Episode 370: Turn a Passion Project into a Business while Juggling Parenthood and Wellbeing with Jenna Gibbons

EBT370 – Jenna Gibbons

Jenna Gibbons: Hi, this is Jenna Gibbons from The Whole Mama, and you are listening to the Eat Blog Talk podcast. 

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Megan Porta: Hey food bloggers. Welcome to Eat Blog Talk, the podcast for food bloggers looking for the value and confidence that will move the needle forward in their businesses. This episode is sponsored by RankIQ. I am your host, Megan Porta, and you are listening to episode number 370. I have my friend Jenna Gibbons with me today. She’s going to talk to us about turning a passion project into a business. Jenna is a native Michigander living outside of Nashville on a small farm with her husband, two boys, dog, and rescued horses. She decided to stay home in 2016 to be with her oldest son. At that time, she also co-founded a nonprofit called Hickory Hill Farm, which continues to this day to provide animals and people with a place of peace, happiness, and healing. Jenna decided to devote her time to her boys and the whole mama business after feeling frustrated again with the dynamics of education. The Whole Mama Business and International podcast began in 2020 to help mamas break free from the chaos and education and bravely start homeschooling with the tools and confidence they need to raise happy, healthy, and well-rounded kiddos. I love your whole message, Jenna, and everything you represent. I’m so excited for our chat today. Thank you for being here. How are you? 

Jenna Gibbons: I’m good. Thank you so much for having me. How are you?

Megan Porta: I’m good too. I’m just excited to chat with you. I always love our chats. Before we dig into our topic though, we want to hear if you have a fun fact to share with us.

Jenna Gibbons: Yes. So I would say a fun fact about me. It’s more of, I guess an interesting fact. So my grandmother, half Irish, half Polish, and my grandmother came here during the Holocaust and started her life in America. I just like to honor her sometimes just to share her story. She survived and raised a family here and really helped me become who I am. I’d love to tell her bravery and just resilience and I’m not here where I am today without her. Yeah, that’s my fun fact.

Megan Porta: I love that. So you’ve got bravery and resilience in your genes, literally, like you’ve got that instilled in you. That’s so cool and good for her. I’m sure her story is incredible and inspiring. Wow. That’s amazing. 

Jenna Gibbons: Yeah. She’s no longer with us. But just her story and hard work and everything. I think also just encouragement to me to follow whatever it is that I was called to do was really empowering.

Megan Porta: Oh, I love that. What a great way to start. I love that you chose that as your fact. Okay. So your story is amazing too, because you have turned a passion project into a business and you have found a way to make it work, even though you have a family and you’re a homeschool mom and you’ve got a blog and a podcast, and you have little kids. So I wanna hear just a little bit about how that all came together, how you decided to pursue your passion, even though you were a busy mom. So can you just talk us through your story? 

Jenna Gibbons: Yeah, absolutely. Like you mentioned, I came from Michigan here down to Nashville to teach, and I taught public education. I was an ESL teacher. I taught English as a second language to kiddos for about eight years. Then at the time, I had my first son and wanted to stay home with him. So I taught there and I loved it. I loved the children I worked with, and the teachers were so hardworking, but then I just felt called. That’s what I feel like will be the common thing I say today is just feeling the calling. So I really felt like it was time for me to stay home, which in the beginning, I never really thought that I was going to do. Once I had my kiddos, it just felt like that was what I was supposed to do. So I stayed home and then went back and taught part-time high school esl, which was a whole nother world.

Megan Porta: Oof. 

Jenna Gibbons: Yeah, again all these things I feel have just helped prepare me for all the things. So I did that for a little while, and then had my second son and decided to stay home again. At the time too, I just felt like I wanted to serve the community and serve others, and I always have had a love for animals. So during that time of teaching, while I was teaching, I decided my husband and I had moved from a house in the suburbs to a little farm and I always wanted horses. So we did that and started fostering horses and surrounded myself with people who were like-minded. We decided to start a red horse rescue together called Hickory Hill Farm. And they’re still thriving today, which is so amazing. I’m so honored that they continued such good work. So I was one of the founders, but I also did the education and outreach. So we would have a summer camp, we would do a program called Reading with Rescues, where kiddos would come and read to the horses. So I felt like I was serving and I was teaching in a different way. So I did that and when 2020 happened and I was home, I just continued to feel like I had this calling to do something. Again, to teach in a different way. With my youngest, I was in the mornings and would go out cause we couldn’t really go anywhere. I would walk and listen to podcasts and they really helped me, I don’t know, find that fire still and help me through just a hard time. After having a baby and all the things that inspired me. I was like you know what? I feel like I have something to say. I think I could do a podcast. I have no idea what I’m doing. I was trying to find ways to make some income on the side. My husband was really amazing at wanting to support me in all my endeavors. I feel like, Hey, I wanna start a rescue. Hey, I wanna do this. He’s always very supportive. He goes, okay, what do you wanna do? I said, I wanna support us. 

Megan Porta: Oh, I love that. 

Jenna Gibbons: I was like I wanna support us now a little bit, and so how can I do that from home? It was like a process, with a lot of writing and brainstorming and just getting all my ideas out on paper. It just took some time, really to reflect on what I was really thinking of. So I started first with just a blog because I felt like I was already gonna be doing the mom thing. I could share about it. So I started a blog and then again, was like called to I guess I could really share in a podcast. So I self educated myself. I did the whole Google search, but YouTube videos and tried to do some courses that taught me how to do that. So I started a podcast called The Whole Mama and we started doing that. Now I’m obviously not teaching anymore. I’m home with my boys. So I started doing the whole thing. Then when my son started going into kindergarten, we had to go to public school and then I felt called for a while to do something, based upon just my experience as a teacher in school. So at that time, it was in October. I decided I think we’re gonna, we’re gonna try this whole homeschooling thing. So we pulled my son out and my business shifted in that way as well and for me, not only helping mothers, but also helping homeschooling mothers start the homeschooling process and supporting them and encouraging them. So my business shifted a little bit in that way where I did a mastermind. Then my coaching shifted at this point right now, helping mom start homeschooling because so many are. I felt when I was even starting as a teacher, it was a little bit intimidating. Where do I start? Am I doing the right thing? Thing, how do I do the right thing? So I feel like if I could be there as a support person to help them along the way, I could do that. I did that. Then we’ve also started this September, a farm school on our farm once a week. We do weekly themes of nature study and farm study. Yeah, it’s been busy. So that’s in a nutshell, my transition from teaching to now homeschooling and running a business. 

Megan Porta: That is a lot. What an amazing story. Isn’t it crazy to look back on your story and just see how cool it evolves and how one thing leads to another and you can’t see the whole picture. Obviously. That’s not life. You don’t see everything, right? But then when you look back, you’re like, oh, of course that led to this and that, and it’s just so cool to reflect on that. 

Jenna Gibbons: Yeah, it’s amazing. Not really knowing where you think you’re headed, oftentimes, you’re not really in that direction. You actually go a completely different way. Yeah, it’s amazing. 

Megan Porta: I love how, I wrote down when you were talking about, I started listening to podcasts. That’s how my journey started as well. As far as digging into it, yeah, I was shooting a lot of videos at the time for my food blog. When we were filming our video, we had these days where we would just batch all this content and we would just turn on like my speaker and I would just tune into podcasts. That is what really sparked my desire for all this that I’ve put together for Eat Blog Talk. Wrote down, it all started with a podcast. I feel like that is the story of so many, right? 

Jenna Gibbons: Yeah, I think so. I never really was a podcast listener. I’ll read books or attend conferences or whatever it may be. Then, yeah, all of a sudden I think someone had said, oh, have you listened to the podcast? I was like, what’s a podcast? I don’t know what that is. But there’s something. I think just especially when you find the ones that you really resonate with, I feel like there’s so much about just listening to people talk is just different than, for some people they maybe are not a reader, but there’s so much value still in so many podcasts that I’m taking notes, and they’re just amazing.

Megan Porta: I talk about this with food bloggers all the time. There’s so much power in audio and just hearing someone’s voice. So if you have a blog post that says the exact same words that you’re listening to on a podcast, it’s totally different because you get the inflection. You get the personality, you get the human, you get the stories that produce emotion. If you just read it, you don’t get any of that. So I think there’s so much power in audio and communicating with people that way. So I think that’s why the medium of podcast really affects people like us because we’re looking for that connection and that emotion and change or whatever we want. So really cool that your story started that way. I love that so much. 

Jenna Gibbons: Thank you. 

Megan Porta: Yeah, so you do a lot, Jenna. Homeschooling and being a mom and a wife and blogging and podcasting and doing the mastermind groups and all this stuff that you talked about is a lot. So talk to us about how you fit it in. Do you have any tips? Do you have any strategies for staying sane and doing it all? 

Jenna Gibbons: Yeah, absolutely. So I think one thing, because Megan, you were on my podcast a couple weeks ago and the one thing that you said that I think is so true is the first thing is that it does really take a village. Utilizing and being okay with saying, Hey, like I need help I think that’s a very brave and honest thing to say. To my husband, or I’m very lucky to have grandparents here. Or if you need a sitter for a little bit of time or, utilizing a community of friends or all that stuff, I think is really important because to say that you can do it all, all the things, all the time. It’s really a lot of pressure to put on yourself. So I think definitely, being able to utilize the help, if it’s there. Or if you need help finding it, even if it’s for once or twice a week just so that you can get the things done that you feel are in a good place each week. I definitely think that. Another one would be, which I know is hard, but blocking off that non-negotiable time for yourself. For me, some people are kind of night owls, some people are morning people. I’m more of a morning person, especially as I’ve gotten older. I feel like by nine I’m crashing. 

Megan Porta: Oh my gosh. Same. I’m with you on that. 

Jenna Gibbons: I’m like, oh man, it’s catching up with me. But, in the morning, even before my kids get up, I try. There’s days where I will sleep in a little bit more. But I really try to have some of those habits that kind of make me my best self. So blocking off that time, where for me it’s, waking up and definitely getting up a cup of coffee or two depending on the morning. I do devotion in the morning for myself, providing yourself with the good things. Although if it’s a podcast or a book you’re reading, I don’t turn the news on or anything like that. Then working on your business, whether it’s sketching up on email or scheduling podcast recordings, whatever it is. So I try to do that as many times as I can during the week. Then I also try to have time before bed where I wrap some things up. Then also just having some of that time, even if it’s not once a week, a couple times a month, where you do something for yourself. Whether you go, I don’t know, whatever. It could be a massage or something, or go for a walk or have that time to regroup because I think then you start to get in that survival mode, that’s never really a good place to be in for yourself. Then I think surrounding yourself with like-minded people, some, the people who inspire you, encourage you, motivate you. Want you to thrive in your life as a homeschool mom or as a business owner, I think that’s really important. I think even having, sometimes, I’ll put little messages for myself, like why am I doing this? There’s gonna be days where even with homeschooling, why am I doing this? This is a hard day. There’s a lot to do. In my homeschool coaching we are creating a mission and vision for your family. I think it’s really important to do that for your business too. Why are you running this business? We’re trying to teach your kids. For me, I ask myself that all the time. Why am I doing it? I’m so tired, but you know, I remind myself, I’m doing it for me. I’m doing it because I feel God’s calling. I feel I wanna live an abundant life and serve others. So having those daily reminders for yourself on those hard days and on the good days. To pump you up where you know you’re gonna get a lot done. As when I was doing my business starting off, I made a vision board. I made whatever for me to visualize what you know I wanted to do and how I wanted to look. That can shift, and change. But for me that was really big. Because you have to have some clarity and and. Where you think you’re gonna be headed. Just the reminders for me, I think especially as a mom now and owning a business is how I can as a business, obviously you’re a business, so this is it’s your livelihood. But how I can serve and give back, how can I do that? I think that’s important to give yourself as a reminder every day. I’m running a business, but how am I serving the world? I heard a podcast by Kathy Heller, and she helps women in many business men and women start businesses and just saying, there’s so much you have to give to the world. For me it was, starting and doing a business kind of messy. Because really you can look back on your life and really say, Gosh, I started there and look how far I am. Because for me, if I’m gonna do it perfectly, it’s gonna take me a lot longer to start it because I’m gonna want to tweak it and it’s not gonna be perfect anyway, because that’s just life. But I think when you start it and do it messy and just get that first podcast out, or get that first blog out, you can grow and thrive from there. So I think starting and going from there. Then teach yourself. There’s so many resources out there and so many amazing people you can surround yourself with. So yeah, I hope that helps. That was a lot. 

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Megan Porta: Oh my gosh. That was all so good. I know why we are friends because a lot of that, all of it aligned with really my message and what I do to stay on track. My staying in tune with my mission and my visions and all of that. Love it all. Let’s see. There’s maybe one or two I would love to touch on. Two points that you made. So self-care, I think that’s really important to talk about because it’s so often discounted. We hear hustle culture. You’ve gotta hustle, hustle, work hard. I agree with that. There are periods and seasons where you do have to hustle. That’s true. That’s a fact. But in order to get through those seasons, you have to take care of yourself or your business will never survive and it certainly won’t thrive. So what are some ways that you just ensure that you focus on self-care? You’re busy. I can see where it would be really easy to just say, not today, and then let it slide. So how do you just stay focused on that?

Jenna Gibbons: I think when, Megan, you helped me with my mastermind. When was that? Gosh, over a year ago. I think one of the biggest things is you have to make sure whether you have children, of course and if you have a business, if your cup is not full, how in the world can you help fill others, right? So fill your cup first. That’s not a selfish thing. That’s just a necessity because it’s one of those examples like when you’re on the plane, right? They say put your mask on before you put anyone else’s on, because you have to fill your cup first to make sure that you are your best self so that you can serve others. So I definitely think that it’s an important thing to remind yourself of. For me, one of those definitely is sleep. Before I realized that sleep was so important, I’d push myself and hustle like you said, until 12, one o’clock in the morning. Then my kids are early risers too, at six, seven. Then I’d be struggling all day. How in the world can you provide and be your best self if you’re dragging all day? So you know, for me, I try to cut myself off and that’s just where I’m at that day. Maybe 10 o’clock, maybe nine o’clock, maybe 11. I try it at the latest 11 so that I get at least six or seven hours of sleep. That’s something that doesn’t cost anything, you don’t have to go anywhere that’s just doing at home. So for me, sleep. Another one is, this sounds silly, but I drink coffee because that’s just my state right now as a mom. But I think hydrating, I think that a lot of times we’re so tired because we don’t have enough water and we are just not hydrated enough. So definitely just making sure that you’re taking care of yourself. Because I know even as a teacher, I put my all in all day and I wouldn’t go to the bathroom, because I was rushing, teaching kindergartners. But then I wouldn’t drink my water either. Then I was wondering, why am I not feeling great? Because your body needs water, so sleep, water. Then I think for myself, and I’m sure I could, there’s more. The third one I think is, like I said, mentioned earlier in the mornings, is like filling your cup, like emotionally, spiritually, and just overall your presence, whatever that may be. Starting your day at positive; don’t open that email yet. That was great advice. I listened to a podcast, oh gosh, I think it was Ally Caza, and she said, don’t open that email or that text right away. Give yourself five or 10 minutes to start something like scripture or podcast or a book you’re reading that’s inspiring. I think, Megan, you were talking about you, I read a lot of business development, personal development books. Those for me are encouraging, but that helps set the tone for your day. So versus opening an email that may stress you out, that’s gonna set the tone for your day in a negative way. However, it may be starting your day in a positive way, whether you’re reading the Bible, or you have a favorite author or whatever it may be. I think we’re always learning, we’re always growing, and so even as a mom, I’m reading homeschool books. That’s encouraging for me or spirituality or anything like that to fill your cup emotionally and spiritually I think is a really good thing.

Megan Porta: I love all of that,Jenna. I think it’s so easy to discount this part of it because like we’ve both mentioned, it’s just easy to get into that flow of hustle and to not really prioritize this. Then before we know it, we’re getting burnt out and we’re wondering why, and we’re, oh yeah, I’m not drinking water. I’m not sleeping well. I’m starting my day off with stressful emails. So it’s so important. This is part of my message for my listeners because it doesn’t matter how much SEO or Pinterest knowledge you have, it doesn’t matter. If you’re not taking care of yourself in the ways that you need, you will never have a successful business. It’s all going to burn you out. You’ll burn out. 

Jenna Gibbons: Yeah. You’ll burn out. In fact, the very beginning of my business, I think it was by December, I had really hit it hard in the fall. I told my husband, I said, I’m gonna have to take December off. I cannot literally give anything to anything anymore. As a mom, that’s hard. For us homeschooling moms too, it is because you’re trying to also serve them, and so I think there comes to a point where, like you were saying, time’s gonna pass and you’re like, oh my gosh, I’m exhausted. Then also your kids are growing up, right? That for me, I don’t wanna look back in 10 years and say, oh my gosh, my kids, they’re teens. They’re done with this fun age. Where my business grew, I’m tired and my kids are grown up. So I think there’s a fine line of where you just have to slow down a little bit. I find that sometimes when you’re not hustling as much, things really gravitate to you in a weird way, if that makes sense. 

Megan Porta: That is so true. I know. Yeah, it’s really hard to explain or put in words but there is some magic there. When you intentionally slow down and just put it out there. I am focusing on taking care of myself. Yes, I still want my business to grow. But you take that pressure off, then things just start happening. Right? 

Jenna Gibbons: They really do. Yeah. You’re intentional with your time. You’re intentional with the things you put out there, and then all of a sudden the goodness is coming. It comes right back to you in a very odd way. In a good way. In an amazing way. 

Megan Porta: No, it is so true. Just to give you a little encouragement, so I have teenagers and they still love me and they still love hanging out with me. So you’ll still have that when your boys are older too. 

Jenna Gibbons: It’s so funny. I love seeing you with your boys. I’m excited for that phase and I think you’re right. I think there’s just different phases of being a mom and fun things. Like I’m looking forward to when they’re older, like you said, doing stuff together. So it’s definitely a journey. I have to remind myself to kinda just be in the moment. I’m always the person to say what are we doing next? When are we doing this? Then I’m not really enjoying the moments. So working on that . 

Megan Porta: Aren’t we all? That’s human nature, I feel to just overthink and think about the future. We dwell on the past and things we should have done or shouldn’t have done, and what’s coming this month, what’s coming next month, next year? Every once in a while just. Stop. Stop. Take a breath and look around you and just see the moment, see what’s happening in the present. I think there’s so much power in that, but it’s so hard to do it because we’re so just trained to think, and overthink everything. Don’t you just sometimes think to yourself like, oh my gosh, what am I doing? Just stop and breathe. Look around and appreciate it.

Jenna Gibbons: Sometimes my husband will be like, why are you worried about that right now? I honestly can say, I don’t know. 

Megan Porta: When you say that, you’re like, okay,point taken. I’m moving on. 

Jenna Gibbons: Yeah, exactly. 

Megan Porta: So you’ve mentioned a few times following your calling and hearing just something you’re called to do. Can you talk a little bit about that? If people are listening and they’re like, maybe they can’t relate to that. Maybe they can. How do people tune in more to what their calling is?

Jenna Gibbons: Yeah, so I think for me it was, I think sometimes we think we know what it is and it takes some time to navigate through that. I thought that teaching in a regular setting was for me and for some that is the calling. They will be amazing teachers for the rest of their career and it’s. That’s where they’re called to be. For sometimes I think you’re, when you look back and you say that’s why I went through that cause it’s gonna help me do this next thing. I think for me, there’s a tug that you start to feel in your heart. You know it in your gut and it’s one of those things where it may simmer a little bit, but then it boils back up again. It never goes away. So for me,one of those things was having this farm school. Which in my head I was like, what are you thinking, Jenna? Oh my goodness, you’re gonna have a farm school. I’ve told people before I decided, the day I decided to homeschool was the day I decided, one day I’m gonna have a school here on our farm. We don’t have a big farm. It’s not gigantic, but I knew it would serve a purpose. I think there’s a bible verse that I was actually gonna share, but I’ll share it now. It’s from Isaiah and it says, “here I am, send me.” I think that we’re all, there’s a purpose for all of us here. Whether you know it right away or you don’t. I think part of a journey is discovering that. I think there’s people you meet, there’s a podcast you’ll listen to. There’s a book that you’ll read that you’re like, oh, there’s that. There’s that again. I think one of the best things you can do is either journal or voice note. Some people don’t like journaling. I think they think that it has to be like, dear diary, journaling. Which stresses me out. Whereas what I started to do when I was starting to have ideas, is I would just start writing. It could be a list, it could be a, you might draw it out, you may write a quote down that you wanna remember. I think it just starts where you start putting the pieces together, some way, whether you’re doing it through an audio way or journaling or that kind of thing. I think it takes some time. You’re not gonna know it right away. But I think for me it was, I’ve gotta start. The way to start is I’m gonna look up how to just start writing about it. So I started blogging about motherhood. So I think that in my opinion, , and again, it’s opinion, but I really do feel that we’re all called for something and sometimes we’re not quite sure what it is. You may think you know, and that it shifts to something else. But I think there’s so much goodness in the world. As a mom and as a teacher I think that just being around other people who are business owners, there’s so much to give to the world. There’s a lot of people, for me, even, it was one of those things someone’s already doing. Someone’s already doing the homeschool thing. Someone’s already writing a book, someone’s already has a podcast. But it’s not yours. It’s not your thing. You’re gonna have your own twist on it. It’s coming from you. I never wanted to regret never having tried. So if anything, I do this and it may not work out, but at least I can say I followed that calling and something beautiful happened. Or I followed that calling and I still learned a lot. So I hope that helps. I just think that you gotta try.

Megan Porta: Oh my gosh, that’s amazing. That was the best answer ever. Sometimes this can be really scary following a calling or intuition that you have about something you should do requires, like you mentioned earlier, being imperfect and doing things messy and ugly at first, and that is scary. Putting yourself out there in a way that’s not perfect and curated and all of that. So how do we do this, how do we try those new big things, in a brave way?

Jenna Gibbons: So when you said, just what you had mentioned about it being hard. The mastermind that I was had, I had a speaker come and she was saying, choose your hard. It can be hard that you just are sitting there and wishing you could do this, that or the other and really just being sad about it and never really taking action. Or you choose the hard one as well. I might just try to make a little website here and I may try to put a little blog on there and see what happens. So I think one of those is just, is literally choosing your hard. Are you gonna do it or are you going to hope you did it? The other one I say, like I mentioned before, is doing it messy. I taught myself a lot of stuff now. I don’t know if it’s the right way to do it, but there’s a lot of great online courses that are pretty affordable where it can teach you how to do things. I did a how to start a podcast in 30 days, just to get me started. So I think educating yourself, there’s a lot of people out there doing really cool stuff. There’s people who have done it before you, so learn from them. So I think educating yourself, finding people, surrounding yourself with people who are doing similar things and who can encourage you, and maybe in your family. It may be people who are outside your family or outside of your friend’s circle. Look how we met. It’s amazing how we met with other fellow podcasters, doing different kinds of podcasts, but really I don’t know, supporting each other and encouraging each other. I think there’s a lot to see, to be said about meeting people, networking and getting yourself out there. Just researching, looking to see, look if you’re in a certain field of whatever it may be like food blogging or homeschooling. See what other people are doing and learn from them. I follow really good people that inspire me. Like you Megan, on Instagram. See what they’re doing, and I think just starting from there. Like I said, start journaling it, do one for me, I set myself a goal. Okay, in the next six months I wanna do this thing. And do it, and it, whether you do a little bit every night, but I think doing one thing and setting a goal for yourself in three months, six months, a year, see where you are. For me, I don’t wanna be in the same place in a year. 

Megan Porta: That is a great goal. Yeah. I love that so much. Do one thing, you’ve said that a few times, I think that’s such great advice. Because we can’t see the whole picture. We have this idea that we’re gonna be able to get this vision of our entire, this is how your business will be, that is not how it works typically. Maybe sometimes, but I think just focusing on that one next step is so important and leaning into your intuition. Okay, here’s what I need to do. I’m gonna do this. I’m gonna research it until I figure it out and just put it out there. Then when we take that step, the next step is revealed and so on. Instead of assuming that we’re gonna see the whole vision up front, right? 

Jenna Gibbons: Yeah, because you may try something and you’re like, oh wow, that did not go as I thought. For me, every day, I write a list of five things to get accomplished for myself because it’s not doable to do it all. Or do three things a day for yourself. It could be one personal, one family, one. That’s another way to go about it on a daily basis. But I think, yeah, for the next year, make a plan and it may shift, but at least you have a plan and you can at least start and have an end goal.

Megan Porta: Absolutely. You’re so inspiring. So the end goal for you, what would you say your end goal is? Is it just to be flexible, to be able to be with your kids and have that quality time that you spoke about? What is your North Star when you’re doing all of this? 

Jenna Gibbons: I have a quote that I was gonna share, if that’s okay. That kinda sums that up a little bit. So there’s a great book, her name’s Sarah Mackenzie, she writes, but it’s called Teaching from Rest, which is funny. We talked about rest. Because rest is not lazy. Rest is, anyway, that’s a whole nother thing, , but it’s teaching with intention and not doing the hustle thing that we talked about in that. For me, because I am Christian, I hope that at the end I do what God has called me to do. Her quote says, when my head hits the pillow each night, I want to know that I have done the one most important thing. I have fostered warm, happy memories and created lifelong bonds with my kids, even when the rest of life feels hard. So that’s one thing as a mom. As a mom, I think that, at the end of all of this, that I’ve served my kids and have taught them part of The Whole Mama is raising the whole child. So raising them and you know that they may love and know God and be able to give goodness into the world. Then as a business end, I have another quote. I have a lot of quotes today. I hope that’s okay. 

Megan Porta: I love it. Let’s hear it. 

Jenna Gibbons: The other one is, the truth is she was always afraid, but she knew she had to choose courage, hope, and bravery over fear, doubt and insecurity in order to live her best life. That is how she prospered. Then the last one is Your potential is endless. Go do what you are created to do. I think that, for me, serving God is doing what I’m called and sometimes it takes a little bit of time to figure it out, but I promise you we each have a purpose here. We just have to be quiet sometimes and listen to what he’s telling you.

Megan Porta: Jenna, you’re so amazing. I love you.

Jenna Gibbons: I love you. 

Megan Porta: This was such a great chat. This is something we don’t dig into a lot, but I love these topics that we’ve touched on because, as I alluded to earlier, this is the foundation for everything in your business. You will never thrive without this stuff. And you’ve just got such a handle on those things that are necessary to keep, not just your business running, but your family running health in a healthy way and you running in a healthy way. This has been super valuable. Is there anything before we start saying goodbye that you just need to say to my listeners? 

Jenna Gibbons: Yeah, thank you so much for having me. I’m so honored to know you and you would just do amazing work and you’re a wonderful mama and so thank you for having me. I think I’m gonna try not to get teary on this one, but I think that we are, we need to give ourselves some grace and if you love your kids, you’re spending time with them. If you are running a business and they watch you, they’re seeing you do all these, they’re seeing you work hard. They’re seeing you, like you said, turning your passion into something. That’s more teaching you could ever give them. I hope that, for my kids, they see me through, even through the hard days, where we’re struggling or it’s busy, it’s crazy that I’m answering God’s calling and that I’m trying to put goodness into the world. Because I hope that they’ll do that one day too. 

Megan Porta: I literally have goosebumps right now. Oh my goodness. That was great. So well said. Thank you so much for being here. I love chatting with you and you’ve added so much value to this podcast just by sharing your words, so thank you, thank you. 

Jenna Gibbons: Thank you. Let’s do it again soon. 

Megan Porta: Yes, agreed.So you already shared all of your amazing quotes. I loved it all. We’ll put together a show notes page for you, Jenna. If anyone wants to go look at those, go to eat blog talk.com/thewholemama. Jenna has some great content. I love everything that you share. You’re amazing. So tell everyone where they can find you. So mention Instagram, website, podcast, and anything else you wanna share.

Jenna Gibbons: Yeah, absolutely. Like Megan said, I have my podcast, it’s called The Whole Mama with Jenna Gibbons. I would love for you to listen. I’m on Instagram probably most of the time. And that’s the_wholemama. I share kind of my daily grind and my farm experiences and inspiration on a lot of my stories and stuff. So join me there. My website is Iamthewholemama.com. Yeah, just check out, we’ve got exciting com things coming. Having a book that’s helping families with having peaceful nighttime routines. So that’s coming out. And it’s a new homeschool planner I’m having coming out around Thanksgiving and just fun stuff. I try really hard to just offer lots for mothers who are homeschooling, but just motherhood in general to make your life a little bit more peaceful and helpful. I hope I’m helping you guide you in a direction where you have just a wonderful life with your kids. So yeah, please follow me. I’d love to meet you on social media.

Megan Porta: You definitely put light into the world. That you’re one of those people that’s like everything you put out there is goodness. Light, bright. You’re just such a bright light and so thank you for doing that, Jenna.

Jenna Gibbons: Thank you so much. 

Megan Porta: Everyone go check Jenna out on all the platforms and thank you so much for listening today, food bloggers. I will see you in the next episode. 

Outro: Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Eat Blog Talk. If you enjoyed this episode, I’d be so grateful if you posted it to your social media feed and stories. I will see you next time.