Jenna Kutcher on Taking Your Dreams Off the Shelf and Embracing the “What Ifs” - Jen Hatmaker
jenna-kutcher

Jenna Kutcher on Taking Your Dreams Off the Shelf and Embracing the “What Ifs”

Episode 01

It’s our first episode of the new year and we’re kicking it off with a brand new series as well. Jen’s always been fascinated by people who take risks, reinvent themselves, or chase a dream that might seem lofty or impossible. What’s the secret sauce to putting our dreams into action, and “what if” we actually get to that thing we always wanted to do in life? 

To start our series off in a powerful way, we’ve got a guest who has lived out her “what If” moment in the face of fear, trepidation and potentially walking away from a more “sure” thing. Podcast, author, and digital marketer Jenna Kutcher excelled at her first corporate job, where after just a few years, she was looking at a big promotion and more money. Jenna couldn’t shake the feeling that this move for more money and responsibility would be a tough trade off for long hours and time away from the things and people she cared about. Jenna shares the surprising decision she made, what it cost her and how it planned out—while posing questions that maybe we’ve all considered at one time or another: What happens when money doesn’t necessarily bring you the quality of life you’re longing for? What happens when the dreams you have just won’t take a backseat to the practical plan you had for your life? Jen and Jenna give their takes on what it’s like to realize the career or life situation you’ve chosen (or maybe that chose you) isn’t quite the fit you you thought it would be, and they give us permission to chase the thing that brings out the best of who we really are.

Episode Transcript

Hey, everybody. Jen Hatmaker here, your very happy host of the For The Love Podcast. You guys, welcome to the show. I mean it. Welcome to the show and I’ll tell you why. Today, we are kicking off our very first series of 2023. I almost cannot believe it. I just can’t believe it. We thought long and hard about this one. This was my idea, and we have been workshopping it with the podcast team for months because this is how I wanted us to gather together at the beginning of a new year. This series is called For The Love of What If. This question energizes me.

We’ve got an amazing lineup of guests coming your way to help us evaluate and contemplate and even move on those types of big questions that we have. What if we quit our job and went for the dream? What if we up and moved to some far away place? What do we do if we chase our dreams and fail real hard? What if you took a chance? Look at that thing you think you can’t have or be or do. What if you did it right? I love this. I love being in the realm of possibility. I think you’re going to love these conversations we’re having. Our hope is that you just take in this series feeling inspired and encouraged to even just gently explore the what ifs in your own life.

You guys, I could not possibly start this series and this year out with a better guest. I really couldn’t. She is a new friend of mine, but feels like an old friend. Do you know when you meet people like that? I’ve, of course, known of her for years because she’s just a powerful person in the world, even as she walks on the earth gently. I don’t know how to explain it. But then I met her face to face when I was at MeCamp last summer in Grand Marais, way, way, way, way, way up north in Minnesota because that’s where she lives. Today, we have Jenna Kutcher on. You know Her. She is a fellow podcaster. Her show is called Goal Digger, G-O-A-L.

It is the number one marketing podcast in the entire country. I love Jenna. She is so dear. She is smart and successful, but she cares about all the right things. This is how she describes herself. I’m a digital marketing expert, self-education mastermind, book writing, data obsessed, algorithm avenger, detail loving, self-care activist, stubborn as heck, achiever and individualist, small town puppy parent, frequent flyer, margarita mixologist, and official pancake flipper for my happy fam of four. I love her. Jenna is very into creating a life that you don’t have to pretend to like. Isn’t that great? She’s constantly helping women dream up ways to get to where we want to be, where we can be.

She actually thrives in the what if question in the sense of potential. We’re going to talk about this, but Jenna was in a windowless, stuffy corporate office with a five year plan that somebody else created for her that she didn’t even want, when she bought a camera off Craigslist and created a seven figure empire. It’s a whole story. You’re going to have to hear it. Really genuinely, if anybody knows the power of what if, it’s her. Jenna has a kind of tell it like it is book out that came out recently called How Are You, Really It’s this insanely helpful guide to outlining your vision that’s true to who you are and what matters to you, what you value, what’s important to you in this life, in your relationships.

She wades through all the crap that we’re taught or handed about, just always hustling harder, getting up earlier, making this spreadsheet of a plan that you’re locked into. She debunks all that, and she gets us to the core of the thing, like the beating heart of what we are created for, honestly, and what we have to offer this earth and how we want to live on it. If by chance you leave this episode today feeling motivated, if it lights a little match to get out there and ask some new questions of your life, your choices, your path, Jenna has a very handy quiz on her website to help you find your secret sauce, the thing that makes you stand out.

Let Jenna serve you in that way. Let her guide you, because I think I really believe she’s done something right. I look at her life and I go, “I like this, I like it. I like what you’ve chosen. I like what you’ve traded for. I like what you’ve said. I’m not going to give my time to this. I just think she’s a really good teacher. She has something to teach all of us no matter where we are in our what if journey. She’s absolutely delightful. If you don’t already know her, you’re going to be so excited today that I introduced you to the absolutely marvelous, warm, generous Jenna Kutcher.

 


Mentioned in this Episode: 

how-are-you-really

How Are You Really: Living Your Truth One Answer at a Time
by Jenna Kutcher

 

mecourse-2

 


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