WHAT’S THE EPISODE ABOUT…
Welcome back to ‘You’re Not the Boss of Me’. This episode. I’m so excited to be interviewing my dear friend Jennifer Bell. Jennifer has an incredible story about how when she started chasing her purpose, everything shifted for her, she was a school administrator, a principal, had spent her life in education, and suddenly she felt that she needed to have the courage to make a shift. And in this episode, we are going to dive into how chasing your purpose will help you to make more money, feel aligned and be coming from a place of joy and gratitude.
Jennifer Bell grew up in Houston, Texas and graduated from Texas Christian University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Elementary Education and a Minor in Music. She has been married to her college sweetheart for 31 years. They have three adult children. During Jeff’s military service as a United States Air Force officer, the family experienced and lived in Belgium, Germany, Turkey, Oklahoma, California, and Texas.
Jennifer taught primary grades for over 20+ years. She received her master’s degree in Education Administration & Curriculum Supervision from The University of Oklahoma and went on to complete her Principal’s Certification through Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas. She completed her educational career as an assistant high school principal and elementary school principal for three years and six years respectively.
Jennifer currently lives in Wichita Falls, Texas. She is an entrepreneur promoting health and wellness to educate and encourage the faith community to …” prosper in all things and be in health just as your soul prospers.” 3 John 2 NKJV.
So, let’s get started. Here we go with Jennifer Bell:
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CONTENT DISCUSSED…
• No Boss Talk: https://nobosstalk.com
• Monday Morning Routine: https://www.bethholdengraves.com/routine
• The Camp Elevate Facebook Group: https://thecampelevategroup.com
• Beth’s Instagram: @bethholdengraves
• Beth’s website: https://www.bethholdengraves.com
• Profit HER Way Course: https://www.bethholdengraves.com/profit
• The Map Membership: https://www.themapmembership.com
KEYNOTES DISCUSSED:
• When I think about the evolution of even the last six to eight months, it’s like a total 180, coming from being an administrator for over 11 years, and loving what I did, but the joy was gone. I’m like, okay, God, what am I supposed to be doing? I know I was made for more. I’ll never stop educating, because that’s just who I am. (3:15)
• You promised me a plan, to have hope and a future. I’m no longer an administrator, so what am I supposed to do now? That’s where it kind of started for me. And then, what we’ve learned in the group, what you shared in the community of women from different backgrounds, just elevated my life and also helped me to kind of fine tune where my navigation of my life, my roadmap was to go. (5:33)
• Either I’m going to believe it, or I’m not, there’s no gray in between. So when I jumped, was I afraid? Was I a little scared? Absolutely. But I know what I heard. I was driving home from Houston and I heard God said, leave your job. This is March. This is not even at the end of the school year. I put in my resignation at spring break. (6:52)
• I had to silence the noise. And in the midst of our time, right now in our world there’s a lot going on. That goes through our thoughts in what we watch, what we see, I had to silence it because if I’m truly going to step up to what I believe my faith is, I have to hear from God. I have to hear what am I supposed to be doing in the midst of all of this. And because of, you know, everybody’s on social media, more people were at home, especially educators. I wanted to start with the space that, hey, when you come over to this group, you’re going to scroll and see nothing but positivity, encouragement. (9:47)
• So how do you work through that? Without feeling like this is the piece of you’re feeling aligned, you don’t feel like, Oh, I caught you because you were in my life, and now I’m over here selling you some vitamins or some essential oils. How do you make those connections? That all of a sudden you’re like, okay, now here’s what we’re doing. How do you connect the dots as a sales woman? (14:56)
WHEN DOES IT AIR…
June 29, 2020
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:
Hey there. Welcome back to You’re Not the Boss of Me. In this episode, I’m so excited to be interviewing my dear friend, Jennifer Bell. So, Jennifer, it has an incredible story about how, when she started chasing her purpose, everything shifted for her. She was a school administrator, a principal. She had spent her life in education and suddenly she felt that she needed to have the courage to make a shift. And in this episode, we are going to dive into how chasing your purpose will help you to actually make more money, feel aligned and be coming from a place of joy and gratitude. So, before we dive into the episode, I want to read you my friend Tanya’s review. And I just, I love these reviews. I want to let you know that the reviews, the downloads, the shout outs and Instagram are what allow us to get the word out about this podcast.
And for women, just like you will hear the message you’re about to hear with Jennifer, which I know will truly impact you. So, this review is from Tanya and she says, ‘hi, Beth. Wow. Thank you so much for the amazing information and inspiration on your podcasts. My friend introduced me to your podcast just a short time ago. And since then I have been binge listening to every episode you have changed the way I show up as a leader in my personal and professional life, I joined Camp Elevate Facebook group, and excited to be a part of your amazing group. Thank you for showing up as your inspirational You! You touched so many lives. Thank you. Be blessed, Tanya’. Tanya. Oh my gosh. Thank you so much and make sure that you reach out to me. I know who you are, so I’ll find you with your address so I can give you a Boss Hat, but more importantly, thank you for taking the time to share that and to get the word out about the women’s lives that we are impacting with this podcast.
So let’s get started. Here we go with Jennifer Bell. Hey, Hey. Okay. I am here with Jennifer Bell who you’ve just heard the introduction and we just talked for 45 minutes. I wish we had on our microphone, Jennifer and I met because God wanted us to meet and he knew I needed her in my life and I hope he knew she needed me in her life. And we’ve just grown and fellowship and community together. And I have always believed from the moment I met Jennifer, there’s something that is so captivating, but I’m pulled toward her. And so, as a former school administrator turned network marketer, and now looking at how her purpose is even bigger. Could you talk about Raise the Praise and how you started to decide that your message needed to get out into the world, and just give a little background of your six month journey since we met and we’ve worked with women on. We thought we were learning how to build a business, but we’ve all evolved. Like it’s this crazy little camp circle. So absolutely share a little bit about your six month journey and how we got from where you were to this incredible Raise the Praise, a community that wants you to lead them in their faith, but you’re not like that crazy nun that’s telling us, get back to the Bible, like you make Jesus cool.
That’s because he is so cool. And he’s so real in my life. When I think about the evolution of even the last six to eight months, it’s like a total 180, coming from being an administrator for total over like 11 years and loving what I did. But the joy was gone. I’m like, okay, God, what am I supposed to be doing? I know I was made for more. I’ll never stop educating. Because that’s just who I am. That’s just part of my calling. But the pivot cane even more so after joining your group Camp Elevate. And to be quite honest, when I saw the camp part, I’m not a camper, I’m the person that will have the little lodge on the side of the hill, but what you were sharing, it just resonated with me. So I started there and then we moved into this community of an amazing women and I love community number one, but I was in such a fragile state because being a principal, that’s who I was, that’s what I was identified with.
You know, that’s where my degrees were. Right? So, all of that shifted and I’m like, who am I now? So here comes Beth Graves. And she’s talking about gratitude and journaling and all these things that I initially thought that’s just a bunch of stuff. But when I started to do that and pay attention, to what I was thinking. What am I truly grateful for? I believe that’s where the pivot came, where I could hear what God was telling me to do next. So, the pivot came from, yes, I have a network marketing business that I absolutely love, but that’s not all there is to me, what my fingerprints were designed to do. I started to seek my purpose. I started to chase it. I started to ask God, what are the plans you have for me? You promised me a plan, have a hope and a future. I’m no longer administrator. So, what am I supposed to do now? So that’s where it kind of started for me. And then what we’ve learned in the group, what you shared and then the community of women from different backgrounds, just elevated my life and also helped me to kind of fine tune where my navigation of my life, my roadmap was to go. And it ended up coming towards me, Raise the Praise.
Okay. So, what are some, I know that we have women that are listening and they’re thinking, okay, that was courageous. That was courageous to walk away from a big income, a lot of years of education, a lot of teachers and students that were depending on you and you weren’t finding joy. So, the courage to walk away and start again. But you didn’t have the plan yet. Right? You just said, right?
Yeah. And that was the part where you just have to jump, and I jumped without a plan. So truly jumping on faith. And, and here’s how I define faith. Faith is not only believing and having a hope for something you don’t see, but it’s also behaving like what guy said is true. So, if he says in his word that I have a plan for you, Jennifer, a plan to give you a hope and a future, not to harm you, right? Either I’m going to believe it, or I’m not. There’s no gray in between. So, when I jumped, was I afraid? Was I a little scared? Absolutely. But I know what I heard. I was driving home from Houston and I heard God said, leave your job. This is March. This is not even at the end of the school year. I put in my resignation at spring break.
And even the superintendent was like, what do you mean I have other things to do? What those other things were, I had no idea what they were. So, I was lost. And then, like I said, coming into more a focus with, what am I supposed to do and really chasing purpose. I don’t want to just do something just to be doing something. And to be honest, Raise the Praise came it to being, because I want to talk about how the obstacles in our lives hinders us and keeps us from doing those things that our specific fingerprints were designed to. Do. We all have a purpose. We all have talents and gifts that we’re supposed to be using to impact this earth. I may not be for everyone. Right? My audience may not be a people that I think I want to speak to. I don’t know who’s going to come, but I do know if I don’t show up, I’m not going to make that connection with the right people. And I believe that’s kind of how the evolution of this woman’s group has come to be. And just those connections and those relationships that are so important, especially at a time at a time like this.
So, I know that along the way you had did a lot of start, stop, start, stop buying a course, starting, stopping, starting, stopping. And suddenly I think that what I’ve noticed is it’s just like, okay, when we’ve been faced with everything that’s gone on with, with I’m in the middle of the COVID, and then we have this horrific, what happened with George Floyd, and what we started to see hate. And I feel like the God put the state of turmoil and chaos, and all of a sudden from it, you thought I’ve got to step up here. Yes, people are. I believe that you will save the spiral and it’s not necessarily a perfect email list, right? Or a funnel or a webinar, it’s connection. And then making sure that those that need your voice and your guidance, and your leadership get it. So, I feel like through the ashes, you have risen and more than ever, even in our community and our groups, you are an impact.
You’re intuitive. You feel what’s happening in those women that work with you suddenly are able to let go of some things that are in their past, right? So, let’s move to someone’s listening. I know that we have someone that’s on their walk with their dog and they’re thinking, well, I want to do what Jennifer did, but how am I going to pay my bills? And how am I going to find, like she found, Raise the Praise, she has fit for him. I don’t hear those words in my car. How do you make those first step to have that courage to shift?
First of all, for me, I had to get silent. I had to silence the noise. And in the midst of our time, right now in our world, there’s a lot to us going on. That goes through our thoughts, what we watch, what we see, I had to silence it because if I’m truly going to step up to what I believe my faith is, I have to hear from God. I have to hear what am I supposed to be doing in the midst of all of this? And because of all, you know, everybody’s on social media, more people were at home, especially educators. And all of that. I wanted to start with the space that, Hey, when you come over to this group, you’re going to scroll and see nothing but positivity, encouragement. You’re going to hear a song. You got to hear a word, something that’s going to uplift you in the time.
That could be darkest for a lot of people. I don’t know who it’s going to be for. I always say this. I come on my Facebook lives or in my group to help somebody, even if it’s a one somebody, because if I don’t show up my obedience to what God is calling me to do is tied to somebody else’s blessing. It is not for me to be tied to the results of that. My job is to show up and do what I’m supposed to do. Nobody else. And for so long, Beth, I was trying to do it everybody. Else’s way. It didn’t feel right. If it was weird, I didn’t feel good. I felt stressed. I felt overwhelmed because I was out of alignment. When I finally got to the point of being aligned with what I’m supposed to do, it has nothing to do with making money.
I let all that go. What am I supposed to do? And now this group is growing, and I get to share what feels good to me. That comes. Yeah. Yeah. I have to say, it’s not necessarily just, it’s not hard for me. I get joy. I wake up excited. Who am I going to talk to today? God, what are you going to have me to share with somebody today? That brings me so much joy. And so, when I do that and I am aligned with what I’m supposed to be doing in my ministry, and that’s what it is. And it, and not that you have to be in a church, four walls, doesn’t make you a ministry. Does it make you, you a believer it’s in your heart and how you treat people and how you serve people. And that’s what I had to get away from when I’ve been so conditioned, okay. Education that you go to school, you learn all of this and you put into action. Well, there’s no education. There’s no school. It’s called life, but I’m starting to see everything that I have experienced. That’s how my faith has grown through my experiences. And all I’m doing is sharing it and try to help somebody else to see that God hasn’t forgotten us. He sees us, nothing takes him by surprise. All we have to do is give him gratitude, allow him to move and keep doing those things that we’re called to do and stay in our lanes because when we don’t, we get disqualified, you know?
Right. Well, and then in doing all of this, you also had your biggest month as you had your biggest month in network marketing. What I loved about that was we all want that formula, right? We all want the formula. What Beth, what do we do? What do we do? What do we do? But when your energy aligned with, okay, here’s my voice. Here’s what I’m going to say. I’m not showing up with hate, I’m sharing my truth. And I’m allowing myself to lead those that want to be led and opening a community to do so the podcast, and then your upcoming Raise the Praise. I call it the, like the world’s best Bible study it’s in the works. But in doing so, it allows those like me, that will come to you and say, well, this is happening, this doesn’t feel like this would be the God that I know.
Or why did I turn away from my faith at this point? Or why am I looking at it through this filter? It’s almost like the ultimate. Have you looked at it from this perspective? And then it opens that door to say, Oh, okay. Now I see even parenting questions and marriage navigation. And even as we evolve into the Bible was written so long ago and we’ve got new definitions of people and marriage. And how do we, how does that work? And you’re willing to have the tough conversations and allow us to use that your filter of love that foundation. And so, you’re, you’re building that. You’ve, you’re launching the Raise the Praise podcast right now. You have a free group. You’re looking at having a membership community where women can come together with faith and guidance and have different. Like, I can’t wait because it will, it will keep me grounded in grace.
It’ll stop my squirrel brain from saying, well, what about this? And what about that? So, someone’s listening to this and they’re thinking I need to use my network marketing business because I make money there. Like that has been supporting you at home while you’re looking at how, even when the, when you started putting out the free content and got clear on who you were helping making massive connections, then you were helping people with a product as well. So how do you work through that? Without feeling like this is the piece of you’re feeling aligned, you don’t feel like, Oh, I caught you because you were on my life. And now I’m over here selling you some vitamins or some essential oils. How do you make those connections? That all of a sudden, you’re like, okay, now here’s what we’re doing. How do you connect the dots as a saleswoman? And as a, as a inspiring public speaker, you know, you’re like that woman right out there on social media, how do you then turn that into sales?
Well, I’m true to who I am and when it comes to my health and wellness and having that largest month and a long, long time, probably a year or so, I always say this, my tagline is being fit for him physically, mentally, financially, and spiritually. Why to do all that God is calling me to do with the spirit of excellence. That’s what I say every single time, because I believe, and I know that God wants us to be healthy. He says this in his word, third, John two says, I will let you prosper and be in health even as your soul prosperous. So, make all the money you want to make. But if you don’t have your health, what are you doing? Right. And so, all of that turned into still being fit for him. And the spiritual part of it is where I’m navigating would raise the praise because I knew there was something else, I’m supposed to be doing.
Those are my four pillars, physical, mental, financial, and spiritual. The spiritual part of it came about because of the state of our world right now, how can I serve? Okay. In that capacity, we’re not in churches a lot anymore. People are staying home or doing zooms and you’re missing that connection. Yeah. So, my race, the praise community group that is forthcoming, we’ll be that place where we can come together and have the hard conversations and everything is going to be based from love. You don’t have to agree. And that’s the whole beauty of us being humans. We don’t have to agree, but you know what? We have to agree to disagree. We have to agree to want to learn. I want to serve, want to have a connection and be there for each other. That’s what Raise the Praise is all about because chasing purpose, when I stopped chasing money and started chasing my purpose, that’s when my business grew, people were coming to me.
I wasn’t chasing people. So that was like, okay, God, I see what you’re doing. If I can keep my focus on what I’m supposed to be doing, the rest will come. It’s kind of like, what’s his name? If you build it, they’ll come. Oh, Kevin Costner. And that’s why I’m like, okay, I keep hearing this. Okay. If I stay focused on the promise and not the process I was trying to, I was trying to manipulate the process if you will. And once I was just stay focused on the promise, okay, I’m supposed to be doing something to encourage. That comes natural for me.
Whatever’s coming natural for you.
That’s where you can start. When you’re trying to find it clarity. At least that’s what I did. Once I became clear on what I’m supposed to be doing, man, I get so excited. Just thinking about the women that I am going to be able to connect with in this new community that I’m growing. So, I love, that’s Yogi snoring. If you can hear him, I love the chasing purpose because that’s why we’re such a good combination because none of them millionaire action plan works. If you’re chasing money, it’s chasing perfect purpose for the genuine connection. So, they can hang out with you and learn. How do I really, how do I uncover my purpose? What are the things I need to do daily? I also love that you teach manifestos and rituals and, and ways that we continue when you to continue to keep that vibration high.
And those are things that it’s like going to Jennifer’s gym, right? The spiritual gym being, because we can’t just like, watch the workout online. We’ve got to be in there and we’ve got to be, be doing that spiritual gym and being fit in that spiritual way along with then finding that purpose. And I know that if some of you are like, well, I don’t know my purpose. I love what you said. If it feels there’s a difference of discomfort of, I don’t feel like doing this. Like, I don’t feel like getting on the Peloton right now because that’s kind of procrastination laziness. But if when you’re posting something or you’re connecting or you’re going live and it doesn’t, you will know with your true North, you will know what feels right. And let’s end this. And I know that we’ll be continuing on and they’ll be able to listen to you and Raise the Praise.
But if somebody is thinking, how do I run this by my true North? How do I run this by? Does this fit my purpose? Do you have a way in your journaling and your devotions that you would, if I’m sitting here, I’m like, I’m lost, I’m hearing you, but I want my purpose. What are some things that I could start doing right now? So, I could get into my purpose. So, I’m chasing purpose, not chasing money. One thing that you said, Beth, you said, write an affirmation around it. What is it that you want? Not what someone has told you. Everybody, I believe has something within them because I know that we all have a level of a measure of faith. Everybody has gifts and talents of some sort, right? What is that thing? You start there, you write affirmations around it, right in the positive. Yeah. All I wrote, I could show you my journal when I started with you. I thank you for clarity and purpose. I kept saying that for at least four months, I thank you for clarity and purpose. The more I said it, the more I believed that it’s kind of like when I got it in my ear gate, my eye gate, once it got into my heart, that’s when it started to manifest and the things that I was doing and experiencing.
So, that would be one thing. You need to write an affirmation around it. What is it that you want? If your faith is low, how do I raise the praise? When it comes to my faith? That’s the kind of stuff I want to talk about within my community on the podcast. These are some things you can do right now. That’s going to be practical, but it all is based on that little measure of faith, you have to believe. You have to be aligned. You have to know that there’s something better for you. There’s something that your fingerprints were designed to do to impact this world. That’s the basis of it. Now, what that is, that’s called a journey. That’s called your process. I can’t tell you what that is, but I do know you have to do something. Because faith without works is dead. You have to take action on those things until it becomes clear.
Well, and it’s action. That’s driven in community too, because if you I’ll take this back to, we can say, okay. So, I love that, that affirmation around clarity and purpose. But the second that we’re like, Oh, I can just watch a YouTube video and I’ll do that on my own. And we’ve all been there. And it’s building on a challenge that says that today, this is how I’m going to Raise the Praise in my marriage or in my friendships. And it’s exercising the little tiny habits and not allowing our brain to go into that spiral. Like we talked yesterday in our circle around and when things become sloppy, everything becomes sloppy. You start to snap at people that you love, and you start to have bad energy in your business. And then you start to be like, I don’t need to get, I don’t need to do that today. So it’s creating, that’s why weight Watchers has been so successful because people show up every week for accountability to get it a little pat on the back to get their sticker, whatever it is, we have to raise that praise in our purpose. So, I love that. I know that you are going to have words of wisdom to close this out, because you always do.
So. Yes, yes, yes. Yes. Well actually what I’ll do is just something that I made my manifesto. I’ll share that. And I say it every single day. And this is where you have to get clear on what yours will be. Mine just says, I’ll cultivate what matters to me, right? Which is wholeness and genuine relationships. I will surround myself with Eagles because Eagles soar, Chickens don’t, okay? You know, and I’ll soar above the fear. Fear is always going to be present. But once you turn that fear into your faith, Oh, my gosh, you’re you will soar. And then my last thing I’ll say, I choose joy because joy is a choice. No matter what happens to you or for you, or because of you, you still have a choice of choosing joy and going through it with grace, grow in grace, choose mercy, choose love. All of it is a choice in order to be and do what you want to do in life. So, I know that I am an encourager. I am, I hope dealer.
I like to give out hope. And then I’m committed to show up. I’m committed to show up and show up as Jennifer, no one else. And that’s why a Raise the Praise kind of came about and it feels it’s so authentic to me. And I can’t wait. I can’t wait to share with many, many more people. So, when do we get to hear the first episode or July 1st is, Oh my gosh. Episode, launching July 1st, we’re having a party. I’m telling you, we’re going to have balloons. We’re having a party for that. So also getting, as you create Raise the Praise, you’re starting this community right now. They can join you in your free group. And that’s where you’ll make the announcement. So how do we get into your free group? Where do people find you there? You can find me on Facebook. I rather, you messaged me via Facebook.
It was just Jbell2007 on facebook.com and or you can, well, let me see, even name of your group. What’s the name of your group? The name of my group is the Inglenook lounge. Ingle nook lounge. You can find me there. We will put that in the show notes. Thank you, Jennifer, for being on. I cannot wait. I can’t wait. I hope I can be on your podcast. Absolutely. And so, we’ll get into Jennifer’s group. If you’re looking to create your own manifesto, we’ll also do a campfire with that. Again, we’ve done that before, but we’ll do a campfire and Camp Elevate. You’ll she’ll talk about how to write that manifesto. We just, I just came up with that right now. Does that mean it’s just like go, Okay? Sure. Beth. Sure. We’ll let you know when the podcast launches find us over in Camp Elevate, find us in Jennifer’s group.
And thank you Jennifer for being on with me today. Thank you, Beth. I appreciate the opportunity. Oh, my goodness. Was Jennifer not the most inspiring? I love being in her presence. She just always builds me up and asks me questions that allow me to have that filter of love, have that foundation. And I loved what she said about when you stop chasing money and you chase your purpose is when it starts to happen for you. So, it doesn’t mean that you have to go out and start a podcast today to build your network marketing business. Because I didn’t build my network marketing business without anything more than knowing what my purpose, what I was truly designed to do. And so that’s what I’m going to ask you today is to pull out that journal, do the thought download, who do you really serve?
And what is your purpose? Who do you want to help the most with your voice, with your message with your true North? And if you’re looking on, how do I work on these things? We do a lot of it in Camp Elevate. Jennifer talked a lot about how she’ll talk about chasing purpose in her. Raise the Praise podcast. What I want to ask you today is just to take a deep breath and to stop chasing the sale and start chasing your purpose. And it starts with showing up authentically and feeling aligned with, with what you are contributing and connecting with in the world. So, I hope you have a beautiful Monday. If you’re listening to this live, thank you so much for being with us today. And I can’t wait to see you over in Camp Elevate, at thecampelevate group.com.