Why It’s Never Too Late To Start Something New

?What the win is for us. The deposit in my bank, frankly, in the Jill Bank is the wonderful emails we get from people after they’ve received the products, how happy they are to shop with us, how thrilled they were when they received something, if something wasn’t quite right. But we do make it right for them, how grateful and thankful they are. That we’re a retailer that values them. Mm-hmm. . So that’s why I do it. I tell my followers that when we do Facebook Lives all the time, I’m not doing this for me. I’m doing it for all of you because it gives me so much pride to be able to share things and find things for all of you. To make your everyday more beautiful. Welcome to the Imperfectly Empowered Podcast with DIY Healthy Lifestyle blogger Anna. A former empowering you to transform your. One imperfect day at a time. Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Imperfectly Empowered Podcast. I’m your host, Anna Fullmer. Today we have Jill Bauer on the show. Jill is an award-winning journalist with 25 plus years of TV experience, including the Today Show and the QVC channel. She is now the author and owner of the Successful Home and Lifestyle blog@wwwjustjill.com. Welcome. Hi Anna, how are you? Hi, how are you? I’m great. Thank you so much for this opportunity. Yeah, thank you. It’s so fun having you. I loved looking over your vast array of experiences, . That’s a very nice way to say. You’ve been around a while, . No, it’s a good one. And I have . I love it. Oh, it’s so fun. Thank you to have you on here. I, um, thank you. So you’re in Philadelphia, is that right? Yes. Yeah, today I’m actually, we have a place down at the beach, so I’m at the beach actually today. Oh. Which is nice. I try not to be too jealous. Lived in the suburbs of Philly for almost 30 years. Wow. Where, which beach are you at? Where do you own a beach house? Um, we have a place down in Delaware and Bethany Beach. Okay. Yeah. So, um, I grew up in Southern California, so the beach has always been my happy place. Yeah. And after being landlocked for college on, when my husband and I were finally able to scrape together a few pennies, we were like, we have to get near the water, please let me get near the water. So we were in the Jersey shore for a little bit when my kids were younger and that was great. Mm-hmm. In a small condo. But as they got bigger and their friends got bigger and they wanted more people to come down, we were kind of like, well, where can we go and maybe find something a little bit bigger? So the, the Delaware beaches are beautiful. I don’t know if you’ve ever been here, but it’s very late. I heard. Yeah. Yeah, it’s great. Yeah. Really nice. I don’t know if you know this, we’re in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Oh, I don’t think I did know that. Yes. Oh my gosh. Yeah. So like why haven’t we gone for lunch? Serious girl. I’m ready. Hit me up. . I could learn much from you. Oh my gosh. So yeah, we grew up going to Ocean City, New Jersey. And I’ve never been to Bethany, but I’ve heard many good things. Oh, it’s so great with especially, it’s very family friendly and very, you know, it’s just, I like it because it’s very casual and unpretentious and Yeah. I mean, I love Stone Harbor and Avalon. Those are beautiful cities. But I couldn’t keep up like, you know what I mean? Yeah. Like I just, I wanna go somewhere where I can be without any makeup and a t-shirt and flip flops and feel okay about it. Beth’s more affordable, I think. Am I right about that? Is, yeah. Delaware. Well, so it’s the taxes. It’s the taxes that are Gotcha. So much more affordable. So the property taxes here are a smidgen of what they were for a small condo. And we were in North Wildwood for a while. Yeah. So, um, yeah. Oh, it’s wild. We love it. We. Love it. Literally, Jersey is wild. Like buying it is the smallest is like a million dollars and it’s New Jersey. It’s like what? The last few years especially, right? Like the way everything has skyrocketed, it’s, yeah, it’s, we were lucky to, to buy what we did when we did. So it’s, it’s tell my husband to fast forward through this part. Cause he keeps dreaming of a beach house and I’m like, well . Yeah I don’t want a beach house cuz then I have to take care. Well, you know what, it’s, you can We rent sometimes? Yeah. We don’t rent a lot, but you know, it’s, it’s not that big of a deal. And then the money you make from the rentals covers all the other things. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. It’s, it’s, it’s been good for us for, so happy to talk about that more anytime, . Yes. I mean, we’re all for the beach. Amen. Yeah, I mentioned Love it when I introduced you before you hopped on here. You. I lo again, I love your different experiences. You are a program host for Q V C for 25 years. Also super random. I’m totally gonna play the Lancaster Mennonite game here, but do you happen to know Leah Valencia key? Oh yeah, I know Leah. Yes. Oh, so she’s been on my podcast. She’s just, I love her. She’s amazing. Yes. I love Leah. Love her. That’s so funny. I figured you guys met across, cuz she’s also in Philly. That’s hilarious. Yes. Well, and she, you know, she worked with Jamie Kern Lima from IT Cosmetics forever. And so I would get to see Leah behind the scenes when I was on the air with it, cosmetics and Jamie. But then also she launched her jewelry line kind of. Before I left, but I was able to see like what she was doing with her jewelry, and she has a beautiful story and a wonderful heart. She does. She’s a really special person. She is. For those of you listening and watching, you wanna go search that after you’re done listening here to Jill and look up Leah, l i a. And, uh, she does, she has a beautiful story and she shared it very openly on the podcast, so that’s amazing. Women coming out of qvc. I’ll tell you what, , so you left in 2019, you left qvc and was that when you started your blog or had you started it prior? Yeah, so I bought the domain just jill.com in 2012. I had been at QVC for a long time then, and I just was starting to get a little restless and wanted to figure out what else might I do. And I loved this idea of, hey, like. Why don’t I share my recipes? Why don’t I write about things that people ask me about all of the time? Mm-hmm. . And so I bought the domain and started to put together this whole plan to build a website. I mean, and, and really if you think about it, you know, 10, 11 years ago, People were blogging. Right. But it, the idea of influencers and collaborations really wasn’t on the radar anywhere. Mm-hmm. really, frankly, at that time, a lot of people thought the QVC hosts were the original influencers. Mm-hmm. , because we were there talking about these products that we liked. Right. And we would present. Mm-hmm. . So I put this whole thing together. My husband and I were talking about it, and then one day, Anna, he looked at me and he said, so babe, um, how do we make money? Yes, that’s, and I was like, it’s always the men, it’s, it’s always the men asking this question, , that sounds very familiar. . So it was kind of like, oh, and then some things changed at Q V C where I had some opportunities to do some cool new projects. And so just, Jill sort of went on the backboard burner. And then 2019 came along. I turned 50 in 2018. My daughter was going to college. My son was getting ready to go to high school, and I had spent most of my career with them, never having the same schedule week to week. I worked different hours, different days, every week of my career, and I was missing things and I really wanted to. See what I could do. And so, um, you know, it just worked for me to leave and I wasn’t sure what I was gonna do when I left. And then I remembered, well, you have just Jill, so that’s really when the blog started, Anna. Kind of 2019, and I didn’t know what the heck I was doing. Yeah, I mean, I built the website myself. You know, I did uhhuh, , like I was sucked into every course available for beginning bloggers. I think, you know, I logged hundreds of hours on YouTube just trying to learn everything I could and started. Going and the real game changer for me was right before things changed with the pandemic, I went out to Palm Springs to be part of Alt Alt Summit. Have you ever done Altitude Summit? No. I don’t think I’ve even heard of it. No. Yeah, so I had gone to one of their blogging events years prior, again, when just Jill was sort of, you know, marinating in this crazy brain of mine and went to a day thing of theirs in New York. And so I looked them up and they were having. Three or four day content creator Summit speakers, and I said to my husband, I wanna go to this. Like I really feel like I can ask a lot of questions and I don’t know a soul going, but I really wanna go. So I went and I learned so much. I’m so glad I took that risk. And that’s one of the things that I would just share with everybody, like. Gosh, the rewards of risk sometimes are so great. Amen. And I took this risk and went to this three day blogging, you know, conference and learned, was able to pick what I wanted to go to and ask people questions. I made so many contacts in the blogging influencer creator space. I started to understand what the heck SEO stood for, and s e m and all these things which I did not know well, what is a widget that is not a real thing. Yeah. That’s something that Star Wars, that still makes me laugh. It’s like, what the heck is a witch? Yeah, I know, right? . And also just that like maybe what I’m putting out there, there really is an audience. Mm-hmm. , maybe there are 40 and 50 something women and maybe even older like me who want a second. Act. Mm-hmm. , who wanna start again, who wanna hear fun stories, who wanna hang out. And it was inspiring and challenging all at the same time. And once I got back from that, that’s really when the blog and everything else kind of took off. I love that. I, it’s so inspiring. Every time I hear those second act stories, it’s like, this is not, I literally just did an interview with somebody who was talking about this concept of, you’re too young to be old. Like, how we need to, you know, reverse this narrative, this concept that somehow you reach a particular age and suddenly your story is wrapping up when maybe it’s just. Or maybe it’s just the beginning of the next chapter that will be even better than the first several that were being written. So I love that. If you’re listening, listen to Jill. Story’s Not Over. There could be some amazing chapters yet to come you, one of the things that you’ve done is you’ve created your own retail store. Yeah. So I guess it’s just Jill Shop, right? Is that what it’s called? Yeah. Yeah. Just tell us a little bit about what you saw. I mean, this is like QVC. You know, all your experience coming to Yeah. Fruition here. Tell us about your shop. Yeah. And it was never the plan, Anna. Yeah. It really wasn’t. When I, you know, when I left QVC, I really didn’t know what I was gonna do. I knew I had this idea of just jill.com and I wanted it to be this fun blog. I was very lucky that during my time at qvc, um, I became friends with Drew and John. Got the Property Brothers and a week, a week after I left Q V C, drew called me and said, what are you gonna do and what do you want to do? So I was sort of, you know, looking and exploring things with him. Then I had this opportunity for the Today Show, and so then I started doing things and then all of a sudden, you know, and I’m writing the blogs and I’m doing the affiliate links and all these things are happening, and I’m on the train home from a Today Show segment, and I run into. A friend of mine who was, had been a buyer at qvc. Hmm. And she had also helped to build their extended assortment or their online business. And we were talking and she said, oh, I follow your blog. I love reading things. She’s like, but I gotta ask you something. Why are you directing people to go buy things you like from anyone but you? Hmm. And I was, I don’t know, , why am I doing that? Yeah. Because I thought that’s what people did. And I said, well listen, we don’t have the resources to buy product and warehouse things. And like, how do you figure out the shipping and the handle? Like I, oh my gosh, that’s not my brain at all. And she said, you don’t have to do any of that. You can do it with people who drop, ship the items for you. Mm-hmm. So basically they take the orders through just chill, but they’re, the orders are then sent elsewhere and they’re doing the fulfillment. So, I still wasn’t sure about it. She kept talking to me about it. My husband and I started talking about it and really it was a result of my audience who would always ask me questions about, where did you get that jean jacket you’re wearing? Or, I really love your bracelets, or, which, it is super cute. I was actually noticing your jean jacket with your little puff shoulders . Um, yes. Let’s take a look at this jean jacket for those of you listening. She has a super cute, where did you get your jean? Let’s just, I think this one is, yeah, this one is from Macy’s, I think. I think it’s at I n C. Very, very cute. Anyway, probably on sale. I’m a big sale shopper. . And so we started to like look at, alright, yeah, so what might this look like? And we started with jewelry. I was very well known for jewelry when I was at qvc. I was sort of the silver girl. I did a, you know, a weekly sterling silver jewelry show. So I reached out to some of my. Manufacturers from Italy who made jewelry and you know, gave them a proposal on, you know, would you be willing to work with us in this kind of a model? Mm-hmm. They said, yes, I met some other people. They said yes. So, you know, I guess the 25 years of relationships mm-hmm. That I really valued. And respected came back and paid off tenfold for me. Mm-hmm. because people were willing to, to try business with this small venture. And we were like, well, let’s just see what happens. And you know, it’s kind of like, let’s throw it against the wall and see what sticks. And we found if we built it, she would come. And so now, you know, I’m, I’m very proud. We, you know, we had our first full year, we started in April of 2021, so 2022 was our first full, full year. Yeah. And we’re a viable business. That’s really exciting to say. Um, I, you know, it’s a lot of hard work. You, you know, it’s having your own business, being your own boss. We have employees, so, you know, making sure they’re taken care of. But I think the best part of the shop for me is, I get to curate everything. Yeah. Yeah. I get to find the things that I really, not only like, but the things I really believe in. Mm-hmm. Companies that have a good story. Mm-hmm. , small businesses that would’ve never been pushed out and discovered if I hadn’t. You know, met them at a trade show and, you know, said, Hey, would you like to try to be featured on my store? Mm-hmm. . So, you know, what started as a few items of jewelry, you know, has grown to, you know, I think we have over 700 items, um, from all different categories and, and my favorite part is my hand is in all of it. And so I feel like there’s a lot of integrity in what we offer. Mm-hmm. , there’s integrity in the partners that we select, unlike at QVC, where they’ve got gazillions and gazillions of products. Right. And as a host, you’re just told what to sell. Right. So you just have to go out and sell it. That’s your job. and sometimes that’s hard if they’re things that you don’t necessarily believe in or know that you would never use. Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. . So what I really love about having the shop is people who have followed me for a long time. I hope know that integrity, that I, that was always so important to me. That goes back to my roots as a journalist. Before I ever was on Q V C, I was a, I was a news reporter. And, and so those pillars of integrity are so important to me. And I, I try to bring that to the shop too, so that when people shop with us, They know Jill’s tried it. She’s tested it, she’s worn it, she’s helped design it, she’s tasted it, you know, whatever it is, and can tell the story, which is what I really like to do, is to tell the story of these products and their companies on how they came to be. I love that. And I also love how you’re pulling together. Again, we were talking about chapters, so many chapters of your life. Culminating in where you are right now and how beautifully it’s created this amazing story. I have to ask, what is the number one bestseller from your shop? What did you sell the most of in 2022? So one was a little earring that we did. It was like a, it’s a really pretty earring from Italy. We do sterling silver, and then we played it in either 18 carat yellow gold or 18 Kara Rose gold, a little three quarter inch twisted hoop earring, like just one of those little. Oh, I need that. You know, like that little classic Yes. No-brainer purchases type of, okay. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and beautiful quality. And then our candles are private label, private branded, just Jill candle assortment that we make in Southern California. Those are our top sellers too. They’re all a hundred percent soy cotton wick, you know, we use American farmers for the soy wax. We get the fragrances from American entrepreneurs. So everything has sort of got this great, you know, like made in. Homegrown story. Yeah. Um, yeah. And on all of the fragrances are, you know, picked and customized by me, so, mm. I’ll, our candle maker’s name is Ed. He’s a one-man band. He does it all himself. But you go Ed when you want. Shout out to Ed. Yeah, right. . Go Ed. And I’ll say to him, all right, so I have this vision, you know, I want, yeah. The experience of sitting in a cabin with a crackling fire and a warm cozy throw, and it’s snowing outside. And I go out and there’s cold mountain air and a pine tree, and he’s like, what the heck am I supposed to do with that, Jill? You know, like, and I’m like, well, just try. There’s pine, there’s fire, there’s fresh, there’s this. And somehow he nails it. So, um, that’s, that’s been a lot of fun. We all need ads in our life. We really, and you. Why we do and why we can do what we do. , right? Yeah. They they get our creative brain . That’s exactly right. And they’re willing to try our crazy ideas. So now I have to ask, this is like asking to tell me your favorite child. So I realize this is a tough question, but what is your favorite fragrance of candle for. Oh, the home fragrance? Yes. The home fragrance of your candles. Yes. The home fragrance. The home. That is what it’s called. Home. Yeah, it’s called Home Fragrance. Yeah, it’s called Home because it’s what I wanted my home to smell like. So what does your home smell like now? I have to know. Yeah. Oh, it’s so good. It’s a like sugared citrus. Mm-hmm. , but not like traditional, like lemon lime, more like pomelo instead of grapefruit. Mm-hmm. So it’s not quite as tany. We did some light, she, we did a little neola in there. There’s some tropical greens. There’s a little sea salt note. Um, I hear some Californian influence. Coming into this . Yeah. We do have a candle called California Dreaming, which reminds me of like, you know, sitting on the beach with a waft of copper tone through the air. Mm-hmm. . But the home fragrance is really special. It it, I was inspired by, if you’ve ever smelled the um, Capri Blue brand of candles, They have those in anthropology and stuff a lot. They have one that’s called Volcano. And this, this was an, it was like, I really loved the combination of notes in that. So we sort of used that as our base and then we tried to make it better. So it’s, I love that. It’s a good one. It’s really good. And then our, you know, our pumpkin spice candle, believe it or not, people by year round, I’ll put it up against, oh, I believe it. Any other brand out there. It’s awesome. And we have, and then the cozy winter cabin that I was describing, that has become a top seller too. People really like when we launch it for the season, they’re all over it. So that makes me so happy, like I’m so thrilled that, yeah, what our team works so hard to create and we’re all like, Okay, we think we have a winner. And then you push it out there and you just wait for that first order. Yeah. And you know, with a small business, every time an order is placed, I can tell you that’s right. Someone on our team is doing a happy dance. Yeah, that’s great. Whether I see the order come in, my husband, our partner, like. Whoever it is, we’re all like, yay. They found something we loved and it makes us so happy. It’s so true. I mean, that’s true. Even in blogging, I just said the other day to my husband, it makes me so happy cuz this time of year I did this whole post on how to host an ultimate fondue party and trying to empower women to stress less and encourage time together with friends and family. Yeah. Still feel really good about the presentation. And there’s thousands, like every year around this time, there’s thousands of people who visit this post. And I can just envision them creating this beautiful party for friends and families sitting around a table for hours. And it’s exactly like what you said. It’s that it’s so heartwarming to think that what you’re doing is actually being implemented and used by real people and. Yeah. If you guys, you need to go buy a candle so that they can all do a happy dance over your candle and yeah. What, what you guys do matters. And that’s an important thing for us to remember too. It’s not just numbers. These are real people reading your blog posts, buying your candles, and making memories. So that’s beautiful. Love that. Well, I think if the, if the motivation isn’t really sharing Mm um, if the motivation is just money, then I think that you do lose a big piece of the authenticity. and why are you really doing it? And if all that’s driving you is the dollar signs, at least for me personally mm-hmm. , like I could care less about that, you know? Yeah. It’s, it’s nice to have this be a business for us. We’re not gazillionaires, you know? Mm-hmm. like it’s a small business, but what the win is for us, you know, the deposit in my bank, frankly, in the Jill Bank. Is the wonderful emails we get from people after they’ve received the products, how happy they are to shop with us, how thrilled they were when they received something, if something wasn’t quite right. But we do make it right for them, how grateful and thankful they are that we’re a retailer that values. Them. Mm-hmm. . So that’s why I do it. I tell my followers that when we do Facebook Lives all the time, I, I’m not doing this for me. I’m doing it for all of you. Because it gives me so much pride to be able to share things and find things for all of you, to make your everyday more beautiful. Yeah. It’s like the joy of generosity, that concept of. Yeah, giving. And it’s not just about the dollar signs you, we’ve talked about Q V C and sort of how that has affected your ability to do what you do today. Talk to me a little bit about the Today Show, how that came about, and you mentioned The Property Brothers as well. You’ve got so many fun connections. Tell us a little about the Today Show and how that impacted where you’re. Yeah, well, you know, I went to journalism school at the University of Missouri from the time I was ninth. In ninth grade. I knew I wanted to be a journalist. I didn’t know if I wanted to be on tv, but I wanted to be a writer. I wanted to be a sports writer, frankly. And then when I got to journalism school and was, you know, I did radio and did sports and then, Got to the television station there. Once I started to tell stories with pictures, I’m like, okay, I’m kind of liking the TV thing. Um, this was back in the eighties and women on television with sports, that was not an equal equation. Yeah. And so as hard as I was trying to get opportunities, even though I could talk all day long about basketball, baseball, I was a softball player, football, like I knew all those things. I just didn’t get the shots I wanted at the television station where I had been working. And so I said to the news director, what do I have to do to get a lead story around here? And he said, you need to go to news. So I pivoted to news. I started anchoring the news in Columbia, Missouri, and then eventually my next job was in West Lafayette, Indiana. But when I was in Missouri, we used to do the local cut-ins for the Today Show because it was an NBC affiliate. So I had a little dabble of the Today Show. And so as this young journalism student, 20 years old, doing these cut-ins, I kept thinking, and someday I’m gonna make it to New York. And I. Be there and you know, you go girl in New York studio, right? That’s right. Someday. Well then, you know, I went, got my first job in tv, then I auditioned for qvc and that was the next 25 years of my life. And so then I leave QVC at the age of 50 and I happen to meet a woman who used to be the executive producer for Hoda and or Kathy Lee and. Okay. And, um, so she and I talked and she said, listen, I, I really think you could do some segments for them. Let me broker an introduction to you with one of their producers. So her name was Amy Rosenblum. I’ve heard mm-hmm. I’ve heard a thank for the entire opportunity for the Today Show. And so I met one of the producers and we chatted and, you know, had coffee and kind of talked and laughed and at the end of it, she was very nice and looked across at me and she said, can I just tell you something I really like? I was like, yay, that’s good. And she said, what do you think about maybe doing something on refrigerator organization? Could you do that? And I’m like, you could do that. So I left that meeting. I walked across to Radio City Music Hall. I called my husband and I started to cry. Aw. Because here I. At the age of 51 Mm. 30 years after I sat as the Little Cut in Girl at the University of Missouri, and I was finally gonna be on the Today Show. Mm. It still gives me goosebumps. I could still start crying. I love it. And I, and it’s been really fun. I mean, it’s, I do most of my segments for Hoda and Jenna. The pandemic hit because I could also knew how to shoot an edit video from my days of being a reporter. They leaned into me a lot. I mean, I was doing a couple segments a month for them. Now I do, you know, maybe every other month I’m busier with other things now. Mm-hmm. . So I have to balance. You know, traveling up to New York, you know, it’s a couple days out of my schedule. I love doing it. I’m just not able to do it as much as I would probably like to. But it’s been a wonderful experience. Hoda and Jenna are as wonderful as they are on tv. They’re great women. They’re sweethearts. Yeah, I enjoy watching them. They’re great. Yeah, it’s a great staff and um, it’s really fun. Fun to come up with ideas to share with their audience and, and for me, for the brand, just Jill, it was exciting to be able to share who I am and what I love to do with a completely new audience. You know, I had the builtin audience of people who’d followed me from Q V C, but to be able to share that with a completely new audience has been a lot of. Ah, well, and I’m sure they were so blessed by you. Again, that story is one that I want everyone to make sure they are hearing. is, you know, there is no end. There is no end of your story until we’re taking our last breath. And even then, I would argue the story’s not over. And so I love that 30 years later. 30 years later, you don’t know what the next chapter holds. So make the most of today, cuz tomorrow could just surprise you. So I love that’s, you never knows. Amazing. You never don’t. That was never on my radar, you know, never on my radar that that could even be a possibility. Oh, I love it. It makes me get teary. I especially, you know, listen, I, I hate to keep talking about my age. I think there’s a huge shift right now. I feel like all of a sudden all these very prominent women in their, their fifties are really. Coming at it. So as well, you, you should I almost be Yes, please. But I want, I almost feel like I don’t, I shouldn’t even be like, why am I making that excuse? I think that’s another thing for women to think about. Mm-hmm. , why am I saying that? Especially at my age, who cares what my age is, you know? Right. If I can do the job, if I do it well, if I present it in the right way, um, why not me? Why not you? Right. Yep. I think that’s kind of. One of the blessings of mm-hmm. , having been around for a while, is all of that wisdom that comes from being this student in the classroom of life, right? Mm-hmm. , and that’s one of my favorite sayings is, you know, the, the things that you learn every day. You know, are great lessons, and as you get older, they just empower you, mm-hmm. to help you realize really anything is possible and somebody needs to hear your story. That transcends everything, that transcends time, that transcends age, that transcends all of the limiting beliefs that you have about whether or not you are valuable or you matter every. Benefits by sharing their story cuz somebody needs to hear it. And that is what’s so beautiful about your story, is using those experiences to empower other women and resonating with an audience who clearly values. What you are bringing to the world. And yeah, I have so much, so much respect. So again, if you’re listening here, be encouraged because you, your story matters. You’re loved. You’ve heard me say it every time. You can’t be redefined, only redeveloped cuz you are valuable as you are today. Don’t wait 20 years. You don’t need to change to be valuable. You’ve been defined with divine worth. So anyway, you mentioned the Property Brothers as well, drew and Jonathan. That’s such a fun as a di Iyer myself. That’s such a fun connection. They’ve, I remember when they first started, that was how many years ago? Yeah. Yeah. How many years ago that was now? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that is really f fun. They’re fantastic. They’re so cute. They’re so really enjoyable to watch too. I just, I love when I see families working together in business and appearing to thrive. I don’t know them personally, but they seem to enjoy what they’re doing. . They do. They do. They’re really tremendous. Down to earth, honest, good human beings. Mm-hmm. , and I think of them like brothers, you know? Aw, I’m an only child, so I told them, I’m like, I waited my whole life to have brothers and now I have two I love that. They’re, they’re just, you leverage those connections like, Come. I have work for you. . Yeah, . Yeah. They’re really, they’re fun to be around. They’re smart, they’re savvy. They love their team that works around them, and they love their family. They’re really good. Good guys. That’s so fun. I love that. We’re gonna take a quick break, but when we come back, stay tuned. We’re gonna play a speed round of this or that with Jill. Get to know her a little bit better, and then we’re going to hear some of her top tips. We’re gonna pick her brain, some of her favorite. Home hacks or recipes you need to start making and fashion favorites, all kinds of things with Jill Wright. When we come back, you have tried it all. Worried you will never lose the extra weight or reclaim the energy you once enjoyed. Want to achieve bat loss without spending hours in a gym or eliminating entire. Food groups from your diet. Well, now you can in the virtual faster way to fat loss. With Anna, my six week fitness nutrition program, you will learn how to pair effective 30 minute workouts with all natural evidence-based nutritional strategies to leverage what you eat and when you eat, to reset your metabolism and burn fat fast. Even that stubborn belly. I am a dual certified nurse practitioner, passionate about teaching sustainable strategies to promote fat loss and prevent disease. I have cheered on thousands of clients who have done just that with the Faster Way program. In my six week program, the average client currently sheds seven inches of body fat, 93% report more energy. 89% state that their mental health has improved. 100% of clients report. They feel this program is sustainable. Curious to try the program, but not sure if the strategies will work for you. Try the faster way strategies for free. Head to www.hammersandhugs.com and sign up for my free seven day fat loss accelerator course today and start your own transformation. We are back here with Jill. All right, Jill, we’re gonna play a speed round of this or. Two questions. No stress. Whatever comes to mind first. Ice cream cone or milkshake. Ice cream cone. The beaches of Delaware or the beaches of California? California. Ooh. Where in California? Where’s the best beach? If we’re visiting, where do we need to go? Oh my gosh. Well, I grew up not far from Newport Beach and so that’s down, um, more southern California, orange County area. Mm-hmm. . And there is a stretch of beach between Corona Delmar and Laguna Beach called Crystal Cove State Park. That’s where I grew up going to the beach, and it is still my favorite place to go when I go home. Uh, I’ve actually never, I’ve been to most of the states. California’s the one I’ve not been to. It’s on my bucket list. There’s so, so give yourself plenty of time cuz there’s, you know, there’s so many things to see there. You can go to the desert and Palm Springs is amazing. Down in San Diego is great. There’s fun things to do in and around Los Angeles. And then you have to go up the coast and, you know, see San Francisco and all of those areas there. Yeah, it’s. It’s a beautiful, beautiful state. There’s much to see. It looks beautiful. I, I’ll put a star beside your name. I might have to get , get recommendations. I’m happy to help plan an itinerary. Yes. I do that for a lot of friends, so I love that. Yeah, I love it. I love it. Yeah. Lancaster County is not exactly the same kind of itinerary. As California , but there’s still neat things to do in Lancaster County. There are Lancaster’s a great place to come visit us. Actually, I’ve had the request several times to do a blog post on things to do like in Eastern Pennsylvania. So yeah, you could contribute to that too. But Lancaster specifically, so that is coming one day. One day on my to-do list. Okay. Would you rather, so you mentioned sports commentating, which I absolutely love this. Okay. Would you rather, uh, football or baseball? For commentating or for attending, say, or, well, you were talking about which, whichever. I guess in general, if we’re just saying, watching or commentating or sports analysis, All of the above. Probably probably baseball. Okay. Baseball. I have a long legacy of baseball in my family. My grandfather, um, had the opportunity to play for the White Sox. My dad and my father-in-law were both baseball players. My husband was a walk-on in college. My son is trying to play in college, so like mm-hmm. , I, I, I’ve spent. A majority of my adult life is a parent on the baseball diamond. So, um, let’s go baseball. And I love the Dodge Dodgers. Go baseball. Grew up watching the Dodgers go Dodgers. There you go. Yeah. It’s funny. Baseball like Phillies, gotta rip from Phillies because she lives in the tension of both. But my, but my, my heart is often with the Dodgers. . Oh, I, for me, our family is similar with football, so it’s so funny cuz baseball’s like the one sport that. I’ve not been in the baseball stands a whole lot, but it’s fun. The moments that I have gone, I don’t enjoy watching it on tv, but I enjoy it live, if that makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean, sometimes the in-person experience right. Is, is a lot different than watching it on tv. And some people feel like watching baseball is boring. They feel like it’s slow. Yeah. But I, I guess maybe because I played softball, like my husband and I, like, we have conversations all the time. What kind of pitch did he just throw? Did you see how they shifted the second basement? Like we, I think we see things differently that keep us engaged watching as opposed to somebody totally who’s just watching. Yeah, that’s it. So my husband’s a football coach. This is his, was his ninth year I think. So for us, that’s like football. It’s like I can appreciate different things cuz I’ve heard him talking about schemes and and whatever. So I can completely understand that. And we need to take our kids to a baseball game one of these times. I think that would be a lot of fun. What’s worse? Laundry or dishes? Laundry. Personal yacht or private jet. Oh, I think I’m going with the yacht. Yes. Because then I can be out in the water all the time, and I love that. Yep. Where, where would you keep your personal yacht? Money’s no object. Oh, Hmm. Um, these are stressful questions. I, I, this is, you have to really pray about this. Well, I think that, you know, oh gosh, I would probably wanna, I’d probably keep it somewhere on the east coast because then I could go down. It’s much easier to get down to like the islands, to The Bahamas and trips and Caicos cuz it’s all more this way. Um, for a minute I was thinking, well why not keep it in Monaco and then you have a reason to have to fly to Italy and go, or fly to, you know, Europe and then travel and see all the Exactly. In Italy and things too. Um, so, but prob probably I’d. Yeah. Right. We’ll take our private jet over, I guess if I have a, yeah, if I have a yacht, I have the resources to do whatever I want. , so let’s do it. All right. All of, yes. Why do we live in an either or world? Both. And . Yeah, and I’m coming with you. , come aboard. Let’s go. Well, you are. And. Your website is beautiful, just jill.com, and you have so many wonderful. You’ve got recipes, fashion finds, a love for home decor. We mentioned the candles, which you all need to go check out at. Just jill shop.com. Home is the one that you need to look at. Share with us a couple of your favorite. I mean, one way to ask this is what are your top blog posts? It’s interesting to always hear what people gravitate toward. Often then ends up being relevant to a lot of people when it’s your top blog post. So we could also ask it that way if you wanna share a couple of your like top three blog posts or just some of your favorites, whether it be Home Hacks, recipes. Yeah, recipes are a big thing for me. Mm-hmm. to me, when I, when I started the blog, that was really what a lot of the content was gonna revolve around. I love to cook, I love to bake. My grandmother, I’m lucky to have her recipe box when she passed away. That’s what I wanted and was lucky to, to be the one in the family to have that. So I love trying all of her recipes. I’m also somebody who, I like to look at different recipes for something and then sort of pull this and that from it and make it mine. Yes. Wonderful. So I, I mean, I think our recipes that we have on, uh, just Jill, some of them are popular recipes that a lot of people know. You know, everybody loves those. Um, peanut butter blossom cookies, right? Mm-hmm. , there’s all different recipes for them. We’re actually baking today. Um, we’re gonna put a Valentine’s Day spin on them. Oh. So that’s one of the things we’re, we’re doing today. But, you know, three ingredients, gluten free, easy to make. Mm-hmm. like mm-hmm. . People love that. So, you know, not too terribly difficult, but just always well liked and popular. A lot of my holiday recipes, you know, pumpkin bread is always a favorite. I will put my chocolate chip cookie recipe up against anybody’s. I think our, my chocolate chip cookie recipe, my best friend, that’s a bold statement in high school. Chilled that in high school. Yes. I love that. And, um, what, what makes yours different, would you say? Is it like soft and moist or is it like crunchy and chewy? Yeah, no, it’s. It’s a soft one. It uses dark brown sugar instead of light. Mm-hmm. , and it uses more brown sugar than white sugar interest. You know, sometimes it’s an, even, even like the Tollhouse recipe is, is more of an even mm-hmm. so that extra molasses that’s in the dark brown sugar. Mm-hmm. , I think really maybe makes it more like, Rich. It’s really good, I guess. Yeah. Yeah, it’s really good. Is it just called chocolate chip cookie or what would people search on your Yeah, you can website, you can search chocolate chip cookie. Yeah, I think we call it Best ever Chocolate Chip Cookie But it is, it really is. It really is best. It really is. When people, when people try it, they’re like, I thought my. Cookie recipe was good, but I have to say, yours is really good. So that’s, I love all the cooking and baking and, and one of my goals is to do a cookbook. I’ve talked about it, Anna, forever. If you have any guidance on how to No, you should get myself moving forward in that. Bring it on. Um, we chat after I have, I have someone to recommend. Yes. Okay. A publisher. Yeah. Yeah. I mean that’s, that’s really like one of my dreams is to, is to share these recipes with people mm-hmm. , to make their, you know, again, I, I love the idea of just like, how do we make your every day easier? How do we Yeah. Make your every day. Beautiful for spending time with your family. Mm-hmm. for feeling confident in the kitchen. So whether you’re cooking for yourself, your spouse, or a whole group, like you have this arsenal of great recipes you can always rely on. So that’s what I love to do. You know, other things that we do on the blog, we do a lot of fun. Home decor finds. I always love to, you know, be on the lookout for things to shop for or how I’m redecorating my table, different table scape ideas, those kinds of things. And then the home hacks, I just think, you know, people are always looking for, nobody likes to clean. I mean, maybe there’s a small segment who do, but I do not. Not like girl to clean. No. Thank you. So anything I can do right to make you my cleaning ladies here faster during this recording. I’ll happily pay somebody to clean my house. Yeah, right, right. So in fact, we’re working on some of those, some new reels and things to put up on some just easy, simple house cleaning hacks. Those will be coming out on my different platforms in the next couple of weeks. So we’re always, we try to diversify. You know, I, I don’t, it’s hard for me to think of myself as just in one silo, right. Cuz I feel like what I love is being home. And so there’s a lot of things that involve being home, that’s decorating, that’s cleaning, that’s cooking, that’s family time, that’s games, that’s all kinds of things. It’s d i y, it’s all of the, it’s all those things. So, um, and we women understand that like we, women understand that we are not just one, we’re not just the chef. Like in one day we wear 12 hats. So we love then when there’s people who are like, Nope, it’s not just recipes. We’ve also got some cleaning tips. Yes. Right. When I look at just Jill, what I hope it is when people stop by is that it’s almost like a fun little mini magazine. You know? It’s an online magazine, so if you wanna find recipes, you’ve got that section. If you’re looking for a cleaning tip, you’ve got that too. I find for me also, I don’t know how you are, Anna, but I like having all those different things because hundred percent. If I only did one thing, I think I would also be very, So I, I like, I like to be a little frenetic and a little all over the place with things because that’s how my brain works and, um, it, it keeps me firing on all cylinders. Yes. Oh, it’s like the number one thing. Every single business consultant or like brand strategist, they look at my website and they’re like, wait, what do you do I’ve got home, I’ve got recipes, diy, I’m a fitness, the nutrition coach, and I was a nurse practitioner. Like literally it’s, I’m totally with. Yes. I need to niche down a little bit, which we’re working on it, but yeah, I What I will ask this, since you spend a lot of time in the kitchen, we’ll wrap up with this. Do you have Yeah. A primary like go-to secret kitchen tip or hack, whether it be cleaning, baking, any decorating, any of the above. But is there something that comes to mind that if like you could tell one person a secret about their kitchen, something that might make their. Simpler or more enjoyable in their kitchen. Can you think of what that would be? It could be super little, I mean, well, well, I think the most important thing to me is have good tools. Mm-hmm. don’t have the butcher block knife, you know, set of 87 knives and they’re all not great like, Buy one good Cutco knife and you’re good. Buy one really nice piece of cookware and in a large enough size that you can cook. Mm-hmm. a lot, but go to cookware brands. Small amount. Yeah. Do you have one? I love all. I love all clad. All clad. Okay. A lot. Yeah, I like all cloud a lot and you can find it on sale. A lot of times you can, you know, find their skillets just on sale so you can try them. But I find like for performance and they work on all different types of stove tops, which I really like. Mm-hmm. , I mean, listen, I cooked with all of ’em when I was at qvc, so I, right. There’s a lot of good brands out there, but to me, , I wanna buy it once and have it for as long as possible. Yeah. I feel like a lot of brands might have a lot of cool gimmicks for a year and then they don’t hold up and then you’re out that money. So I love all Clad. I love Cutco. I don’t work for any of these companies. These are just the brands that I’ve bought for myself and that I believe are good investments. And if you have a good knife and if you have a good skillet, you can pretty much do anything else you want. It worked with any recipe, even if you’re. Making cereal for yourself in the morning. You have a good knife to cut your strawberries and your blueberries. You know what I mean? Like yeah. You just have something that works. So quality over quantity. That would be in the end, you’ll probably save yourself time and money. Yeah. Yeah. That’s a great, great piece of advice. Those are, those are really good. Yep. And you can never have too many boxes of baking soda, cuz you can use a box of baking soda a million ways around your house that. That is the truth. That sounds like a blog post right there coming@justjill.com. 25 million Ways to Use Baking soda in your home. Yep. Well, we’re actually doing a reel around it. We’re doing a reel around baking soda. There it is. Bigger and lemons. Yep. There you have it. Hack me on that one. There it is, folks. Just, Jill, she’s got everything that you. Well, I, I resonate with you on so many levels. You’re an inspiration. I love hearing how you’re allowing a story to be written and encouraging people to let their own be written as well. And I pray God’s blessing over your business, over your home, over all of your adventures, your family, your son trying to play baseball in college. And yeah, it was an honor having you on. Oh, well, honor was mine. It was so nice to, to meet you and I enjoyed the content that you put out. And this was, thank you. You know, a really, really fun, fun way for me to spend my afternoon. So thank you so much for, for having me. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Imperfectly Empowered Podcast. I would love to hear your thoughts. From today, head to your preferred podcasting platform and give the show an honest review and let me know what you think. Remember, you cannot be redefined, only redeveloped, one imperfect day at a time. Your story matters and you are loved.