The Playbook with Colin Jonov
Formerly The Athletic Fortitude Show.... Colin Jonov’s Athletic Fortitude Show has rebranded to The Playbook with Colin Jonov, evolving from a sports-centric podcast to a universal guide for mastering life’s challenges. While retaining its foundation in mindset and performance excellence, the show now expands its scope to empower everyone—athletes, entrepreneurs, professionals, and beyond—to live life to its fullest potential
The Playbook with Colin Jonov
Jessica Rose Hood: How She Built 4 Businesses While Training For 100K Races
We explore the mindset behind a 100K ultra, the joy of race day, and how flexible training beats rigid plans. The same approach fuels a move from corporate to entrepreneurship, where feedback, periodization and service define success.
• Breaking big goals into aid‑station chunks
• From college half to marathons to 100K
• Race‑day energy vs everyday training grind
• Weekly mileage over strict workouts
• PT, strength training, sleep and true rest
• Periodization across sport, work and life
• Leaving corporate with evidence and discipline
• Building businesses through feedback and iteration
• Using social media as a launchpad without losing voice
• Tools, switching costs and light AI for optimization
• Redefining success as service and impact
• Why anyone can run a marathon by slowing down
Listeners, thank you for tuning in. Tune in next week, download the pod, subscribe to our YouTube channel. Five stars only, baby.
Subscribe, Download, Rate 5 stars only baby! Follow @ColkyJonov10 on all social media platforms.
Talk to me about the mental stamina it takes to run a 100K race.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's like an all-day event. So I mean, a lot of it actually is not running, it's hiking. So the one that I did was in the mountain. So I live in DC, but it was about two hours from DC near Shenandoah, which is um the national park around here. And so it was a lot of up and downs and just mental toughness of knowing that we have so much longer to go. So yeah, we stopped at different points, kind of took a break, but mostly it's just like keep moving because they have pretty strict cutoffs throughout the course that you have to make at the aid stations. Otherwise, you get cut off. Um yeah, it took a lot of mental energy, honestly, more mental strength than physical, probably.
SPEAKER_00:When you're in those spaces, like what are you telling yourself? Like, how do you not focus on, oh, I have, you know, 64 more miles to go? Like, how do you keep yourself just thinking about the next step?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I always think about it, it can't be that hard. Like other people have done it before me. I'm not doing anything revolutionary or anything new. So many people have done this. Of course, it's a small percentage when you look at the people who have done an ultra marathon, done a marathon, but I would say that so many people have done it. So why can't I do it too?
SPEAKER_00:Now, what got you like into running in the first place? Because I think of like the progression it takes to get to running 100K rays. It's not like you just woke up, and maybe you did just wake up one morning and say, Yeah, hey, I want to become an ultra runner.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Or like, how did we get there? Like, what was that process like?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So I started running uh probably like in college. I ran my first half marathon in uh 2028. So I was a sophomore in college. Um, kind of just took up running in college just as a way to stay healthy, but never really thought too much about it. And then I signed up for my first marathon in 2020, but then that one got canceled. Uh, and so I ran my first marathon in 2021. It was the St. Louis marathon, which is where um I went to school. So I ran my first marathon in 2021. So it took, you know, three years for me to decide to go from that half to full marathon because I feel like running the half was fun. It was not too hard, but I didn't really have a desire to go further than that after I did that race. I was like, cool, check off the bucket list. Like, I don't really feel like running a marathon. But then a couple of years later, I was like, you know, maybe I am looking for a new challenge. So sign up for the marathon. I trained for it, it got canceled. I didn't end up running the distance. I was just like, oh, I'll just sign up for another race when it comes. So ran the same one next year. Then after that point, I really kind of fell in love with running. And it was a way for me to structure my schedule and stay grounded and just have a sense of routine. So then I was like, okay, I think everyone says after their first marathon, like, okay, bucket list item, check it off, never gonna do it again. And that's their mentality the day of after they finish. And then about a week later, everyone's like, actually, like it wasn't that bad. Like, maybe I'll sign up for another one. And so then I did the Pittsburgh Marathon the following year. And so I think after that point, I've been doing one or two, I think I guess I did three this year, about one to three a year-ish, depending on what my schedule looks like. And now I think something that I didn't have when I initially started running was running with other people. Now I run with other people a lot. I find it's a good way to build community, especially in like such a big city like DC. And it's no longer like a solo activity for me, but also there's a huge community around it after like the running boom of I would say like the past four-ish years.
SPEAKER_00:So for you, like I think about it for myself, and I don't know if I like myself enough to be with myself running alone for like a marathon. And so, like when you're in your own thoughts in that space for that long, how do you get yourself in a zone to where you're not talking to yourself the whole time? And what are like the maybe the ebbs and flows in that running journey where you're in a zone versus when you're talking to yourself versus when you're distracted? Like, how does that like journey go in in the middle of like a big marathon like that?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's funny because sometimes people ask me, like, what do you think about for all those hours? And I honestly don't know because I just kind of go into like a zen space where I don't even know what I'm thinking about. And for the 100k that I ran, I had intended to like put my uh shock's headphones on for most of the race, but I ended up not turning them on at all. I ran that entire race, no music. I mean, I was with a friend, so we chatted occasionally, but honestly, we were so in the zone that we didn't really talk that much. We were kind of just in our own heads focusing on getting to the next step. So for a race, I would say I'm very locked in. No, I haven't like raced a marathon in a while. I think people talk about the difference between like running and racing. I run a lot of marathons for fun. I haven't trained for one intentionally where I'm trying to run really fast. But I would say I do listen to music generally on like training runs, and that kind of gets me going in the zone and focused away from other things. But I don't really know what I think about sometimes. And honestly, the time flies, but I will say that at least 50% of the runs that I do, and probably most runners would say a similar thing, is that they're gonna not feel good. Only if I do five runs in one week, only two of them are gonna feel good, and three of them are probably not gonna feel that good, but you do them anyways because you're chasing the feeling of the good ones.
SPEAKER_00:So when like you're like, okay, I'm gonna train for a marathon. Like when you are about to run, is it because like you genuinely love it, or is it because you're training, or is it a mix? Even if you're not training to run it competitively, I mean, still being on your feet continuously moving for whether it's a marathon, half marathon, 100K race, like that is a lot of energy and effort to put in if you don't like love it. So, like, what is like the training regimen? Is it like I love this, I want to do this, or is it, hey, I need to do this because it's tough and I'm chasing a feeling?
SPEAKER_01:I think I actually love the race day experience more than training. And so that's why I often find myself in situations where I don't have the time necessarily to put the full training cycle in and I still run the race, anyways, because I love doing a race, whether it's a half marathon, full marathon. I love the race day energy. I love seeing my friends and family on the course. I love like picking out my outfit, I love like taking videos and pictures, like during it. It's a whole experience that it's just so fun for me. So the training is fine. I, for my first marathon, I followed a structured training plan where I was like following a plan and doing the designated workouts. Now I just really focus on my weekly mileage. So when I was training for the 100K, I designed our training plan and I'm not I'm not a certified run coach or anything like that, but I've had enough experience where I kind of know the miles we should be getting in. So I really focus on weekly mileage. So progressing weekly mileage from like 20 miles to 45, I think we got up to 50 miles per week. Um, and so that was my main goal. Whereas like my schedule is so busy, sometimes we're gonna have to skip runs, but I'll make up mileage later in the week. And so I'm not necessarily following a structured training plan. I'm more so going with like, hey, this is the end goal for the week. However, I can get myself there, I'm gonna get there, but I'm not so regimented that it's like, oh, I have these five workouts that I have to get in because my life is so busy otherwise that if I did that, I just would skip them and never.
SPEAKER_00:Do you get like, is the runner's high a real thing? Like, is there a euphoric feeling about the type of distance running that that you do?
SPEAKER_01:I would say yes. Um, I think after a run, you just feel so good and accomplished. I think the race high is definitely also a thing that's different than the runner's high just in general for training, because you just feel so like loved and celebrated and supported during a race by people you know, people you don't know. Like for New York City Marathon that I ran recently, I don't know that many people in New York City. Um, I know a lot of people in DC, but there I put my name on my shirt. And so many people were just cheering my name and like strangers that don't even know me. And you just feel so supported. So I think that is definitely the post-race high. Then I also think there's the post-race blues that people talk about, where like in the week after they're like, oh my gosh, I had this like such incredible experience. Now I'm searching for the next thing of like, how can I have that experience again? And what am I gonna fill my time with in the interim if I decide to take some time off from a training cycle?
SPEAKER_00:How do you deal with that space? Because it's honestly similar, like in athletics, like after a playoff run, after a championship run, after a season, it's hey, I've done all this, I've worked through all this, I've had the excitement, I've had the joy, I've had, you know, the ups and downs, but now it's like, well, what's next? Like, what do I do next? How do I get this feeling? How do I get this adrenaline? How do you deal with that in your own personal life? Because I know you have a lot going on and we're gonna unpack some of that. But how do you deal with that space that the post-rum blues?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so I like to know what's next, but not start what's next. So for me, like after I ran these two marathons in the LK, I was like, okay, I need to have something on the calendar to look forward to, but I'm not gonna start training for that, at least for another month. So I am gonna do a half marathon in the spring, and I think I'm gonna try to like actually train for it and run it a little faster. Um, so I have that on the calendar, but I'm pretty much not running most of November and then I'll start training in December. But knowing that I have that to look forward to is great, that I can almost really soak in the rest of this month. Like I took all of last week off. This week I started lifting again, but I probably really won't run this week. I might do run one or two runs next week. Um, but knowing that I have that on the calendar and that my training will start early December, that inspires me, but also that gives me a whole month to just rest because I think burnout is also a real thing where you go from training cycle to training cycle that cannot be healthy when it comes to injuries. So I'm really just resting. I I love this season that I'm in, but I don't think I would be as peaceful about it if I didn't have something to look forward to to chase the next goal.
SPEAKER_00:Do you have any specific rest routines to avoid burnout, or is it kind of you just listen to your body and your mind on a given day?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so I go to PT every other week, even if I'm not injured. Um, I will say so many good things about going to PT. Um, I've been going for about a year now, just every other week we do exercises, we do hands-on, like muscle mobility. Um, so I would say that. And then something that runners overlook often, I only started about two years ago, um, is just like consistent strength training. I think you can run all the miles that you want, but when you don't strength train, like your muscles aren't used to working different parts of the body there. So that's like during training. And then when it comes to actually resting, I'm just sleeping a lot and like not filling your schedule 100%. I think the past like two months um up until like maybe a week and a half ago, I was operating at like 110% capacity. And now that the race is over, um I'm operating at like 70% capacity, which actually feels very good. And that's going across all areas of my life, not just running. So slowing down in everything, giving myself that season, and then probably come January, I'll be operating at like 110% again. But that's how kind of the seasons work, and knowing that I can do that certain times and also refresh in other times where I'm not at 100% capacity.
SPEAKER_00:I love that balancing the or I actually don't like the word balance personally. I use the word like periodization. Like there's certain periods of time where I'm going to be working over said capacity, but then there's gonna be other periods of time where I'm going to be more rested, I'm going to be working under capacity, which then allows me in a different period of time to be more busy or working harder or you know, in deeper intent with what I'm doing. And it allows me to not feel like what I call a failure in a period of downtime. Um, because I think it's easy if you're, which you clearly are, a highly competitive person, when you're not doing a ton, you can kind of feel like you're wasting time or you're wasting space. But then to be able to embrace periodization, hey, there's gonna be times where I'm not doing as much. There's gonna be times where I'm doing a ton, I think is an incredibly important skill to develop. And where did you learn the ebbs and flows of your own personal life to be able to create these periods of time of, you know, rest and these periods of time of foot on the gas pedal?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, well, I think as an entrepreneur, there's always something to do. Like there's never a shut your computer and that there's no more work to do. There's always something to do that you can improve yourself or your business. So I think learning what is time sensitive now that needs to be done and what can wait, that allows me to have periods of rest because otherwise I would just be going 110% all the time. So I think, like you said, like putting it into periods of, okay, this is the grind season now. But these other things that I really actually am excited about and want to do, those can wait for a month because this is the priority right now, and we need to focus on that. Um, so I think I definitely have struggled in the past with wanting to do everything right now, but I've realized that I'm very young. I have a lot of life and career ahead of me, God willing, that I can wait and it can be a longer process of like, oh, I have all of these ideas. I want to do them right now, but I actually don't have to do them right now. I can wait, do a few now, take it slowly, and then I'll be better off in the long term that I haven't rushed into so many things.
SPEAKER_00:How do you fill up the different buckets like in your life? How do you make sure you give everything enough attention?
SPEAKER_01:It changes every day and every week. Sometimes I don't work on one particular asset of my career or business in a whole day, in a whole week. Um, it really just ebbs and flows a lot. So I kind of look at my calendar for the week. And also, even if I plan something out, it can drastically change. Um, like last week, I didn't have too much on the calendar for real estate. And then I end up writing an offer for a client on the house that we saw on Tuesday, we wrote the offer on Wednesday, submitted it on Thursday, and like that was not on my radar at all on Monday. So I think learning to be flexible is a huge component of like balancing and managing so many things because things can change at any moment and you have to be flexible in order to like achieve your full potential.
SPEAKER_00:How often do you get overwhelmed with everything that you're working on?
SPEAKER_01:Pretty often, but it's very fleeting. So I think I get overwhelmed often. I'm like, oh my gosh, I have so much to do. But then I'm like, okay, it's okay. Let's prioritize the things that need to be done today, the things that need to be done this week, and the things that can wait till later. So yeah, pretty often, but I would say that I've had a lot of experience in being overwhelmed and having a lot on my plate that I'm pretty good at managing the work and like my emotions that come with it, that I'm I don't get too stressed about it, but I like recognize that I'm a little bit overworked.
SPEAKER_00:When in your life did you realize maybe you were different than the average person and you weren't going to be a nine to five corporate job person and that you were more attracted to this entrepreneurial mindset, doing different things, dealing with uncertainty, but really having kind of control over yourself and your own schedule.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I think I've always known that I wanted to work for myself eventually, but I didn't think it would be this soon in my life. So after college, I went went and worked a corporate job for two and a half years, and I have really no bad things to say about it. It was honestly a great job. And I think had I pursued that path, I would have, you know, grinded, worked really hard, and kind of climbed the corporate ladder, which I don't think would have been a bad thing. And I think I would have succeeded at it. But I started doing social media kind of at the same time as started my corporate job, but I truly moved to DC with any of that. And that none of that was in the cards when I had moved to DC. And so it kind of transpired at the same time. And then it came to a point where I was like, well, I think this is my chance to take a chance on myself. And if I don't take this opportunity, I might be stuck climbing the corporate ladder forever, which again is not a bad thing because I was doing well at the company and I liked it. But I was like, this seems so safe. And I think I'm a very spontaneous risk-taking individual, calculated risk-taking, I'll say I don't, I don't do stupid things, but I am a very calculated risk-taking individual. And I was like, this is actually my chance to see if this works. And also having a backup plan, like, if this doesn't work, I can go back to corporate. I also have like multiple streams of income that I will be totally fine if one of them does not pan out. So yeah, I would say that I thought about it going entrepreneurial for about six months before I actually did it. I think in the first like two years of my job, even when I had a small side business, I was like, oh yeah, I'll never leave my job. Like this stability is great. Like I just love making double income and having this side project that is um creative but also provides some income. But then it came to a point where I was like, oh, I'm actually operating at 150% capacity and I can no longer make this work. I do have to make a choice in order to maintain my sanity. And so I thought about it for six months, probably before I did it. And then in the final three months, I was so, so confident in my decision, but I still waited until like that time had come up just to be like fully certain that that was what I wanted to do. And now I like don't look back and it was a great choice.
SPEAKER_00:What evidence had you generated for yourself to make that leap of faith? To say, hey, I'm comfortable enough to bet on myself to go do something that's outside of the norm. What evidence had you made yourself comfortable enough to make that choice?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So from a financial perspective, I wanted to be making the same amount of money that it was making from my corporate job from my side job. So I was like, I'm making the same amount of money. When I quit my job, I'll have 100% of my effort and energy towards it, meaning that I will make more than I'm making now because I'll be able to put only, you know, I've only been putting 30% of my energy because I have a 40-hour a week job. When I'm putting 40, 40 hours plus a week, I definitely work more now than I did when I worked in a corporate job. You're obviously gonna make more because you're putting all of your time. So that was my financial thing. I would say that I probably would have been comfortable making a little bit less, knowing that I would have made more when putting time together, but I think I like fully extended that six months of decision making. And then I needed to make sure that I was, and I knew that I was, but I needed to structure it to know that I was disciplined enough to set my own schedule and be accountable. And like I know that I have those qualities and skills, but I was like, okay, being entrepreneurial, you don't really have to work. You just make no money and don't do anything. But you need to stay accountable to yourself and you're not being held accountable to anyone else. So I guess there was really no like good process for that. But that was one of the things in the top of my mind being like, okay, no one's gonna be telling you what to do. Do you have the internal drive to keep this going? And I knew the answer was yes, but I I guess I didn't really have any concrete evidence that it would work, but I knew deep down that I could keep myself accountable.
SPEAKER_00:Where did that self-belief come from where you know deep down, hey, I can do this. I know, even though I don't have any true proof that I'm disciplined enough to create the structures as an entrepreneur, but I know I have this belief in myself that I'm gonna make it work.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I think um my parents, honestly, they were like from a young age, they pushed me, but also like told me that it was okay if I didn't like succeed. Um, I honestly think like competitive dance instilled a lot in me in that. Um, I don't know if I would uh necessarily put my kids into kill with a no dance these days, but um I will say it got a lot of discipline where, you know, my parents would definitely like push me and they would want me to do do well, but they were also okay if I didn't and I didn't, you know, win the competition. Or same thing with school. I was I was very competitive in school. Um and my dad really pushed me a lot to, you know, make that the top priority. Uh and then my mom was kind of like, it's okay if you like aren't number one in your class. But my dad was like, no, you need to be number one in your class. Um, so I think I had two parents that pushed me, but also like recognized that it's okay if you are not the best at everything, but at least you're trying your best and you are succeeding to the best of your ability. So I would say like growing up, I kind of had that mentality. Um, and I'm also very much a go-getter and I like to execute things very quickly, even though I just said that I think a lot about decisions. When I have an idea, I really plan it out pretty quickly, but I'm not someone that dwells on if uh like if I have an idea, I'm gonna think about all the logistics, plan it out for a period of time, but then I'm gonna try it and I'm not afraid to fail at that. Like I said with the corporate job, like if I left and it didn't work, I have a backup plan, I'll fail, I'll do something else. Same thing with any business idea that I implement. I want to plan it out to a good extent, and then I want to try it, see if it works, and then I'm not afraid to fail. I think my whole career, like I am easy to face rejection, like that does not bother me at all. I don't really care if something I try doesn't work. I just either don't do it again or I fix the thing that was wrong with it and try it again.
SPEAKER_00:Is that something that's innate to you, or is that something that your parents played a big hand in helping you developing that skill set?
SPEAKER_01:I think definitely my parents a lot. But I would say that I kind of probably also had a little bit in me that just like I kind of like to do my own thing. I'm an early child, so I think that also played a role in it. Um, where I was like, all right, like I just kind of do these things by myself and try it and see if it works. And if it doesn't, then we just start over and see.
SPEAKER_00:Is that is that like kind of what helps you deal with like the uncertainty of like entrepreneurship? You know, I know eventually like you do develop some type of like steady income, but at the end of the day, like there's no guaranteed same paycheck coming in every two weeks. It is looking likely different each month, each year, each quarter, but you're trying to evaluate well, what's my actual income going to be? Is some of those innate skill sets that you've developed, and obviously your parents helped a little bit too. Does that help you deal with the uncertainty of entrepreneurism?
SPEAKER_01:I think so. Honestly, the uncertainty doesn't really scare me because the way I've developed my finances, at least, I don't spend based on what I make. I just spend based on what I know is within my affordable lifestyle. So I really never look at my income one month and say, oh, I made this, so I should be spending this much. So yes, the income really varies. Like I can have a really good month, and then the next month I don't really make that much money, but that doesn't really phase me that much. And honestly, it never did in the beginning either because I knew that it ebbs and flows and you just have to sit with that. So yeah, it's just like kind of how I develop my relationship with my finances that I don't base it off of that. I just kind of spend consistently month over month, and I know that it will like pan out to all be the same.
SPEAKER_00:How do you know like when you want to start a new project? Is it something that you're just naturally drawn to, or is it something that's brought up to you and you're like, hey, maybe I could do that? Or do you create time for like creative thinking? Like, where do you get your energy to pick this is what I'm gonna dive into now?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So I don't have any like specific times of year that I creatively brainstorm because my ideas are just always flowing and never ending. And I think the struggle is actually picking which ones to pursue, kind of like you mentioned, like when you know that it's time to pursue a new idea. Um, and I definitely have to restrain myself and hold myself back a little bit because I know that if I dive into something new preemptively before I've really matured all of the other things in my business portfolio, I know that it's not gonna get the time it deserves and it won't succeed. I've definitely had to practice a lot of restraint in that area. Um, so for example, I just started real estate this summer and that has been a great journey. But I have like a few more ideas of things that I want to do completely unrelated to that. But I know that that is not something that I can do in the near term because I'm really still building a new career. So I have like a list of like things that I would like to do in the next like 10 years, but also I know that none of those things are gonna happen very soon because also building businesses takes finances. Um, and everything I've done up until this point has been self-funded. Um, I would not be opposed to like getting investors for maybe a larger project, but I think right now, like the self-funded business has been working pretty well. Um, and so I have like bigger ideas that will be down the road, but I think I have to restrain myself and know that like it's not the time. And so I at least with every new thing I start, I give it a full 365 days to see if it works. Um before I even do any evaluation. Like I can't even tell myself that it's failed before it's given 365 days for like a larger thing. I mean, if it's like an event that I host, like I'm gonna evaluate it in the moment, make changes, host it again or not host it again. But if it's a larger career like real estate or the race that I ran or the race that I created, I give it a full calendar year to see if it succeeds. I don't back out at the first failure.
SPEAKER_00:What does like your daily schedule look like? And what does your weekly schedule look like? Because I know each day might look a little bit different.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so most days do look different. Usually a lot of my day, maybe surprisingly, is answering emails, which I would say I'm very good at and efficient at. I do like keep a zero inbox. So I make sure I either respond to everyone or file it away if it's uh a completed thread. Yeah, responding to emails is a lot because that encompasses all parts of my business, real estate, photography, races, social media, like everything is housed in one. Well, I was gonna say everything is housed in one email, but that's not true. I have like five emails, but to that respect, I do like categorize everything in my email. So that's a lot of my day. And then I would say I go to showings of houses, probably like it depends on who I'm working with that week. But sometimes with clients, we'll see six houses in one day, or this afternoon I'm going to see one house with one client. Um, so I'd say like a few of those throughout the week, and then probably one photography gig per week. So this past weekend I did Christmas card photos, and then kind of the marketing that ties into that is like, okay, I did this once, um, went really well. Now I want to do it again. So then that ties into the social media portion of like, okay, I need to promote that I did this, it's really successful, let's do it again. Um, and so then a lot of the time is sitting at my computer or on my phone. I said I spend so much time on my phone um editing content and planning content out. So not only do I manage um my socials, but I also have a client that I manage their socials in their running space. So I send them like a weekly update of all the posts that I'm gonna be doing, and then the same thing for the Brace the Perimeter account. I manage the social for that as well. So a lot of time in CapCut, a lot of time at my computer in Lightroom editing photos, and then going to places in DC and filming for content or showing people houses. So I would say I have like two to three things per day that are out and about in DC and the rest of my time is spent on my computer at home. Sometimes I'll go to the office, like if I'm like in between things. Usually I have one office day per week at my brokerage because I love to like learn from other people. So I try to go one full day a week in person in the office. And other than that, I'm yeah, I'm in up in the car a lot of the time too, because getting from place to place. Um, but I do try to make the car time productive by either like answering. I take a lot of calls in the car too, or sometimes listen to podcasts. But yeah, it's a it's definitely like that's kind of what it looks like on the weekly, but I don't really have weekends because I'm working every day, which doesn't really bother me too much. I definitely do have periods of rest, like Sunday mornings. I'm not working. I go to church every week and from like 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., that's my block where that's like a no email responding, no social media, no showings, no events. Like that's my one block per week. Um, and it's busy because I'm like in person with people. So it's not really like a solidarity time at all. Um, but other than that, I would say I'm like working seven days a week for you know 24 hours minus sleeping and church, pretty much.
SPEAKER_00:How much of this feels like work and how much of this feels like play to you?
SPEAKER_01:I think I have to keep the mentality that it is all play because otherwise I will get too wrapped up in the success of it. Um, so I like to think of all my work is very fun and like I love everything. One of my friends was so surprised when we were we were going through like a devotional and we were talking about how like work is, you know, um difficult and like not joyful. And I was like, well, I actually like love every single day and I love my work and it's so joyful. And she was like, Yeah, that's because you get to pick everything you do. You don't have anyone telling you what to do. And I was like, Yeah, you're right. Like, I don't do things that I don't want to do. I have gotten good at saying no. Uh, I really don't take on things that aren't gonna bring me joy. And I'm lucky to have the privilege to do that because if you're working in a corporate job, you can't really just say no to your manager. Um, and of course, I have people in my business that are, you know, clients and people that are, you know, the people that I need to report to. So I do things for them that they asked for. So that is maybe like a small portion, but it's not consistent, like this one person is telling me what to do all the time. It's working together with people to develop a mutually beneficial end goal. So I have a lot of freedom and liberty of what I decide to put on my schedule and what I decide to not.
SPEAKER_00:You've mentioned a number of times, you know, the word success is failure. What is your measure of success in these endeavors?
SPEAKER_01:Um, I think the impact that I make on individual people's lives. So I think that is mostly qualitative of people will DM me about like whether they um got started with running, they ran their first half marathon, um, or like being a foot photographer for someone's special event or like how that made an impact, um, or like helping someone find their like dream home or selling their home. Like, I think that to me is my measure of success is people's qualitative feedback of how I've served them. So as Many people that I can serve well as possible in these different areas that I've been gifted with skills. That is my end goal. So to reach the most amount of people, but also not just in terms of reach and them seeing my page once, like that doesn't matter to me at all. It doesn't matter how many followers I have unless I make an individual impact on a portion of them.
SPEAKER_00:Now, do you get involved in comparison at all? Being in that, I know you're not just a content creator, but being in that content creator influencer space, do you ever find yourself caught in a comparison trap?
SPEAKER_01:Honestly, no, because I know that I am very unique in a lot of the things that I do. Um, I think there's like areas that I'll compare, but then I have to remember like, well, I'm doing all these other things too. So I can't necessarily be the best in this one thing because I like to have a diverse portfolio. So I would say maybe earlier in my content creation journey, yes, I would say now it really does not faze me or bother me. I try to um, I think I heard someone say once, like, when Michael Phelps is swimming, he's looking ahead, he's looking forward, he's not looking at the other people. So um, of course, I love supporting other creators and like them doing their thing. And I always will cheer other people on doing what they love. But for me, I'm pretty much like heads down, do what I do well and don't really worry about um the outside noise.
SPEAKER_00:How surprised are you if we started?
SPEAKER_01:Definitely not predictable. Um, when I started social media, I didn't intend for it to be my full-time career. I thought it was just like a creative outlet because when I was working in finance, I didn't really have that creative outlet. Um, so I didn't expect for it to be my full-time job for sure. But then once I realized that it was a business and not just a side hobby, then I knew that I was going to do it and I knew that I was gonna be good at it because I was like, let me like put my full 100% effort towards it. Um, and then in terms of the other types of careers that I've taken on, I had no expectation of that. Photography, I truly rented a camera for New York City Marathon weekend when I was up there for the weekend. I was like, let me like try to take photos. Um, I had never used a professional camera before. All my content creation experience was on my iPhone, still mostly is. Um, and I was like, let me just try to take photos. And so I rented this camera from like a local camera shop. And I was like, I'll just take photos for my friends and like if they like them, great. If not, like it's a hundred bucks, like I'll return it, whatever. Um, and all my friends and random people um I took photos of really liked them, and they were like, oh my gosh, yes, like you have to buy this camera. And I was like, you're right, like I have to buy this camera. Um so then I bought the camera and it was obviously a very large investment. And then after that, I was like, okay, I bought this really expensive camera, I need to use it. And so I just did so, so much practice at events and with people like for free for a long time. I think a lot, every single career that I've been in, you have to work for free for a while until you get paid, but you know that it'll pay off. So you're like, oh, I'm doing this now for free. I need to build my portfolio, I need to build my client base, but it will pay off in the end. So I think that's something a lot of people struggle with is they want to make money immediately. Um, you have to do a lot of things for free before you actually make money. And now I don't really do many things at all for free. But I would say that I uh had to adopt that mentality. So with photography, I just took a risk and then I decided that it worked out and let me let me try and evolve that. Um, and then the same thing for real estate. That actually came about because I was just um feeling not challenged in my business. I was like, okay, I've got the social media thing under wraps. At that point, I've been doing photography for like a year and a half, and I was like, I have my clients that I love to work with. Um, I know exactly what type of photography I like to do. Like I'm no longer experimenting, I have that under wraps too. And same thing with the race. Like, I was like, hey, we've done this for a year and a half. Like, I'm gonna repeat, rinse, and repeat, do it again. Nothing new was challenging me. And I am someone that needs a challenge all the time, otherwise, it gets boring for me. So I started doing the online coursework and I was like, this is what I'm gonna pursue. But truly, I have to be challenged all the time, or I will get bored. Um, I still love the things that I'm doing that I know how to do really well, but it's not difficult for me. Making a video for Instagram is not difficult. I still like it, it's really fun, but I know how to do it and it's not hard. I wanted to solve a puzzle that actually challenged me. So that's kind of like how each new thing came about is that the things that I've already mastered, I've got under control and I know how to manage them. I need something new to be difficult.
SPEAKER_00:I wrote this piece the other day about how most people try to chase their passions as opposed to focus on just getting really good at something. And I think kind of what you articulated fits into that narrative where it's, hey, I didn't know I was gonna be a photographer. I didn't know I was gonna get into real estate. But as you do these things, you increase competency, you use the word mastery, you've mastered these things, and then they become more of a passion project for you. What started as a creative outlet, then becomes your profession further, you know, invigorates that passion, similar with the photography, with the real estate. And I think it is really good alignment with what most people should be doing is start just getting really good at something, and then the passion will follow suit.
SPEAKER_01:Yep. Yeah, I totally agree. I think whenever people ask me advice, especially in social media, they're like, How do I get started? And I tell them you need to do it. You need to make a ton of videos, you need to post them, you need to see what works, you need to see what doesn't. You need to actually execute on the thing and learn how to be better at it and be good at it. Um, and then you'll slowly figure out what you personally like doing best, what your audience responds to best. But until you actually try it multiple, multiple times and you can't give up after 30 days. Like it's gonna take a grind of consistency. Uh, that's how you are successful.
SPEAKER_00:How many hours do you think it took you before you were like, I got this? Like this, this, I got this down to mastery.
SPEAKER_01:Or like video.
SPEAKER_00:I would just say, I mean, you can go a domain by domain if you'd like.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I would say for social media, um, I'm still getting better at video editing, but I think I have it, I have it down where I say maybe it took like a month of knowing how to uh curate a video that someone will watch. And then of course there's smaller techniques that you learn over time to enhance your videos, whether that's visually or like storytelling. Um, but I would say like it took me about a about a month, which maybe seems like a short period of time. But I think I learn best by feedback and social media has plenty of feedback for you. So free feedback. So you you learn by feedback and you take that into account and then you optimize for it. Um, and I'm still doing that. Like you still take feedback, you're like, oh, this video didn't perform as well as I thought. Maybe it was a good concept, but I didn't, I wasn't a good storyteller on it. So like I'm gonna try that again with the same concept, but I need to tell it in a different way. So I think it's a constant repetitive process, but I know now what to look for when evaluating if something did good or not. And same things for uh, I would say photography, it's mostly just like client-based. Like I ask people, like, do you like these or do you not? I need to know. Um, and if you don't, I'm happy to fix them, whatever editing you need me to do, but I need to get better. Um, I would say that's definitely more like in the in the beginning I did that. I don't do that as much now, but I will ask, I always ask people for feedback. Um, even with the race that I host, I always send out a runner feedback form. And I'm like, please give me all your feedback, good and bad, because I want to make it a better experience for everyone. So I think sourcing feedback and being good at receiving it is key. It's it's so important.
SPEAKER_00:That's true in any domain is getting that feedback. We use or our natural response to feedback is, you know, it hurts. It feels like it's an attack on us personally, but in reality, without feedback, we can't get better. We can't grow. Did you have a process to learn? Like, where did you get that desire for feedback?
SPEAKER_01:I think I initially would get my feelings hurt by comments that people would make. And then I quickly learned that if I'm gonna do this, I have to grow very thick skin and evaluate each individual piece of feedback and if it's valid or not. Because some feedback is totally like out of left field, and you're like, I know that this is not valid. So I think learning to evaluate feedback and like be vulnerable with yourself and be like, oh, maybe that was like a bad experience for someone. Like that was a really limited time that they got to do this. Like it should have been a longer event or it should have been shorter. Like you actually think, like, oh, maybe I think that I know best, but let me put myself in their shoes when they're going through the experiential process. Like, how did that like how did that experience go for them? So I would think that initially I did get my feelings hurt, but now I know that it's only to improve my business for myself or for others. So I'm very open to feedback and I think it still hurts in the moment, but I would say that it takes me about five minutes to get over it and learning to get over it quickly because you're like, oh, actually, like you're right, like that is an area for improvement and I'm gonna do it next. And I also will make adjustments to better uh my communication style. So if I get a piece of feedback on um like a photography event that I have, even if it's just one or two people, like out of you know, 50 people that have that experience, I'm gonna go back to the event description and put it in the event description because it's something that I didn't think of before, but it was a common question after. So that way people know ahead of time this is how the event is set up. Don't expect something different.
SPEAKER_00:I wish I remembered where I got this advice. It wasn't told to me directly, I read it somewhere. But it was when you receive feedback, if it's positive feedback, right, find the lie in it. And if it's negative feedback, right, find the truth in it. And I'm paraphrasing there, but at the end of the day, it's like when somebody says something that's you know, putting you up on a pedestal, find the lies in what they're saying. And when somebody's giving you really critical feedback or attacking you, it's find the truth in it. And from like an athletic standpoint, it can be really beneficial to help you deal with not only like coaching criticism, but like social media, because the social media landscape for athletes right now is pretty toxic. Right. And you develop that skill set, like you articulated of hey, I I know it's out in left field, that doesn't apply, but certain things or certain people, when they say something, if I don't like it, well, let's find the truth in it. And you obviously don't want to spend all your time sitting in the pole of feedback and negativity, but learning how to redevelop your relationship with the feedback that comes, that's necessary to improve, and that's necessary to keep you in the right mental state to be productive in your own space. And I I do think it is a it is a skill and it is needed to be practiced and developed over and over again. It can feel overwhelming when you first start.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, totally. And I think it really, you kind of alluded to this, it depends who it's coming from. Um, so if it's someone you really trust, like obviously you're gonna take their feedback. But if it's a random stranger from the internet just commenting something nasty, like maybe you'll evaluate it for a second, make sure it's something that you don't want to dive into further, but then you're gonna dismiss it and be like, okay, well, they don't know my character, they don't know my intentions with this. It just was a communication gap. So I would say really definitely depends on who it's coming from. And I think I've taken that into account too.
SPEAKER_00:How do you avoid getting in that cesspool of negativity? Like, do you have a catch yourself? Do you have like a process of like, oh, hey, I'm spiraling here. I need to get out of this.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So I just don't open myself up to that environment really at all. If someone comments something negative, I don't respond. I I'm never going to defend myself or fight back to anyone because there is really nothing that I can say that's gonna change someone's mind about me. I don't really feel the need to ever defend myself, other than like if it's like a personal relationship thing of someone I know in person and I get a piece of negative feedback, like, yes, that's something we're gonna talk through. But if it's just some random stranger from the internet, I'm not gonna fight them on that. Um, so I don't dwell in negativity very long. But if there is something that I need to address, I'm very communication forward um where it's like, hey, like let's talk about this thing. This is why this was unsuccessful. Um, let's see how we can improve it for next time. Um, but I I don't I don't dig into any of that. Like I don't go on Reddit, like none of that. Like none of that will ever enter my enter my sphere ever.
SPEAKER_00:How do you use being an influencer or content creator to launch your other businesses? Like where's the parallel and how do they work together?
SPEAKER_01:I think that is um everything. I think uh at my core, I am a marketer. Um so I think that the fact that I've developed this platform is is a great launch pad for any new thing that I want to create. But I don't think it's it's necessary if anyone wants to start a new business. I don't think you have to have a social media following before you can start a business, but I do think it's a component that if you would like to be successful long term, it's a great way to reach people. But I think, yeah, I launch all my new stuff on my personal page. And then from there, sometimes I create additional pages. Like for my race, I created an additional page because I don't want that necessarily to be about me. So I wasn't gonna host it on my personal page, but I'm gonna use my personal page to promote it. Um, for like other businesses that I do, like real estate and photography, I had to make a decision when I started those if I wanted to start a new Instagram account specifically for that, or if I wanted to house it in my main personal account and I chose to just keep it, everything together because I just wanted to leverage my whole brand. And if someone doesn't really care about real estate or care about photography, they can just skip over that stuff. And if it gets too annoying to them, eventually they can unfollow and that's really okay. They may come back if they see another video that they like, but I'm not really ever concerned about losing people because the people that will stay, and that's probably where I'm gonna do most of my business in relationship building. So I'm definitely cautious of like if I'm posting too much about one topic during a certain period of time, I really try to maintain variety. So when I'm planning my content, I have the different topics like color-coded. And if I see, oh, I've posted like four real estate videos in the past like two weeks, like that's probably a little bit too many. I need to refocus and make sure I'm not abandoning the people that really care about my running content or the people that really care about my just like lifestyle, personal content. Like I really try to maintain a good mix because I never wanted to seem like, oh, she totally shifted her brand. Uh, it's not something I signed up for. Like, I'm out. So I really want to maintain a lot of things where everyone can find something that they're interested in on my page. And if they stick around for the other things, great. If they scroll past them, if they unfollow, like that's totally okay with me.
SPEAKER_00:Your organization has to be insane.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I I'm very good at task management and organization. Like I said, I keep a zero email inbox. I actually do my to-do list in my notes app, um, which I feel like that's probably a hot take, but I like write out um I'm a big notes app person too.
SPEAKER_00:So I'm glad you said that.
SPEAKER_01:The only problem with it, I will say, is it is uh disappearing because I don't keep. So I have my weekly to-dos every week, and once it's done, I delete it, which honestly I wish I had record of some of the things sometimes because I just delete and like redo for each week. And that has been like a very great task management system. I have this thing called Asana that I do my um content calendar with. Uh and then I manage all my website and all business sales through Squarespace. Um, so I've really just taken all the platforms that I use. I actually was gonna look into this the other day, like all the subscriptions that I have and all the platforms that I use because I use so many to manage all these different things. But I've really gotten to know these platforms well and know how I can optimize them for my business.
SPEAKER_00:How often do you switch apps? Like, how hard is it for you to actually like switch and app be like, yeah, I gotta try something new here? Do you stick to your bread and butter?
SPEAKER_01:I the switching cost is high. So I I think it would be very difficult for me to switch like website providers, even though like Squarespace uh honestly doesn't have the best, like they have pretty hefty fees. To me, I'm like, well, I mean, everyone has fees, but I think I've researched other options and I'm like for me to move all this over, like just to move it, also to learn a new platform, like that's not even worth the cost for me. But yeah, I've like edited all my videos on Cap Cut forever. I use Lightroom for all my photo editing. I'm a big Canvas subscriber. Uh, I use that for so many different things. And then of course, like I've definitely started to use uh some AI for some things in the past couple of months.
SPEAKER_00:How helpful has AI been for you?
SPEAKER_01:So I like to use it as a launching pad, but I don't use it to really write anything. I'll use it for ideas or if I'm like, oh, like what is this one thing that I'm looking for? Like, I actually don't use it for a ton of creative stuff, but I'll use it as a launching pad for like getting me started and for like task automation. So one good example is like when I'm going on showings for properties. I'm sure there's an external app for this, but I will just put a plug it into Chat GPT and I'll say, hey, here's these five properties we want to see, create the optimal driving route. So we're not driving all around town. Like, how am I gonna get from one place to the other? What order should we see them in? So just like small optimization things like that. But I think it is definitely a good tool for people to have. But I I don't believe in over reliance on Chat GPT because I think that will um dilute your personal brand.
SPEAKER_00:Now, how I guess a better way to phrase this question is like, where are you going? Like, what are your goals? What do you ultimately like want to achieve? Like when you examine your life 50 years down the line, how are you examining a white a life well lived?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I think uh kind of mentioned it a little bit earlier about the impact that I'm making on people. So um I wish that I had kept a list of like DMs that people have sent me or just like personal feedback really positive that I've gotten, because I think that's definitely the the true way that I measure impact. But I think I would like to look back and see like a diverse career. Um, I'm very, you know, entrepreneurial. I hope to start a lot of businesses in my time, but I think I don't really know what where I'm going, honestly. Like I can look forward to the next year, and then that's kind of about it. Um yeah, I really don't know because I'm super open to where this takes me, but I have no set path that I'm looking towards um in the next 10 years. Like I think for me right now, the the big thing is continuing on the real estate path while maintaining the other things that I'm doing. But beyond that, I I don't know, but I want to leave the opportunity pretty much like a blank canvas.
SPEAKER_00:Awesome. Now you said not everyone can be an influencer, but anyone can run a marathon. Yeah, I think you're gonna need to give me a little bit more insight on that one because I don't think I could ever, I don't know if I could ever be either, but I never running a marathon in my life.
SPEAKER_01:I disagree. I think that anyone truly can run a marathon because I think that marathons are probably 85% uh mental and probably 15% physical. I think a lot of times people think about running in general as going fast. You'd be so surprised how much farther you can go if you slow it down a little bit and almost take it like a jog. Yes, it's more time on your feet, it's gonna be a little bit more exhausting overall, but I truly think that anyone can just go out and run a marathon if they're in like decent physical condition. But also at the same time, you see people at these races who have like disabilities like they've lost legs and they're out here running marathons. So then I'm like, well, if they can do it and they are at such a like physical disadvantage, but they're still putting their mindset to it, like, why can't anyone else who's stable bodied do it? So I truly think it's it's very mental. And there's people who are rock stars and do it with so many different like conditions that you just see all these stories on Instagram, like the New York City Marathon, especially. Like you're just like crying, being like, oh my gosh, these people like are overcoming these things and then they're running marathons, and then me, like a normal, very like healthy person, like I should be able to do that because like these people who have overcome so much adversity are doing it. And then yeah, on the influencer side, I don't think everyone is meant to be an influencer, mostly because I think a lot of people don't understand what they're getting themselves into when they go out to be an influencer because it is such a public uh life and image where you really just sacrifice a lot of your like privacy for forever. Like it's not anything you can take back either. I can't one day just decide that I'm not an influencer anymore because I'll still get recognized on the street like every day because it's already out there. So it's like I can never take that back. And I'm so thankful that I have it and I don't, I wouldn't wish to take it back. But I think a lot of people don't realize how much of your life that you're putting out there. Um, I would say it's a little bit different if you're doing like a specific niche where it's not so much about you, but if you're making personal content about your life, and I wouldn't even say that I share like too much personally, like I share about my running, I share about my business and stuff, but I don't share a ton of like personal stuff. But even then, like you go on the street and you meet people, which I love meeting people. It's so funny though, because they know so much about you and you know nothing about them. And you're like, this is awesome, but this feels unfortunate because I would love to know more about you, but I just haven't had that experience where I've been able to follow your social media where I don't I don't know everything about you, so I have a lot of questions, but then they have either watched for years or they've like been become a recent follower, whatever. Um, and you're like, that's so awesome, but it it's it's kind of a an imbalanced um potential relationship.
SPEAKER_00:That's that's really cool. The biggest hiccup for me with the marathon stuff is I have zero desire to do it. And I am like like But you could. I could I think I could, right? Like I think I could. The thing is, I think I'll die having never run. I don't know if I'll ever run another mile in my life, if I'm being honest with you. I'm a sprinter. So like like I just like to sprint and jump and like lift weights. Now, I will say my listeners are gonna get tired of hearing me say this, but for the last probably like five months, I'm looking for like a new physical challenge, but I've written off pretty much all the main ones because they're not of interest to me. Like, I don't want to run marathons, I don't want to do CrossFit. You know, I thought about this high rock stuff, but probably not. I was gonna say that if you didn't already so like I have to look more into the high rock stuff. Um, but like I I am I'm constantly looking for like a new physical challenge, something to train for. Obviously, training to be healthy, like I enjoy that. I love you know building strength. But at the end of the day, like there's something different to train for something. There's a different, like, you know, going back to that euphoric feeling, like to train for something, to train for a competition, to live in that adrenaline, it's a different type of feeling. And I've been searching for that for a while now.
SPEAKER_01:I yeah, I think Hieron might be your might be your a good vet there.
SPEAKER_00:I know. I got I gotta learn more about it. I don't know enough about it, but it's something I gotta do, something.
SPEAKER_01:You know, yeah, I think that could be a good one. It's a good, it's a good hybrid athlete um mix of like trying something new in the running space, but the intervals aren't that long that you're not really doing endurance long distance running.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, maybe, maybe this is my ticket. I'll have to I'll have to check it out, and then I'll have to uh debate in my head how competitive do I want to get with it because the competitiveness I am when I do something, I I have to be like all in with it. Um I struggle like with not trying to be the best at whatever I'm doing. And so that is like another thing I have to weigh in Marissa will we'll see how much she can deal with it when I'm like, yeah, hey, no, sorry, I gotta go train.
SPEAKER_01:And yeah, and you've got a family too. So you've got a lot of priorities.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, those kiddos, man, they love to to eat, eat up our time, but it's the greatest, the greatest joy to have it in our lives for sure.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I'm sure.
SPEAKER_00:But hey, I can't thank you enough for for coming on. This was really fun. I'm glad my wife told me to reach out to you. If there's anything in particular, or if someone wants to reach out to you, there's anything you're working on, you know, how can my listeners get a hold of you? How can they reach out to you?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, totally. So you can follow me on Instagram at Jess Rhood. Um, and my website is jessicarosehood.com. And I would say I'm very fast at responding over email if you have a direct inquiry. Uh hello at jessicarosehood.com is probably the best, most efficient way to reach me. If you DM me on Instagram, it may slip through the cracks. Um, I'll get to you eventually, but I I would say it's not the fastest method. So yeah, um looking forward to connecting with people.
SPEAKER_00:Awesome. Well, hey, thank you so much for for coming on. Listeners, thank you for tuning in. Tune in next week, download the pod, subscribe to our YouTube channel. Five stars only, baby. Thank you for coming on. Yeah, thanks so much for having me.