really like those shoes.
Speaker 2:I really you know clearly, like I love how you're talking to your kid, you know clearly you're a great, a great parent. You know like, if I, if I have an idea of like wow, I'm like impressed by somebody or think something nice, like I really try to push myself to say the thing and never once has it been awkward or weird, Like literally every time it's like made me feel better about whatever was going on in my life.
Speaker 2:So I think too, just like kindness can just be, that it can just be like cute shoes across the street. You know, and make somebody's day Because you know if you're thinking it like likely, it's going to like put some pep in their step. You know, and make your day feel better.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and I have told this story. And if there are people listening who have been listening to all of my podcasts which I kind of hope they are, but in this particular instance I kind of hope they're not, because I've told this story a million times I'm very much like you, especially ever since the pandemic. It's like I don't go out into public places. I'm forced to to get groceries so I can eat.
Speaker 1:But, you know, and so that kind of turned me into a little bit of an introvert. But and just like you and you're doing a great thing, you're doing amazing, by the way forcing yourself to do something that you wouldn't ordinarily do and I did something very similar to what you talked about. My wife and I was just before Easter. We were in Walmart, we're grocery shopping, blah, blah, blah, and I saw this woman and she had on the most brilliant yellow dress. It was absolutely gorgeous, and you could not look at that dress and not have this brilliant dress, this big smile plastered on your face. I don't know what possessed me, jess, I don't, but I walked over to her and I said I love your dress, it makes me smile, it made me happy, thank you.
Speaker 1:And you know, that could have gone one of a couple different ways right, get out of my space, creep. Or, in the way it actually did go, she put her hands up to her chest and she said, oh, thank you, yeah, and she was so delighted with that, and that is absolutely that's the definition of kindness, isn't it? You made somebody's day a little bit better.
Speaker 2:Totally Exactly so. Yeah, kindness doesn't need to cost any money or require any pre-planning, it's just acting on your urge to be kind when you have it. Yeah, you know so.
Speaker 1:For sure, absolutely, and you are so kind. Thank you For donating your time today to talk to me. How about that? There was a guy on the news and I can't tell you which station oh, I don't know, it doesn't matter, it might be NBC and he always ends his broadcast with thank you for the gift of your time, and I just love that. Yeah, so I'm co-opting it.
Speaker 2:All right, I like that.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry, man, but yeah, I really do. I appreciate the time that you took to come on the show and talk about your amazing business, joyfully managed life, and I will. I'll have multiple links in the show notes as to where we can find you and your services. And you're the OKist mom coffee cup.
Speaker 2:That's right. You can get that for yourself.
Speaker 1:I could. But I may get it for somebody else, my, our son's significant other. They gave us a grandson last November or so. I don't know if she'd find the humor in that, or she might find the humor Right.
Speaker 2:It's a lot easier when you buy it for yourself.
Speaker 1:If you're a mom, yeah, so yeah, but it's unless you have a really good sense of humor, like apparently you do. So that's right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Travel it or purchase at your own risk. That's right, but all that stuff will be in the show notes and I really do appreciate the time that you took to come on and talk about it and I love uh hashtag.
Speaker 2:Nick was kind that's right.
Speaker 1:Hashtag. Nick was kind. There's a rock garden up here near me and I might just use that on the back of one of my rocks.
Speaker 2:Oh, I love it, I love it, I love it. It's friended around the world.
Speaker 1:I will do it Well. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Thank you, jess, take care.
Speaker 2:All right, bye.
Speaker 1:Bye, bye. What an awesome woman. Jessica's Eastman Stewart Jess because we're like that, now we're, we're buds, I can call her Jess is just fantastic. I'm always intrigued by people who are so organized and detail oriented, probably because I am not either of those things. But, um, but yeah, and also kind to, and using her, her brother's memory, uh, to create kind acts is just fantastic in my book. Absolutely love that idea and and you can do that too Maybe maybe it's your mom or your grandparents or dad or somebody else who has passed away Just create a day to do random acts of kindness in their name and that's a. That's a fantastic idea and that will do it for this episode of the kindness matters podcast. I appreciate you. I appreciate the gift of your time for listening. We'll be back again next week, but in the meantime, be that person who roots for others, who tells a stranger that they look amazing and encourages others to believe in themselves and their dreams. You've been listening to the kindness matters podcast. I'm your host, mike Rathbun. Have a fantastic week.