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Produced & Edited by - Morgan Brown
Interviewers - Carrie Kwan and Lucy Kippist
Guest - Ingrid Jones
Loved this episode of Mumbition The Podcast? Find out more from our special guest.
The future is yours to reimagine and reinvent
00:01:06:17 - 00:01:42:05
Carrie Kwan
Well-Being is the cornerstone of any business because without it, well, there really is no business. With so many of our Mums & Co community being solo business owners, we can't underestimate the importance of putting energy into a daily wellbeing practice that supports your growth and your rest.
Today's guest is a master of wellbeing and a very specific kind. Ingrid Jones is one of our Mums & Co wellbeing experts and a master of mindfulness. She joins us on Mumbition today to share some of her insights. A big welcome, Ingrid.
00:01:43:02 - 00:01:46:24
Ingrid Jones
Thank you. Thank you so much for having me on your wonderful podcast.
00:01:48:16 - 00:02:00:23
Carrie Kwan
It's our pleasure. I'm so excited to share some of what you are doing with our listeners today because it is fascinating and we're passionate about telling women's stories. So let's start with yours, please.
00:02:02:00 - 00:05:26:09
Ingrid Jones
Okay. First of all, my business is all about journal writing. I just sort of want to say in the beginning, I never dreamed of turning that into a business. I'd always been an avid journal writer for myself. It was always something that helped me problem solve and work through things when things were on my mind.
Probably in my mid thirties, I was going through a little bit of a tough time and I found myself writing one day and I flicked back. I just had this feeling of just like I feel like I've written about this in the same way over and over. I went back through my journal entries and was so surprised to discover how many times I'd written about the same problem on repeat. I thought, “Oh gosh, there has to be a better way than this.” It just was the beginning of me starting to change the way I journaled for myself. I just sort of made a promise to not put my pen down until I'd journal differently, and then that just naturally evolved for myself.
Then fast forward to the end of 2019. I have a primary school teaching background and a life coach, and I sort of juggled the two in the past for quite a while. At the end of 2019 I was running a series of wellbeing talks for the school that I teach at for the parent community, and I'd run my first run and I was just like, okay, it really didn't land.
The things that I thought were going to be really good actually weren't what they needed or wanted.
I had this fabulous, honest feedback from a very good friend who was also a parent in the community. We sat down and I was like, okay. I took her feedback and thought, I need to do something completely different for my second session and I didn't know what that would be, but I was like, they need something that I can take away with them, I'm going to teach them the way I journal. I literally put it together as this step by step framework and I went in there and taught them each step. As I taught each step, they had that chance to journal so they could apply their learning straight away.
I don't know what anyone wrote that day, but I will never forget how I felt at the end. They all went from feeling stressed and overwhelmed and to the end to being able to to describe how hopeful, reset, calm, how wonderful they felt. I just stood back for this moment to go “if I've helped all these people to make a shift and I don't know what they wrote about, there's something in there. It's like being able to help people help themselves.”
I started teaching that and then the pandemic hit and I live in Melbourne, so we were really affected by all those lockdowns for the better part of two years. So I took my process online and started to teach it and really refine it. I spent a lot of time with people being able to guide them to help themselves.
So what I really crafted over this time is a journal writing framework that guides people from venting through to musing, all the way to that “aha!” moment where you have a really exciting idea or a perfect solution that you can't wait to execute. So it's all about just getting that stress off your mind, resetting and freeing you up to get on with life.
00:05:26:09 - 00:06:48:17
Carrie Kwan
I think what you're doing, whether it be by accident, I think often we stumble across these things that aren't quite working or things that make such an impact and add value to other people's lives and just can't stop thinking about it and that's how it turns into a business.
I've had a big love of words, the pen is mightier than the sword in so many, so many ways for a very long time. I know Lucy is also absolutely here with me being an ex-journalist,words to ourselves actually matter more than words to others. I think that's the gift that you're giving in this journaling practice and helping make sense of it. Often we have the answers, but it's actually trying to pull it out of ourselves in a way that makes sense, that's the gift, so that's a service that I think you're offering in your business.
I Know that you're passionate about helping others feel good, as you say. How about yourself, though? Can you share three things that you do, perhaps each week, to inspire your ambition, nurture your livelihood, and protect your own wellbeing?
00:06:49:21 - 00:08:29:05
Ingrid Jones
So let's start with well-being. First of all, I meditate and journal every day. Absolutely. Because that's the thing that just keeps me connected with myself and my own vision and things like that, so that really resets me, so I will do that. With that, journaling often happens in the morning, but I'm actually absolutely flexible, I can journal any time, anywhere.
But my ambition, part of that is with the journaling, because I'm reconnecting with my own vision all the time, so that stays close to me, that connection. But I also love people's stories, I love their growth. I love how they're learning from other people and their experiences. So for ambition, I love listening to podcasts. I love drawing on and being inspired by other people who have done great things and make a positive difference in the world. So, I listen to a lot and take on little gems from there.
For livelihood, I think it's constantly finding wonderful ways to grow. Like to grow my own business and things like that. Is that what you mean by that? I love being creative, whether it's supporting groups or organisations with journaling, getting it into workplaces or finding ways to grow my own journal community. I have a community where we meet on a weekly basis to journal in supporting each other. So yes, I love finding ways for that to grow as well.
00:08:30:05 - 00:09:24:07
Lucy Kippist
It sounds wonderful. I'm so intrigued by the concept of what happens. That magic, for want of a better word, that happens between our brain and our hand, like what comes out. Because often, I'm a journaler too, and when you're writing, you think you're conscious of what you're writing, you're not always, then you look on the page and like, “Oh!” and it's just that science is just so, so intriguing. I could talk about that for ages with you.
I have another question for you though, because I love how you were explaining before about how you began this business. I loved how honest you were about how you tried something with this group of parents and it didn't work and you got that feedback.
You've obviously moved forward with the business now, how would you describe the biggest challenge at this stage of business you’re at?
00:09:24:18 - 00:10:04:10
Ingrid Jones
The biggest challenge probably would be being a solo founder. Having to do everything yourself and make all those decisions, because you can be really good at the work, but it doesn't mean that you're an expert in the other areas that it takes to run and grow a business. I think sometimes working on it all yourself, you can either work on things for too long or how important it is sometimes having other people's ideas or to brainstorm, or draw on different expertise, so I feel like sometimes being by yourself or working on it all can be, can be a really big challenge for me.
00:10:05:11 - 00:11:28:02
Lucy Kippist
Yeah, that's interesting. Also interesting as you’ve joined our Mums & Co expert program, which we're delighted to have you on board, and that's a big part of the reason that we offer that program too, because as a solo business owner, you don't necessarily either have the time to connect with the right people to fill the gaps that you might have in terms of your business strategy, your business technology or in your wellbeing.
That's why we created that program of experts, of which you are a part. We'll get into that at the end too so everyone knows how that program works. But because Ingrid is an expert, you can come along to her workshops with us or you can just book a 1 to 1. That's why we designed that too, to fill that gap for women who might be stuck in something and just want to get on with the things that they're good at, and rightly so, that's why most of us start a business.
I suppose conversely to that question, if that was the challenge, and this might be a generalisation, please feel free to correct me. I'm assuming that most of your clients are women. Is that fair to say? What is it that you love about being a woman in business, helping other women?
00:11:28:02 - 00:12:32:12
Ingrid Jones
I think it's an exciting time to be a woman in business because I didn't necessarily grow up seeing it. So then being able to step into it and learn to do it, I think it's really wonderful and powerful and just being able to help other women in business, I love it, I love people's ideas, I love helping people to help themselves.
I think women have this incredible way of juggling and multitasking and being aware of so much. But they also have this incredible generosity because they also know how tricky or challenging business or life can be. So they are really great at supporting and expanding the network, so just generously giving.
I think I love doing that, I meet other people who are the same and I feel like there's this commonality between women when it comes to running businesses.
00:12:32:12 - 00:13:31:07
Carrie Kwan
We absolutely agree with that. I think it's a fact and we often say that when a woman starts a business, she's actually setting up this ecosystem of relationships. She's hiring other women, on average, small businesses would hire about six small business owners. As a startup founder, we would have about two and a half times more women in the business than than otherwise.
We're procuring from each other, we’re collaborating from each other, we’re trying to lift and pay it forward. Once we get to a point, we're actually very much like you with your expert sessions. You're actually paying it forward to someone else to share your expertise and lift them up and helping them celebrate their wins, but also helping them avoid the mistakes that you might have made.
00:13:32:02 - 00:13:48:04
Ingrid Jones
There's this beautiful honesty, and they're like these women who are really comfortable at talking about things, the wins and the losses and everything in between. I think that's really important, too, because you can be authentically yourself in helping each other as well.
00:13:48:04 - 00:14:32:23
Carrie Kwan
Yeah, that is absolutely it. There's that sharing, that generosity of sharing and it might be what you need, I guess, but it's also what you need to avoid or what you don't need to waste your time on, so I absolutely agree. Just talking about the sessions that you're helping our community and our members with, it is on journaling and I know we've touched on it, but how would you describe the benefits of investing in yourself through journaling and what's so powerful for the people that you take through this process?
00:14:32:23 - 00:16:39:15
Ingrid Jones
So many things! Where to start? First of all, just with what you were touching on before Lucy, there is a massive science with writing and being able to cut through. We have over 60 to 80,000 thoughts a day, so being able to write does a couple of things. It activates both your left and right brain at the same time, so it gets you into your creative side, your intuition. So it fast tracks your ability to solve problems on an emotional level than if you were just keeping it on your mind for that crazy high volume of thoughts.
Some of the benefits of journaling is it gives you this clarity and it taps into that problem solving and creativity, it frees you up to reset, to feel calmer, to feel happier and as soon as you do that, you're more motivated and more productive because how you think and feel affects everything that you do or don't do. It's this beautiful way of restoring balance within yourself every single time you use it.
The other thing that the community will get, which I can't wait to share this framework with them, is a way of journaling that takes the thinking out of, “okay, I've put my thoughts on the page, what do I do next?”
So this beautiful open-ended framework just gently gives you step by step, and once you've sort of learned it, you'll change the way you journal forever. You can always take it with you in a problem solving, kind of moving yourself forward, empowering way. So there's that double fold framework as well as resetting yourself and just gaining that extra clarity and realising that you can make a personal shift in a short amount of time and it works for you every single time you use it.
00:16:39:15 - 00:17:43:19
Carrie Kwan
I think especially at this time, we just had a conversation this morning and life is really, really busy, life is really frenetic. I often feel like we're not giving ourselves enough permission to pause and reflect and this is a practice that almost forces you to do that.
It opens up all the benefits to get clarity. I think that is not to be underestimated in a post-COVID world. I hope that the fog that we have in the day-to-day and that mental load, I think that is really, really a powerful practice to unlock and get some clarity, because it's the worst feeling to be stuck.
00:17:44:18 - 00:18:24:22
Ingrid Jones
Oh yeah! You know when you have lots on your mind, your repetitive thoughts keep you there, keep you stressed or stuck for longer than what we need to be. I sort of see it like a gym session, when you get fit and if you have a consistent exercise process or program, you don’t get to a point and then give yourself that permission to go, “okay, now I can sit on the couch for a whole year and maintain my level of fitness!”
It's the same with our emotional wellbeing, it doesn't mean there's anything wrong with us to check in with ourselves. We actually just need it on a regular basis so that you get more and more benefits from it, the more consistently you do those positive things for yourself.
00:18:26:03 - 00:18:35:07
Lucy Kippist
So true, so exciting. Everybody put Ingrid’s workshop on your list for next year.
00:18:35:07 - 00:19:16:20
Ingrid Jones
I just have to say this, by teaching a journal writing framework, I never know what anyone writes about, it's not about that, I never even share my journal entries. But there is a way of doing it that supports everybody to lean in and make their own shifts and changes and find those answers from within and be able to, at the end, have these incredibly inspiring conversations by still not having to reveal what you've written about.
There's this amazing sensitivity there, but so insightful where you do get to learn from each other and their insights. That's a core part of my own community kind of thing of this being able to share without having to read or reveal.
00:19:17:01 - 00:20:02:22
Lucy Kippist
Thank you so much for sharing that because I was going to ask you that before, if anyone was listening thinking, “oh, no, am I going to have to read out what I've written?” Because that can be a blocker, because I think for some of us to take that step, to even attempt journaling can be big. If you take that concern out of it, I'm so pleased that you shared that.
Ingrid, the last question for you today is about your co. So, you've mentioned this fabulous community that you also run, but who else is around you? Is it in terms of the men or the women, the partners, your friends or clients in your community of support? How are they helping you to grow your business?
00:20:02:22 - 00:20:56:05
Ingrid Jones
I have so much wonderful support. My community, my own journal community is really core to that, I've built wonderful friendships and connections from there. I'm constantly learning from them with what works and doesn't work through that is a lot of word of mouth. My own friends and family are just absolutely fabulous as well. Some of the entrepreneurial connections I think that is so important to have in different communities, like minded and just that wonderful support.
I'm very social and so I make connections like in lots of different places and that I really treasure and value that. I get a lot of encouragement, I get a lot of support, I get a lot of word of mouth referrals, so I feel very lucky with the people I have in my life.
00:20:56:05 - 00:21:42:17
Lucy Kippist
Thank you so much for joining us on Mumbition the podcast today, Ingrid.
If you'd like to connect more with Ingrid, you can find her on our Mums & Co member directory. If you've been inspired to invest in your wellbeing and it feels really important to you, why not join Ingrid for her next journaling workshop session or book a 1 to 1 expert session through the Mums & Co member platforms at mumsandco.com.au
We would absolutely love to help support your own business journey in 2023, so come and check out our three tiers of membership that provide strategic advice, access to deep networks and opportunities to be more visible. You can visit us at mumsandco.com.au or you can book a call with me.
00:21:42:19 - 00:21:45:22
Ingrid Jones
Thank you so much for having me as well, I really appreciate it.
00:21:46:24 - 00:21:49:10
Lucy Kippist
What is your favorite place to journal?
00:21:50:00 - 00:21:54:05
Ingrid
In a café; background music and a cup of tea? I mean heaven!
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