20-Something Entrepreneur: Jen Robin

This post is part of a series: Slow Cooking, 20-something Entrepreneurs, which I created to shed light on what it's like to start your own business in your 20s. Meet the other beauties here. 

Happy Wednesday, friends! I could not be more excited to introduce you to my friend, Jen Robin. Like me, Jen is now in her early 30s. However, at the end of her 20s, she left her job to launch Life in Jeneral, a professional organizing company. Aaaand she's killin the game :) 

I met Jen years ago on a trip to California and knew she was someone I wanted to be friends with. She's full of life & energy, insanely generous and so kind. Also, all of the organizational solutions on her Insta feed will make you swoon. I dream of having her organize my whole house. 

Meet Jen below! 

Let's start with an easy one. What is your morning routine? How do you get the day going? Do you snooze? Do you drink coffee?

I am an early riser. I love getting a good workout in before the day starts because if I don't then - it won't happen ;) After my workout my favorite part is grabbing (or making) coffee and walking my dog Charlie. I try my best to stay away from the emails until I am ready to dive in. Most days that's a little tricky since there's so many moving parts to my company -- always something that needs to get taken care of and I like to stay on top of it. 

You have a thriving business that you launched pretty quickly. It seems like you have it all together when it comes to knowing what you want to do with your life. Has it always been that way?

To be honest, I wasn't expecting the business to thrive this quickly. I do take great pride in the hard work that I have put in for this company to succeed. I definitely don't have it all together (does anyone?) but I do feel fortunate that I have created this company to be my biggest passion and greatest accomplishment to date. 

It definitely hasn't always been this way in my life but I have always had an outlook like my father had, which is why I think the success has come. He told me at a very young age that I could do anything I wanted if I worked hard, stayed humble, and kept an honest and kind heart. 

Now that you're in your 30s, if you could, what would you tell yourself at 22? What do you wish you'd known? 

I would have told myself to take care of ME first. All my life I have been putting others before me because I thought it was selfish not to. It's my best and worst quality. I love people to their core, and that tends to put their needs and wants over mine. I am finally learning that I can't give the best of me to others if I don't care for me first. 

I wish I would have known at 22 that would be the last full year with my dad. I told him every single day that I loved him and that he was my hero so I don't regret anything in terms of making sure he knew that, but knowing that a year later he would be gone is still hard. For anyone that has experienced that kind of loss, you will never forget the last days and conversations with those people.

I remember crying myself to sleep one night shortly after knowing I would never be able to speak to him again and how I would be able to thrive in this world without him. I woke up thinking I want to live a life where I know he would be proud of the woman I am. So I had two choices to make; 1. Let the loss of break me. Or 2. Live his legacy of joy daily and do something that inspires people. Every day I wake up, thank God and him for another day and just do and be the best I can. This company is in honor of him. So, at 22 just know whatever life gives you you can survive it and thrive. 

What was the most influential book you read in your 20s?

I have quite a few so it's hard to choose just 1. My dear friend Emily, who owns her own company as well, told me about this book, You are a Badass by Jen Sincero. I have read it countless times. Just a reminder of choosing happiness daily and owning your own self in this world. I am obsessed! 

What's the biggest misconception people may have about you from watching you on social media?

My personal social account always shows me at an event, or a wedding, or traveling. I laugh when people say "you live the life" always traveling and attending events. They don't realize I wake up early, work on those trips all day, and am working on the weekends up until those few hours of those events. You never know what REALLY is going on. 

For so many of us, our 20s can be one big comparison trap. How do you keep yourself from constant comparison? The internet makes it so hard! 

Your 20's are tough but so wonderful as well. My favorite quote about this is that "comparison is the thief of joy" and couldn't agree more. I stay FAR away from comparing. There's always going to be someone taller, smarter, prettier, skinnier, funnier (okay maybe not funnier :)) but you get it. I don't want to live my life comparing but rather being so grateful for what I have and who I am. 

What do you consider play? And! What are your creative outlets?

I recently discovered "taking me days" and my life has pretty much changed, ha. Play for me is working out, discovering new restaurants, and spending time with friends. My work is extremely creative daily so thankfully that side of my brain is always spinning. 

On Finding Balance Between Hustle & Rest

At our house, there's an analogy we lean on when we're trying to make positive life changes. We ask each other: Do you want to eat apples or do you want to eat coconuts?

You see, anyone can eat apples. Apples are good! But they aren't hard to come by and it doesn't take work to enjoy them. They are a common, basic, good fruit. And it seems like sometimes, we make choices that feel a lot like eating an apple. It's good, it's what people around us are doing and it didn't take a ton of effort to obtain and enjoy it. 

But a coconut! A coconut takes work. You have to climb high into the tree to enjoy it. And then you have to take time to crack it open. You have to figure out how you want to eat it. Will you drink the milk? Eat the flesh? Shred it? It takes energy and thought to enjoy a coconut, but, man, the sweetness, the exotic flavor, all of the ways you can cook with it...

Last week, we realized the way we were grinding through each week was tiring us to the core, turning our apples in to juice. We needed a change because it wasn't tasting as good any more. We wanted coconuts. 

We'd fallen into a pattern of working a lot, setting too few boundaries with our schedules. We were struggling to shut our computers at night, building little fortresses around our minds with electronics, leaving little space for emotional connectivity. We were falling into patterns that allowed us to believe there was never enough time - for sleep, for work, for connection, for rest, for play. It's easy to do, I've learned, when you're trying to launch a business. 

But, the truth is, we all get 24 hours each day and it's up to us to set boundaries that allow room for rest, play and connectivity. 

If we don't want a relationship full of long nights on the computer, wondering if (when!) we'll ever get to watch a show or go for a walk together, we have to create a routine that allows for more room for those things. Inspired by Nancy Ray's #WorkHardSabbathHard guide, we made a plan to have a day of rest last Sunday. 

I won't lie to you: it took work to prepare for it. We had to want the coconuts more than the apples.

It was pretty far outside of my emotional comfort zone, to the point that I put "plan Sabbath" on my to do list Friday, in an effort to maintain some control. 

And, it put a lot of pressure on our Saturday. Everything we'd normally do to prepare for the week on Saturday and Sunday had to be taken care of in just one day. We had to hustle.

And then, we had to set major boundaries for Sunday. We decided we could do anything that allowed for connectivity, felt like play or rest and brought us joy. But, it couldn't be very productive. So, a hike outside would have been allowed if it sounded fun. But going to the gym was off limits. Restful/stretch yoga would have been OK if we'd been in the mood for it, but athletic conditioning yoga was definitely out. Journaling or creative writing would have been good, but blogging was out of the question. 

Sunday was the worst weather we've had all year - 43 and cold rain, putting a dent in Georgia's extreme drought, reminding us that this particular Sunday was designed for rest. After church, we put on warm, comfy clothes and read the books we've been trying to make time for for weeks. We ate delicious egg sandwiches on the floor of the kitchen. We went for a short walk in the rain. 

We dreamed up fun, but non-committal plans for a trip we are taking this winter. We went to Sprouts, but not for groceries. For dessert and ingredients for a recipe Chris has been dying to make for months. Chris cooked homemade GF chicken fingers while I watched Gilmore Girls. We ate dinner and talked. We started Stranger Things. We went to bed early. 

We talked and talked. I told Chris I felt anxious being so unproductive.

Have you ever experienced muscle twitches after a hard workout, as your muscles begin to repair themselves? This is how my anxiety made me feel. It wasn't constant, but, every now and then, my brain would twitch: shouldn't we be accomplishing something? And then I'd remind myself to rest, to repair. 

It took effort and discipline to keep myself from going into a more productive mode. I had to want this rest. I had to reassure myself that I was ready for the week ahead. I had to continue to remind myself that this rest was deserved, not because it was earned, but because rest is a basic human need and right. 

And Monday, when I woke up early for hard yoga before a busy day, I felt rested. I felt joyful. I kept smiling at Chris and telling him how happy I felt and how much I loved him. I felt prepared to take on the day - my soul and body had recovered. I felt connected with Chris, like we were going into the week as a team. 

I'm learning these days that setting boundaries is the practice of self care. Boundaries around work, rest and productivity allow us to care for ourselves and one another better. They allow us to stay centered and joyful. They allow us to enjoy the sweet fruits of our labor - the apples and the coconuts alike.