Twenty-one years ago today, I walked into my c-suite office to find an incredibly handsome German man with beautiful long blonde hair and an amazing suntan, dressed to the nines in a Hugo Boss suit, sitting at my desk. I’d just come off a horrible bout with depression. One that had kept me out of work for nearly thirty days—following a divorce that had left me shattered. It was a time in my life when my confidence was shaky, at best.

But this guy in the chair? He woke me right up.

I was absolutely love-struck. It remains the most game-changing day of my life.

What happened next was also game-changing… but in a different kind of way.

Over the next couple of months, while in hot pursuit of the man of my dreams, I threw caution to the wind. Specifically, the caution around my rather stuffy employer’s human resources policies. More specifically… the policies around the executives gettin’ jiggy with the employees.

And before I knew it, I was up a new boyfriend, and down a six-figure job.

For the folks in my little corner of the financial industry who liked to talk trash, it was an absolute scandal. And for me, coming off of a divorce and some very dark days, it was nothing short of brutal. So much so that I left the industry completely… and laid low for a time. And my absence left LOTS of empty space for those trash-talking folks to fill in the blanks with rumors. (Some of which, I heard, were nothing short of outrageous.)

During my time out of sight, I was considering what it felt like to NOT be a corporate executive. (I LOVED it.) To try my hand at consulting work. (I LOVED it.) And to marry Jan–the man of my dreams in the Hugo Boss suit–and have his baby. (I LOVED it.)

And when the time felt right, I decided to open my own branding agency: The Hook.

As I began to plot my launch campaign, Jan looked me in the eye and said out loud what I knew to be true, but was loath to admit:

“Juju, you’re going to have to go pitch all of those marketing execs from the financial industry. They’re your best bet for new clients. They know you personally. They know what you’re capable of. You have to walk right into their offices, with your head held high, and tell them how glad you are that you left corporate America, how on fire you are now, and why they should hire your new firm.”

And as the memories of those dark days came flooding back, the relentlessly critical voice inside my head reminded me of why I’d chosen to lay low in the first place:

Juju, people are judging you. They’re talking about you. They will laugh if you pitch them. They will laugh if you fail. You’re not good enough for this. You should just pack it in…

But as I honed my messages and prepared my packages for delivery, something started to shift inside me. With Jan in one ear telling me how amazing I was (he was always my #1 fan) and my mentor in the other telling me I’d be foolish not to shoot the gun, I started to want the visibility more than I wanted to hide.

I started to practice what it would feel like to be seen by the very people I assumed were talking smack about me.

I stepped right through the fear and panic I had around being rejected and laughed at, into an entirely new understanding: that branding was my true purpose in the world… and that my new clients would be LUCKY to have me in their corners, fighting with all my heart for their success.

With the voice in my head screaming at me to stop, I forged ahead.

And I pitched like a mofo.

I chose 50 executives. Half of them “knew me when.” The other half were seriously big fish—the kinda folks you put on your vision board. I sent themed baskets to each and every one of them to announce my new website and the launch of my new agency—and to give them a very clear, very specific message:

Sometimes, all you need is the right Hook.

Can you guess what happened?

Every single one of them took my call.

Every. Single. One.

I quit worrying about what folks were saying about me. And started focusing on how I could serve them.

And from those first 50 pitches, I got my first five clients.

What I learned through this process—and I’ve seen time and time again with my coaching clients—is that it’s one thing to create a great brand with a tight message, a well-defined audience, and a clear call to action.

It’s another thing to have the nerve to GO BIG. The willingness to risk the rejection on a new scale. The confidence to believe that you’re worth it all and that the clients you’re DYING to serve would be LUCKY to have you in their corner.

The courage to listen to the still small voice inside, rather than the nasty one that lives rent-free in your head, is a requirement for next-level success.

Branding, my friend, is an act of bravery.

If you’re looking for a shot of courage—a dose of exactly the mindset it takes to PROMOTE yourself to the very people who you’re worried might judge or reject you—then meet me in San Diego at my first ever live event.

THE PRIMETIME ESSENCE EXPERIENCE

BRAND YOUR HEART AND SOUL

Meet me–and 50 remarkable PrimeTime women—for three days of mindset, messaging, and platform building. Three days of discovery, adventure, and fun in the sun. Three days that will change your mind about everything related to what you offer, why the world needs it, and exactly what you should say to people when you sell it.

There’s never been an immersion branding experience quite like this one. There may never be one again.

There are exactly 50 seats. And they’re going fast.

Whatever you’re afraid of, you can conquer it with heart.

It’s been 21 years since the day I chose to follow my heart. I’m still madly in love with Jan. That baby turned 18 last week. And I still work–every single day–on the mindset required for a brand to GO BIG.

I see you.

– Juju

P.S. The PrimeTime Essence Experience is a one-of-a-kind, 3-day, immersion branding experience for women entrepreneurs who want to increase their level of visibility, income, influence, or impact. It’s on the bay in sunny San Diego, and it’s gonna be absolutely LIT.

The first time I had a webinar, I asked my nephew and one of my closest friends to come over to the house to “man the phones” during the Q&A. It was a sunny November afternoon in San Diego, and I was ON fire.

I got a meat-and-cheese platter and some salted nuts. For after. When we’d be tired and excited about the results.

I knew what the results would be, of course, because I’d done all the things:

I’d taken two online courses in webinars—one from Amy Porterfield, one from Russell Brunson. I’d learned how to “Launch” from Jeff Walker and been through B-School. I’d had a sales page built and a professional slide deck. I. DID. ALL. THE. THINGS.

I don’t remember the event, itself. At all.

But I do remember what happened when it came time for people to ask questions, or buy, or call for clarification.
Nothing.
Nothing happened.
Crickets.
It was, quite literally, a non-event.

I know there’s no crying in business, but the next morning, I went ahead and did. My coach said not to take it personally—to course-correct and act. And after I got over myself, I did. I sent personal emails to people who’d shown interest during the run-up, and made connections in comments on social media, and set up calls with people who’d opened the sales emails…and before the cart closed five days later, I’d sold some courses and made some new friends.

It was very hard work. And nothing like the glossy photos of “solopreneurs” making money while they water-skied.

I did that webinar regularly for a year. I did it at least 40 times. Sometimes I slayed, and people responded. Other times I sucked, and people didn’t. One week I’d take myself to lunch because I’d discovered the Holy Grail. The next week I’d lie on the floor and stare at the ceiling, asking why. The only thing that remained consistent was the nasty voice in my head that told me everyone could do this…but me.

And then one day I was at a mastermind group in Boise, in my “hot seat” on the stage. (If you’ve never been in a hot seat, you share something of value with the group, and then share a business issue you’re having to crowd-source advice from the group.) As you might guess, I was crowd-sourcing advice about the wildly irregular results of my consistently regular webinars.

And Russell Brunson said, “You should sell from stage.”

And as I let his suggestion wash over me, it felt totally right.

And so I did.

I got a speaking coach, I got some gigs, I wrote a talk and practiced my ass off, and I delivered it. I had a blast meeting incredible women, they loved the inspiration I provided. And at the end of every talk, I presented my programs. And in every single instance, women responded and asked to work with me. Enthusiastically and consistently.

I cried exactly zero times.

You see, the stage was a platform that worked for me. I needed to SEE the women. To watch their eyes to know if what I was saying was meaningful for them. To feel their energy and hear their laughs and be there with them as they realized things. I needed a crowd.

I could never get that on webinar. No matter how hard I tried.

I learned a valuable lesson that day: your platform strategy should be determined by your strengths. Not by what the “industry” tells you is the next great tactic or sales tool.

My platform is relatively limited. I speak from stage, I send emails, I show up on Facebook, I have a couple blogs, and I do Instagram now and again. I LOVE those tactics, because they’re about sharing my words, my way. They light me up. They play to my strengths, and they work in service of my goals.

I even do webinars now and again. But I’m careful now to build in ways to feel the audience, to get their feedback, and to see them realize things.

So, what’s your platform look like? Are you slaying it? Consistently? And loving it?
Or do you feel pressured to be everywhere at once? Or everywhere the cool kids hang out?

Hit reply, and tell me why.

About three-and-a-half years ago, I walked away from a business it had taken me nearly fifteen years to build.

I was running a boutique branding agency—serving corporations in the financial and automotive sector. Neither of these were industries that set my soul on fire; in fact they rarely even sparked my interest.

But I was making money. And I’d achieved what so many women my age had set out to achieve: a business where I could work just a few hours each day and still earn a stellar income. I’d mastered the art of the “skate.”

I’d created for myself the opportunity to do only that work which I loved the most: strategy.

And so with each and every campaign, I worked with the client to extract the juiciest goodness—to get to the heart of the message that most clearly expressed their essence and was most relevant to the needs of their clients. And then I translated this message to a team of powerhouse creative talents, so they could translate it visually onto a page, a screen, a tradeshow booth, a new sales process, or anywhere else the client needed to walk the talk.

Something interesting happened when I got my way and delegated all of the tasks that hounded me or aggravated me…
When I elevated myself to one-trick pony…
When I found that free time I’d so desperately longed for.

The less I had to do… the less I did.

The slower my day became… the slower I became.

And as my challenges dwindled, so did I.

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If you’ve been through my introductory experience–Positively PrimeTime: The 7-Day Revolution–then you created a “perfect day” visualization. I love this exercise, because it’s a way to play the “long game” with a real sense of clarity.

My perfect day drives everything I do right now. It’s the fuel for my fire. It’s what brings me back to task when disappointment or fatigue sets in. And it provides my sense of purpose—the WHY—to nearly every one of my strategies…

You may or may not know that I’ve been madly in love with my hubby for 20 years. He lights me up and turns me on in a way that makes me feel like the luckiest girl on Earth. You may also know that we live apart about 70% of the time. This wasn’t our plan—but it’s our current reality. He works and lives in Arizona during the week—I in California—and we’re creative about how and where we spend our time together.

In my perfect day, Jan and I are living our dream: the “endless summer.” In increments of six weeks to three months, we live in cities where it’s summer. Always, endlessly summer. A perfect year might look like this (starting in January):

Sydney, Australia
Auckland, New Zealand
SAN DIEGO
Barcelona, Spain
SAN DIEGO
Caribbean Cost of Costa Rica
SAN DIEGO

You see that San Diego plays home base. And because the sun shines here most of the year (and we own a house here), we return between adventures to take care of business, connect with our son, and plan our next adventure.

My understanding of my “perfect day” started with a desired feeling… a state of being. But now, I can show you what it looks like in full detail…

Let’s say we’re in Lisbon, Portugal:

It’s before 7:00 a.m., and Jan and I are sitting in the day’s fresh new sunshine at an outdoor coffee shop, eating delicious food that’s every color. We’re fully at ease… laughing and talking and discussing news and events and our plans for the day. After he leaves the coffee shop to continue on HIS OWN perfect day, I have a scheduled meeting with a woman there. She’s someone I barely know, but I’m about to get to know her better…

This vibrant and fascinating PrimeTime woman is a new client. And for the next six-to-twelve weeks, I’m going to guide her through creating a life and a brand that sets her soul on fire. I feel butterflies in my stomach about our first solo meeting—it’s like the first day of school. I cannot stop smiling.

I met this woman in a two-day workshop that I hosted in Lisbon. There were about fifty women there, and together, each one of these women uncovered her “essence” through a series of deep and rewarding exercises. Each woman came to understand who she was and what she truly longed for—there were tears and a-ha moments and true new friendships forged—as I gently pushed her toward self-discovery and ownership of her dreams.

The women signed up for the workshop because they saw me give a talk. Maybe a TED-style talk at a local lounge or pub. Maybe a motivational speech at a local concert hall or convention center. But I gave this talk just days after I set foot in Lisbon. And it set the stage for everything I’m to do there during my stay.

There are four or five more women like the one I’m about to meet who’ve signed on to work with me in this way. Each has different dreams, desires, goals, and circumstances. But all of these women are leaning into PrimeTime. They are all designing lives and/or businesses that totally turn them on. I feel blessed—honored—to be part of this. And I can’t wait to get started…

In my perfect day, I am always living within a SET OF CONDITIONS that were carefully created through a tested and proven STRATEGY:

I’m in a city that’s not my own.
I’ve been exposed to a thousand women in this city through a speech.
I’ve gotten to know 25-50 of them over two days’ time in a workshop.
I’ll get to know 5-6 of them intimately over a few months.

I am rooted in this city—even though it’s new and not my own—because I’ve bonded with these women. I’ve created true connection and community (my heart’s deepest desire) through a message of love and power that I believe it is my purpose to deliver.

I am far away from home and right at home, all at the same time. As I walk through the streets, grocery shop, sip Sangria at dusk, or dance to local music… I run into women who recognize me and trust me. We strike up conversation. I feel whole.

Once or twice a year, I bring women from ALL of these cities (and more) together at a retreat in San Diego. I go home… and bring the most vividly beautiful souls of each city (its powerful PrimeTime women) to share my own city.

My vision of my perfect future day (laughs in the morning sunshine, lazy afternoon sex with my hunky hubby on white cotton sheets with the ocean in our view, interesting new friends, exotic flavors, sites, and sounds…) drives the business strategy I’m designing and perfecting TODAY:

>>Speech>>Workshop>>Transformational one-one-one coaching>>Deep-Dive Group Retreat

When Jan and I first began to discuss the “endless summer” it was simply a phrase and an unidentified feeling:

Wanderlust played out in a glorious sun-shower.

But we’re only 18 months away from a little “test-run” now when we’ll take a longish vacation… And I can see and taste it in a way I never have.

I hear lots of business mentors and coaches say, “You’ve gotta know your WHY.” And I think that’s true… in a very basic sense.

What I believe is that you’ve gotta know your DESIRED STATE. Your PERFECT DAY. What TURNS YOU ON. What SETS YOUR SOUL ON FIRE…

You’ve gotta know what pure joy LOOKS LIKE if you’re gonna pursue it.

And then, you need a workable strategy to get there.

Many of you have watched me for years—introducing and testing new programs, expanding my skill set and stretching, putting myself out there in ways that might seem risky…

I do these things not because I’m bored, or because I simply desire to go “next level.” While things were admittedly murky when I  began… over time I’ve become uber-specific in my objectives.

I developed my business STRATEGY because it’s filled with moments that I LOVE, that will take me to the perfect day that I LONG FOR.

My vision (the endless summer with my honey) and desire (deep and meaningful connection in exotic locations) drive my strategy (speech>>workshop>>coaching>>retreat).

Can you close your eyes and see an element of your perfect day? Something that makes your heart skip a beat? Something that feels so rich and utterly sublime and REAL that you can’t get it out of your head?

If not, I implore you to start imagining. Because believe me, it’s a helluva a lot easier to get up and push through the day when you see the possibilities on the other side.

I started typing this message at 4:00 a.m. And I was excited to do it…

Let your dreams define your strategies.
Let your strategies drive your tactics.
And design a life that makes you leap out of bed each morning.

Will you share in the comments below a snippet of your dream day? Just a taste of what pure satisfaction looks like for you?

Because it all starts as a tiny, hot little spark…
And before you know it, you’re on FIRE.

P.S. If you’re a PrimeTime woman and your DREAM DAY is something you’ve never considered, join us in the 7-Day Revolution. I’ll show you how to DARE to dream… to SEE your perfect life. So you can create strategies to live your perfect day. Click here for full details.

It took me forty years and 12 weeks to write a book.

Forty years to think about it, talk about it, tell other people I was going to do it… 

Forty years to stress about it, hate myself for not doing it, hate other people for stealing my ideas…

Forty years to wonder if the world would like it, hide from the potential criticism, and tell myself I wasn’t good enough…

Forty years to beat around the proverbial bush. (Which, by the time I was nearly 50, had grown to the size of a redwood.)

>>I spent the first ten of those years telling myself I wasn’t old enough. I wasn’t ready.

>>I spent the last ten of those years telling myself I was too old. No one would want to hear what I had to say, and there wasn’t enough time left, anyway. 

>>And I spent the twenty years in between telling myself I had more important things to do—a son to raise, a career to foster, a business to manage, money to make, houses to buy, a marriage to serve and protect, parties to plan, vacations to take, sh&% to do around the house… I actually convinced myself that writing a book would be “irresponsible.”

And then one morning, I had a massive realization. A shift that changed me forever.

No one warned me about what would happen in middle age.

That the shape of my body would change, but the shape of my dreams wouldn’t.

That I’d nurse both of my parents through soul-wrenching illnesses while raising a son, and that I’d lose all three of them.

That I’d feel more sexual, but worry that I wasn’t as sexy.

That I’d finally master a 25-year career, and then grow entirely bored with it.

That I’d hear a calling to do something grand—something magnificent—but be terrified to answer that call.

That I’d care less what people thought, and at the same time believe I was worth less because I’d lived more.

That my hormones would shift… and that from moment to moment I could feel rage, love, wonder, despair… and then feel totally stuck.

No one warned me about what would happen in middle age.

But then, no one told me how amazing it could be, either.

A couple of months ago, my husband, Jan, flew us from Carlsbad, California to Yuma, Arizona. He’s a private pilot and we go back and forth between our home and our business in a little Beechcraft Bonanza.

I’ll be honest. I don’t love the little plane.

From the moment Jan said that he was going to get his pilot’s license, I resisted. So it was with more than a little trepidation that I yanked my head out of the sand on this particular morning as I sat in the passenger seat, in response to an urgent plea—through the headset during take-off—from Jan.

As he was steering the plane onto the runway, he looked at me (I was reading on my phone as I normally do) and said:

“Julia, I need you to pay attention here.”

My immediate thoughts?

What the fu&%??!! I don’t know anything about flying a plane! Why do I need to pay attention?? What is going ON? Something is WRONG. Continue reading

Nashville is presently the bachelorette party capital of the world.
Yes, I said it: the WORLD.

And during the four days I spent there in early October, I saw enough brides—and enough bridesmaids—to fill a hundred churches on a hundred sunny Saturdays in June. It seemed that every time I looked up there were bridal parties dancing by in the back of a pick-up truck. Or the back of a hollowed-out 18-wheeler. Or a trailer being pulled by a tractor. Or once, a chopped off milk truck.

I’m not being metaphorical here. In Nashville, the brides and their parties actually party while MOVING THROUGH town. It’s a thing. It’s loud and it’s messy and it’s not very traditional. But lemme tell ya something. Those brides? They’ve got it ALL going on.

They are OWNING Nashville. Right from the middle of the road….

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I used to daydream about being a DJ.
Not when I was 5 or 17.
I’m talking about when I was in my 40’s. As a grown-ass woman.

Over and over, I had the same vision:

I’m in front of a room full of people. The bass is thumping and everyone is kind of rocking together in unison…Like the whole room is operating as a single unit. The lights are fuschia and violet and bright white and they’re panning over the crowd, and I can see arms in the air and smiling faces…

And as the music rises to a crescendo and the beat of the bass gets faster, the room rises with it and I hear the sound of screams and laughter and I can see all of the people transcending. Transforming. Becoming. And then going WILD.

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