Episode #20: Purpose, Grit, and Creativity: Building a God-Led Marketplace with Jessy Paulson

Episode #20: Purpose, Grit, and Creativity: Building a God-Led Marketplace with Jessy Paulson

In this inspiring episode, Jessy Paulson from Purpose and Grit joins us to share her journey from private prayers and creative projects to building a thriving marketplace for Christian creators. Jessy opens up about how God shaped her path, blending art, faith, and entrepreneurship to foster a community of over 20,000 creators and supporters. Tune in to hear how her passion for creativity, overcoming grief, and embracing her unique talents led to the birth of Purpose and Grit Marketplace and Gritty Faith Magazine

Links Mentioned:
- Purpose and Grit Marketplace: https://www.purposeandgrit.com/
- Golden Heartland https://www.goldenheartland.com/
- Painted Prayers: https://paintedprayers.org/

**Podcast Show Notes**

Title: Purpose, Grit, and Creativity: Building a God-Led Marketplace with Jessy Paulson

Hosted by: Tina Joy Cochran

Guest: Jessy Paulson

Episode Summary: In this episode of the Joy Led Business Podcast, Tina Joy Cochran chats with Jessy Paulson, the passionate entrepreneurial mind behind Purpose and Grit. They delve into Jessy's inspiring journey of realizing creative dreams, launching a marketplace, and fostering a community that perfectly intertwines faith, creativity, and business.

Key Points:
- Jessy Paulson chronicles her entrepreneurial journey which began with personal arts and crafts projects evolving into a platform connecting Christian creators with supportive audiences.
- The Purpose and Grit Marketplace stems from Jessy's love for various creative outlets and aim to establish a platform for other Christian creators to connect and support each other. 
- Jessy reveals the transformational journey from private prayers and art to public influence, magazine creation, and a thriving community of creators.
- Sharing deeply personal experiences and heartfelt stories, through a book and subsequently Gritty Faith Magazine, opened avenues for intimate conversations and connectivity with the audience. 
- Gritty Faith Magazine evolved from a small publishing also ran by Jessi Paulson into a year-long devotional now available worldwide via multiple outlets.
- The value of “holding space” for people to grow into their God-given potential is a cornerstone of Jessy's philosophy in managing Purpose and Grit.
- The Joy Led Business Podcast emphasizes the importance of God-centered communication, business development, and community building.

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Transcript

Tina Joy 0:01

Hey there, welcome to the Joy Led business podcast. I'm your host, Tina Joy Cochran. I am thrilled that you're here. Sometimes growing a business can ruin your work life balance and make you feel like you have to be someone you're not, but it doesn't have to be that way. Business should incorporate your faith and honor the creative rural lifestyle you cherish. That's why I created this podcast to be your personal business coach in your pocket. Here you'll find Practical tips, insightful interviews, and easy to follow training all crafted to fit seamlessly into your busy life. Whether you're driving, creating, or taking a walk, I'll be right there with you. Now let's dive into this episode and start turning your dreams into reality. I can't wait to share this journey with you. Welcome back to the Joy Led Business Podcast. With me today is Jessy Paulson from Purpose and Grit and I can't wait to share her story with you and the journey that she has been on. That starts with private prayers and private art and ends with a magazine, a marketplace, and tens of thousands of creatives coming together to change the marketplace. Welcome, Jessy.

Jessy Paulson 1:34

Thank you so much for having me. This is a joy to be here and I appreciate the invitation.

Tina Joy 1:39

I'm so happy for what you're doing. Golden Heartland are founding members of the purpose and grit marketplace. So let's start. With that. And then we're going to circle back around to how you end up where are you right now in this moment? If someone would say, Hey, Jesse, what do you do? What would be the answer?

Jessy Paulson 1:57

Today I am leading the Purpose and Grit Marketplace, which is a platform where we connect Christian creators with Christian supporters. People that are looking to amplify and share and shop and support the good work being done by creators. And we feature the work of everyone from handmade creators to business coaches, to authors, to To those that are leading their own individual spaces. May it be in the health and wellness industry or fitness or whatever your sector is. If you are a Christian creator that is looking to help people make connections, we are the platform for you.

Tina Joy 2:36

So how did this all come about? You didn't set out 10 years ago run a platform. Did you?

Jessy Paulson 2:42

No, I've kind of always had the entrepreneurial bug, but this has been a very slow evolution where God has been preparing me over the course of many years to lead this group and to lead this platform. And it's such an honor To be entrusted with that opportunity. So for me, it started years and years and years ago. I've always been a creative myself when I was a kid that, that looks a lot like just wanting to constantly be in my art supplies. I did a lot of collage. I did a lot of, repainting furniture and redecorating my room. And was always bit with that creative bug. And then I, was married at a fairly young age, started having kids and realized that that creativity for me was an outlet and it was a way for me to, to slow down and find hobbies that I really, truly enjoyed that were within me. That led me on this creative journey where I, I wanted to learn more and, and I found myself being drawn to this wide variety of mediums. And for years that really bothered me because I didn't have a set path, I was like, Oh gosh, why does everything interest me, you know, and it's a little bit of a squirrel mode and I get really hard on myself for that because it's like, well, why on earth can't I just pick a niche and looking back now and where I'm at with the marketplace and the things that we've done within Gritty Faith Magazine, which we'll talk about here too I can see why, God planted all of those little seeds within me as to why I had an interest in such a wide array of areas.

Tina Joy 4:12

This is why I had to be part of this community, because the people that I'm called to serve 90 percent of the time, that's what they say. They, they have been told, if you want to be an entrepreneur, you must pick one thing, focus on that, do only that. And they're not designed that way. And that's not really what it is. What I've noticed is. As you look at all of those things, there's a common thread through them. Right? And that's what you're describing. It's like, why do I want all these things? Well, because God designs you that way. He's incredibly creative.

Jessy Paulson 4:42

Yes, absolutely. And my desire to abstract paint compliments my desire to. use the written word and write books. And it complements my desire to dig into graphic design and create the marketing materials that my business needs. And it even complements, my skillset that leans really well into finance. And it's just this very all over the board, map of things that when you really look at all the pieces together, it fits and it works.

Tina Joy 5:13

Yeah. That's how good God is, sometimes the common thread is that it's you, right? The fact that you created it. And so building a platform that allows for people who want to support people who are creating and believe the same thing and have the same values is really, really important. So, were you always an artist? you got married, you had kids, how did that work?

Jessy Paulson 5:39

Even though I was really creative my career led me into banking And that doesn't make any sense, you know, when you look at my background. But it was actually through some really traumatic events that happened. Where I discovered that I was actually a writer and an artist and that happened in, in 2017 my little sister was abruptly diagnosed with stage four cancer of unknown primary and in the matter of four months and 10 days, she passed away from that. For many people an event of that magnitude where you have a sudden loss is life changing. And that's what I experienced is that that loss caused me to reevaluate what I was doing in my own life. It gave me pause and it really created this depth within me that I wasn't expecting. And part of that was grief and loss. in those early days after. We lost my sister. And I found myself late at night, just wanting to hear her voice. And that led me to her CaringBridge journal and reading her CaringBridge journal really evoked this deep desire within me to capture my own feelings. And I began journaling as a way to. have a place for my grief to live outside of my body. That journaling led my family to publishing our first book, which was called Faith Over Fear, Walking Angie Home. And it's Angie's journey through her cancer battle and our journey as we watched her fight and ultimately go home to heaven. That book was published in 2018 and In the years before that, I had had a little creative business with my sister where we would do a lot of what I would call Pinterest types projects, you know a good wide variety of whatever we felt was cute and crafty. And we would do craft shows and we would do different events throughout the year. Right before that book launch, we decided that we were going to open a little occasional store and that little occasional store ended up being the perfect platform for us to share Angie's story. And that ultimately launched everything that you see now with the marketplace, because us sharing our own most vulnerable moments through that book opened up the door for conversations that I didn't even realize I needed. And suddenly I was holding space for strangers to share their stories and to share their hopes and their dreams. And that's a really powerful thing when you start connecting with people on the unsaid things that in most conversations. I live in rural South Dakota, the town that I live in is less than 800 people. Our very first occasional store was actually in an abandoned building that had no running water. It did have electricity. We got to utilize it for free because we were bringing in other area makers. To work alongside of us, and I got the opportunity through that to see how other people crafted and what they were creating and how they wanted to share, their own joy with the world through, through their art and work. And so this little, building, we opened it up once a month and we were like, okay, we're open, this afternoon. Once a month, please use the bathroom before you come because we don't have any facilities. So it was great because, our community just embraced us and supported us and they knew us and it's a perfect place to start building the customer base that it's grown into today.

Tina Joy 9:12

This is such a fascinating story people say why they can't. I can't be a business owner because I live in a rural area. I can't because I have a lot of stuff going on in my family. I can't because I have a full time job. I can't because I have kids. What your story says is yes, you can because God takes pieces out of it and just layers in on top of each other. So for anybody listening who's going, I live in a small town and therefore I cannot have a successful business. How many people did you say?

Jessy Paulson 9:44

It took me years to get a thousand followers.

Tina Joy 9:49

But you have more followers than the town you live in. Yes,

Jessy Paulson 9:52

now, now. Yeah, over 20, 000. Yes. And that's mind blowing to me because yes, way more than, than the town that I live in right now, and the other thing that I want to speak to along with that is, at the time that I was starting out, I had no idea how I could do this because I was working full time. I was raising three kids and I had no time to myself. My kids were young and I had this desire that I wanted it to exist. I simply just wanted my dream to exist in the world, and I knew the only way that I could make that happen was if I started reserving time for it and space for it in my life.

Tina Joy 10:35

Oh, that's good.

Jessy Paulson 10:37

And so I just, what can I do today and it was 15 minutes in my lunch break. A lot of times that's where I started was 15 minutes during my lunch break, okay, I can work on this painting for 15 minutes. I can write some copy during these 15 minutes and then that 15 minutes started growing and I started waking up earlier in the morning or staying up a little bit later at night. I started finding little pockets of time where I could, write in the notes of my phone or. All of these little tricks that you start figuring out because if you desire it that badly, if you know that it needs to exist, you're gonna find a way to bring it to

Tina Joy 11:14

life. I love it. do you think that God placed that dream in your heart?

Jessy Paulson 11:19

Yeah. I know he did. I know he did because the part that I have not yet shared is that a few months after our family launched the book, I found myself scrolling on facebook one day and I came across this organization called painted purse Inc. And I stopped my scroll because I saw this image of abstract artwork that looked like everything I had been creating in my basement for the better part of, a decade or more 15 years at that point. And I, I didn't know why, but it just felt like home to me. And for years and years and years, I had found myself when I was creating those Pinterest y type projects, the signs or, or the porch decor or whatever cute, cute thing it was. At the end of the day, I would get frustrated because it would not be turning out the way that it did in the picture. You know how it is. It was the Pinterest y.

Tina Joy 12:12

Does anything ever turn out the way it does on Pinterest? No,

Jessy Paulson 12:14

it never does. It never does. And I would find myself turning to whatever was on the side of me cardboard or scrap wood or paper, and I would just start abstract painting. And I didn't know why. And I did this for years and years and years. And Then I came across Brianna and her painted prayers program. And what she taught me was that those abstract paintings were my way of using art as a form of prayer when I did not have the words and suddenly All of those dots just connected in my mind because I had an explanation for why I was so drawn to create paintings that I couldn't explain.

Tina Joy 12:57

I love

Jessy Paulson 12:57

that. I love that. And that's how I know that this was from God because it was those paintings that then ignited me to teach workshops to, show other people how to use art as a form of prayer so that they could. Create their own language with God. And it was that painting that inspired the entire line that I have called JHP prayer art in which I share my art and my prayers, on different products. And suddenly, all that past interest that I had to quilt and to, do collage and all of this made because I can do any of that with my art.

Tina Joy 13:31

Right,

Jessy Paulson 13:32

it's really interesting. How God starts moving once you give them the space to do so.

Tina Joy 13:37

Oh, there's a quotable. And one of the things that you said that was, was interesting was you said that the painting became a form of communication when you didn't have the words. Right. And yet, if I remember earlier, you talked about you now publish a magazine and write. So you have both sides when I don't have the words and you now have a

Jessy Paulson 13:59

magazine and lots of words right? Yes. Yes. So once I started realizing that those prayers were filling the gap when I didn't have the words, I started creating more space. to listen and suddenly the words were there, and right now when I paint Every single painting has words that fall on it, and those are what turned into the prayers that correlate with that artwork. And suddenly it's, it's just this really intimate way for me to communicate with God. Because I started saving space for that, I started realizing that, yeah, the words just flow when I let them. And that in conjunction with publishing the book about my sister led me to wanting to share my story more and writing more. And after Andrew's book came out and we started hearing from other people about how their own grief journeys were and their own journeys with hardship where I wanted to hold space for those conversations. And I wanted to have a place for our makers that we were working with alongside in this little storefront to share their work. And that's how Gritty Faith Magazine was born.

Tina Joy 15:08

Wow. Wow. So, and you have a project, also within the prayer art called, Hey love. Tell me about that.

Jessy Paulson 15:16

I do. So the Hey Love project is a desktop flip that is designed to be perpetual and it has little notes of encouragement alongside a prayer art. Prayer and the, the artwork. All of that is designed with my original artwork. The intent of Halo is that it is designed to help you flip the script on your internal dialogue. Mm-Hmm. and I don't know about you Tina, but for me and for my daughters and for most of the people I know, we as women are quite hard on ourselves. Uhhuh,

Tina Joy 15:54

Yeah. We talked about that in a recent podcast episode when we talked about being a joy led business owner. Part of that process is to take thoughts captive and figure out how to shift from negative thinking to positive thinking. I got them when you were sharing them in an email series and it's like, it's a little God wink every day. Yeah. It's really cool. I love it. It's really awesome. So that's available on your store's website as well, right? I think it's fascinating, sometimes we create these things and we go, who would want this, right? It's just me in, in a town of less than a thousand people in the middle of nowhere, and I'm just doing my, you said intimate thing, right? That's just between me and God, right? And then it sold out the first time you ran it and you had to do a second printing of it. I bet the next one will sell out as well. So get a third printing ready. I want to go back to Gritty Faith magazine. So we later on, you have your own products and your own materials that you create through your artwork and then we have Gritty Faith magazine comes into play. So we layer on the magazine on top. Because you have nothing else to do and you're plenty of extra time, right? Gritty Faith magazine. I got my copy recently and oh my goodness, it's beautiful. It's a wonderful magazine.

Jessy Paulson 17:13

Thank you. Actually Gritty Faith, it came about before I really embraced myself as an artist and started sharing products. I, I went through this. program to learn how to teach others how to use art as a form of prayer the way that I was thinking I would just teach workshops with that. I never felt like my artwork was good enough to share with the world and I didn't think that it had any value but I was starting to see that I could show other people the practice of using art as a form of prayer and the value that was holding for me. So I started out teaching workshops and while I was teaching workshops, I had this idea for Gritty Faith. And again, banking background, not publishing background, not writing background, none of those things. I started Googling, how do you create a magazine publication? How does a person do this? Because I don't have any resources. And I got together our first dozen contributors by basically calling in a bunch of favors and asking a bunch of friends and family. And I pre ordered a hundred copies of the very first edition that I Wrote and interviewed and edited and designed myself through some self publishing software. And I just prayed that God would help me find a hundred people that maybe wanted this. And it sold out. And then I was ready to create the second edition and I started selling subscriptions. And at that point we were doing six issues a year when I first started out. It was a lot. It was a lot, a lot. And over the years it has shifted and changed. And I think that's just really important, for those that are looking at taking on a new project. What you envision in the beginning is not necessarily how it's going to turn out. In most cases, it's not even close.

Tina Joy 19:02

I completely get it. I completely got it. I started out as a weight loss coach in a direct selling company with a full time job and the dream was maybe I'll write some books and live in your town in the middle of nowhere. Yeah. Yeah. That's the way it turns out.

Jessy Paulson 19:15

Yeah, it's just different. And it's in a really beautiful way. And so I think that's really the importance of, of starting. Because often as creative entrepreneurs, we get stuck in the perfection and how I have to know what the whole picture looks like before I can start, because how on earth could I ever sell something or promise something or deliver something if I don't understand exactly what it's supposed to be? And the truth is, it's an evolution. We start and we tweak it and God shows us along the way what it's supposed to become and he's building it with us. And I think when you give him the space to do that, it, it turns into something much better than we could ever envision in the beginning. So where is Gritty Faith Magazine now? Yeah, so Gritty Faith now, we publish one annual edition. It is larger and more beautiful than anything that I could have ever imagined when we started. It is designed to be a coffee table devotional book that carries you through the whole year. So we have a section for each season and it's available through the website, purposegrit. com and also through Amazon. So we sell it worldwide.

Tina Joy 20:22

Nice. So it seems like at that point, you would be done, but there's more because that's actually how I became aware of you through Gritty Faith Magazine. I was following what was going on with Gritty Faith Magazine and thinking, I want to be part of that. But then purpose and grit marketplace showed up. So you left some space open in you.

Jessy Paulson 20:50

I did. I had been praying for a long time for God to show me how to amplify the impact of what we were doing within gritty faith. I knew that the stories that were being shared there were important, and I was looking for a way to grow and evolve to help, help those that were sharing their stories within the magazine create a bigger reach for themselves. And after a lot of prayer, many years worth of prayer, to be honest and interacting with several different individuals, the Sparrow's Grace. which was a marketplace and they were geared towards handmade Christian creators and realized that that opportunity was the perfect blend of what I was looking to create. And it gave me a platform and a starting framework that I could then build upon and add in what we were doing with Gritty Faith and get a little bit further along in the process because I had some framework to start with.

Tina Joy 21:52

The journey is so amazing and you're just getting started. So what's next? I normally ask people, how did your faith play out? But I don't think I need to ask that. You don't know that by now. I haven't been listening. Go back to the beginning of this conversation. Start again. So what's next in Purpose and Grit?

Jessy Paulson 22:12

What's next within Purpose and Grit marketplace is just to continue it. To grow and hold space for people. Were just on the cusp of what this could be, and I can see these connections evolving and I, I want to be that resource where Christian creators can come in and know that they're fully supported, that somebody is praying as fiercely for their success of their business. As they are and they have this beautiful community of creators that are right there alongside them to offer them tips and tricks and hold space for the tough conversations that come with entrepreneurship, but also have an audience that's ready and willing to support them. They're looking for what they are doing and they are ready to buy. They are ready to say, yes, sign me up for your newsletter. They're ready to, cheer in the comments. When they see them doing something new and great, and so it takes a while to, to adjust and build a community that's like that, where people are that engaged. But I am so encouraged by what we've done already in these first few months, that I can see that we're headed towards really beautiful things.

Tina Joy 23:25

I want to come back to one thing. I've heard you use the phrase hold space a lot, and I think I have a real sense of what you mean by that, but our listeners might not. So can you speak a little bit to hold space? Purpose and Grit holds space for people? What does that mean?

Jessy Paulson 23:41

I think a lot of places in the marketplace right now. meaning coaches creative spaces, even perhaps like advertising firms are trying to tell creative entrepreneurs, this is exactly how you need to do things exactly how you need to be. And my approach is a little different. It's, I want to hold space for you to grow and evolve into who God is created you to be, what is it that is, pulling on your heart strings that you are supposed to bring to the table right now. And let's give you the confidence and the bravery to step into that fully. I think that holding space can mean a lot of different things. When we talk about it within gritty faith, it's about reserving bandwidth for difficult conversations and for the wrestling of your faith. I, as a Christian never want to tell you how you should think or act or be. I want to give you space to figure that out in your own relationship with God. And if you're uncertain if God exists in this moment because things are tough, tough, tough and you can't see him, you can wrestle with that in front of me.

Tina Joy 24:58

That just is so my heart. It's so my heart and it's so missing in the marketplace. And I'm so grateful that you said yes. To the dreams that God's placing and that you are willing to hold space for God to pour into you. And it's just the beginning. So what would you tell someone who is listening right now to this conversation and saying, I didn't believe something like this could exist. I didn't believe that. I thought I was the only one who thought this way. What would you tell them? What's what should they do?

Jessy Paulson 25:30

I would, first of all, tell them listen to the way that God is speaking to you about your dream and follow his guidance. He is placing the right people in your path to help you along the way. And if you feel a nudge to connect with us further at Purpose and Grit Marketplace, reach out to me. I would gladly have a conversation with you about whether or not you're ready and in a good space to join us. And if we're not the right place, I will tell you that too, because I want you to find what you're looking for. I think that that dream exists inside of you because it needs to be brought to life because there's somebody in this world that is waiting for what you have to offer and they need to hear it in your words.

Tina Joy 26:11

Amen. Amen. So where do we find you online?

Jessy Paulson 26:16

Yes. Purposegrit. com is the main website that links you to everything, including the marketplace. Pretty Faith Magazine and all of my artwork. You can also find us on Facebook under Purpose and Grip Marketplace.

Tina Joy 26:29

Perfect. Thank you so much for what you do. Thank you for being willing to share your story. Thank you for letting me be a little part of it.

Jessy Paulson 26:36

Oh, thank you. This has been an honor.

Tina Joy 26:41

You've been listening to the joy led business podcast. I'm your host, Tina Joy Cochran. Thanks for sharing part of your day with me. You don't have to walk this business journey alone. Discover others just like you at goldenheartland. com. Business coaching community for creative rural women. Faith. Go there to learn more and get free gifts I designed just for you. Be sure to hit subscribe so you never miss an episode and share this episode with someone who could use a bit more joy today. Remember, your business success matters to me and to God. Being joy led will get you there. Can't wait to meet you at Golden Heartland.