How would it feel to save $85,000 in just one year? Today’s guest, Jamila Souffrant, with the teamwork with her husband, saved just that in one year. After learning about the possibility of retiring early, Jamila got serious about dramatically saving, and made it happen.

 

To document her financial journey, she founded the now thriving business, blog, and podcast, Journey to Launch.

 

In our conversation, Jamila shares all on both her financial journey and her entrepreneurial journey. Tune in and hear:

 

  • How Jamila and her husband changed their lifestyle to save $85,000 in just one year.
  • When Jamila knew it was time to leave her day job to go all in on her blog (now business and popular podcast).
  • How Jamila has paved the way as a female founder of color.
Hear Jamila Souffrant, founder of Journey to Launch, speak about what got her to having a successful business while being a mother of three.
Podcast Episode  

Transcript of Episode

Leah Gervais: Hey visionaries! Welcome back to the Your Biggest Vision show. I am your host, Leah and I’m very excited to have Jamila Souffrant with us today from Journey to Launch. I have followed her blog, her podcast, and her on Instagram for quite some time. She’s very inspiring and we’re very lucky for her to share her story with us, so hi Jamila, thanks for being here. 

 

Jamila Souffrant: Hi Lee. Thanks for having me. 

 

Leah Gervais: My pleasure. So I’m just going to introduce you really quick. You’re very fancy accomplished  bio and then we’re going to dive into your journey. So Jamila is the founder of the blog and podcast Journey to Launch. She started her business as she and her husband saved $85,000 in one year. Her Journey to Launch podcast was named one of the 27 podcasts you need to start listening to in 2018 by Buzzfeed. She is a resident financial expert on a weekly segment of News 12, the most watched local TV news station in NYC. Awesome, and has been featured in notable media outlets like Money, Time, Business Insider, CNBC, Essence Magazine, and CBS. Amazing. Congratulations on everything you’ve done. 

 

Jamila Souffrant: Thank you. Thank you. 

 

Leah Gervais: Absolutely. So before you were where you are now, self employed, a notable person in the personal finance industry, a woman founder, everything you’ve done. What did you envision your life being like when you were growing up? 

 

Jamila Souffrant: So I always envisioned a life of freedom. I’ve always said that I saw things differently than I felt like a lot of kids or people saw, I didn’t necessarily want to work in a stuffy nine to five job for the rest of my life. I always knew I just wanted to have flexibility and freedom and growing up, you know, I was always thinking, okay, how can I become wealthy or rich or a millionaire? That was what I thought a million was a lot of money. But I think growing up I thought that I’d have the freedom to do whatever I wanted and then as I got older I would say that, you know, reality kind of hit in a sense of wait, how do you actually get there? That’s kind of what led me down this path to where I am now in Journey to Launch. 

 

Leah Gervais: Sure, sure. So, I know you live in Brooklyn right now, but you’re not from New York originally or are you? 

 

Jamila Souffrant: So I was born in Jamaica. The island, not the borough. You have to always say that. So my mom immigrated here from Jamaica, so we’re Jamaican. I was born in Jamaica, but I came up here when I was about 18 months. So I was raised in Brooklyn, but born in Jamaica. 

 

Leah Gervais: Okay, got it. So you’re pretty much a New Yorker at heart. 

 

Jamila Souffrant: Yeah. 

 

Leah Gervais: I mean, I guess you’ve lived here for quite some time, but do you feel like there’s a, an extra sense of the rat race coming from New York that maybe puts you to be more thirsty or driven than, than other places? Or do you think that it was just in you to be getting with and it didn’t matter where you grew up? 

 

Jamila Souffrant: Honestly, you know, I don’t know. My life would definitely have been different if I grew up in Jamaica. So I have siblings that grew up in Jamaica. I have siblings that are still living in Jamaica from my father’s side. So I know my life would have been different, in that sense. But I’ve always had a driven personality and I think watching my mom, so my mom had me at a young age as a single mom and she really tried and worked her best to provide for me. I’ve always kind of luckily been able to appreciate that even as a young child. And so working hard and having that hard work ethic. One of the things I remember is that like, even just with school, I didn’t just stay home from school just because I wanted to, that never happened. It was like, you know, if you say you’re going to show up somewhere, you show up. And that’s kind of like my attitude now. So I think yes, being in New York in the high cost of living definitely motivates me in a different kind of way in the business of the city. And this is what I know. But I think overall I still  had this kind of this drive no matter where I landed. 

 

Leah Gervais: Yeah. It’s just in you. I love it. So you go to college but you do end up starting at a nine to five job, right? 

 

Jamila Souffrant: Yeah. So I went to college and I got an internship through inroads, which provides minorities into like Fortune 500 companies with internships, but you get paid. So that was really nice because that meant, you know, as a freshman, my summer year I was interning and making some money. So I stayed at that company throughout my whole college career and intern for them. This company also then offered me my full time job right before I went to senior year in college. So I ended up working for them after graduation. And I even said right after, like, I’m not going to do this forever. I still had this plan that, okay, I’ll do this, I’ll save some money, I’ll work, but I’ll, we’ll figure out a way to quit this job after 30, I’m not going to work for anyone after 30 years old. That was my intent and that didn’t happen. 

 

Leah Gervais: Yeah. So one of the things I really appreciate about your story is that you’re very open about motherhood and how that kind of changed you and changed your goals. I think, as someone who’s not a mother but hopes to be one day, I love that you talk about that because I feel like I have this clear vision for my life and what I want right now, but the chances of it getting turned on its head or a pretty big when that happens. So, are you willing to share a little bit about what that looked like when you got pregnant and then how you kind of evolved to eventually still start your own business just a little later on? 

 

Jamila Souffrant: Yeah. So it’s interesting the timeline of things because there’s, there’s advantages and disadvantages to the way I did it. So I didn’t start having children until I was pregnant at like 31, I’m 36 now. So I throughout my twenties like that really was a time for me to get settled in my career and focus on that and try a couple of businesses. I didn’t have like, you know, a child as another person to worry about. It was just myself, you know, like it was just me and that allowed me to hustle and try a lot of things and travel in joy, my twenties and then when it came time to now when I knew I wanted to have kids and my husband and I’d be planned, we got married, we, we wanted to have our start having a family. I was stable enough to do that. Meaning like we had like the income we had the careers at that point when I got pregnant the first time. 

 

It’s interesting because I’d say that, you know, waiting till my thirties to start like having a family, like I was more stable to do that. But then my real entrepreneurship journey, so like starting Journey to Launch and now working for myself. I have young kids, I have a five year old, a three year old and a one year old now. So if I would’ve started like in my twenties, maybe like the kids would have been older. Now there’s a different level of like how you balance that as you have older kids. But not because I am really in the beginning of my entrepreneurship journey and I have such small kids. I mean, it’s been different. It’s a different type of grind because now it’s like, you know, balancing that mom life and trying to get a business off the ground and sustainable to just life in general. 

 

Leah Gervais: Right. So what was it like when you decided, okay, I am going to start Journey to Launch. I have three things running around me calling me mother, you do need to address that, but I’m gonna, I’m gonna decide to do it. How did you go from the idea to actually executing? 

 

Jamila Souffrant: So I would say this is the thing with kids because I’d say that at the same time in which it adds a lot more to your plate when you have children that it actually motivated me to figure something out. So in my twenties I said to myself, okay, I’m not going to work for anyone else. I tried all these like little businesses and I worked and the idea was I’d figure something out. And then I quickly realized this is going to be what I thought, harder than I thought to just quit my job. Like how do I earn money? And so at 31 when I was pregnant with my first son on my long commute, so I was living in Brooklyn, working in New Jersey. I had an extra long commute. So my commute was usually like an hour and a half and that day, I think it took me like four hours to get home because there was traffic everywhere and I was pregnant with my first son at that time and I said to myself like, oh no. This is not happening. I do not want to live this life in my car for so many hours doing a job that… while I was grateful for what it provided me, like that steady income and it wasn’t horrible. It’s just something was missing and it was like those feelings that I had kind of like quelled inside of me. Whereas, you know, I said, well, I can’t figure out how to do this. When I didn’t have kids. I was like, okay, I guess I’ll just work, this is what everyone is doing. Work in a job that I’m not loving, but becoming pregnant really made me like face it head on. Like, this is not what you want to do. 

You want to have options. So you want to have flexibility, you have to figure something out. 

 

So it’s then that I started to kind of research and figure out like, okay, what do I do? If it’s not starting a business or you know, winning the lottery, how does one that quit their job and do what they want? How do you do that? So I started googling how to quit my job, how to retire early, all these like catch phrases and then stumbled upon when the financial independence movement and like the podcast and the blogs about it where people were saving and investing over time their money and they were able to create a portfolio in which they can eventually live off of and not have to actively work. I say, you know, so retire early, quote unquote, and that interests me. 

 

I was like, how do I do that? And so it was like, oh, it was following kind of like that, that rabbit hole of information that allowed me to want to really figure out how to apply it to my life and I started a journey to launch just really the chronicle that, okay, how will I quit my job by the time I’m 40 so I missed that 30 year old mark. I’m like the now around 32, 33 on my second kid. And I’m like, all right, I’m going to chronicle how I’m going to like retire early or reach financial independence is the better way to put it because my dream was never to not work. It was just to have the option to work and do what I love without worrying about the paycheck. 

 

Leash Gervais: Right. To not be making decisions based on money or something. 

 

Jamila Souffrant: Right or work and be away from my kids if I didn’t want to do that, right? I think everyone should work, but you choose what you want to do if possible. So Journey to Launch is just that like, okay, here’s how I’m saving. Here’s I’m in how I’m investing, here’s my plan. And then it quickly kind of morphed into something bigger than what I could’ve expected because then I’m like, wow, wait, this could actually be the vehicle that allows me to reach financial independence because it’s a business. It’s something that I eventually turned into a business that I love that could generate money. 

 

Leah Gervais: I love that. I always say that I started my blog to write about how lost I was in my career and to write about how I was going to try to find a job that I loved and then my blog became the job that I loved and it actually became the career I always wanted. It’s amazing how that can happen. So, okay, this is amazing. The story is so inspiring and I have a couple of questions. So the financial independence, retire early movement, fire moving, I guess they call it. From what I’ve read about it can take quite a bit of a lifestyle shift. I know from what I’ve learned about that year you guys say $85,000. New York is an expensive city to live in. I can imagine that you had to undergo some lifestyle changes and  what advice do you have for people that love the idea of saving more, love the idea of actually doing anything, even if it’s starting a business and in the beginning it just sucks and it’s a huge change and you’re not really seeing the fruits of your labor quite yet. How have you gotten through those times in your business, and in saving or your financial transformation? 

 

Jamila Souffrant: Yeah, so that’s a good question because I find that, you know, when you first hear about the fire movement, you either are very excited about it or you’re just like, what is this like? Does it make sense? Who wants to retire early? And I think the concept, the overall concept, just forget the retire early part. I think that trips people up about what that means. But the idea that you can save and invest enough money to be financially stable, not only just stable where you know, you’re paying your bills, you’re saving, but you have, you now have created a life or a portfolio for yourself that you could choose the kind of work you do. So I feel like anybody who is and who this should be anyone’s goal, like if even if you don’t intend to quit your nine to five or you have a business, which is fine, but the idea is that if you wanted to take a break from that business, if you want it to travel, if you wanted to, you know, have a family and do something different, you could pivot and it wouldn’t be dependent on like, oh my gosh, I don’t have any money. 

 

Right? You’re building yourself up to do that. And so for anyone who is looking  to do that, like the one of the first things we did was really took stock of how we were spending and how much we were earning. So if you look at what it takes to reach your financial goals, whatever they may be, you’re going to need income. So you know, the height of the income, the better. That’s one thing I never sugarcoat is that it’s easier. Not that it’s easy, but it’s easier for people who have income to sustain themselves. Like the higher the income, the better, right? Because it’s harder to do this if you are struggling, you know, in a minimum wage job and your expenses are high. But if you have a decent job and your expenses are manageable, then you can start looking at, okay, how am I spending, is it aligned with my goals, and then how much more can I save and invest over time to reach this financial freedom goal? 

 

You have to define what that means for yourself and so one of the things we did was we looked at our income, we looked at our expenses, there were so many things that we just said, all right, this, this is not even bringing us really much joy so we can cut it out. Or like going out to eat. We like going out to eat, but how can we put some, some constraints around that? Not to deprive ourselves, but we can use that extra money now to save and invest and that means so much more than, you know, temporary going out to eat. So anyone going on and starting this journey just needs to figure out, okay, where am I? Do I have a lot of debt that needs to pay off? Which is still like an amazing accomplishment, right? So some people look at this big off goal, I have to save how much and invest how much? That’s so far away. But if you have debt right now, you can start the journey. Each step along the journey is a big step and so I try to make people look at the steps that it takes and realize that each thing that they do is really important in the big scheme. 

 

Leah Gervais: I love that you just said that there’s, this should be everyone’s goal. You don’t have to be in a movement. You don’t want to retire. You don’t have to retire early, you don’t even have to quit your job. But just to think of your financial situation as a way that you don’t have to make decisions based on money ever. I love that. That’s something you’re trying to talk about a lot, but I’ve never been able to phrase it as eloquently as you have. And it’s basically just ask yourself, what do I want before you know how much it costs. Because that’s how you’ll figure out who you really are and what you actually want out of life. It doesn’t mean you can buy everything at the same time. It doesn’t mean you can buy everything right then and it doesn’t mean you can afford everything. But I think a lot of times we just base what job we take, what we buy, what we do or don’t do, on money and that’s not a real way to live in alignment with who you really are. So I love that you just said this is a goal for everyone. So when you guys did start doing that, and I know you just talked a little bit about it with, with how you’ve redone dinners or thought about dinners differently, how do you recommend to people that they keep their life fun? Like living for today and tomorrow and not feeling like one negates the other? 

 

Jamila Souffrant: Right. So that’s a good question because that’s where people get stuck. So my husband that he was someone that I… we had to do this together. He had to be on board with this idea because there’s no way I could do it by myself. And so one of the things that I asked them that we sat down, we talked about it, it’s like what does a good life look like in the future? Like what do you want your 55, six year old self to be? What kind of lifestyle do we want to live and then what’s a good lifestyle now? And so how do we prioritize like what makes us happy now but like what’s going to make us really happy later? So it’s really just like going down the line and looking at what you’re spending. 

 

So for us we both had more expensive cars before the kid and that was one of the things we ended up, you know, we got rid of his lease, we ended up selling my car and we got more economical cars, which saved a lot of money in terms of monthly payments and gas. Then the other thing was a really just around taking advantage of pre tax retirement option. So when you look at that, right? When you look at the big picture of where your money is going, then you’re able to figure out, okay, do I have to cut out restaurants altogether? No. But maybe instead of spending $1,000 and not even looking at what we’re spending until it’s too late, we’re saying, okay, we’re only going to eat out or put maybe have a $400, $200 whatever that means for your family budget around eating out and you stick to it because you know that additional amount that you used to spend on going out, you’re going to put to paying off or reaching some other goal that you have. So you don’t have to cut everything out. You just have to look at what’s important and then how can you achieve the same level of happiness cutting it back or replacing it with something else? 

 

Leah Gervais: I love that you make this so bite size and manageable and in a way that feels true for everyone themselves. Because I think one of the things I think the personal finance industry could be better on is making it sound a little bit more personal. Right now it sounds a little cut and dry and people can feel really guilty if they want to do things in a different way. If they’re not, you know, saving a certain amount per month or something like that. Well it might be a better thing for them not to, cause maybe they’re paying their student loans back, like who knows. So it really does come back to your own alignment. But I want to shift gears now away from your amazing vision for your financial life and what you’re doing for your family and now to your business. So you are full time on your own. 

 

Jamila Souffrant: Right. Right. I quit my job basically, I didn’t return after maternity leave after having my third child and so when I got pregnant with my third I was just like, you know what?  I can’t. At this point, Journey to Launch was doing well. Well in terms of… so it’s a difference between like doing well from the outside, you know, it’s getting mentioned in magazines and I’m getting interviewed, I’m having like these opportunities versus like actually like making money. So you know, I know some people say okay, you know, you don’t leave your job until you have the ink your businesses sustaining or having this kind of money. But for me, I had a deadline on when I could make a decision and I knew that I didn’t want to have to go back to that traditional job once I had my child because at that point it would be a long commute plus three little kids and like this growing side business that I felt if I was able to put more energy and effort in, I could make into something. 

 

So I knew that soon as I got pregnant I was like, we have to figure out a way. Here’s the great thing about financial independence, I think is that I thought that I had to save and invest and do all this until you know, for the next 10 years to reach this level of freedom that I wanted. By starting the journey and the thing with this, you know, starting a business is your skill sets improve. So starting Journey to Launch and then allowed me to reach a level of freedom, today without having millions in the bank, now I’m able to do all the things that I said I want to do when I reached financial independence. Like walk my son to school in the morning and be there for certain events and you know, there is a constraint. You know, it’s not like we have unlimited money, you know, to do things. But I think that this level of freedom, because entrepreneurship is definitely a turn that I was not expected when I started Journey to Launch. 

 

Leah Gervais: So when did you know, when did you know that instead of having to figure out how to come up with another business, this was your business. 

 

Jamila Souffrant: So, we have all have a limited amount of time. Our time is our most valuable resource and even more valuable than money and cause, you know, with money, you can make more money but you can’t make more time. My time was so packed, so I had the commute, I had my job, I had the kids and I had Journey to Launch and I knew that I could not, there was no way I could sustain my life, my sanity to continue all of that. I saw the potential, I saw the potential with Journey to Launch and while it wasn’t making money that was nowhere near covering what my salary was making, I knew that I knew just needed enough time to make it work. So I thought that I could set myself up to where I could try this out, you know, I can give it a go. I knew that once I got pregnant, I just knew my time was so limited that I had to make a choice and I wasn’t going to give up the kids, I wasn’t going to give up my husband, I didn’t want to give a Journey to Launch. Like the thing that had to go…  something had to go and it was my main job. Yeah. 

 

Leah Gervais: So what are your main platforms that an income streams right now? I know you have a hugely successful podcast. 

 

Jamila Souffrant: Yeah. So right now Journey to Launch. I look at it more as a media company right now. The podcast is the main form of content that gets out every Wednesday during each launch podcast. But I’d say the, those sources that I’m like continuing to build and refine are the podcasts. So making money through sponsorships and brand partnerships through the podcast and then the membership community that I have which is for Journeyer, so anyone who’s on this journey with me who is on a mission to reach financial freedom and independence and this lifestyle that they can achieve, I call them juniors and so taking what they’re learning on the podcast but to the next level is the community, the membership community that I have and then I am developing out these are more kind of one to five year goals are like products and other ways in which people can consume the content. 

 

Leah Gervais: Amazing. It sounds like you’ve built a very incredible community and I think that that probably alleviates so many of the fears we talked about earlier on about how is my lifestyle going to change? Am I going to really be able to be as social as I once was when I do this? Is this really going to be realistic? You know those probably all go away when you’re with like minded people talking about this is how we’re making this work. This is why it’s going to be worth it. Don’t listen to the people that you know are in your day to day life that aren’t really with you on the same page. So, and congratulations on everything you’ve done. It sounds like you’ve helped a ton of people on their journey.

 

Jamila Souffrant: Thank you.

 

Leah Gervais: Yeah, absolutely. So you are a successful founder, which is a huge congratulations. That’s obviously not often the case. You are also a female founder and a woman of color, which makes you unfortunately a small percentage of successful founders, especially in this country. Have you felt like there’s been any particular struggles you’ve come up against on your journey as one or either of those titles? Do you have advice for people who might be feeling like they are experiencing the disadvantages that come with experiencing either of those? 

 

Jamila Souffrant: Yeah, I think as a black woman I feel like, you know, it’s interesting because I forgot the survey and the exact numbers, but it’s like black women especially are like the highest, one of the largest new entrepreneurs like people starting businesses. So I feel like representation matters and a lot of times it’s like you just don’t know that maybe if you’re kind of in a psilo or in a bubble that’s happening, that this is a possibility for you. So it’s really important, especially in the financial independent space. So if you look at the overall personal finance space, there are tons of great platforms or platforms out there that are doing a wonderful job of teaching people about, you know, how to budget and get better with their money. 

 

Then if you look at like there’s a sub sub segment, like the financial independent space, which is a little bit more, you know, intense because it’s requiring you to do even more than the minimum. That space can be dominated when it’s facing on media, but maybe like white men in tech or it’s like the people who are very successful, kind of look similar, although there are a lot of people who are women, people of color, people from different countries doing this too. And I think what’s made Journey to Launch standout is that I am a black woman talking about this subject and letting people know that you can do this too. So I feel very motivated to kind of bring this concept, this idea to more people to let people know that it’s out there. Because I didn’t realize that it was a thing. I didn’t know that this was a way, like saving and investing. I knew that you could save money and invest, but I didn’t know that if I started this at like 22, by 35, I could have had so much more in terms of my investments and money than I have now. And so this is what I’m trying to teach and show people that this is possible. It takes awareness, but, I think for people who maybe are from more disadvantaged backgrounds, sometimes all it takes is seeing someone that looks like them doing it and on the money side and then on the entrepreneurship side. 

 

Leah Gervais: Beautiful. So it seems like you’ve really recognize the value of visibility within your business and how important it is to be seen. I think visibility is valuable for any entrepreneur really because it helps your audience connect with you, but it’s not always easy to put yourself out there. And especially, you know, if you feel like you’re in a situation where you could be judged or things like that, are there any things that you had to overcome in order to let yourself get more visible? Or do you have any advice for people that might be scared to do so? 

 

Jamila Souffrant: Yeah, that’s really good because at first when I started, I was, you know, posting just quotes on Instagram. I didn’t really show my face. I was like, ah, you know, I don’t need to show my face, I can just do quotes and whatever. But then I realized as soon as I interjected my personal story, I started to share, okay this is our goal, this is how much we saved. That’s when things kind of started to take off and you know, because anyone can post a quote, your story is very just no one has your story and no one has your face and no one has like these things that you might be embarrassed about or very shy about. These are the same thing. It’s a catch 22 like some of the same things even to this day, some things that I’m just like more just timid about sharing and that’s okay.Not necessarily timid because like oh I’m embarrassed about it. But also just privacy. Having small kids and just I am, believe it or not, I’m very, I’m a private person. 

 

So it’s interesting. The more I know I share about my personal life, the more people feel connected to me. So it’s about finding that balance. You can’t force yourself. I wouldn’t recommend anyone to be like, oh, just put all your business out there. You, you can choose how much you share and you don’t need to like show the inside of your house if you don’t want to. You know, you know how your kids everywhere if you don’t want to. But I’d say that, you know, there’s a ton of people putting quotes out there. This tends to people doing the same business. You’re doing the only differences your voice and the way you’re doing it. Just like personal finance. Like there’s tons of people telling you how to budget or even talking like saving and investing. So it’s just, what makes me different? And I think it’s me interjecting my story. So anyone who’s thinking about, okay, I have his business, how do I stand out? You really, really have to get over yourself. Just someone needs the information that you’re afraid you’re going to get judged on and then look at yourself. So I find that I can be a little judgy. So, therefore I think everyone else is judging me. You know what I mean?

 

Leah Gervais: Oh yeah, I’m so afraid everyone is going to judge me. And it’s like no one would probably think that.

 

Jamila Souffrant: Exactly and so sometimes it’s like Jamila, you’re the only one thinking that way. Even if someone is thinking that way, is it such a bad thing? So, so what someone has snap judgement about you, does it matter? Is anything going to physically happen to you? So sometimes you have to really think about things where we’re all that stems from and are you being judged because you would judge that in someone else and you need to reevaluate that. 

 

Leah Gervais: Yeah, there’s so much good advice to everything you just sat in. You know, one of the freeing things for me was that people are going to judge me either way, people are going to judge me if I pipe up or if I say hit and if I do something big or if I hold myself back. So you might as well do what feels good. And I also started out being like, I am going to be anonymous. Everyone’s going to want to follow me even though I have no face. It’s so funny that I started like that because now my, my business is like pure me. I think the, the biggest turning point for me and giving myself permission to be out there, what was realizing well, what inspired me, what inspired me the most was hearing other people’s stories. So why would I think anyone was going to be inspired by what I was teaching unless they heard my story too. So, I love that you shared that and you’ve just shared so many amazing things. Congratulations on everything you’ve done with your business, your kids, your, your finances, and you know what you’ve really done to, to overcome the obstacles. It’s amazing and a quick few speed questions for you. Is that okay? 

 

Jamila Souffrant: Yeah. Yeah. Great. 

 

Leah Gervais: First, how do you, what’s your go to when things go wrong? 

 

Jamila Souffrant: In life, in business, just in general?

 

Leah Gervais: Let’s say in business. 

 

Jamila Souffrant: Okay. Let’s see. I think I’m just realizing, it’s kind of not morbid, but sometimes you make things bigger than what they are. Like, none of this matters. I’m just thinking about the lifespan. I’m just like really like none of this will matter in 20 years or 30 years, you know, as long as it’s not a crazy big, huge mistake, but honestly, none of this really matters in the grand scheme of life. 

 

Leah Gervais: Yeah. Okay, great advice. So perspective, we can all use some more of that. What are you most proud of this far in anything? Your Business, your finances? No limit. 

 

Jamila Souffrant: I think I’m most proud of my overall life. It’s not perfect, but, you know, to be a mom sometimes I forget about how much I’m juggling, but to be a mom of three small children, to quit my job last year, like take this leap and be a wife. All these things that I’m juggling and I’m proud that like every day, like I need to remember that I’m doing it. Even though it’s hard and it can be overwhelming, I’m doing it. So I’m proud of that, that I keep on going. 

 

Leah Gervais: Great. That’s a huge accomplishment. Do you have a book or podcast that you love? 

 

Jamila Souffrant: Let’s see. Other than my own, Journey to Launch, I listened to a lot more podcasts on my commute because I had so much more time. I’d say that I like podcasts, like How I Built This. Anything that’s inspirational that I see founders, they go from the beginning to the thick of it, kind of where I am to how they created these companies. I love stuff like that. So, How I Built This. Just in general inspirational stuff like David Neagle. I know we’re both fans of him. I like listening to his podcast, The Successful Mind. So anything that keeps me in that space of you can do this gets me excited. 

 

Leah Gervais: I love it. Yeah, he’s amazing, and where can people find out more about you? 

 

Jamila Souffrant: Sure. So you can find me wherever you listen to this amazing podcast Journey to Launch and then I’m on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook as JourneytoLaunch. So I love interacting with people and I’m hearing feedback and welcoming on new Journeyers if this is your first time hearing about me and then of course, JourneytoLaunch.com is the site and you can listen to podcasts. Join  my weekly email list and just stay in the know and get on the rocket with me. 

 

Leah Gervais: Great. Yeah. We will have your podcast and your website linked below. So for those of you listening, you visionaries, it will be there. So thank you so much Jamila this was hugely inspirational and we are so grateful that you shared your story with us. 

 

Jamila Souffrant: Thank you for having me Leah.

 

 Leah Gervais: We’ll talk to you soon.




Your Biggest Vision’s Daily Checklist for Visionaries;

Free Download!

These five practices are simple daily practices that will keep your vision strong and lead you toward your biggest vision.