Jess Ekstrom

None of those I did.

It was talking about the sale of my company.

And it was just such, I didn't realize like how emotional that was for me saying goodbye to something that you built and like handing over the keys.

So that was really interesting.

But, you know, Headbands of Hope got acquired.

And then I started Mic Drop Workshop where I realized there's not a lot of women out there speaking, getting paid, landing like the big keynote stages, TED Talks, things like that.

And so I started Mic Drop Workshop where we help women become paid public speakers and

So I think throughout all of this, though, Heather, like, I think you can tell I also had a complicated relationship to like, ambition and success where there, I thought like selling Headbands of Hope, I mean, and that moment was going to be this

catapult me into a universe of no problems because, you know, I did it.

And then it was like life went on the next day, put my pants on one leg at a time, refresh my inbox and things kept moving.

And so the inspiration for making it without losing it came from this trend that I see in myself and a lot of high achieving people.

Where when you have ambition towards something you want to accomplish in the future, it always feels like you're at a deficit in the present because you're not there yet.

You're like, well, I really want to get this amount of downloads on my podcast.

I really want to make this amount of money.

I really want to live in this neighborhood.

So the answer is not to like vilify the dream, but it's to become friends with the process of getting there.

So it sounds kind of cheesy, but it's like, yeah, there's always gonna be another dream.

There's always gonna be another goal.

That's not the problem.

Keep having them.