0:45

You are listening to episode 197 of

0:45

The Mindful Productivity Podcast.

0:50

I'm your host, Sarah Steckler. And this week I am so excited to

0:51

introduce you to the amazing Jenni Kowal.

0:56

We talk all about self-care for creatives

0:56

and entrepreneurs this week, and she also

1:02

gives us a behind the scenes look at her

1:02

successful Kickstarter campaign that she

1:08

used to launch her Self

1:08

Care Adventure Cards.

1:10

I learned so much from Jenni

1:10

during this conversation.

1:13

I know you will too. So let's go ahead and dive

1:15

in to this week's episode.

1:19

Welcome to the Mindful

1:19

Productivity Podcast.

1:22

I'm your host, Sarah Steckler, and this is

1:24

the place to be to live a more

1:24

mindful and productive life.

1:27

If you're ready to turn daily chaos into calm and start your days with

1:29

intention, then get ready to join me.

1:33

As we dive deep into mindful

1:33

living and personal productivity.

1:37

It's time to connect with your true self

1:37

so you can live the life you want to live.

1:41

And it all starts now.

1:53

Before we jump into today's episode, I

1:55

wanted to formally

1:55

introduce you to our guest.

1:58

Jenni Kowal is a multipassionate visual

1:58

artist and personal development coach

2:03

specializing in self-care

2:03

and creative exploration.

2:06

Founder of Anytime Creative, she offers a

2:09

variety of life coaching services

2:09

including mindfulness Support.

2:13

Her flagship product is the Self Care

2:13

Adventure Cards, an intuitive card deck

2:18

that sparks inspiration for every

2:18

step of your self care journey.

2:22

Her mission is to help scattered and multi

2:24

passionate creatives use self care to fuel

2:24

their creative expression, get out of

2:28

their own way, and spend

2:28

more time in flow.

2:31

I can't wait for you to hear this conversation, so let's

2:33

go ahead and dive in.

2:36

Jenni, thank you so much for

2:36

being on the podcast today.

2:39

I am so, so excited to talk to you.

2:43

Thank you so much for having me. You're so welcome.

2:46

Before we dive into all this goodness

2:46

today, would you be willing to tell us a

2:51

little bit about yourself and the

2:51

work that you do in the world?

2:53

Sure.

2:53

So my name is Jenni Kowal.

2:56

I'm a creative guide and

2:56

founder of Anytime Creative.

3:00

So basically, I try to help multi,

3:02

passionate creatives burst through their

3:02

creative blocks and stay kind of mindful

3:07

insane through self care

3:07

and mindfulness techniques.

3:11

So overall, I'm a multi,

3:11

passionate creative.

3:16

I do graphic design, photography.

3:18

We just bought the house, so there's

3:18

a lot of activities to do here too.

3:22

And just through my work, I just kind of want to be like that starting point to get

3:24

grounded if you're feeling flustered and

3:29

crazy about whatever creative project

3:29

you're working on and really help you

3:33

design your life around the ebbs and flows

3:33

and making sure that you have everything

3:38

you need inside of you first before you

3:38

kind of sit out and create in the world.

3:43

We need this so much.

3:45

I love the emphasis on putting self care

3:45

first, especially as a creative, because I

3:50

feel like that kind of work that people do

3:50

in the world sometimes can take different

3:55

elements of self care that we don't

3:55

always consider and think about.

3:59

So I just love the work that you do.

4:01

I'm a big fan of your card deck, which

4:01

we'll talk about more later, too.

4:05

I actually been using it every day, and I

4:07

have two cards I pulled

4:07

this morning, so thank you.

4:10

That's always been really helpful.

4:12

And also just Congratulations

4:12

on your new house.

4:15

How is unpacking going?

4:15

Where are you with that?

4:17

Right now? It's mostly together except for my

4:18

office, so it's sort of a mess in here.

4:22

But my parents just brought down a lot of

4:25

hand me down furniture, and that really

4:25

helped just fill the space and random rugs

4:29

here and there just really

4:29

make a big difference.

4:31

So I think overall, the house is fine. I just have to actually sit in my office

4:33

and do the harder work of organizing.

4:38

And I've been avoiding that.

4:38

I get that.

4:40

I'm just so excited for you. It's such a fun time of year to have a new

4:44

house, too, in the spring and

4:44

everything's coming together.

4:46

So thanks for all you share on Instagram. I'm like living vicariously through that.

4:50

It's really fun. One of the things I wanted to talk about

4:51

first was how a lot of creatives struggle.

4:56

I mean, we all struggle with overwhelmed,

4:56

but I feel like creative struggle with

4:59

overwhelm just because of

4:59

all of our creative ideas.

5:03

And I don't know that we always know kind

5:06

of like what the warning

5:06

signs are of overwhelmed.

5:09

Like, for me, I'm just all of a sudden hit

5:09

with it like, oh my gosh, I'm overwhelmed.

5:13

And I was wondering if maybe we could talk

5:13

a little bit about how we can begin to

5:18

maybe even define what overwhelm is, and

5:18

then what are some of the ways that we can

5:23

work to either maybe prevent

5:23

it from making us feel stuck?

5:27

Oh, I love that question. And I will say it's personal for everyone,

5:31

so I can give some kind of

5:31

blanket ideas and tips.

5:35

But if you're struggling

5:37

kind of on this sort of like I would say,

5:37

seesaw some days you're feeling good, some

5:42

days might be off and you don't have a lot

5:42

of practices in place for maybe it's a

5:47

morning routine or some sort of ritual

5:47

that kind of keeps you grounded.

5:52

I would definitely recommend

5:52

having that in your toolbox.

5:55

And some days you're going to feel great

5:58

and do it, and then other days

5:58

you're not going to want to do it.

6:00

But until you realize that it might

6:00

actually be helping you in the long term,

6:05

just think about what those things are

6:05

that really help you stay grounded.

6:08

So for me, it's kind of journaling.

6:11

Going for a walk every day doesn't happen

6:13

every day, but I can tell when I start to

6:13

stop the exercising and the self

6:18

expression is when I start to

6:18

get more flustered and anxious.

6:21

So I would say start with a baseline that

6:21

you can kind of continue to manage, like

6:26

create habits that are

6:26

going to support you.

6:28

And when you start to get into other parts

6:28

of your life that might be really crazy,

6:33

like buying a house or starting a new job,

6:33

even traveling can be very jarring.

6:39

So think about the things that really

6:42

support you and that

6:42

it's the bare minimum.

6:45

And what I've noticed is that some days

6:45

you're going to need a lot more self care,

6:50

so you're going to really need to step

6:50

back and go inward versus other days where

6:56

you're like, oh, yeah,

6:56

I'm a social butterfly.

6:58

I can do Instagram all day

6:58

TikTok and really be social.

7:02

And then the next day you're,

7:02

like, burnt out from it.

7:04

So you kind of notice those things that,

7:04

yeah, maybe one day you're feeling great,

7:10

but it might have been like a

7:10

little bit too far into your edges.

7:14

So start to, like, maybe over a week, see

7:17

how you feel and these

7:17

kind of ups and downs.

7:20

And if you're getting to a point where

7:20

you're in, like, severe burnout, it's

7:25

going to be really, really

7:25

hard to do anything.

7:28

Like I will say, like, kind of like you

7:28

just drop everything and you feel you

7:32

might feel bad about it, but just know

7:32

that you are learning how to get more

7:38

maintenance than your life

7:38

so that you don't get there.

7:41

And some specific examples

7:41

would be with traveling.

7:45

It's like you're getting out of your

7:45

routine completely and you could come back

7:50

and you're like, I need a whole other

7:50

vacation now because I'm really tired.

7:53

So maybe there's a day on that trip that

7:56

you just do nothing and you

7:56

go hang out by your campsite.

7:59

That's what I do. I'm like, let's just stay here

8:00

today instead of going to explore.

8:03

So our brain is processing so much every

8:06

day, and when you kind of break that

8:06

monotony,

8:12

it could be difficult, especially if

8:12

you're highly sensitive, to feel those

8:17

normal things that you feel

8:17

when you're in your routine.

8:19

So I would just recommend having the

8:19

routine and making it portable and making

8:24

kind of, like, plans for yourself

8:24

when bigger things are happening.

8:27

So for moving for me, I just kind of pushed off a lot of calls made as much

8:29

time for myself as possible, and I'm still

8:34

recovering, but at least I

8:34

know why it's happening too.

8:39

These are great, and I really love too,

8:41

how you kind of the segue I'm really

8:41

hearing too, is that overwhelming can stem

8:47

from kind of over stimuli, but also when a

8:47

lot of our internal needs aren't meant or

8:53

when we have a lot of stimuli in our lives

8:53

that maybe we're not really aware of.

8:59

Because I know for me, just like you get

9:01

into the groove, like the daily things

9:01

that you're doing, and then maybe

9:05

something else gets thrown at you and you

9:05

kind of just keep going without really

9:08

taking a pause to be like,

9:08

what's happening in my life?

9:12

What are my surroundings? How does my body feel?

9:16

What might start feeling overwhelming?

9:18

And I think too, what I'm hearing is I

9:18

love this idea of really kind of like

9:23

setting up camp at home and being like,

9:23

okay, instead of taking more time to

9:29

introduce new stimuli, even

9:29

though that might be fun.

9:32

What if I took time to really kind of,

9:32

like, hunker down and sit with myself, my

9:38

thoughts and all these

9:38

experiences I'm going through?

9:40

And I think that's something that

9:40

can be hard sometimes because I know

9:45

sometimes for me when I do start to

9:45

feel that overwhelm, I want to escape.

9:50

Like, I'm always like, oh, maybe I'll just

9:50

go get an Airbnb somewhere and that will

9:53

solve all my problems when really it's

9:53

like, maybe I do need to kind of hunker

9:58

down and take a look at what's

9:58

going on at Homebase, so to speak.

10:02

Yeah, absolutely. And that's where I would also say, like,

10:06

you kind of have zones in your house, so

10:06

if you have an office with the door, maybe

10:11

you just don't go in there all weekend

10:11

and try to recharge somewhere else.

10:14

Or I used to live in a studio apartment

10:14

and I would just have, like, my corner for

10:19

my yoga and my meditations and really

10:19

creating that physical pathway in your

10:24

mind where you're setting aside

10:24

time for yourself to recharge.

10:29

Just like your phone

10:29

has a charging station.

10:31

Like, what is your charging station? And how can you

10:33

make a routine to get there?

10:36

And then iPhones have a great focus

10:39

feature now where you can kind of turn off

10:39

notifications for certain activities that

10:43

you're doing so you can still let text

10:43

messages come through just in case, but

10:48

turn off the other noise

10:48

and take time to recharge.

10:51

And then also ask yourself, like,

10:51

what really needs to happen?

10:55

Like, you know, we have this to do list that never ends, but at the end of the

10:57

day, it's like you just want and need to

11:01

be taken care of you so that the

11:01

important stuff can get done.

11:07

A charging station at home for yourself.

11:07

That's brilliant.

11:10

I really love that even just having it's

11:12

almost kind of like an adult

11:12

time out, but in a good way.

11:17

Let's go chill out in this corner. And yeah, I love that so much.

11:21

And I think too, this is where

11:25

all the lovely prompts that you've put

11:25

together and all the cards that you've

11:29

created inside of your self care

11:29

adventure deck really come into play.

11:33

And I'll just share personally that I've

11:35

really been enjoying the card deck because

11:35

sometimes I know that I need daily.

11:40

I know that I need something for

11:40

myself, my mind, my body, whatever.

11:45

And having just a simple card that I can

11:48

pull and be like, Bella,

11:48

have you considered this?

11:50

Right.

11:50

One of the ones I pulled two today.

11:52

And one of the ones I had was

11:52

deep clean a part of your home.

11:55

And I was thinking about not only how that

11:58

absolutely needs to happen, but also

11:58

what that would give me, right.

12:03

If I took time to actually really deep

12:07

clean my bathroom, for example, what are

12:07

all the things that that would give me?

12:11

Not only would it be clean, but

12:11

it would give me peace of mind.

12:14

It would help me feel better.

12:17

It's amazing how when you walk into a room

12:19

and you're not happy with it, how that

12:19

kind of just, like, digs at you a little

12:22

bit each time and can

12:22

create little micro stress.

12:26

So I really enjoyed that. And I just wanted to share that

12:28

one prompt that I found today.

12:33

But I would love to talk more about kind

12:33

of like, creative capacity

12:39

and what led you to creating

12:39

the self care adventure cards?

12:45

What kind of like, ignited

12:45

the inspiration for you?

12:48

And how did you decide, okay,

12:48

I'm going to create these?

12:52

So I love to tell the story because I will

12:55

say I was never like, quote,

12:55

unquote good at self care.

12:58

It was not something I thought about. And I always really associated with just

13:02

like, bubble baths and really fancy skin

13:02

serums, not things that I was doing often.

13:08

And I took a road trip in 2018, and I was

13:13

by myself for most of the time or

13:13

visiting friends or family on the way.

13:18

It's a great free place to stop.

13:20

But in those times where I was resetting

13:20

every day, like, reconnecting with people

13:26

I haven't seen in years,

13:26

and I'm an introvert.

13:29

So it was really hard for me

13:29

to do that kind of constantly.

13:33

So when I was by myself, I found my time

13:36

just, like, really just sinking into

13:36

Netflix and not really doing things for

13:40

myself to recharge in a proper

13:40

way that felt supportive.

13:44

So during this whole trip, it was

13:44

very, very energetically draining.

13:49

And when I got back, I just was

13:49

like, okay, this is a sign.

13:53

I really want to get my own apartment. I was living with my parents in an

13:57

interim, and I was like, let me just move

13:57

on, get my own place, have my own space.

14:01

And once I got my own space, that's when I

14:04

realized, okay, I create my self

14:04

care corner in my studio apartment.

14:08

And having that time for myself for the

14:08

first time ever was like, okay, I get it.

14:14

Self care is the key here to

14:14

maintaining every part of my life.

14:20

So that road trip really helped change

14:20

my vision about what self care meant.

14:25

And then a couple of years later, in 2020,

14:27

I had the idea for the cards because

14:27

I didn't want it to do list.

14:32

I just wanted to have a nice little card,

14:34

tell me what to do, rather

14:34

than like, I love to do list.

14:38

Everyone loves to do list, but it's

14:38

when it's coming down to self care.

14:42

I didn't want to feel like a chore. So when I created the card deck, I was

14:47

like, this could be really

14:47

helpful for other people.

14:50

So I started to design it and create more

14:50

prompts that were kind of universal.

14:55

I had a few prompts that I was like, maybe

14:55

not everyone would enjoy, but I thought

14:59

about how can I make this

14:59

deck really expansive?

15:03

And that's when I started to create more

15:06

prompts, and I went ahead and doing a

15:06

Kickstarter with it so I could actually do

15:10

a bigger print run instead

15:10

of, like, DIYing it.

15:13

I guess. This is so exciting, and we're going to

15:17

talk a little bit more about

15:17

kind of this whole process, too.

15:19

But I heard you say self-care corner.

15:22

Can you tell us about that, like,

15:22

what you have in that area?

15:26

I'm so curious.

15:26

Yeah.

15:28

For me, it definitely handles

15:28

lots of my Oracle cards.

15:33

I love pulling, like, all random Oracle

15:33

cards and seeing how they connect.

15:37

And crystals incense.

15:40

I have one of those little seat pads.

15:44

It's not a meditation pad, but it's

15:44

just like a nice little thing.

15:47

You can sit on the floor, and

15:47

my journals live there, too, so just a

15:53

place like we were talking about before to

15:53

go and recharge and having myself care.

16:00

Cards also come with a little wood block.

16:03

And the wood block says, I am enough.

16:05

So you can pull a card and

16:05

put it in the wood block.

16:08

And then every time you do something, you

16:11

can kind of see it sitting there or you

16:11

can pull it for later on in the day.

16:15

It's just a good reminder

16:15

to have to keep with you.

16:18

I love this so much, and I definitely

16:18

am trying to make something similar.

16:23

I currently have a standing sitting desk

16:23

in part of my office that looks out into

16:31

all these trees we have,

16:31

and it's currently overrun.

16:36

It's kind of like the junk area right now

16:38

in my office, everything has

16:38

just been thrown on top of it.

16:41

But I keep thinking, like, you should

16:41

really keep this place clear and have your

16:46

journals available to you, because I know

16:46

for me, one of the best things about

16:51

kind of self-care and grounding is

16:51

creating a regular Journal practice.

16:56

And I know you've talked about that, too.

16:58

So you've kind of just given me some

17:01

inspiration to really kind of honor that

17:01

space and maybe protect it from myself.

17:06

I can't put stuff on the desk,

17:06

so I really love that idea.

17:11

Yeah, I love the term recharge station,

17:14

but also I love natural

17:14

parks and stuff like that.

17:17

So I think of the

17:17

rest stop, the pit stop where you go to

17:23

refill your water and just really

17:23

have an enjoyable space for you.

17:29

And then I think you can kind of, like,

17:29

see how you feel when you're in it.

17:33

And if you feel like you deserve that

17:33

space, because that's another thing.

17:36

It's like do I deserve

17:36

self care right now?

17:39

But the more you make it your routine, you're just going to love it and you

17:40

can decorate it however you want.

17:45

This is really fun. I think you should start like a little

17:48

hashtag self-care corner or something

17:48

so people can share their spaces.

17:52

That would be really cool. What inspires them.

17:57

I know I'm like going on and out about it,

17:57

but I really love your card deck so much.

18:00

And I've been wanting it for a long time.

18:03

And I kept forgetting. And I finally ordered it and I got it in

18:04

the mail and was so blown away by not only

18:10

all the prompts you have, but just

18:10

like the box and the little magnet.

18:15

And then you have the card block

18:15

and there's this beautiful cloth.

18:19

I think it's like a river

18:19

that you can put the cards down on.

18:23

And I just really have enjoyed it so much.

18:26

And I know that so many people,

18:29

I've had a lot of different entrepreneur

18:29

friends talk about, oh, I'd love to make a

18:33

physical product or I'd

18:33

love to make a card deck.

18:36

And I would love to know, could you tell

18:36

us a little bit about how you kind of even

18:41

got started with like, okay, I have

18:41

this idea, but where do I even begin?

18:46

Maybe what's something that you would suggest for other people that are kind of

18:48

looking into creating a physical product,

18:52

whereas some things that they

18:52

could consider or look into.

18:55

Yeah. So for me, I knew card decks weren't

18:56

hard to make, but I didn't know how.

19:01

So, I mean, Firstly, I just started with

19:01

putting them on index cards and writing

19:05

all the prompts out and seeing

19:05

how it felt in my hands.

19:08

So to start with that prototype process,

19:10

and then I ordered samples on

19:10

makeplayingcards.com which you can get

19:16

like short run prints just to see them

19:16

and get them in your hands right away.

19:21

But I sent out

19:23

five of the decks to friends to

19:23

help use them and give me feedback.

19:28

And then from that feedback, I created

19:28

another iteration of the deck, which was a

19:33

little bit more refined because I decided

19:33

to include the five areas of self care.

19:39

So they are revitalized, nourish

19:39

express connect and reflect.

19:46

And it kind of makes it fun. Like, each card is color coded

19:48

to the area of self care.

19:52

So if you're like, oh,

19:52

I just need like that.

19:54

I need to connect today.

19:54

What is that going to be?

19:57

Oh, I pulled the blue card with the

19:57

little moon in the corner that's connect.

20:01

So gamifying it in this way was another,

20:01

different way to approach the deck too.

20:08

So that has all been evolving.

20:10

And I knew that I wanted to make

20:10

it like a bigger print run.

20:14

And I wanted to do the

20:14

Kickstarter to raise the funding.

20:17

But I had a team help me.

20:19

And the team is called Product Refinery,

20:19

and they do exactly what they're called.

20:24

They help you kind of get your idea into

20:24

production and then help you market it.

20:29

And they can also help ship it, too. So having a team helped me really refine

20:33

the marketing, refine the use of the deck,

20:33

having like, I don't know, that like,

20:39

Splash really helped me because otherwise

20:39

I don't think I would have done that by

20:43

myself because I would have just

20:43

been like, okay, here's my project.

20:47

Guys like, here you go. But they really motivated me to

20:48

do this whole launch period.

20:52

And I think that's what

20:52

has made it so successful.

20:55

And having any type of consultant with you

20:59

on your product is going to help you see

20:59

it through a different lens that you might

21:03

have been kind of siloed in, and then

21:03

having others either prototype it and help

21:08

you with the use cases of it,

21:08

that's going to help, too.

21:12

So don't let it be a secret for that long.

21:15

Like, at least tell your inner

21:15

circle so they can help you.

21:18

This is such a good point, and I really

21:18

like to just talking a little bit about

21:23

the development of it and how it's so much

21:23

more than simply prompts on a card and how

21:29

you have all these little logos

21:29

on it and the different areas.

21:34

The other card I chose today was

21:37

enjoyment, reflection, and it

21:37

has four different questions.

21:40

And one of them is what

21:40

brought me joy this week.

21:42

And I really find that helpful, too, that

21:42

you can kind of just open it up and be

21:47

like, okay, which area might

21:47

I want to kind of focus on?

21:50

And so it sounds like too. I mean, I know that you put so much effort

21:52

into it, so it wasn't just making a bunch

21:57

of prompts and then throwing them onto cards. It was how does it all go together from

22:01

the individual card to the

22:01

whole scale of the project?

22:04

And it sounds like taking time to really

22:08

sit with that and develop it, and then

22:08

working with his team in terms of

22:12

marketing really helps you

22:12

cover all those bases.

22:15

And I think that's such a nice reminder because as creatives as entrepreneurs, it

22:16

can be really tempting to want to do

22:22

everything ourselves, or it can be hard

22:22

to ask for help or to invest in help.

22:27

So I really love hearing the story of

22:27

how that all came together for you.

22:33

Could you tell us a little bit more about

22:33

maybe your experience with Kickstarter?

22:38

I know it's really overwhelming

22:38

for a lot of people.

22:41

It's definitely something I've never done.

22:44

Was this your first time

22:44

working with Kickstarter?

22:47

What were some of your maybe biggest

22:49

lessons or challenges kind of

22:49

going through that process?

22:52

Yeah.

22:52

So it was actually my third Kickstarter.

22:55

I did two back in College about ten years

22:55

ago for some random projects that I raised

23:02

money to go to Europe and take

23:02

pictures and make a photo book.

23:05

And I also raised money for my senior

23:05

thesis, which was a photography show.

23:10

So I had experience with the platform, but

23:10

it has changed a lot in the last decade.

23:16

So I would just see it as

23:16

another tool for your marketing.

23:20

That kind of like Etsy, where you can get,

23:23

like, a whole database of

23:23

people searching stuff.

23:26

If you were just to market it on your own website, you would have to

23:28

drive a lot of traffic to it.

23:31

So the benefit of Kickstarter is that there's already people on

23:33

there searching projects.

23:36

They're getting emails for it.

23:38

There's this whole ecosystem.

23:40

So that was why I chose Kickstarter,

23:43

because I just wanted to make it kind of

23:43

this fun campaign, and they have

23:48

everything that you need

23:48

in there to do that.

23:51

And the hardest part was probably just the

23:55

pre marketing, which was where I had to

23:55

continue to share and show the behind the

23:59

scenes and the development and just

23:59

consistently make this project known.

24:04

So that when I did go live,

24:04

people were like, ready to buy.

24:07

So it was like a no brainer.

24:10

And then we also had to make a video,

24:10

which I always recommend making a video to

24:15

help people get to know

24:15

you and the product.

24:18

It's not just about the product because

24:18

you're creating connections there too.

24:23

So definitely have a video and really just think about

24:25

the story that you're telling.

24:28

Like, how is this going

24:28

to impact your consumer?

24:31

It's not just about you, but with

24:34

everything that we make, we're going to

24:34

try to make some sort of difference.

24:38

So with this deck, I was just like, how

24:38

can I help people make self care a little

24:43

bit easier so they don't have

24:43

to think so much about it?

24:46

So whatever that is for

24:46

you, think about that.

24:49

And Kickstarter has a ton of resources

24:49

of how to set up a campaign.

24:54

You can look at all these other successful

24:54

campaigns and see how they did.

24:59

You can have stretch goals. So for me, I had a stretch goal, which was

25:00

like, if we reach, I don't know, the

25:05

numbers, like, five K of funding,

25:05

we can add in ten more cards.

25:10

So I was like, yes, we're going to reach that. And then I think the next stretch

25:12

goal was like, BOOKMARKS.

25:15

And instead of making a Journal, I just

25:15

made BOOKMARKS that you could keep in your

25:19

Journal with a bunch of

25:19

reflection questions.

25:21

So I had all these ideas for what the deck

25:24

could be, and I really wanted

25:24

them to fit into one box.

25:28

Like, I wanted this, like, self care kit

25:31

so that you could carry it

25:31

around with you everywhere.

25:34

Or if you just wanted to keep the cards,

25:36

you could wrap it in the

25:36

cloth, which you're right.

25:38

It's like a topographic pattern

25:38

to match the adventure theme.

25:42

And that cloth

25:42

can be used as, like, a place to put your

25:48

cards down, make it secret, put

25:48

that in your self care corner.

25:52

Or you could just use it as a dog bandana, as someone has sent me a

25:54

picture of doing that.

25:56

So there's lots of things you can do.

26:00

And with Kickstarter, those

26:00

rewards are important.

26:04

So if you're making a movie, people often

26:07

do T shirts and stickers and stuff like

26:07

that to get people inspired to share it.

26:14

Or if you're making a card deck, what are

26:14

those add ons that you can put in there?

26:19

Like, maybe one of those higher tiers is

26:19

like a personal reading with them, like

26:24

doing a live Zoom session with somebody

26:24

so you can kind of do whatever you want.

26:29

But for me, I just sold more

26:29

decks at different price ranges.

26:33

Like, the more you bought, the

26:33

more you would save kind of idea.

26:37

And when the decks went live,

26:37

the price went up on my website.

26:41

So everyone was getting, like a cheaper

26:41

price by doing the Kickstarter, too.

26:46

These are such great strategies.

26:48

And I totally checked out your

26:48

Kickstarter page, by the way.

26:51

It's amazing. And I loved your video and how you're in

26:55

nature and just like, the whole theme

26:55

of the whole self care adventure cards.

27:00

I just love how it's all pulled together. And I think that's really inspiring too,

27:03

is like, what's the inspiration for a

27:03

product that someone might be creating and

27:08

how you can pull in these

27:08

elements from something else.

27:11

And so it's definitely got that kind of like outdoor National

27:12

Park kind of nature feel.

27:16

And I really, really love that so much.

27:16

Thank you.

27:19

So one of my next questions

27:19

is in line with this.

27:22

What are some of your biggest self care

27:22

strategies or practices that you use for

27:27

yourself while going through

27:27

a big launch like this?

27:31

I'm trying to think, and I wish I could

27:31

say that I was like a master at self care

27:37

because that's all I was thinking

27:37

about and talking about.

27:40

But really it was just hard because there

27:42

were so many moving pieces

27:42

that I was overwhelmed.

27:45

And having a team help me was the number

27:45

one thing to help me stay grounded.

27:51

So that to me was self care. Like, they helped me.

27:55

They could answer my questions

27:55

anytime of day within boundaries.

27:58

And I had my boyfriend here just trying to

27:58

help me come up with prompts, and he,

28:03

like, helped me so much with

28:03

the video and everything.

28:07

Like, having that community

28:07

care was so important.

28:11

So, like I said before, you don't have to

28:14

do it alone, like, bring in your inner

28:14

circle or hire somebody to help you.

28:18

And when the actual Kickstarter went live,

28:21

the best advice I got was

28:21

there's only so much you can do.

28:26

You can send every email in the world,

28:28

post as many photos on your

28:28

Instagrams and socials.

28:31

But at the end of the day, you

28:31

just have to rest and receive.

28:35

So I went live. I did all my marketing for the day, and

28:40

then I just took a bath and it was

28:40

like, wow, I could actually do this.

28:45

It doesn't have to be this constant thing.

28:48

And when the Kickstarter ran, I think

28:48

I did 28 days around that time frame.

28:53

So basically the first couple of days

28:53

are a lot of like, okay, this is live.

28:59

People are getting to know about it. They're going to back it right away.

29:03

I got fully funded within

29:03

24 hours, which is amazing.

29:06

And then the next couple of weeks get kind

29:09

of quiet because everyone's like

29:09

that, you know, has heard about it.

29:13

So I was getting a lot more random

29:13

people from Kickstarter purchasing it.

29:18

And a lot of people you can

29:18

drop out on Kickstarter too.

29:22

You can basically pledge something and decide a day later you don't

29:24

want to go through with it.

29:26

So I was like losing a couple of

29:26

sales and I was like, oh darn.

29:29

So I tried not to take that to heart.

29:32

And then at the end I just gave it my

29:32

all and I knew that it wasn't over.

29:37

It was basically just the beginning that

29:37

once the funding came through, I would be

29:41

able to sell these in my own shop and

29:41

sell it as wholesale opportunities too.

29:46

So it was a really big learning opportunity for me and just

29:48

maintaining the vision.

29:54

But being realistic and knowing my limits

29:56

is like, I don't have a

29:56

whole marketing team.

29:59

So the fact I did have help, but

29:59

I wasn't doing Facebook ads.

30:03

I wasn't doing anything else but

30:03

like real guerrilla marketing.

30:07

So know your limits, but make it fun too.

30:11

Like, I did a Facebook group where we did

30:14

a three day challenge for self care and

30:14

it was like Build your self care roadmap.

30:18

And it was all themed. And then I gave away one of the decks

30:20

to one of the winners in that group.

30:25

And a lot of those people became

30:25

advocates for the cards too.

30:28

So again, community helping

30:28

you build this thing.

30:32

I would say plan as much in advance as you

30:34

can and then just like leave room for

30:34

feeling really tired or feeling really

30:39

drained because it is a very creative

30:39

time and it can be very draining.

30:45

Support and structure as self care.

30:48

That is so huge and really love the

30:51

reminder too, that you can only do so much

30:51

and especially with launching, whether

30:57

it's a podcast or product

30:57

or service or a website.

31:00

I think that that's one of the biggest

31:03

lessons is preparing things ahead of time

31:03

because I know I've definitely been in the

31:07

middle of launches before and like you

31:07

said, there's always that kind of middle

31:11

period where things slow down and then

31:11

there's always people that buy at the very

31:15

last second and it can feel tempting in

31:15

that middle phase to be like, okay, well,

31:19

maybe I should just go live every day on

31:19

Instagram, or maybe I should send another

31:23

really email and that energy

31:23

kind of comes off too.

31:26

I feel like. And so it's really just being

31:27

like, what am I going to do?

31:31

What's the most that I'm going to do? And just stick to that?

31:34

And like you said, really give yourself

31:36

space for rest because

31:36

it really is exhausting.

31:39

It's a whole roller coaster. And I can only imagine running a public

31:43

Kickstarter campaign

31:43

how that would feel, too.

31:47

So these are just such really great tips,

31:47

and I appreciate you sharing all of that.

31:51

And you kind of already answered the next

31:54

question I was going to ask, but I don't

31:54

know if maybe there's something else.

31:56

And that was there, like a big mindset

31:56

shift that you had maybe after starting

32:02

the Kickstarter campaign

32:02

or after the fact.

32:05

Was there something that you realized?

32:08

I think in the months afterwards,

32:11

it made me realize that this deck was like

32:11

my book, like my publishing a book

32:18

becoming some sort of

32:18

name in the industry.

32:21

And I was getting people contacting me

32:24

that I never met before and people

32:24

talking about it and sharing it.

32:28

And I was like, wow, this is

32:28

actually the kickoff for my brand.

32:32

Like, I didn't realize it at the time. And I was like, okay, wait, people are

32:34

asking me about doing some sort of

32:39

presentations about this or

32:39

talking about self care in a bigger way.

32:44

And my brand kind of became about

32:44

self care for the longest time.

32:48

And I was like, wow, this is

32:48

what I want to be talking about.

32:52

And all I needed to do was create a product that could coexist

32:53

with my words and teachings.

32:59

So now that it's been a year and a half

33:03

since I launched almost two years, I

33:03

really want to dive more back into

33:08

creativity as far as helping

33:08

people with that, too.

33:12

But self care was always,

33:12

like, the beginning for it.

33:15

So I'm really glad I did

33:15

it this way and that.

33:17

I got to create one product that

33:17

was beyond me, bigger than me.

33:22

And then my next products are just going to fit so nicely into the suite

33:24

of adventure and creativity.

33:29

Yes.

33:29

And I think, too, it's really inspiring to

33:31

hear that you can kind of create what you

33:31

want to be known for and how a physical

33:37

product can kind of be the culmination or

33:37

the manifestation of an idea or a niche.

33:42

And I know that's what I love doing

33:42

with journals and planners, too.

33:46

And so it's just really inspiring to hear,

33:46

not only have you created something that's

33:52

so helpful and useful for so many people,

33:52

but it's also kind of like the

33:56

introduction to you and your brand and

33:56

maybe some of the very first people that

34:01

get to know about you will buy it and then

34:01

eventually go on to follow your customer

34:06

journey, follow that customer journey

34:06

and invest in other things you create.

34:09

So it's just this really lovely

34:09

invitation into your brand.

34:13

In the same way I would love to know, too,

34:13

what is your process like for kind of

34:19

continuing to market your cards now

34:19

that the Kickstarter hype is over?

34:24

I know sometimes you do. Like, you did a moving kind of deal or

34:28

sale for the cards when

34:28

you got your house.

34:31

What are some of the other ways that you kind of continue to make people

34:32

aware of these card decks?

34:38

Yeah, I wish I was better at marketing.

34:42

It could be very hard for me. So

34:44

at the beginning, there was a lot of hype

34:47

and more people were buying it just

34:47

because the Kickstarter had ended and they

34:51

could presale out on my

34:51

website and all that.

34:53

And then there was kind of like a

34:53

lull where I was like, what is this?

34:57

What is happening? I wasn't as connected with the deck for

34:58

some reason because I felt I wouldn't say

35:02

like a fraud, but I was just like,

35:02

how did I do this?

35:07

How did this even happen? And now I have a bunch of decks to

35:08

sell, and it got kind of overwhelming.

35:12

And then only in the past couple of

35:12

months have I really just owned it.

35:16

So I just want to share that part of my

35:18

process is like, yes, I made something

35:18

bigger than myself, but I had to kind of

35:23

deal with that and come to terms with this

35:23

kind of I can't even put it into words,

35:28

but just something where I was like,

35:28

Is this good enough or am I enough?

35:32

Which it literally says

35:32

I am enough on the box.

35:35

So it really did help to get the kind

35:39

words from everyone that's using them to

35:39

be like, okay, yeah, I am legitimate.

35:42

I do have a seat at the table. So now my outreach is really just going on

35:48

podcasts like this and sharing the story

35:48

and just using Pinterest is like starting

35:55

to post more content marketing

35:55

blogs, trying to figure that out.

35:59

Like, it's a whole process. And yeah, I did the moving sale, so that

36:00

was like a great way for people who had

36:05

wanted to get it or wanted

36:05

to buy a gift for somebody.

36:09

Like another great thing to do. I just don't want to rely on

36:11

sales to make sales, basically.

36:15

So

36:15

really it's just been part of my whole

36:19

marketing suite, which is

36:19

talking about creative coaching and

36:23

creating programs that have, like,

36:23

they're not centered around the deck, but

36:29

there's language that the

36:29

deck has helped build.

36:31

So more just making it part of my brand

36:31

and talking about it as if I had written a

36:37

book that has helped me a lot, and

36:37

I'm dabbling with some Facebook ads.

36:42

So we'll see. But overall, podcasts and summits and

36:43

really just trying to be visible as a

36:48

personal brand is my

36:48

strategy at this moment.

36:51

And I think that's a great one. And I think it's really people feel

36:54

connected when they know kind

36:54

of the story behind a product.

36:58

And I know that I have so many like

36:58

journals or books or whatever from

37:03

different entrepreneurs that have created them. And it's so cool to know this is why they

37:05

created it or this is how this came to

37:09

life and also just really want to reflect

37:09

on that experience of, okay, I did this

37:15

really cool thing and it's out in the world. But then that really common feeling, I

37:19

think of, oh my gosh,

37:19

it's out in the world.

37:21

And now people could also

37:21

judge it or who am I?

37:24

Like, how did I do this? And I definitely have that feeling when I

37:28

had my book launched and when I published

37:28

Planners, even now, there's definitely

37:32

still those moments of,

37:32

oh, wait, I did that.

37:35

Like, who am I? And there's almost like a little period of

37:36

time after the launch of something where

37:41

it's like I almost don't want to talk about it at all. Like, don't look at it, nobody knows.

37:45

And I just think that's really common. So I think that's something

37:47

everyone has to work through.

37:50

And I just appreciate you

37:50

sharing all of that too.

37:54

Yeah.

37:54

It's hard to be like an artist might feel

37:57

that with their painting, but it's like

37:57

you make it for you, but then it goes out

38:01

into the world and then it's

38:01

not yours at all anymore.

38:05

But we're still kind of like,

38:07

I don't know, the gatekeeper

38:07

or the babysitter of it.

38:10

And it's like you still want to make sure

38:10

it's like the best it can be, but it

38:14

doesn't have to be your whole world either. And that's why I want to make more

38:16

products that really pair well with it.

38:20

I just haven't had the

38:20

capacity to do that lately.

38:23

Yeah.

38:23

And I would love to know too,

38:26

as someone that focuses around self care,

38:26

how do you see self care specifically for

38:32

creative or entrepreneurs

38:32

evolving over the next few years?

38:36

Do you think there might be

38:36

things that more people get into?

38:39

Have you given that any thought in terms of maybe like, how that

38:41

might evolve for you?

38:44

Yeah, I think it's happening. And I think with the past two years being

38:48

stuck in a pandemic and having this great

38:48

resignation with people leaving their work

38:55

or really just requiring these different

38:55

standards of work from home and

39:00

how even one day work from home can

39:00

change you and have that capacity.

39:05

So you're not like using up

39:05

your weekend just for chores.

39:08

So I really think with entrepreneurs

39:08

specifically, it's like I never want to

39:13

work a 40 hours work

39:13

week that is not for me.

39:17

And how can I take care of myself?

39:19

So that really it just turns into

39:19

like, I've had a great morning.

39:24

I can get everything I need to get done

39:24

very quickly or not quickly, but just in a

39:30

condensed timeline versus feeling like I

39:30

have to sit there at a desk for 40 hours

39:34

trying to make something happen that

39:34

could have taken me like 2 hours.

39:38

So I think when more people are realizing

39:42

that they have value working from home,

39:42

creating those self care corners and

39:47

having boundaries,

39:47

that is where I think the world will just

39:52

become like just the different places,

39:52

different from where the 40 hours work

39:59

week was created, which was a very

39:59

man centric thing.

40:03

When you still had a wife at

40:03

home, it's changed completely.

40:07

So self care can really be that key to

40:07

shift people's mindsets in how they work,

40:13

how they show up, how they

40:13

are in their relationships.

40:17

And overall I think the content that I'm

40:20

seeing being created is it's not about

40:20

here's how to find 100 new clients today.

40:25

It's like here's how to become the person

40:28

that creates the things

40:28

to help the clients.

40:31

It's a very more soft feminine flow versus

40:35

like this, I don't know,

40:35

bro marketing lifestyle.

40:39

So I can see it happening. And I think the more we can share that

40:44

it's possible to stay balanced and still

40:44

work and run your own business, then I

40:50

think more people will do it and it will

40:50

be better for them in the long run.

40:54

I think we could have a whole other

40:54

podcast episode specifically talking about

40:58

shortening like the

40:58

work week and all that.

41:00

And I know it's something I'm also

41:00

experimenting with in my business too.

41:04

It's like moving towards really

41:04

making more of a four day work week.

41:07

And I know for me it's wild sometimes when

41:07

I'm my most productive, it's usually when

41:14

I'm not working like maybe

41:14

even 30 hours a week.

41:17

It's when I'm taking time to work, when I

41:20

want to, when my creative brain is on, and

41:20

that's when I can create curriculum,

41:25

create content, do marketing

41:25

that feels really good.

41:28

And then that other time is going on walks

41:28

with my Bulldog or taking a nap and I find

41:33

that I'm actually so much more

41:33

productive doing those things.

41:37

But I still struggle with the mindset of

41:37

you're not working hard enough or you

41:41

shouldn't be taking naps, you're too

41:41

lucky to be doing this, who are you?

41:45

And so I think that yes, it's not only

41:45

creating that time but also realizing that

41:50

it can take a while to get out of that

41:50

mindset because it was so ingrained in me

41:55

and all of us to sit in

41:55

that chair nine to five.

41:58

Even if you're not being productive,

41:58

you better be at your desk.

42:03

Yeah, I would love to do some sort of

42:03

workshop about getting out of that nine to

42:08

five mindset because I still

42:08

struggle with that too.

42:10

It's like I got to be up

42:10

by nine and I'm like, Why?

42:13

Like who's forcing me unless I have a

42:15

meeting which I don't normally

42:15

take calls before 11:00 a.m..

42:18

So it's like the more you'll set those

42:21

boundaries for yourself, I think other

42:21

people will see that and then it'll make

42:25

this ripple effect and

42:25

that's what I like to see.

42:28

It's that change. And I literally just took a

42:29

bath before this podcast.

42:33

So if that's, like, anyone wants to

42:33

do that and be crazy, like, you can.

42:38

And what I needed was just to feel

42:41

grounded because this past couple

42:41

of days, I've just been exhausted.

42:44

And I was like, I'm literally not

42:44

getting anything done anyway.

42:47

It's just like sitting and

42:47

staring or clicking around.

42:49

So why don't I just take a bath? And then now I feel wonderful.

42:53

So just like, note those moments where

42:53

you took time for yourself and it worked.

42:59

And then you can really start to kind of

42:59

build that strength in yourself to be

43:04

like, yes, I can do this,

43:04

and I deserve this.

43:06

And it's going to help me so much. That's such a great reminder.

43:08

I know. It's actually funny you say that because I

43:11

remember the first time when I was working

43:11

from home after I moved across the country

43:16

one morning, I didn't have to

43:16

start work until like, ten.

43:18

And I decided to take a bath in

43:18

the morning, like, on a weekday.

43:22

And it was so funny because I was like, I'd always thought for some reason,

43:23

like, baths are for the weekend.

43:26

And I was like, why not do

43:26

it right now on a Monday?

43:29

And it really made my day so much better. So I think it's also fun to look at all

43:33

these rules that we've created

43:33

subconsciously about things.

43:36

But Jenni, thank you so much

43:36

for being on the podcast today.

43:40

I feel like we talked about so much and I

43:43

learned so much from you

43:43

and I feel so inspired.

43:46

I would love for you to share

43:46

where people can find you online.

43:49

Well, thank you so much for having me. This was wonderful.

43:52

And yeah,

43:52

my website is anytimecreative.com and I'm

43:58

on Instagram and TikTok

43:58

@AnytimeCreative, so it's the same across

44:02

the board and you can

44:02

find my cards on there.

44:05

And I also have a free 30 days of

44:05

journaling, like email prompt.

44:10

If you want to sign up for that. You just get like an email a

44:11

day with a Journal prompt.

44:13

So if you're struggling in

44:13

that regard, I've got you.

44:16

And yeah, I'm just trying to share, like,

44:19

helpful things over on my Instagram that

44:19

kind of can help give you those minds that

44:23

shift into building the

44:23

self care that you deserve.

44:26

Wonderful. We will definitely have all of

44:27

that linked in the Show notes.

44:30

Again, thank you so much for being here. I'm very excited for

44:32

everyone to hear this.

44:34

And yeah, thanks so much for sharing all

44:34

of your creativity and self care wisdom.

44:39

It's much appreciated.

44:39

Thank you.

44:42

Have a wonderful day. Thank you so much for listening to this

44:45

week's episode of the Mindful

44:45

Mindful Productivity Podcast.

44:49

Always you can find more resources over

44:49

Mindful Productivity Podcast, along with

44:55

all of the links mentioned

44:55

in today's Show Notes.

44:58

Make sure to go follow Jenni on Instagram.

45:01

And if you feel so inclined to check

45:01

out her self care adventure cards.

45:04

They are definitely something that I

45:04

cherish and love it's and have been using

45:08

weekly ever since I got them see

45:08

you back here on next Monday.

45:12

I hope you have a lovely week ahead.