Episode 25 | What is Your Truth within Jessica Dickson

Laura: 0:00

Welcome everyone here at Boss It. We would love to hear from you. Join us in our Boss It community by heading over to our website, bossitclub.com and join our mailing list. As we grow, we will be launching our community of fellow Boss It BFFs, and we want you to be a part of it. Okay. Sophia Noreen. Let's dig into this I can't wait to tell them all about how we got here

Sophia Noreen: 0:25

Welcome to the Boss It Podcast. My name is Sophia Noreen and I took an Etsy startup and launched it in big box retailers within 12 months. As a creative with an entrepreneurial drive, I left my full time career in healthcare to find better harmony between career, family and self care. We believe you can have it all. Yes, you can launch and run a successful scalable business while maintaining harmony in all aspects of your life. We believe we can learn from each other and draw on many experiences to create the best life possible. During each episode, we will share proven life hacks that will keep you on top and striving every day. There should be no hesitation. Make a plan. Take action. We are here for you. This episode of the Boss It Podcast is brought to you by Unstoppable by Boss It Club. This membership and community is amazing for anybody who's looking for not just business development, but also personal development. We understand that the world of business and your personal life are always intertwined and you cannot work on one without working on the other. The first zero to five years are the hardest, and we know that you need as much support as possible. This membership is chock full of practical and resourceful advice for anybody who is just starting off in a business, or has been in business for a while. During each enrollment, you'll receive a mini-course that will help you with either business or personal development and also workshops and one-on-one coaching. Head to bossitclub.com to learn more about this very unique and very resourceful community and membership.

Sophia Syed: 1:56

Hey guys. I am so happy you here. Before we invite our guests for this podcast, I want to tell you a little bit about her. Her name is Jessica Dixon and she is an Enneagram coach. Now, you may not know what an Enneagram is and I'll let her explain what an Enneagram is, and you will definitely have a whole podcast just on the Enneagram. And I'm recording Jessica's introduction after the podcast. And I have to tell you this. She is incredible. Her story and her intentions are incredible. She started off her coaching career just last year, full-time in the middle of the pandemic. And man, was she able to pivot! She is an empowerment coach and empowerment Enneagram coach. And she believes that when black women heal, the world heals Jessica believes in healing work that leads us to equity, justice and freedom, and reclamation of our full humanity is what the world really needs right now. And she is still happy to support people in this work to create this world. Jessica story is so fantastic. She is such a strong woman. She has such a warm heart and she has the best intentions for all of us, including the women who have come to her in her new program to help them heal and learn from each other. If you have any questions for Jessica, please feel free to reach out to her. We share all her handles at the end of the show. Okay guys. That is Jessica. I cannot wait for you guys to meet her. Hello, everyone. Welcome to another amazing episode of the Boss It Podcast. My name is Sophia Noreen and I am so happy to be joined with Jessica today. And as you heard in her bio, she is an Enneagram expert. But today we're not going to get into all the science around the Enneagram. We want to learn about Jessica. Maybe she'll come back for a future episode and tell us a little bit more about Enneagram. But today, we're going to meet Jessica Dixon and we're going to hear about ,first, her mantra. Hi Jessica. How are you?

Jessica Dickson: 3:49

I am doing really well. I'm super happy to be here with you.

Sophia Syed: 3:53

We're super happy to have you.

Jessica Dickson: 3:55

Thank you. All right. So we're talking about my mantra, right? Yeah. And I love this question because I'm like, do I have one ?I was like, Oh my gosh, am I missing something? Do I have one? What is my philosophy? H ow do I live? And what I realized is, well of course, one of them is go big or go home...G o big and stay home right now.

Sophia Syed: 4:16

That's for sure bad. We're in the middle of 2021, January, actually. Tomorrow's February 1st. We're recording this. Yeah. And I don't know, what is it? What did you say go big or stay home? Yeah, for sure. For sure.

Jessica Dickson: 4:33

Besides that, the thing that drives me in the work that I do is knowing that people are like one mindset shift or paradigm shift away from creating a new world. And when I speak truth, I get to be part of that creation. I get to help people open their eyes to something that they may never have considered before. And that to me is so juicy and so delicious. And it keeps me going, even when I'm like, this is hard. Being an entrepreneur is its own thing. It's its own experience. Until you're doing it, you don't know. People tell you, and then you're like, oh, this was as hard as people told me that it would be. And the things that are hard are unexpected. But what it comes back to all the time is speaking true and knowing that has the opportunity to shift the world. And I believe that not just like my world, but the world.

Sophia Syed: 5:25

it's interesting, too, because the way you're saying, it shifts the world. If we don't speak truth, we're not examples of truth or we're not embodying that truth. People are using us potentially as their role models or examples within our communities. And if we embody the truth or we set the path, then it's easier for them to do the same thing or start on their own venture or their own path. So I love that. It sounds like you got two. It sounds like "you go big or go home" or "you speak the truth." Is that right?

Jessica Dickson: 5:54

Yeah. Yeah.

Sophia Syed: 5:56

And in the speak the truth, it's so different for so many people. And it can be interlaced with so many nuances because it can be to speak the truth in anything.

Jessica Dickson: 6:05

Yeah, absolutely. I think that our journey with truth is so important. Discovering what your truth is, being able to give language to it is another pain in the process. Speaking it is another part of the process. It's all part of this beautiful journey of embodying truth. One of the things that I tell my clients all the time is that you might look for what's true in your head. And the head's fine, the mind is a good place. But your truth is going to live in your body and say, what does it look like for you to pursue the embodiment of your truth? It's a game changer because that journey will lead you to something deeper than you could ever really imagine. Most of us live so disconnected from our bodies for a lot of reasons. I do work as an Enneagram coach, of course. I support general people with their work around that. But the work that I love to do is supporting women of color and utilizing the system to do liberation work to dismantle internal systems of oppression and to support white women in creating foundations for their commitment to anti-racism work. You have to be connected to your body, which is where your truth lives. And so this embodiment piece and knowing what the truth is, and really the truth setting you free is everything. It's everything to me.

Sophia Syed: 7:25

Yeah. And when you say truth and it's bodied within, do you mean intuition or is it different than intuition?

Jessica Dickson: 7:32

It can be A lot of us especially if we have trauma, if there's been like a body trauma, then we learned to shut down. We learn that we don't want to listen to our bodies because our bodies have been hurt, and that's a really natural response and it's a protective response. So people who might have that experience, I encourage them. There's nothing wrong with you having trouble getting into your body or knowing what that means or it means for you specifically. And I do think that it can be intuition, but often it's just even the relationship with me that I'm in a body that has a specific shape. You spend so much time trying to shift the way that we look or complaining about the way that we look at. I was doing some work with a group of mine today. And one of the women was like, I'm just going to embrace this belly that I have. And that is embodying truth. That's because truth tells us that what is is what is. And we can really be clear and connected to it. And when we embody truth and we get to that point, we get to the point where we stop needing to change ourselves and shift ourselves because we're so much more in touch with the fullness of who we are. Part of it is that intuition and part of it is just who are we? Who are we? And what is this body that we have? And how can we get in touch with it? Often when we're stressed or when something is happening, our body speaks to us in so many different ways. One of the ways is through all our sensations. The sensations in our body, I was having a reaction the other day. There's something and it was, I could feel like my toes tingling.

Sophia Syed: 9:08

Oh wow.

Jessica Dickson: 9:09

And I was like, oh, okay. This has energy for me.

Sophia Syed: 9:13

Yeah.

Jessica Dickson: 9:14

I was able to see that and be with that in a different way

Sophia Syed: 9:17

And accept it, right? Like the truth and accepting. What is your body telling you? Is it a response subconsciously? Something's coming up. I just, wow. I never thought I was so deep. That is so deep. I love it.

Jessica Dickson: 9:30

Yeah. And that's what people get when they don't know that they're getting that when they sign up to work with me So let's, go to your story because I want to know how now your mantra connects to your story and then maybe just fill us in on who you are. And we've spoken about the Enneagram, but not everybody knows what that is. So maybe give us a 30-second spiel of what an Enneagram is. Awesome. I learned about the Enneagram in 2013 and I stumbled upon it when I was working in higher education. That's my background. I got my Master's Degree in Counseling. And then I worked at the university on the student affairs side of higher education for a lot of years. And I was supervising professionals and I was responsible for their professional development. And so I wanted to do something new and different. And I don't know something that was just out of the norm. The standard things that we use, like the Myers-Briggs or True Colors, or even Strengths. I did a Google search and I found this document that talks about the Enneagram. And I was like, what is this? It was beautiful in its depth to talk about what our strengths are. I liked it. It didn't blow smoke up your ass. No, honey, this is what you need to work on. And so the Enneagram is about the ways that we're motivated beneath t he things that we do. What are the fears that drive us? The desires that drive us? What are the core emotional habits that drive us and the mental habits that drive us? The core defense mechanisms that protect us? What are the ways that we have survived and learned to succeed in the world and say that is the basics of the Enneagram. And I was working with this man who I really struggled working with. We got into it quite a bit. And I was a step from terminating him. And I did this training on the Enneagram and he saw his type. They take an old school test. He saw and read about his type and he lit up like a school boy. Now before that training, the only thing I sensed from him was disdain. I was pretty sure the man hated me in any way to treat a person. Like It was just wild. But that day, that experience of him being seen in such a deep way, not just for this is the way that I'm great, but also like yeah, I do avoid vulnerability and this is why. And I am afraid of you hurting me and for him to be able to just say that and admit that was so powerful. So I started using the system to do professional development throughout my journey in higher education. And I decided in 2019 that it was just time for me to leave because I was working on the student side of things and I was working in residence life where I live and worked on campus. And I realize that I didn't have the same capacity to be with 18 year olds being loud at 3:00 AM. That I did when I was 25. I was already 33 to 34 at the time and I just didn't have the same capacity and I just needed to own that. So I owned it. I left two years on my two year anniversary at the institution that I was working in. And after that, I worked a little bit for a coach for another Enneagram coach. It lasted about six months. It didn't work out. But then I was like, I'm gonna rest a little bit. I'm going to regain my strength. And then March 2020, I set into full-time entrepreneurship.

Sophia Syed: 12:50

Congratulations. And right away. And then what happened?

Jessica Dickson: 12:54

And then the pandemic shuts everything down and all of my plans. I have amazing plans for networking. I was, like, every day of the week, I was like, I'm going to go do this is that I'm going to go to, this is that. And I'm going to get clients here and I'm going to do this and I'm going to meet people and I'm going to... And then it was like all of the air in my balloon just left!

Sophia Syed: 13:14

Where is it going? Come back balloon.

Jessica Dickson: 13:17

Okay. So one thing you should know about me is I'm also a fitness instructor. So that March 10th of 2020 I went to a networking event. It was very small, but you could sense in the air, people were starting to talk more about Corona virus. We were just like...

Sophia Syed: 13:33

It was there brewing.

Jessica Dickson: 13:34

So I went to that. And then when I went to the gym that evening, the gym was closed now, not even because of the virus, but because of a power outage. But I watched the rest of that week as this event that's supposed to go to shut down. No, we're not having this event closed down. Yes, you can have groups of 25 people. We're just going to cancel. And being like, wow, everything that I thought was going to be supportive of me is no longer available. So I was working with the coach. I had an amazing coach I still do. Her name was Trudi Lebron and I absolutely loved her. She supports people in building businesses that are focused on equity. I've loved her support during this time. And she was like, okay, you're going to have to regroup. So, what's your plan on telling people about your business? I'm like, that was my plan, but she's like but who knows you have a business? I was like, I'm supposed to tell people? And she's like, you might want to tell people that. So one of the first things I did, I was like, okay, so what I'm going to do is I sent emails to everyone that I used to work with at the last institution that I worked with. Just telling them hey, this is what's up with me since I left. I have a business. If you are ever interested, let me know. So I did that and I started to put it out on social media. And it's oh my gosh, because Enneagram, now you can find a lot of Enneagram information. You can do a Google search. You can listen to podcasts. You can go to YouTube and watch webinars or so much information. You can buy books. There's so much. So I know people can get Enneagram information anywhere. What is the...

Sophia Syed: 15:01

What do you do with it?

Jessica Dickson: 15:03

The joy of working with me, I get to put myself out there as someone who can lead you in not just knowing information, but doing your work. That was a whole level of vulnerability. I didn't

15:14

expect.

Jessica Dickson: 15:15

I thought I was going to go schmooze with some people and they'd fall in love with me because what's not his love that they fall in love with me. And it was just that level of simplicity, but it turned out I needed to be with the people who I knew and reach out to them and ask them if they knew anyone.

Sophia Syed: 15:31

Right. The networking.

Jessica Dickson: 15:31

So March came. I got a little bit of work. April came, maybe a little .May came, and I was turning 35. So I decided to do a 35-for-35 challenge for myself. And I put it out there. I said, everyone, I'm turning 35. And what I want for my 35th birthday is 35 clients in someway. Here's the ways that you can work with me. Here are my prices. And what happened was it got me used to talking about myself, talking about what I offer. Telling people this is how much it costs for you to work with me and just zipping my lips, all the terror of is that going to be too much? I'm like, are they going to trust me enough to invest in that? And did I get 35 people? No, but I did get more and I made enough money to pay rent. And that Is a really important first step. So then May 25th happened. And May 25th, 2020 is the day that George Floyd was murdered. George Floyd by police. And I saw the heart of the world break open in a way that I had never seen before. And I was like, do I want to watch a diversity program and anti-racism program? And I wasn't sure that I did, to be honest, because there are times when white people have a lot of blind spots around topics of oppression. And I was like, do I want to do this? I don't know. But I did. And I created a nine-month anti-racism program for people who are white, who identify as white. And I got nine women to sign up and we have been on this journey together. We end right at the end of March and being able to see the ways that they have grown and changed is quite incredible. This work that I do, like I mentioned earlier, it's embodiment work. It's really reprogramming our nervous system. If you grew up in the United States, then you grew up in with the context of white supremacy being dominant. And all of our nervous systems,t hey're crafted, they're nurtured by that. If we have a position of power and privilege, our nervous system is going to have a very specific conditioning. And if we have a marginalized identity, our nervous system is going to have a very specific conditioning as well. And so much of the work is helping people who identify as white, seeing the ways that you have been programmed by this white supremacist created culture. It's white and race and all of that people are like, it's a social construct. I'm like, yes, but it matters. And the ways that it matters is because it impacts the way that we see ourselves and that we see one another. And so much of the work that I do is helping them say, oh, that might just be your conditioning around whiteness. It might be that your nervous system feels unsafe even though there's no real threat of harm. And giving the space that's shame-free to be able to give to, for them to see that. 'Cause there can be so much shame in anti-racism work. And even I see white people berating other white people and just shut up and listen and all this. But no. People actually need a space to be able to ask those questions. And so for me, it's ridiculous to go through thinking that we can just change systems and we don't change ourselves. I tell people that even if you were to burn down every system that we have, and we were to start from scratch, you would still add your internalized bias. You have to do your own work. So that is one. That's one program that I have. I also launched the liberation program for black women called Free Yourself. It's six month program that is just incredible to really wrestle through. And even with the Enneagram, what is my expression, the expression of my type, outside of the lens of white supremacist culture. Who am I? What are the ways that my type shows up to help me survive in white supremacy? And what are the ways that it shows up naturally when I'm just hanging out with friends and I can just be myself? Being able to do that work, it's beautiful because the reclamation of our bodies, too, is not just something that white people have to do. I say that oppression is a wound of dehumanization and disembodiment. And in order for it to really make waves and change things, we have to both rehumanize ourselves and get embodied. It's diff rent work, but it's similar work in some ways and really important for all of us.

Sophia Syed: 20:07

Yeah. So well said. And such important work that you're doing. I can't even emphasize that enough. I feel like they're very difficult topics. They're very deep They've gone further than we can actually think into our subconscious level until it's been basically hardwired and neurologically wired since birth. A very interesting story. My mom said as a child I did come to San Francisco. We were traveling and my mom put me in one of the mall daycares. I think I was two. So she went to go shopping and she came back and she said it was very interesting. She said that I was playing with all the minority children. And all the white kids were playing separately and we were kids like toddlers. And she actually said it's natural for you to go with your own kind. And I don't know what your thoughts are on that because it's hard, right? Because it's a very sensitive topic. But if that is the generational thought and then it's being showcased in children or showcased in society, how do we go about breaking those beliefs down? I'm sure you do that with your groups? That stuck with me. She actually said that. And me growing up in a rural area in Canada, I was the only minority me and my sister in school. And so when everything happened around George Floyd and, the BiPOC community, having this reaction, it opened up a lot of my wounds, I think, as well being, a person of color. But anyways, we don't have to turn this whole episode into that topic, but we definitely could.

Jessica Dickson: 21:40

I love that question because we're hard wired and programmed to both notice similarities and differences. And so when we're that young, we are very much, "oh, you're liking me. Oh, you're different than me". Those things are super normal. And what happens often is that we're conditioned to pretend like we don't see difference and that's how the socialization then continues. And then we act like colorblindness is a thing, or, some of us were taught and there was a time that was it in, within the diversity realm that colorblindness was seen as a positive thing. And then it wasn't. And now we don't do that, but I think it's a really good thing, too, for us all to think about and really consider. Because at that age, you go to what you're used to. And then you start to notice all those people are different and you start to have questions. And often our parents are, like, "we don't talk about that. You don't ask. That's rude". The ways that we're conditioned as kids, it's so interesting. But I think that this work of examining our socio-cultural identities and the ways that it impacts how we see ourselves, how it sees others and even our position in the world is crucial. Because often, as women of color, we think that we're struggling with imposter syndrome. But really it's that white supremacy has set a standard that's impossible for people who don't meet the white cisgender, heterosexual, Christian, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, standards of being right. So when we actually see that, we can say, oh, this is it. This isn't a reflection of me. This is a reflection of the world and I can actually be anything that I want.

Sophia Syed: 23:15

That's right. And getting comfortable with that or rewiring ourselves to become comfortable with that. Because like you said, even at a subconscious level, talk about it or not talk about it in the home explicitly, it was being said the standards were set .Wow. That is crazy. That, again, we're gonna probably have to do a whole other episode. That was her story, guys. So she started her entrepreneurial journey officially in March during the heat of the pandemic. But you did a very good pivot. You did a fantastic pivot with basically using, it sounds like online channels to help you network. And you still were able to meet your goals of starting the program much needed program. I think actually in some ways, It was a tragedy what happened. But at the same time you've taken on that opportunity. That much required opportunity to teach others. And are you going to continue hosting programs like these?

Jessica Dickson: 24:05

Yeah. I am. I have a few that are starting and I have one that's just for white men coming up. Because I realized that they need that support. And, despite starting in the heat of everything shutting down, I made about $85,000 in sales my first year.

Sophia Syed: 24:21

Yay! Congratulations! See, it can it's possible. Anything is possible. You just have to put yourself out there. And now we're going to go into the advice section. What is one piece of advice you would give to an entrepreneur starting today?

Jessica Dickson: 24:34

Yeah, I like this question a lot. And what comes up for me is self-trust, and embodying self trust. I talk a lot about embodiment. You've heard it earlier. I'll say it again, but the thing that was the biggest struggle for me was trusting. Do I have something to bring to the world? Okay. Yes. Yeah. I think I do, but will they really want it? I'm not really sure. Am I going to be really be that good of a, you know? I'm in a different field. It's different than higher ed. All of these. All of this mind trash,

Sophia Syed: 25:08

I love that, Mind trash

Jessica Dickson: 25:10

Embodied this self-trust. When I launched my program, the first program Disrupt the Narrative, it's the nine-month anti-racism program. I was, like, if I sell or don't sell, it's not a reflection on me. And I allowed myself to just put it out there and allow people to be called into a different future. And I would not have been able to do that if I wasn't just actually I do have something to offer. And I trust and believe that whoever finds up for this is going to be a different person. And we're only seven months in and they are all different people than they started.

Sophia Syed: 25:45

So fantastic. And you're doing such a great service not just for those women, but for anybody that will be touched by those women and society as a whole.

Jessica Dickson: 25:53

Yeah. Yeah. That's the big, it just, i t fills me.

Sophia Syed: 25:57

So guys listen, trust yourself and go with it. Go with whatever your intuition or subconscious or your body, whatever you're embodying. Trust it. Okay. Great. Next question. You're a busy, busy lady. How do you goal-set and manage your time?

Jessica Dickson: 26:14

So I have a really weird relationship with goals where I can really get caught up in the nitty-gritty and when are they coming? And when I set goals, I tend to despair a lot. And so what I've gotten more into is intention setting. Like where it's ,okay, this is where my energy is going to go. This is what I'm going to set my heart on. And then taking aligned action with that. Because when I call them goals and I write them out and I'm just, like, what and how? And I just get so overwhelmed by them. And so setting intentions and putting them on my smartphone as screenshot and just having them be in front of me. I found that to be the most helpful way for me to actually get to where I want to be.

Sophia Syed: 27:02

That's such a unique way of approaching it because a lot of people are, like I break it down. I do this, I do that. And it's very objective. And I find that intention setting, it's a bit subjective, but if you have the best of intentions, you naturally will gravitate towards trying to accomplish that goal without you having a date in an actual structured outline.

Jessica Dickson: 27:23

Yeah, I can get really tripped up in all of those details. And for me I'm, realizing that I need to be as if I'm a little bit of a free spirit. I need to be in the flow of things. And setting goals gets me like very much I feel like I'm trapped.

Sophia Syed: 27:36

It's true, right? Because then you're like, oh my gosh, what happens if I don't make that deadline or having some off by that goal. It's just too constraining and stressful. And we're the ones who created that goal. Nobody else did.

Jessica Dickson: 27:48

Exactly. Exactly. And then when you talk about managing time I don't see clients on Mondays and I don't see them on Wednesdays. I sometimes work on Mondays and sometimes I don't, sometimes it's like an admin day. But, having that time set aside where I'm just not working and I'm able to go for hikes with friends. Or, take, go and sit by the ocean for a little bit. And without, without that constraint time really healthy for me. What's the point of building a business if you're not setting your own schedule? That's what you want. If the time freedom is what you want. So I have been really intentional about that and it has made a massive difference.

Sophia Syed: 28:33

That's great. That's great advice for people because I think they also get into the hustle rhetoric. They forget to take time for themselves.

Jessica Dickson: 28:41

Former workaholic here. Yeah. Yeah, totally. Totally. It's not going to work here to get me where I want to be.

Sophia Syed: 28:47

No. And what's the point?

Jessica Dickson: 28:50

Let it go.

Sophia Syed: 28:51

Right? Exactly. Let it go. Seriously. Everyone knows Frozen off by heart now. So with or without the toddlers in the house, everyone knows. Let it go. Oh my goodness. So everyone, that is great advice. Just everyone. Remember to try to carve out a couple of days for yourself, or if not, hours of no work, block it off. And don't take clients. Don't even look at your emails. I think that's very healthy and it should be allowed. If you don't allow it, who will? Somebody said this. Oh, it was Jeff Bezos. So he said, "I don't understand why people who own businesses are so stressed out". If you're a CEO of a business, "you manage your own schedule". This is what he was saying, anyways, on some panel. And he said, "you can delegate it off to other people. That's your choice. If you want to take on that work, it's your choice. If you're going to do that work, you do not have a boss". Unless you have a board of directors or somebody else managing the business. He goes, you really, truly have nobody else to talk to or respond to except for yourself. We won't go too much more into that, but it's just interesting because I think as business owners, as entrepreneurs, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves. And if Jeff Bezos is saying that, then I think we can also live by that mantra a little bit, not mantra, but we can live by that lesson.

Jessica Dickson: 30:00

When you're first started, you do feel like you have to do all of it and you have to be like super involved. And I'm still in the first year of my business and I'm taking the time and that time has made a massive difference. And sometimes it's that you're not actually charging enough for your time. You should be nourished by the prices that you charged for your services and for what you do. And I have set myself up where that actually is allowed to nourish me. So then when I am working with my clients, it's this beautiful exchange. There's not the resentment because I'm not charging enough. And then I can take the time that I need. So it's a good. It's a good balance.

Sophia Syed: 30:41

Yeah. And that's a good lesson for a lot of individuals. If they're struggling to take off time and they feel like that there were continuously, maybe they're not charging enough for their time to allow them to have that freedom. So that's a whole lesson in itself.

Jessica Dickson: 30:53

Yeah.

Sophia Syed: 30:54

Oh my. And we have one more question for you and this kind of ties into taking time for yourself. How do you manage your own personal health, your physical and your mental health? What are a few things that you do?

Jessica Dickson: 31:04

So I love this question. I'm a fitness instructor and so I teach two different classes and I remember when everything shut down with COVID, I was like, what's going to happen. Probably five to seven times a week. I was teaching a lot. And one of the things that. I get so much from being able to contribute not only in the Enneagram work, which is spiritual work, mental work, it's emotional work. It's embodiment was, but I'll say with people's physical health. And I am not the tiniest person, nor will I ever be. But what I get to do is motivate people to take on their health and their fitness to the next level for them. And for me continuously working out. And then also taking that when the gyms opened again, taking on being a fitness instructor has been one of the biggest gifts for me. And lately I've added walking to my life. I dog sat for a week. And the means you go for walks two times a day. And I have had days where I have, I've had weeks where I haven't left my house where I'm like, I'm going to the gym. I don't leave. That has been this beautiful experience, just like getting out and just letting my body get loose. And really it's added so much, unexpectedly so much to my world.

Sophia Syed: 32:23

And it became a habit, it sounded like while you were dog-sitting and what a wonderful habit.

Jessica Dickson: 32:28

Yeah, so wonderful. 'Cause for me, I can be very intense. I'm an eight on the Enneagram. So we'll talk about that, and I'm sure when I come back another time, very intense personality. And so for me can feel like if it's not doing my cardio kickboxing class and punching stuff and doing jump ticks. If I'm not doing that, it's because I'm not doing anything.

Sophia Syed: 32:50

Yeah. That's right.

Jessica Dickson: 32:51

Actually it's o h, I can just go for a walk. And that actually gives me something. It gives me more energy. It gives me more clarity. I can think about things, I try to stay off my phone when I'm going for the walks. There's this whole flow way of being that's not super intense. And sometimes I make it intense by going on just enormously long walks. I can't avoid that, knowing yourself.

Sophia Syed: 33:13

And if it's on a Monday or Wednesday, when you have nothing else booked... I

Jessica Dickson: 33:16

it's been great.

Sophia Syed: 33:17

What about your mental health is there any things that you do specifically to manage your own mental health?

Jessica Dickson: 33:23

I take a few supplements, adaptogenic herbs, and I find that has been really helpful for me. But one thing that I've really noticed has helped is being in community with people and being able to say, I'm not doing well. That's been massive for me because in the past. I can be very lone ranger. Let's get it done and I'm going to get it done well, and I'm going to live this life and be really strong. But having people I can go to and say, hey. My mental health is really struggling at the beginning of the pandemic. Those few weeks. First weeks, I was like, oh, I am not doing well. And so being able to call friends, being able to talk to them and being able to actually receive their love. I paid to practice receiving as an entrepreneur to even take people's money in exchange for this freedom and this new life that there. But I had to learn to receive. To learn to receive that people care about me and they want what's best for me. And they actually do want to show up for me. So that's the, probably for me the biggest thing is actually being able to reach out and allowing them to contribute to me.

Sophia Syed: 34:30

Yeah. And isn't that beautiful. Just acknowledging the fact that it's difficult to perceive as an entrepreneur. And I think if I heard you correctly, you did your Masters in Counseling, correct?

Jessica Dickson: 34:42

Yup.

Sophia Syed: 34:43

And so you worked for a school in service. But we never had to take the money from our clients. It was provided to us. I have the same problem because I'm a physiotherapist; we're public. I can't charge for my time. I have a problem with that. It's a block. And I think it's because the way we were trained as clinicians, we have a problem. But acknowledging that and being able to say that's their way of the community, taking care of us, being open, being able to receive it's beautiful.

Jessica Dickson: 35:13

It's such a, this give and take, and this flow and we can want to be the givers. I talk about wounded healers the wounded healer. That's just going out and wants to save the world and wants to make sure everyone's okay. And bring everyone in and take care of everyone. But when the flow is one way, what are you filling yourself up with? Lisa Nichols is someone who I respect. And she talks about That she only gives the overflow of her cup.

Sophia Syed: 35:41

Oh, that's very well said.

Jessica Dickson: 35:44

Yeah. And I was like, oh, you mean it's not like empty and you're trying to like,

Sophia Syed: 35:49

Like my cup needs to be to the top, overflowing. And then that's what you get, whatever flows. Wow.

Jessica Dickson: 35:55

And it's beautiful is that you're really giving from the full, from your fullness. And if you want people to be in their fullness, then you get to model that for them.

Sophia Syed: 36:04

That's right.

Jessica Dickson: 36:05

That's amazing to me.

Sophia Syed: 36:07

What a well thought out quote or well thought out concept. It's such a beautiful concept. And as women too, I think we sometimes forget, right? To fill up our own cup. So if you over-exaggerated and say, I'm just going to give you what my overflow is. You'll never have an empty cup, right?

Jessica Dickson: 36:23

How amazing is that?

Sophia Syed: 36:24

Yeah. For sure. Oh my goodness. Jessica, this was such a good episode. I've learned so much. Tell our listeners where we can find you? Instagram, all your socials, what's your website? And there's anybody who wants to work with you, how do they do that?

Jessica Dickson: 36:38

Yeah. So I do have a website. It's jessicabdixon.com. I don't update it as much as I probably should. So if you go there and it's a little outdated, you can always find me on my Instagram. I'm on Instagram more than I am in any other place in the world. So it's jessicabdixoncoaching, or you can follow my personal page, Jessica B. Dixon. I welcome people for whatever experience with me that you want. You want to keep it professional? Just follow my biz. If you want me to get a little bit, a little spicy and saucy? Come to my personal page. You get all of me.

Sophia Syed: 37:12

Love it. And I'll hyperlink everything in the show notes. You guys can just click and go straight to her page and give it a follow or go and look up what she has to offer. And yeah, DM her. And I think me and Jessica will talk offline and we'll see if he can bring her back for Enneagram talk because guys, I was blown away. I love the Enneagram concept. I think everybody should do the test. So you could actually understand more about yourself. I almost cried when I realized what my Enneagram was. And I read my profile because I finally felt like I was understood. Isn't that crazy? And I'm not a crier. That speaks volumes. Goodness. Okay. Thank you again, Jessica and guys, remember make a plan and take action and yes, you can have it all.

Sophia Noreen: 37:58

So my fellow bosses, did you enjoy that episode? Now is time for you to make a solid plan and take action. But first, remember to subscribe and follow the Boss It Podcast so you receive a notification whenever we drop an episode. Remember to leave us a review on iTunes. Take a screenshot of your review and share it on Instagram as a post or a story and tag us @BossItclub. If Instagram is not your thing, no worries. Email your screenshot to [email protected]. As a massive thank you, we will be sending you our Top 50 Tips for Starting and Scaling a Business. This list is exclusively for podcast reviewers. So don't miss out. Now remember bosses: make a plan and take action in all aspects of your life. Yes you can have it all.