Well, welcome to another episode of Business and Sequins and I am so excited. I'm excited for all the guests that I have. But I love this one in particular. And I would love you all to hear from the wonderful Carrie Jemima Cooper or Jem as I know her. Jem is a former professional ballerina turned triathlete, entrepreneur, author, world traveller and peak performance coach from a lifetime of elite sports performance, psychology, education, heartbreaking and life-changing illness, failure and achievements. 

She has learned one thing: Success is Guesswork, Hard Work, or a Framework. 

Jem coaches high achieving and ambitious entrepreneurs to step up into their higher level of clarity, personal power and autonomy. By breaking down professional and personal barriers, identifying core values, build success systems, routines and a profitable business. Jem supports clients to design their best-rich-life and live it on their terms, Jem's philosophy and her peak performance mindset, body energy and business systems framework are summarised in her book, becoming CEO of your Best-Rich-Life. 

Wow, whoa. Oh, my goodness, Jem, welcome to the Business and Sequins podcast. I'm so excited to have you here. Oh, thank you so much. Jo it’s been an absolute joy to be invited on my face to face conversation. They told me to say Jem and I, we missed a couple of weeks ago. And we had a coffee and cake kind of meeting coffee on zoom. And we chatted and we just found that we just there were so many synergies that we had so many things that we have both lived through and sort of knowing. And I just got this feeling with Jem that if I had known who and who he really is of dancing, I think I would have put her in my suitcase and just taken her home and wrapped up and adopted her. But oh my goodness, her story is exceptional. And I'm just so excited to have you here. So Jem, in your own words, would you like to tell our listeners a little bit about your journey?

Jem

Oh, wow. Jo, well, thank you so much. And it's just been such an amazing and lucky charm that we came across each other. And thank you so much for your kind words there as well. And yeah, it's been a bit of a whirlwind. And I have lived quite a few lives in my quarter-century. And, I started off in the world of classical ballet, which was the world I very much thought I would pursue for the future. And that was the only thing I ever really saw. So starting dancers just fall and then ranking up pretty quickly. So sort of 9, 10, 11 I was dancing very, very seriously, you went off to ballet school. And then things sort of went a little bit misshapen, I unfortunately got very severely ill. And it was a period of kind of uncertainty by fighting back home a bit of a fighter and, and made it off to a professional dancing company, where ultimately I realized that a world where you spend 40 to 50 hours staring at yourself in the mirror was not quite the life I wanted to lead. Having had that very lucky break to still be around if I'm honest. And say I went off to university because that's what you do when you don't know what you're going to do. And took up tracklog which I thought was going to be my next professional sport and still a sport I love today. But at that time, I realized that actually I thought ballet was expensive. Then I tried triathlon, and, and I've always had this real entrepreneurial energy inside of me. So I really dove into business, right from my period just before University. In fact, that was my first attempt at entrepreneurship, and then I kind of excelled from there. So in business, I've run my fourth company now, and working predominantly in the digital marketing space for many years and consultancy, working a lot with elite athletes and in sports really capitalizing on my background and what I knew. And now really stepping into an area which is just so incredibly fulfilling allows me to work with the most extraordinary humans. And I'm bringing a lot of sort of support to people through transformations, which is something that I have certainly done a few of in my time. And so that's been a very, very exciting sort of transition. And this is very much my business model. Now the people I'm working with just, you know, it's right because I get up so fired and so excited and this new level of confidence in what I'm doing and energy and enthusiasm. It kind of flew, I guess. And so I'm very, very excited about the next steps and working with more awesome people as well. 

Jo

And currently at the moment you are in New York, or in Spain? 

Jem

That's right. So I am in a very sunny New York, three and over 300 days of sun, which as an English girl is, you know, incredible. But I am I've got it, I've got to say no, I do get very disappointed in the occasional time it doesn't mean which is you know, I've got to get a when I went over to visit back to the UK, I've actually got to, you know, calm myself and to realize that it ranges from more than usual. But yeah, I knew in December 2020s, it was a bit of a, it was a bit of a crazy one, I'd never been to Spain before, I knew no one and had three words in Spanish, which were all adios and pair. So it wasn't exactly a perfectly planned trip. But a few years too late. I've been trying to move abroad for many, many years and lots of life circumstances have delayed that. I think sometimes we will get to the stage where it's just like, well, if not, if not now, when I'm just lucky and before the Brexit deadline and start a new life, and it's just been the best thing that's ever happened. 

Jo

So incredible, incredible. And Jem, we're just gonna, if you don't mind, just cycle back a bit, just in regards to your dancing days. Because you, to me, you are one of the most determined people I've ever met, you come up with these ideas, you're quick to action them and you're just very determined about what you're doing. Where do you think that determination came from? Especially, you know, and your dancing years? Because, you know, your career was, you know, quite phenomenal. But where do you think that determination came in order to be able to, you know, to catch the train by yourself to dancing and all that kind of stuff? 

Jem

Yeah, I think that's an interesting one. I think it's kind of like nature and nurture, I think I've always been quite a feisty little thing. And always very much kind of knowing what I wanted, I grew up with two, slightly older sisters, they were kind of six and seven years older than me. So I was always kind of wanting to do what they could, from an early age, I think but all the way through my dancing career, it was very much self-driven. If I'm in the dancing space, which jokingly speaks a testament to there's a heck a lot of very pushy families, very pitchy coaches, and things like that. And very much in my, in my dance career, it was very much me driving it, I had an incredible, incredible dance teacher. And he terrified me for many years and then became my biggest sort of advocate, and there's someone that is so dear to my heart and huge respect for her all the way from the beginning. And that was really key. But it was never a case of,it was never like, I never realized that I was kind of so good, or like I had this ability until much later on, I just kind of fought and pushed forward and pushed forward. And with my dance teacher, even though she was setting up things with amazing Valley companies when I was nine years old, never announces 16 and I was you know, going to these events far beyond my current chronological age where it wasn't my career or getting scholarships, and you know, all of these things, it was never a case of your smash, you're different, you know, it was a case of you work, and then you get results. And if I got a you know, that was a job well done sort of thing. But I think I always was working with people of that kind of higher level, and I knew what I was going for. And I was often put in situations where I was tiny, I was a tiny little girl. And I was with these huge people, you know, shooting what they've done in their careers huge and age to me, and literally in their size. And, and it was kind of like how to keep up with that and how to perform at my best in every situation. And I could and I get out jump most of them. So when I was in the air, it was all fine. But when we started service I but I think also it was like I say it was very self-driven. And whether that was a consequence of if I hadn't driven myself. There wasn't other people to go and do that per se my teach I save it unfortunately, when I was about 12-13 she got very, very ill and we had to stop dancing together. And so then it was very much myself. So whether it was like a situation of if I didn't, there wouldn't be or whether is kind of internally as well. And I think what's interesting about my dance career is most people in the ballet world will be it will be like their entire life. Like everything they'll have ballet suitcases, ballet rucksacks, ballet pencil cases, ballet bedlinen and all the rest. And for me, I had you know my ballet kit when I was in dance I was all in and it was my everything, it's my emotional outlet. It was my identity. Everyone knew me as the ballerina Jemima, no one knew me as Jemima because there was no drama. Without that dancing. It was part of me. And perhaps that was one of the reasons I was so good as a dancer because I can embody it. So the dance was me and I was a dancer to thing. And but outside of dance, I didn't, I didn't talk about dance that much, because none of my peer group understood it. And it's quite hard. Like being at that level of something that your peers are still going, Oh, she is my second best friend. And you know, yeah, to me, like I was in this like adult world very, very young. So he didn't really understand and but also kind of in my family, it wasn't a huge thing. So I spent my weekends getting tacking sheep and our farm and, and making mud dens and all very unrealistic things. And then when I came back into dance, it was kind of all in and I think perhaps the ability to sustain the determination was kind of key having the disparity I suppose between in and out.

Jo

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think that is definitely key, especially for anyone I think at an elite level, you do need to have some sort of Yeah, as you said out time, so that you can just disengage from that world that a bit because it takes up a lot of time, a lot of energy, a lot of speed, headspace to be able to perform at that level. And you said, You've got a circle, and then you know, you went off to a ballet company. And then you decided that that was it for dancing? Or how did you get to that situation of just going actually, because, you know, you've trained for years and years. And as you've said, you know, you were determined it was what you loved. You drove it? You know, what happened to get you to that moment where you just decided that's it? 

Jem

Yeah, well, it's, it's not quite as black and white, as it seems, I guess. So from the very best time I was very, very critically ill. And that kind of delayed things somewhat being that way. 15 in the darkened space, it's a key time in your career. And so I knew everything was delayed, but I could have got back from that and had circumstances and family situations, you know, lots of other things being in place. But unfortunately, that that wasn't quite the place, which meant from kind of five to 18, it was a massive, massive struggle for me to be able to access training. And my dance teacher, as I said, wasn't able to continue with me. And then it was like a search of what I could do, but what was realistic, I can drive. And I was still in and out of hospitals and doctors and all of these difficult circumstances. And I was like, what, what can I get the absolute best I could, but there comes a point where you know, a 16 year old can only do so much and you know this thing only so far that seven pounds an hour in a bar can get you in like other things like that. Um, but I like staying because I stay committed. But, um, and it's interesting to say I suppose I actually became very, very, Ill socialized a second time. And between that 15 and 19 when I went to rational school and again, bounced back from that, and my professional company, and I actually ended I had six months of not being able to raise my heart rate at all, for health reasons. I got back to dancing on after the Christmas holidays on the fourth of january of the year when I was 19 Yeah, that was the fourth of January I started dancing for the February I had an audition for the company and fourth of March I'd moved to become that kind of the ballerina I'd wanted to be in the plan was very much to train kind of make up for last year's and have a very intensive training year in this company and then go off to America to dance in New York or and a company called Joffrey which Joe no and, and, and but go off to the states and then really proceedings from now.

And so I see the prefaces, it'd be a heck of a struggle, and I was I was fighting it was chasing, chasing, chasing, chasing for many, many years and putting it the dowsers amount of people told me I can't I kind of can't and I was like well, you know, I can because I decided to you don't have a choice or for this key part but identity is like geez, you know, there is nothing else and really because of the difficulties I've had as a teenager.

There really was that I had been ill and dancing very, very difficult. And, when I eventually got into that company I was, I made an unfortunate choice, again, what a sort of circumstances of what I could actually access at that time. And I joined a Russian ballet company, which I'm not saying that all Russian ballet companies are this way. But I'd had an unfortunate circumstance to end myself in one, and which I'm pretty sure should be shut down. And if it is not shut down by now, I'll be surprised I really separated myself from it. But they were very much choosing their dancers in all the ways that you see in the movies, and you hear the horror stories, and it was the unfortunate circumstance I ended up in. And, and for me, the realization was, I felt truly so incredibly lucky to have been given a shot at living again, not once, but twice during that time. And that to me, meant I had something that I must give I had to I was, I'd been lucky enough to still be here for a reason. And to be in an environment that was disrespecting that gift of life really, and treating people like that and  sort of just not living life to the full and I realized that it just couldn't go on. And I fought it. Of course, it's not always as you know, a movie scene, I fought it for several months, and then one day, I realized, and probably made the decision in some way deep down in the belly before but the day realized, we're all standing in class, and we're all standing there with our arms and all the other girls were looking and checking their arms, just so and they were checking out the skirt to make themselves look pretty. And I was looking in the mirror. But what I was seeing was not me, I wasn't seeing anyone else around me. I was looking at the tree moving in the wind, which was reflecting from the window. And that was the moment that I was like, I have to live this life. I have to there's more. There's something more.

And I turned around to the principal, a terribly terrifying, huge Russian man and told him what I thought of what he was doing to his dances and said I refuse to be a part of it. And I packed up my things and walked down the stairs. And that was it.

Jo

A very, very huge black unknown. I didn't I didn't. Oh my goodness. So you've packed up your things. You're out on the streets.

You've closed the door to your potential, you know, Korea. What are you thinking when you're standing on the street? What were you thinking?

Jem

It was very, it was like, it was the weirdest thing I couldn't process. I had no idea how to process what had happened, I think probably there'd been little deaths of the ballet coming inside ever since I was ill that first time. And I think that was things like push down, push down and push down. But I couldn't press anything. I had no idea. I knew what was wrong. But I had no idea what was mutual and what was right. I had no no concept. And I knew I didn't want to do what everyone else had done. I didn't want to go to university. I didn't want to do all these things.

I kind of walked home and I didn't really like it. I just couldn't even pray. It was just like I was numb. I was numb to the world. Like I was there. But it was like I was watching in a movie because I didn't. It was a kind of disbelief, I guess. And the next day I remember going for a run. I hadn't run in my life. Right and I remember running for like two hours on pavements, having the most pain in my legs I've ever felt because dancers don't run very very fast. It's like well, this is gonna be a ballerina. I'm gonna be like, what can I do? And I think I was actually that run that left me with a knee injury for about a year and a half afterwards. That one is certainly right. Don't do that. And then it was like something I suppose is very true to me. I don't really do this getting knocked down thing. It's like, you're not down. Okay, great. What do I do about it? Um, I think my kind of agenda is vague but as I have this phrase that I've taken sort of a lot all the way through my life is only after I was very poor. It's like, it's not the shit that matters. It's what you do about the shit that counts. I hope you don't mind. 

But it's like okay, this is really pants this is awful. Let's not pretend like anyone can understand how difficult it is at 19 years old.

Now going from Ballerina Jemima to Jemima. But I was nothing, no one, I have nobody and I was in London, a big scary city on my own with like, no money, and a rental contract in a house shared with weird people I didn't know like, it was, it was terrifying. And it was really rubbish. And it's like, I let myself just be really down for a week or so. And just like, allow myself to do stupid stuff, like going for a run or like, I like going, trying all these crazy things, right? I'm going to be a salsa dancer. Just like anything to figure stuff out. But then it was like, very true to me is that it doesn't matter if rubbish has happened, acknowledge that, let yourself scream and cry and be sad. What do we do now? And that was kind of almost instant. And I I suppose you hear that in what I was saying, right? I'm going to be a runner tomorrow, you know, and trying to figure it out. And initially, you know, I was a little bit immature at doing that and my emotions and my body because we our bodies interpret those emotions and were all over the place like Geez, I just like you said it's not like something you can give away 16 years, the entirety of my life. It is all I ever knew. Um, but I was very much problem solving. Okay, so what do I do? How can I figure this out? And, and so what I ended up doing was investing in a Pilates qualification. And I found a company and I don't really know how I got the idea. I think it was a kind of yummy mommy eating pattern. When I was in London this guy she she area of London, I got this idea is like, Okay, well, you name Pilates Pilates has been key to my career. And when I was very ill, I still maintain this day. Pilates was the thing that saved my dance career, because it didn't raise my heart rate. But it made me at and enabled me to keep my muscles and protect my muscles and things like that, but also made me feel more empowered and confident, which was, when you had a very difficult illness, you kind of lose trust in your body to someone. And so having something that was  empowering and strengthening was amazing. So I got this Pilates qualification, and spent, like sort of all of my birthday money and everything I've saved on the 750 pound Pilates qualification. And, it was awesome. It was the best thing that I did, because it gave me a new reason. And it gave me an important distraction. At that time, I didn't believe you should distract him. And it took me many years to really finally address what had happened in that space. But it was very useful. And it was my first attempt at a business. A pretty successful one, I ended up supporting my first and second year, all of my living expenses from that Pilates business in university, which I did actually end up going to, and I met lots of very interesting people. And that is something I still continue to do for it today. So it was a case of what do I do? I have to find a solution. I didn't always get it right. But I was always searching for something amazing because guess what a journey, what an absolute journey. And I love how you went from that to our, you know, to our run into that with a knee injury for a year. But you know, but you let yourself digest it, you let yourself mourn that career as well. You know, and all of the time that you've put in, I just love that so much. So you've gone, you've gotten your Pilates, you've gone to university, and now you have decided I didn't want to go to university. So I applied to all the hardest universities hoping that I would get rejected from all of them. My parents just thought it'd be a good idea to get to university. That's what you do when you have no idea what to do. And I got five offers and I was like, Oh bloody hell, because I had to choose one. And I didn't have a course to take either. So it was very much like I could make him a chemical engineer. No, definitely not. It was like trial elimination ended up my psychology was quite funny how I ended up. I didn't intend that I tried so hard not to go to university and ended up at quite a good one with a good course. But yeah.

Jo

How did you end up in triathlon? I mean, it was a two hour run after finishing.

Jem

Open the doors to running. I mean, I've always been bound. Like I said, jumping was my forte and dance. I've always loved to like outside love chasing my dogs around, but as ballerinas we're not allowed to do anything that could possibly give us any kind of size or quads you know, we're not allowed any sort of obscure muscles that don't fit with your nice alignment. And they haven't done dance for a while but actually when I went to university I ended up at a very very good sports University going to Bath University which has quite a lot of Olympians you might have seen recently in the Olympics a big swimming center and stuff. And I thought running might be the thing. I was desperate for another sport. Once a professional athlete always a professional you have something within you and I went off to the running squads in might be instructed freshers week. As I goodness, that is all like the ballerinas that all just focus on themselves. They're all just like numbers over anything else, you know how fast you want to track and that determines our emotions for the week. It's like, Well, okay, I left that world because I know there's bigger things.

And then my cousin or my cousin's wife, I didn't really know, her tool had done this thing called Iron Man. And my grandma was talking about it. And she was like, making out this. My, my cousin's wife, Kate was just like this incredible, like, stupid human. I was like, Oh my gosh, she raised me for 12 hours. Like, is that even human? Does she get a car? Did she sleep like, like, all of these questions, and I just thought she was a superhuman, but that drive like he, what I was learning about it was like, it's such a mental sport. And, and I knew through and through that physically, I had very little, very little gave me I was still kind of struggling with health problems up and down. And as a dancer, I was incredibly strong in very specific ways. And I also had this awareness that very much when I was in hospital the very first time and given three days it was not my body that kind of saved me it was very much a choice that I wasn't going to go any other way than then up. And you know, make it through. And I I've always been sort of insatiably interested in what it is that makes high performers perform highly what it is that allowed me to get myself out of that situation when others unfortunately can't or why was it that yes, my career ended prematurely but how could I get myself from kind of how could I How could I have done that because other people can't and I can't explain it to my peers for example, that I still you know, playing around with you know, three day boyfriends or you know, whatever it is and like just a different perspective. And and the more I was learning out in my psychology degree as well I became so too interested in what is it that makes a billionaire the the millionaires what is it that makes these people I will enable these people to do seminars in seven days, seven continents, or whatever it is, because I love that kind of the aspect of human is associated with that. But I had a phobia of water, ever since I was a baby, and petrified, like, washed in the sink as a toddler because I literally was terrified of the bar. Hey, I never did swimming in my life. Like it filled it like a panic attack, terrified. And in Bath University, there's a 50 meter pool going and now like 50 meters, you've got to be kidding. And so that was a slight issue. Yeah, and the second issue was I really didn't have a bike because you think sizing if I was running, try cycling and there was a no no, and falling off a bike. Oh my gosh, career is over, slightly problematic. But I just, I ended up meeting a few people in the triathlon club and like, Ah, you know, why don't I just give it a go and, and just fell in love with how difficult it was, if I was in that challenge. And, and also the fact that I had transitioned from a situation where I was born with the perfect ballerina body, I was taking that auditions without even doing anything, I just stand them, they'd be like, well, we'll have her because I was perfectly proportioned and aesthetic sport that is so key, especially if you're kind of 1213 they know they can mold you the right way. And so I hated that, like because I heard believing it, I'd wake up with results. Maybe that's what my dance teacher had taught me all the way along. But I loved the fact in a weird way in triathlon. I was such an underdog, there was nothing going for me, nothing game for me in terms of sort of how I progress every day was new every day with a challenge and it was like learning more about myself. And, and yeah, it progressed pretty quickly. I guess it was within sort of eight months of starting from nothing, and I had self induced fear training. So I forced myself into many lake and try

Jem

I overcame that water baby, got a bike and started running to really capitalize on that run. And then within eight months, I was working with the development squad for British triathlon, which we had a center in. And they kind of progressed by that. And, within I think it was 10 months, I got a European silver medal and the triathlon as well. So it was quite a whirlwind. But yeah.

Jo

Oh my goodness from one professional sport at an elite level to another sport at that elite level, I mean, absolutely mind blowing how much you have accomplished. Because you are still so young, you're still so young. I just, I can't believe how much you've accomplished in such a small amount of time on this planet. I think it's just incredible. And so you were doing triathlons. And then all of a sudden you decided that you are going to move to Spain? How did that come about? 

Jem

So I suppose that we all had this weird year in the pandemic, but plan number one was I was working with an amazing endurance sports marketing agency over in Boulder, Colorado, which is like the travel hub of the world.

And I had planned I think my flight was on March the eighth to head over to Colorado. My plan was three months and like training camp effectively in America, and then race the European circuit in 2020 to get my professional racing licenses, and I'm a half Ironman triathlete to 70.3 for those that you know it or a bloody long way for those that don't.

And, and obviously, we went down to lockdown, and that didn't happen. So I was like, okay, shit happens, what do I do about it? And I was like, Okay, well, this, this pandemic is happening longer than we think. So this racing thing isn't going to happen this year. But what could happen is me to deep dive into business. I suppose a struggle all the way through my life is being very multi passionate, like I love a lot of things. And it's often hard, but to keep on, you know, I love business. I love sport, and I wanted to be professional. That's why I made it work with working in endurance, sports marketing, and with our agency, etc. They like to combine the two. And I went all into business, but I went all into business. And I developed kind of an agency with this other company, but very much I was directing the show, and, and we scaled far faster than I have prepared for. And everyone was going online. And I'd set up the partnerships, essential. And it got to the point where I was completely overwhelmed. And I didn't have my systems, my structure in place. And to sort of facilitate the growth and level of grading really took me unawares, I guess.

And by the time I say by sort of October, not even 10 months, I was at a state where I was exhausted, I'd still been training sort of 20 to 25 hours a week whilst running an international marketing agency and managing bad team members and all sorts of things. And I just got to the point where I was crashing and burning and I started getting very obscure. And the Kelton dancer wasn't sleeping, all of the things that we know. And I was like, Okay, I need to realize what's going on. And I really took some time to reflect that I desperately wanted to move abroad and I felt like I was on hold. But then I realized something, cuz I didn't believe that at first, I had to do something different to get a different result. And if it was not now it was never and I was scared. Anything found flat flight had three flights canceled, was meant to move in November and ended up in December because everything was crazy in that pandemic year. And then I move to Spain. And it was amazing when I got here because Mallorca is the secondary triathlon Mecca. So very much that goal is still to get this professional license. And then in March, April, and it finally got to the point I had a spinal injury or spinal weakness for quite a long time for my dancing days. And it got to the point where I actually have to address this now. And I'd say at the moment another spanner in the works. I am again having to put my professional career on hold and to address my back condition. So I got the taste of the New Yorker life with incredible athletes. And again, I need to just wait and I very much think it's waiting if the unfortunate interest that you're creating got to sort of 40 years old and I'm 25 tomorrow. So you know, I have some time, and yeah, but I moved here. And so the plan is now and I've got a great amazing group of triathletes around me.

But very much developed that lifecycle possible business the right way, but the systems in place, putting me first, at this point in my life, where I actually know who I am, what I want, and who I am, for me, regardless of whether I have a business, an agency or trustly, a ballerina or a hedgehog, you know, whatever it is, I am just me. And from this place, I actually feel I'm so lucky to have the space and time and when hopefully, this injury comes back, and I am able to dive back into sport in a major way. And everything will come together as a whole. When you're talking, there are two things, two words that I kind of look at you and think of you I think of courage. And I think of determination. 

Jo

When I think of you I think you are just so courageous. And everything that you've done. I mean, you throw yourself into it, you are scared of water, but who does that and play in a sport where you're scared of water? And yeah, I just find you very courageous, and very, very determined. And I think your business is just absolutely incredible. So you have released your book now, Becoming CEO of your best rich life.  How amazing is that? Your best rich life? I love it. Tell us more about that. Tell the listeners more about that. 

jem

Yeah, I'm very, I'm so excited about the ebook at the moment. It's published in ebook format. So if you get hold of it now you're kind of one of the lucky few that gets the very first version, but it will be coming on Amazon Kindle and self publishing in the next few weeks as well, which is super exciting. But this book was crazy, kind of like a crazy happening that was never meant to happen. And I mean, I find it very funny talking about doing things like you know, why would you do that? I'm very, very dyslexic and my English teachers in school used to sit my mum down at parents' evening and go, Mrs. Cooper, we need you to read something. So a serial book.

Literally, I know, I read, my mom used to wait for these amazing stories that no one could read apart from me and my mom who had learned the German language. So I find it hilarious. Now I actually do a lot of writing and I've written a book. I really want to go back to that, you know, year to teach. Oh, well look at it now.

But this book was never meant to be, I didn't plan to be a book, I planned it to be sort of like an eight page lead magnet and talking about some of my systems. And one day, I sat down with my computer on the coast where I went where I needed to be creative. I was really dreading doing the key mag, I didn't really feel the love for it as you know, it was one of the things I got to do. And I sat down with this beautiful vista by the mountains and the sea. And I started to write and then I was like, Huh, okay, we'll just carry on a little bit. And then I just got this inspiration. I don't even know what it was or where it came from. But I just got this like, it was like this level of clarity of I know what is missing. I've studied all the things I'm an information sponge, as many, many of the highest drivers amongst you, I like you want all this information, I know you've got that, you know, pile of lead magnets in your inbox. And, you know, you want all the things you listened to all the podcasts, I've done so much professional and personal development. And it all just came together. And my book was actually written over nine days. And many people take years to write books. And I didn't it was just, I just got so in flow and so excited. By writing this book I felt that even if it didn't sell even if it did nothing, it would be such a disservice to myself, not to continue. And in that book, basically, I bring together a framework that I've realized kind of packaged up the good things and the bad things and the lessons and the learning from my life, which so many others in my circle from people I've worked with for many years,have kind of have had experience of it, necessarily how know how to kind of package it or make sense of it. So I have this four pillar framework. I call it the body budget, mindset mastery, energy drivers and business systems. And the framework is basically aligned to sustain success because none of us want fleeting success. None of us want to be, you know, great for two months. None of us want that kickoff agency.

I have actually burned you out in 10 months. And it doesn't serve the customers in the way it needs to, because you're burnt out. And no one also wants to be, you know, a great athlete and then drop off the cliff after your first your first big event or whatever it is, you want sustained success. So I picture it like, it's like a table you're sustained to set success is a tabletop. And some of us have that thought in our head of maybe you will sit around for dinner as a family on a Sunday and have that nice, stable table. And if you didn't, you know,you can see us in your stable table. And to keep everything on a level playing field with your sustainable success. You have four pillars, your four table legs, which are the body, the mind, energy and business. Now, if any one of them is shorter than the other or out of alignment, your table won't be level, and you won't have sustainable success. And this is where you have this ebb and flow or this kind of seesaw effect, which many of us have fleeting bank accounts or whatever it is. And so you've got to make sure each one is in alignment. And once you have each one in alignment, then it means you can press as much on any corner, and it won't matter. So you have a period of I'm not all this kind of airy fairy, let's just pretend everything's the perfect kind of coach, like, if there will be times when you're doing a big launch, and perhaps you're going to sleep like rubbish for two weeks while you're doing that launch. Because neat stuff needs to be done. Technology doesn't work, you know, whatever. But because you've got your four pillars in alignment, you can push them that body budget, so the body budget is lowering down, but you just, you know, piling on the books are piling on your tiredness. But the other three corners keep everything upright. And it's the same, it's just like, okay, in the fortunate circumstances that you need to address, you know, a health condition, or you need to take some time out of your business, for your mental health, maybe your business systems are all in place. So even if you know, the you pile things on, you know, the mentally or you know, the things in your relationship or personally that are difficult piling on the mental, your business systems mean your business can function without you so everything else stays in alignment. And this is all. And this kind of framework is something that I've learned from different experiences, my life and much of my story has taught talks about this, and sort of I met have a killer mindset like I did, when I came into track, I had to try the mindset of a professional athlete, but I didn't have the body that was like keeping up there. And then I would overtrain and my you know, and suffer physically. But then if I had a great body, but my mind wasn't in it, you know, it's the other way around. And also this idea of energy. It's like, what's the point in having a great business and all the things and all the money if you have no energy to go out of bed, it would just drain your energy or if it isn't aligned, like I wrote a book in nine days, but I couldn't write a lead magnet for three weeks like I was, you know, and look at the difference, because my energy wasn't aligned to it. So very much I work with my framework and how I work with people. My philosophy is very much in describing this book, is how we work on all four corners to bring everything up together. And once you get stable, first of all, we need to stabilize initially to make sure there's enough work done and all four pillars and all the routine systems are in place, then we can start elevating that level of success in your table just grows and grows and grows and grows. And as everything comes up. And from that place of alignment, you can live whatever version of the best and the richest life that you want to and that's very much about the title sums up how I really want to empower individuals to know that no matter how hard it gets, no matter what challenges you can't you have the four pillar basis to be able to overcome anything and whatever rubbish is thrown away you can find the solutions you are in control, you can make it work your way and you can live whatever version of the best rich life meet you would like to whether that's rich in time rich in money rich experiences, and you can create that and this is the framework to help you do that. 

Jo

Oh my goodness, I think that's what everyone strives for Jem is just um, Jem is just that your best rich life and as you said, you know, it can be in time, business, whatever you choose it to be, oh my goodness, that you know what you were describing just sounds it just makes such good sense when you've got all of those four, you know, pillars or working the same to be able to you know, hold everything out and create that foundation is just so perfect. So Jem, what is in the future for you? What are you planning in the future? 

Jem

Oh, who knows what Scott was coming back. I'm setting a short term future. I'm so so excited. I think it's actually gonna be much longer in the future. In fact, I'm launching a program very, very soon. We'll be around the concept of the best of the best, which is khadem II. So teaching high striving individuals how to do this thing, right? Like how to get everything in alignment and protect ourselves with long term sustained legacy impact and success. And it's going to be an opportunity and to really sort of be in between which many programs are missing sort of lots of progress fix on mindset, but they neglect the kind of business side of it. Lots of people focus on kickoffs funnels, great social media, but don't look after the body, the energy in the mind, so very much that that that middle ground, which we all need to stabilize those four pillars, and it's going to be a really exciting and Academy with great people coming in, there's going to be lots of networking opportunities, a huge community aspect.

Jo

Absolutely awesome, experts are going to be coming in as well. And I will be launching that within the next few weeks. So it will if you keep kind of on my socials and and keep an eye on the website and things like that you will get news of when that comes out. But certainly growing that and that program is going to be a huge, very exciting event coming up soon and then continuing or C to work with a few select individuals one to one on a kind of very, I suppose intimate basis to really help them get this right for people that really want to deep dive in. I just love building those relationships. That's super exciting. So that's what's going on in business and I'm hoping to travel again, as soon as you can cuz I love exploring. 

Jem

Well, maybe I had to come over to New Zealand is definitely on my bucket list.

Jo

I think you do. We might get chatting, but I would love you to come over and absolutely love you to come over. And we will for any of the listeners that want to listen as well, we will pop a link down below so that you can go on and get Jem's book as well. That would be great. And, Jem, I always have two questions. Because we're coming to the end of the interview, I always have two questions that I always ask everyone that comes on the business and sequence podcast. Firstly, actually, I think you do have some tips actually, for our listeners as well.

Some tips? Yeah. Top three, top three tips. Okay. And so one of the things I would say is absolutely fundamental to my personal growth. And my business growth as well, is the power of a network. And like how Jo and I have connected I think we will keep content very close, kind of personal and you know, business connections as well for a very long time. But never underestimate the power of your network. And we all spend a lot of time you know, posting to the masses on social media and all the things but often it is that one person you meet that introduces you to that you know one person that needs x, y z in their business or can open up a door. That is the very thing that changes your business. It really takes time and makes time for that networking. And it will definitely pay dividends for that event as well. One thing I talked about a lot in my book is the power of influence on your environment and people around you. And that is a key one for energy that we often sort of don't like to hear because sometimes it can be challenging. I always say to people really, really look at who is influencing you and only let positive people into your positive information, positive people in your world that bring you up, yes, sometimes you need to be challenged. That's where kind of a mentor coach comes in which may give you a different perspective and a different view on life. But really try to peg a limit to the negativity that's coming in. And that may seem a little bit selfish, especially when you're actually having to perhaps close off and relationships at times that are really draining you but it's only when your cup is filled that you can truly give value to the world. And the third thing I'd say is it took me a long, long time to get to the kind of level of interest and clarity that I've got to but doing the deep work and not being afraid of going digging out some of the some of the challenges that we've pushed down is very, very important and crucial to getting really to that kind of elevated level. And so I would always say don't be afraid of doing things that terrify you. You know I mean a good example of that be you don't know quite how far you can go until you put yourself in situations where you're getting comfortable with the uncomfortable so yeah, step out and be brave nasty action. Be brave. I love Missy x and be brave. I love that. We're ending. Thank you so much from I think the list anyway.

Jo

Listening to those tips that Jem has just given us, well, you know, help anyone and I think they'll certainly resonate with some of my listeners. So thank you so much for that. And I almost forget, I keep forgetting to ask for those three tips at the end, I need to put it on my, on my screen somewhere or something like that. And so my last two questions that I asked everyone that comes on the show, so if you could pick a color of sequin that best describes your personality, what color would you pick and why.

Jem

So I'm going to go for turquoise, like a kind of light blue turquoise. So I've always liked the blues and we're just really funny because I hate water and ice.

Blue anyway. And I've always loved toggles cuz I love a slightly fiery side, but it's also quite soft, it has this kind of the baby blue, but it's like the high firing version of baby blue. And I love that because I suppose it's quite like me as well. I feel I'm quite empathetic, I'm very understanding. But I also have that feisty edge as well. And, and they kind of emotionality as well as the, the key side. So I think that's my color. Yeah, and I think you definitely I think that took away with you know, just got that bit of shine in it that kind of just hits every now and then in the sun. 

Jo

Fantastic. And then on the sequins scale of one to 10 one being that you're pulling yourself out of bed every day. And 10 being that you're dropping sequins and sparkly stuff, everywhere you go at the moment for you, where is life on your sequins scale

Jem

I'm going to say I'm going to be very honest here. And I'm going to say about an eight and an eight and a half. Because there's lots of things I still want. And there's things that I have amazing count attendance, fluidity and energy. But then other days, I'm just really tired. And I have to do the hoovering and clean my windows. So I'm looking at now which I hate and there's life it gets you know, but I'm very happy with an eight, it's like an eight and a half is a good number. There's still space for awesomeness. But I'm pretty much like I'm, I'm very much now. I used to definitely have peaks and troughs, picking off these journeys, exhausting. But now I'm just very much you know, I know that I can handle, you know, handle things and, and just looking at things from a very distant spective it's just like you take one message at a time and then you relinquish its control, it has a view. And so yeah, eight to eight and a half thing I'm laughing about that, as is that this is you at an eight and a half. I mean, when you're gonna rule the world. Don't give me sugar, there's no need for alcohol in my world, my world, just give me a little bit of sugar. And then No, I think I think I think you'll rule the world, I really do. 

Jo

Oh my goodness, you are incredible. I have loved listening to your story and your background, which I'm sure that listeners have too. And, Jem, I'm just so thankful to you for sharing it, she was so raw, and you were so open with us. And you just share just so much knowledge too. And I just have just, I have no doubt that whatever you go on to do in the future, you will be wildly successful. And as I said, courage and determination are what I think of when I think about you and I have loved getting to know you over these past couple of weeks. And I'm sure that our listeners have just fallen in love with you as well. So thank you so much for joining us all the way from New York. And thank you for coming on the Business and Sequins podcast. 

Jem

Thank you so much. You are such an amazing cheerleader. And I know that you're your chief cheerleader amongst the squads. That is incredible. And thank you so much for the opportunity. And thank you everyone who's listening out there from all around the world. I beat so I am always delighted to connect with people. So I'm very excited to hopefully give you some interesting diversions to your day. 

Jo

Yeah, and we will put you in contact details all underneath the show. But Jem, how can people actually get in contact with you? Okay, so one of the best ways to contact me is directly over Instagram. 

Jem

So I'm @JemCooper and Jemima Cooper. That is probably the easiest way. I also have a YouTube channel which is brilliant having an interview with Jo as well as throwing it back there that messaged me on Instagram and I'll get right back to you. 

I love you. Thank you so much. Take care. 

Thank you.