How understanding your cycle can help you grow your business (without changing your whole life!) WITH JACQUELINE RENEE

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What’s this episode about?

As a 'CEO with a cycle' I definitely notice that my hormones impact how I work, what I want to work on and the mindset I show up for myself and my business. Ever since 2017 when I started tracking my cycle in a bid to get pregnant, I've been interested and aware of my cycle, but honestly, I've never quite worked out how to create a business or life that changes in relation to which phase I'm in.

But in an effort to avoid the burnout cycle and to feel like I have the time and energy freedom to rest when my body is telling me to (rather than just pushing through!) it's something I've been interested in taking more seriously.

In this episode with Jacqueline Renee - a 'cycle sync coach' and founder of Menstrual Mogul, joins me to talk through the basics of the menstrual cycle and discuss all my questions about how it works in reality and how to integrate it in your life, without it becoming another thing on your to-do list!

In this episode we cover:

• Back to basics - the 4 phases of your cycle & your business superpowers in each one - and what to avoid!

• How do you juggle the needs or demands of your clients/business/life/kids etc with honouring the phase of your cycle you're in?

• Why do I feel more imposter syndrome & doubts with PMT? How your mindset can be influenced by your cycle phase.

• What if you don't have a predictable cycle or are on birth control?

• What is a first step to take if you want to start using your cycle to influence how your run your business or life?

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INTRODUCING… JACQUELINE RENEE

Jacqueline is a Cycle Sync coach for female entrepreneurs and not your average women. As a 10 year vet in the online space she realized the secret to building a sustainable business and avoiding burn out is by prioritizing our hormones and making our cycle the main character. Jacqueline prides herself on educating women in a way that never makes them feel like they are in a classroom or doctors office so that the information can trickle down to all generations of females!

If you want to find out more about Jacqueline, the best places are her:

Email: Menstrualmogul@gmail.com

Website; www.menstrualmogul.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/menstrualmogul/

Tiktok @menstrualmogul

Links mentioned in this episode:

Podcast: https://www.menstrualmogul.com/podcast

Fix your period - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fix-Your-Period-Bloating-Moodiness/dp/0062937324

Stardust app - https://stardust.app/

Nuna app - https://www.nuna.ai/

28 app - https://28.co/

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Read the transcript:

NOTE: This podcast was transcribed by an AI tool. Please forgive any typos or errors. LHM 0014 - Jacqueline === [00:00:00] hello, and welcome to Lion Hearted Marketing. This is a podcast for bold businesses who are ready to go from a slightly scattergun marketing approach to connecting everything they're doing to create joyful, repeatable customer journeys, that build connection and consistently convert new clients. That's called a funnel. If you fancy. If you have that nagging feeling, you should have more of a grasp on your marketing, more of a plan, more of a system to support your pretty successful business. You're in the right place. This isn't about trying lows and new strategies. It's about taking what you've got and making the most of it. I'm Sophie your host. Self-confessed tea superfan marketing strategist and funnels or joyful journeys, as I like to call them, demystifier. Join me every Tuesday for my Lion hearted approach to marketing. To help you navigate those big moves, stay focused on your goals and ultimately take your business to the next level. Let's jump in to today's episode. Sophie: Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Lionhearted [00:01:00] Marketing. This week I'm here with Jacqueline and she is a CycleSync coach for female entrepreneurs. Now as a 10 year veteran in the online space, she realized the secret to building a sustainable business and avoiding burnout is by prioritizing our hormones and making our cycle the main character, Jacqueline prides herself on educating women in a way that never makes 'em feel like they're in a classroom or a doctor's office. So the information can trickle down to all generations of females. So Jacqueline, welcome to the podcast. Jac: Thank you for having me, Sophie. Mm-hmm. Sophie: I am so excited. So I thought what we might kick off with actually was a little bit of background from me on this episode because obviously this isn't my normal like directly related to marketing kind of episode, but it's one that I've had a huge amount of interest on on Instagram. Now if I just take everyone back like, oh my gosh, like eight, nine years now. So I, actually longer than that, [00:02:00] if we go back to when I was like, Fourteen, and I started getting spots, like my hormones started coming in, so at the time we're talking what are we talking, early 2000s, the thing, the done thing, was to go after the doctors and get put on the pill. Because it regulates your hormones, stops the spots, and then, honestly at the time, like, the biggest concern I had was like, knowing if I was going to be on my period during like, my annual holiday. It was like, well, and I can do like a double pack if I don't want to be on my period, like, that was like my main concerns as like a 15 year old. So, went on the pill, never really had any massive Like side effects or anything, and pretty much stayed on it until I got married at like age 28. And so it was like 14 years and then it was like, right, wow, I'm gonna get pregnant now. So that's exciting because obviously beforehand and if I'd ever missed a pill or, you know, anything had ever happened [00:03:00] in my head, my like quite. Embarrassing lack of knowledge meant that I genuinely thought that I could get pregnant at any point in my cycle. So I came off the pill and was just like, right, let's have a baby. And I think about six months in, I realised, okay, I don't think this is really going to plan. I'd only had two periods at this point. So what ended up happening was that my cycles were like 60 to 90 days. They never really got into like a shorter rhythm. I think the shortest one I had was like 45 days. So we started, you know, the usual going to the doctors and started to work out. And that was really the start of my education about my cycle. Which seems... a little bit mental at age 28. I was like, Jac: know Mm-hmm. Sophie: okay, so turns out it's actually quite a short window that I can get pregnant. And actually it's really hard to get pregnant in a lot of ways. So yeah, started tracking my cycles. I would, I'm taking my [00:04:00] temperature, you know, like mapping out how I fell, what was going on, ovulation, like looking for all the like stretches. I mean on, it was all in on it. Eventually I got pregnant. With some help from some medication and then after had my little girl breastfed. So again, it was all sort of a bit all up in the air, lots going on. And then had a little bit of a break and then have my daughter again. Really big struggle to get pregnant, but this time I was like on it. I was like, right, I know what I'm looking for, I know what I'm doing, like I'm all over this. And then, yeah, had ly who was in August, 2020 and breastfed her actually for over two years. So I'm about like nine months post breastfeeding now. And I guess where I'm at is, I recognize my cycle. I, I, I actually sort of feel, know that I feel different ways at different times of the month. But I'm not at a point where I'm sort [00:05:00] of actively doing anything about it. I like changing the way that I live, really. And I think the, the reason why this has become a bit of a, a thing for me at the moment is because I the last sort of like three or four months in particular, I've had just this big... Sort of bigger feeling now actually I should say as well Jacqueline and I we both have the same mindset coach So working I think Rebecca who's on a previous episode if you want to listen to that one because she is brilliant of working with Rebecca is like, what is it that I'm craving? Like how do I want to live my life and it's often this feeling of space like this feeling like sometimes in the month I just I, I just feel like I need to do less rest, more like, have more space and when I, you know, get to my desk and see like a whole week of like calls in the diary, that can, sometimes I feel really energized by that. Other times I feel like I want to cry . And so this, this is where I kind of was at the point where I [00:06:00] was like, actually, I don't think I am. unique in this and I think actually a lot of people are at that know that like their cycle has some impact but aren't really sure where to go about it. So that was why when I saw Jacqueline's Instagram and saw that she also worked with Rekha, I was like, oh my gosh, like, This is who I need to speak to and get on the podcast. So here you are, we're gonna go through lots of other kind of scenarios and a bit of back you don't need to know anything about cycles, like you don't need to have tracked to the level I have to kind of get involved with this episode. Now, when we were recording this episode, I actually asked Jacqueline at this point to tell us a little about how she got into, the cycle thinking and doing it for work because it's relatively niche. I can actually find hardly anyone to talk about it. On my podcast. However, , unfortunately she lives in, the middle of nowhere and her wife. I got out. So we lost about four minutes of audio, which I haven't been able to recover. So I'm just going [00:07:00] to give you a very top level overview of what she said. So essentially when she started working for herself, she worked, , for an MLM company who did a nutrition and exercise programs. And she worked really hard at growing her business., but what she found was that she couldn't follow the same nutrition plan. , We can week out because she found it really hard. , on hormones or how she felt. , and then what I'm going to do is the next bit, she's going to start by talking about how she also felt the same from a business perspective as well. And then we will carry on the episode as if nothing has happened. Jac: And then other times when it came to the business strategy side of things, not only the health part that felt like hard to keep up with all the time, but also on the business strategy side of things, I was expected to show up the same way every day in my business. This was back in 2013 when the heyday of Gary V and Grant [00:08:00] Cardone and the word Girlboss were Highest point. And so I was just drinking the girl boss juice. I did myself to show up with the same amount of motivation, creativity, and gusto every single day within my business. And so what that looked like as far as. In my day to day life was that I had no boundaries around my phone. I lived in my phone. I Would compare myself on social media I felt like the only way I was taught the only way to outdo my competition and Keep climbing the ranks within the network. I was in was to outwork Out message outpost my competition and it was draining. And so I'm originally from Pennsylvania here in the States. And a few years later, I moved out to Jackson hole, Wyoming, which is in the middle of the mountains. I literally am in a cabin right now with mountains in front of me. [00:09:00] And. I use that move cross country to be with my now husband as a reason to tap out. I don't think I realized how much I was making these micro misaligned. Decisions every single day and that it was leading to a big thing, which is burnout. And I know so many women listening have probably experienced this themselves. And that's what I love helping women is with is showing them how these little decisions we're making each and every day. That's what leads to these big mental breakdowns or wanting to burn our business down. Because I definitely went through that too, even though I was, Making six figures. I was in a top percentage of the network and I had a successful team of like over a thousand coaches. None of that meant anything because I had no social life, no boundaries, no actual self care. And from, because I'm the menstrual mogul, I will say like my period was shit. I was not healthy either, even though [00:10:00] I was quote unquote following these meal plans and nutrition programs. And so I really tapped out. I walked away from. Running my business, I walked away from being consistent with any type of fitness or nutrition routine. I just completely rebelled. I immersed myself in nature. I always say that Wyoming is the state that healed me from all of that stuff. And so there were a lot of lessons learned. And So at the beginning of the pandemic, I had taken another job just to let myself heal, honestly. And, but I still had this entrepreneurial spirit laying dormant, ready to emerge and do something. So eventually in the beginning of the pandemic, I was walking with a friend who she's a doula. So she has a lot of knowledge around our cycle and health. And I. So I was explaining something that I was experiencing, I think I was on an IUD at this point, I had been on birth control most of my life because I'm a childless by choice woman, so I did not want to get pregnant, and [00:11:00] I remember she told me, you know, what you're experiencing isn't that normal, you should maybe like read up on it, and suggested a book called Fix Your Period by Nicole Jardim, which is a great book, I love the woman who wrote it, she's actually my women's hormone coach mentor, and One thing to know about me is once I uncover the truth of one thing, I have to dig and find out what other truths or rather lies are out there that we don't know about. So I think in, you talked about birth control earlier, Sophie, and in that book, I had read that when you're on the birth control pill, you're not getting an actual period. And in my head, I was like, well, what the hell am I getting then? Or why am I even getting it? And why don't I, just like you were saying, skip pack, so I don't get anything at all. And so once that fact landed in my brain, I said, oh, we got to figure out what else we don't know. We got to, Find the truth. And so that's where [00:12:00] I came across information around our cycle and the four phases or energy ebbs and flows that we go through throughout the month of our cycle and how you can sink your food, your workouts, your work. And other components of your life to it. And given my background in doing health and fitness programs, I started with my food and my fitness. I got rid of my chronic PMS and painful periods. And that's when a light bulb went off and said, man, if I have this information, when I started my business many years ago, I would have been solid, consistent and unshakable. And so that's where I do help. Not your average woman with their PMS and painful periods, but I also help female entrepreneurs, not only with the health side, but the business side of stuff too. Sophie: Gosh, that is such an incredible story. I mean, I'm incredibly jealous of your view of the mountains and if you do follow Jacqueline on Instagram, you will get to see some of the most incredible like, yeah, it [00:13:00] just is so like you say, it's really back to nature and I can totally understand why that's so healing. I have recently started doing like wild swimming in lakes local to where I am and just being in the lake when I'm swimming. It's just, it's so incredible, partly because it's It's like, I totally can switch off, but it's just, there's something about being in nature that is just so kind of healing, as you've said. So, in terms, I love that you have taken your own sort of, like, struggles with, like, heavy periods and resolved it naturally because I think I know people who have, you know, like polycystic ovaries and endometriosis and like really just heavy, painful periods. And like, or the only options they're presented with is like pills or operations or, you know, all sorts of things. And I think the idea that there is another way to do that is really empowering. So If we're [00:14:00] going to start to have, like, a common language and understand, like, what are the basics, really, that we need to understand, if someone is coming at this completely, like, new, where would you sort of start? Jac: Of course, So I think that would be with a breakdown of the four phases. And how do you tell when you're in each phase of your cycle? So first of If you are on the birth control pill or an IUD and you're not ovulating, so on some IUDs you are technically still ovulating, but if you are not, and usually on the pill you are not you are technically not going through these. To break down. But if that's the case, I don't want you to be discouraged and not even take this information. You can follow something such as using that withdrawal bleed that you're going through while you're on the pill as your period. Pretend that's your period for while you're still using it for birth control purposes. Or you can even follow the phases of the moon. So the, I [00:15:00] believe. I forget. And you guys will just have to Google it. I forget if it's like the new moon is your period or if that's ovulation or if the full moon is your period or ovulation, I am having a total brain fart right now and forget which way it goes. But that's also a way to just get used to the cyclical way of living. And the, I mean, there's four different phases of the moon and you can definitely sync with that. Or so what I like to do when I'm talking about the four different phases of our cycle is correlate each one with a season of the year. And this is backed by traditional Chinese medicine, which I feel like is a type of healing approach that I totally resonate with. That just makes sense to me. And so it's easy to remember as well when you're talking about thinking multiple aspects of your life to your cycle. So the first step would be finding out where you are in your cycle. So I like to use an app. I know, Sophie, you talked about [00:16:00] tracking things such as your temperature and Things like that. That's really important for especially if you're experiencing infertility or if you're trying to get pregnant You can go as far as tracking your basal body temperature each and every day but i'm not sure if this is a flex or not, but my clients and I love to say that Even just half assing and like doing the bare minimum with this stuff is going to have a big, big reward for you. So find out when your last period or withdrawal bleed was, and then enter it into an app that will give you a projection of when you're in each phase of your cycle. So I use this. Stardust app and that correlates with the, the moons and everything. So that should give you the answer that I can give you a few moments ago. I also like to use the Nuna woman app or the 28 app. Those are the ones that I usually suggest. And so once you. Input that information, then maybe it'll tell you what part of your cycle you're in. So [00:17:00] let's start with the part of your cycle that all women know when they're in it, which is the week of their period. This is the winter phase of your cycle, and it can be anywhere from three to seven days. And your app will become more familiar with what that window is as you keep tracking it for several months. And if you think about the season of winter, it's a time where we're retreating and we're a little bit slower moving. And Even thinking around the holiday season, how that's a time where we're reflecting and analyzing how that past year went and what we want to do in this new upcoming year, correct? So this is a perfect thing to do during the week of your period. Now, if you deal with painful periods, you may not feel this analytical, reflective vibe the first few days, but Hopefully with thinking your food and your fitness to your cycle, you would feel better the week of your period. And this is a time to reflect, to set new goals. So I do not set goals on the first [00:18:00] of the month because I'm in the middle of my cycle during that time of the month. And not even on a Monday will I set new goals. Really? I really saved that task for the week of my period. And the reason why you should be reflecting and analyzing during this week is because when hormones are at their lowest, during the week of our period. So contrary to what society wants us to believe that we're hormonal during our period, it's actually when our hormones are at their lowest. And because of that, our left and right hemisphere of our brain are connecting and communicating on a different level than the rest of our cycle. And so this is a time to really listen to any gut feelings you're having around really anything in your life. When it comes to work, maybe it's an offer or a client or just some type of system within your business. Does this feel right? Or is it giving you the ick and something you need to let go of? So your period's also a perfect time to metaphorically, as you're shedding your uterine lining, you can also shed habits that are no longer serving you or other components of your business [00:19:00] that don't serve you any longer. And then once we transition out of winter, we come into kind of a spring phase of our cycle, which is called the follicular phase. And that can be anywhere from seven to 10 days. Each woman is unique, but I always correlate the spring phase to newness and creativity and planning. If you think about the physical season of spring, we've had a long winter. It's been cold. It's been dreary and we're excited to get outside and take action on some of the things that we want to do. I always think the new year should really start at like the spring equinox or something. Cause we naturally feel that during that season of the year too. And so during the follicular phase, when it comes to work, this is a great time to plan out your calendar to, I love writing, especially email marketing during this phase of my cycle or batch creating content, or at least planning out ideas for content. It feels like I can't cut like I [00:20:00] am coming up with ideas left and right. They're just like completely downloading into my brain and I'm getting them out there into the world. So. That's why like another societal or even industry narrative that we've been served is like batch create weekly and I don't think that works for menstruating women every time like why not batch create during the part of your site cycle that supports it and then taking the foot off the gas during the other parts that I'll get into in a second. And the only caveat here that I want to mention is that when we're planning things out, this surge of energy that we're having, thanks to hormones beginning to rise again, is making us feel like this is our new baseline or foundation. So I used to always plan out, okay, I'm going to have this energy every day for the next several weeks or two forever. And that's not the case as you're about to learn. So you have to plan things ahead of time with. knowledge that you'll be in different energies in the weeks to come with your cycle. [00:21:00] So that's the follicular spring phase. And then we enter the ovulatory phase, which is your hot girl summer phase of your cycle. Talking about your brain, this is where your frontal cortex was, which is in charge of self control and kind of filtering what you're saying or how you're acting. She's flimsy during this phase of your cycle. So you feel ballsy and what you're saying, maybe in your marketing to an ideal client, you're calling people in and really getting them activated with your marketing or maybe if you sell on stories on Instagram or whatever. And this is A time where primarily we're trying to attract a mate, so we're kind of peacocking our feathers and feeling ourselves, but that doesn't mean you can't attract other things within your business. This is not the time to sit behind your desk and type away and be really behind the scenes y about anything. You want to get out there and network and use your social butterfly skills that are naturally happening during this phase of your cycle. [00:22:00] And so society really believes that us as women should be in a perpetual follicular and ovulatory phase. It's very symbolic or not symbolic, but it's aligned or parallel rather with how a man's hormone cycle works. So a man's hormone cycle resets every 24 hours. They wake up with an insane amount of energy and testosterone every day. And then it wanes as the day goes on and then it resets every 24 hours. We are not. Doing that as women. We reset every month. So that has to be accounted for and society definitely does not Account for that and then the final phase is the luteal phase Which is the fall phase of our cycle and that's around 10 to 14 days and especially during the second half of this phase That's when PMS can rear its ugly head. So I know we'll get into it with some of the questions you have, Sophie, but this is a time where our body is [00:23:00] naturally having a little bit more of our stress hormone cortisol. So you're already predisposed to stress during this phase. Add on drinking coffee right away, add on an intense workout, add on 5 million calls you have scheduled for that week, and you are in a dumpster fire of stress. And that's why. Female entrepreneurs went to burn their business down. They are having mental breakdowns left and right. They are crying. They are sobbing. It's usually because they're hangry and they're not scheduling things correctly within their business during this phase. So when it comes to other parts of the luteal phase, for instance, I mentioned earlier how I felt like I couldn't follow one size fits all nutrition plan. Our body heat is rising and our metabolism is. Faster during this phase of our cycle. We need more calories. And so trying to follicular and ovulatory phase is not going to work during the [00:24:00] luteal phase. You need more nutrients. You need more carbohydrates that are slow burning. And that's how you also stabilize your mood. So you don't experience these mood swings. My clients and I have. ridden ourselves of it. And even if we experience PMS from here, like from time to time, we know why it's like, Oh, I didn't need enough protein today or whatever. It's just like a weight has been lifted off that we know it's not us, but rather our body doing its thing. So this is a great time to kind of pick up on a lot of behind the. Scenes, details, and spend the time behind your desk doing things that aren't as forward facing within your business. So I call this my clean car phase. Just to give you an example, or even your clean house phase. I just, I'm in the luteal phase right now. Usually I wouldn't be doing a podcast interview, but Sophie's special. And also I have nothing else on my calendar for the next week and a half. So like I can get away with doing one podcast interview and. [00:25:00] I, but yesterday I had a whole to do list that I wanted to do and it was behind the scenes stuff. It was what I would call phase friendly work tasks, but I, I just got back from traveling and I looked at my cabin and I said, I cannot do anything until I clean up this cabin and kind of get my environment nested. So women that are pregnant are perpetually in the salutial phase. That's why they're nesting all the time. They're picking up on details that the baby will need or whatever. And so. You can probably go through your higher energy phases of your cycle, not caring about if things are a little bit messy or chaotic. You're just going with the flow, getting stuff done. But when it comes to your luteal phase, you're like, okay, I can't look at this anymore. Or I need to make sure this is crossed off my to do list until like before my period happens again, because you're going to want to rest during that phase. So those are the four phases. They are very different. If you look at what our cycle is like and what our hormones are doing, it [00:26:00] literally looks like a roller coaster. So, so many of us are trying to go on a straight line, just like dudes are, and we need to kind of ride that roller coaster and be open to the variety and fun that can come with the different phases of our cycle, instead of, again, trying to follow these one size fits all approaches. Okay. Sophie: it's your kind of all I've really thought about is like, on my period, not on my period. So it's like, I have my month, and then, oh yeah, so that'll be when I'm on my period. And I think we're all quite, quite conditioned to know, like, know instinctively that there is a time of like, a bit more, you know, I'm going to feel more tired, I might, you know, if you haven't got undercarriage, control, you might have more pain or, you know, you know that you're going to want to sort of hunker down a little bit. But I think that the difference between those other three phases is what's [00:27:00] really fascinating and less, I guess, obvious because it's not that, like, physical kind of sign. And I just... It's so interesting because everything you're saying, I'm listening to it. And I've, you know, I've read quite a lot about it. Like I feel like I'm reasonably informed, but there's so much that you said that I hadn't really linked to my business in particular, like you said, like about the content creation, like some weeks I feel like I can just. Yeah, like it's no problem at all other weeks. And what's really interesting is when I try and record my solo episodes of my podcast, I imagine if I look back at when I recorded them, sometimes I will spend hours editing because I'm stumbling over my words. I'm, I'm umming, I'm ah ing, I'm, I can't really work out what I'm trying to say. And it's really feels like I'm pulling teeth. Other weeks, I will just. Do it and, and I'm like, gosh, I was on fire. That was amazing. And it's such a different feeling. And also just that last, that bit you said about the [00:28:00] nesting, like sometimes like the other week, my husband went out with my eldest and I was at home with my younger daughter. And normally like he actually is the cleaner of the, of the partnership. I don't tend to do a huge amount. I don't mind it being a bit more messy, but, yeah, he went out, I sorted every single cupboard in the kitchen, I was like throwing stuff away, I sorted out, he was like, oh my god, what on earth have you been doing? I sat down with the girls like massive pot of colouring pencils and I tested like every single one to see if it worked, I threw out all the ones that didn't work or have lids. I was like, honestly, I was like, this is incredible. And I left myself a few bits to do, I was like, right, I haven't got time to do those now, but I'm still going to do like X, Y, Z. I mean. That was three weeks ago. Have I done the other bits? No, I haven't. Because literally, a couple of days later, I was like, I couldn't care less about the pencils. I li I have no interest in dealing with that now. So, I hadn't really linked it to that. It's happened a few times now where I've had this like, insane zone of like, this [00:29:00] ha like, I must do it. But it's quite specific about like, an area. Like, right, I have to do this. Jac: One thing to keep in one thing to keep in mind is I also love to teach this with my clients is that not only do we go through these four phases each and every month, but I also believe there's kind of an umbrella. It's to give you an example. Summertime. And what your period is like, it's going to be different than winter time and what your period is like. So summertime period. It's going to be a little bit higher energy because we're in that physical season of summer where we're feeling. Really social during that time of year. And. Our period, we may just like be a chiller version of it where we're feeling a little bit more social where our period during the winter phase, we probably don't feel like doing a damn thing in any zone [00:30:00] or department or whatever. So I have a whole podcast episode if your listeners want to go check that out. I think it was the second or third podcast episode I recorded, but. Traditional China that goes back to traditional Chinese medicine, how the season of the year also affects what your day to day life is like. So we're in the physical season of fall right now. I know you said it's still a little bit warm in the UK, but we're making that transition. We're feeling the change. We're feeling the need to kind of clean up purge, get rid of everything and figure out our stuff before winter hits it, especially the holiday season and before the end of the year. So that's on par. Sophie: That's so true. And like, absolutely, I've been talking a lot, actually, on my Instagram about like, September vibes. Like, for me, that's a really strong, like, rising season. And it is. It's like the end of the summer coming into the winter. That freshness, that kind of, yeah, but that readiness to start hunkering down and kind of, like, transition through. It's so [00:31:00] interesting. So, I think what I asked, actually, on my talking of Instagram, I asked for people's questions. Earlier on, and I thought actually they were really, really insightful questions. And I think will help us kind of cover this a little bit more. And the first one actually, and this is probably, this is a question I have as well, I guess, how do you align your cycle and your needs and what your body needs, like where you are with your clients and your business and your children and. Are the people organizing events in, in like, you know, the, the non ideal kind of phase? Like, how do you marry that up to kind of, yeah, to kind of make the most of it, but also acknowledge that there's. There's quite a lot out of your control. And I guess also some stuff that's in your control that maybe you need to take action on. Jac: Yes, that's a great question. And obviously none of us are the same at all. I don't have kids. I have two dogs and my [00:32:00] business is my baby. So my life is very different from a mom of two kids who has different responsibilities and other commitments to uphold. The thing that is so magical about thinking any aspect of your life to your business, not only your work or your personal habits, what have you is that Unfortunately, us as women have been ignoring our cycle completely when it comes to any of this department. So even by thinking just a few things, whether that's your food or doing some of the other stuff I teach my clients to do. You're going to see a huge impact because again, we're making these micro misaligned actions day after day. And so by just shifting what you're already doing, that's another thing I love about cycle thinking is that I'm not trying to add anything to people's plates and said, I'm trying to just have them shift and realign what they're already doing, kind of like a chiropractor would, and getting things back into alignment [00:33:00] with their cycle. And when that happens, even if it's just a few things, you're going to, Know or see a noticeable amount of difference. Also just simply knowing this information is already going to have a huge weight lifted off your shoulder. Because again, we were not taught this in grade school or anything when we were learning about our periods for the first time. So I believe that even a little goes a really, really long way and awareness is definitely one of the most impactful things that you can incorporate. First of all, and then second of all, I think, especially when it comes to work, I'm thinking of whether you have team members or you work a 9 to 5 or whatever your situation is. I love to kind of zoom out and look at it from a different perspective because I think of our four different phases, especially when it comes to work as its own superhero powers. When we bring them all together, it's kind of like we're an Avengers team that can conquer anything. So [00:34:00] having Having a phase check with your female team members being like, what phase are you? And oh, you're in luteal, you're detail oriented right now. Okay. I'm ovulatory. I have ideas and communication out to wazoo. How can we each tap into our superpowers and make this a bad ass situation with what we're dealing with? And again, just making this a conversation that's more normal in everyday life. And especially work life. Sophie: Yeah, I love that. And I think you're absolutely right. It's like, how do we, even with our clients, I guess, as well, I guess for you, it's not, not easier, but like that is a natural conversation you're going to be having with your clients and they're going to be much more attuned to it because that's kind of why they're working with you, but I definitely think for us that work with other female led companies as well, like it's, I would love for it to be a more open kind of conversation around. Like where we're at and what's kind of good for us at the moment. I'd love actually, cause you said earlier that you don't have any calls for the next like 10 days, a week or so, how, how are you stretching your business? So [00:35:00] that's possible for you. Jac: Yes, so I personally, so I know one of your other questions is like where to start with all of this, especially as a female entrepreneur or a women in business standpoint. And the first thing I would suggest is to stop leaving your cycles calendar in the app. So whatever app I suggested to you or that you use one that gives you a projection of loosely when you're in each phase of your cycle, the great thing about this, my type a gals don't really love this, but it's not like one day you're like, okay, now I am in the luteal phase, blah, blah, blah, blah. Unless you're tracking your temperature and like can definitely see that shift, which I have an ordering, so I kind of can, but it all blends together. So I don't, we we're women, we've been doing this. And kicking ass without this information for however long, you're only going to enhance your experience with this. I don't want women to think that they're being limited by this, but it starts with bringing your [00:36:00] calendar into or your cycles calendar into your regular calendar. Something that when someone, when Sophie asked podcast, originally it was supposed to be during The ovulatory phase of my cycle and we had some scheduling conflicts, but that's why I said, yes, I said, let's do it this time. I gave you some dates. I stay, I am an embodiment queen. I do not take what I teach lightly. I want to show and prove that it works. So I bring my cycles calendar. I call it phase blocks. I block off what phase I'm in and approximately how many days and what. Date I'm in that phase and then I schedule accordingly. So I have my own podcast. I batch record everything in the higher energy phases. I edit everything in the detail oriented phases and it becomes really effortless. And sometimes it's not perfect. It's not all day, every day, a hundred percent, but I can tell you that it, that's the reason why I can do this podcast interview and [00:37:00] show up the way I'm showing up during. The mid middle of my luteal phase, usually when I'd be having a PMS breakdown in my past life. So bring your phases into your calendar. So that way you're confronted with it when someone brings up a commitment, a social thing or whatever. And so say you don't have control over when the networking event is or all these other things, what else can you control? Out in your business. You know, whether that's batch creating content, scheduling other meetings that you have more control over. There is stuff that you have more control over than you think. And if it's not work related, then it has to be personal related, whether that comes to food, fitness, social gatherings in your Personal life boundaries. Self care. Those things all should shift and change with your cycle, which is what I teach my clients to do, and that definitely will help you in creating more energy [00:38:00] so that even if something falls in a non ideal time within your cycle, you can definitely handle it. Did that answer the question? I forget the original question. Sophie: Yeah, no, absolutely does. Yeah. And I think that's, what's so interesting. Partly it's like knowing that we have that autonomy in our business to, you know, schedule our calls when we want to. And like Jacqueline's absolutely right. When I first messaged her she said, yeah, the best time for me in my cycle to record this would be these two dates. And yeah, we've had to move a few times, but like absolutely that was like you say, like that was the ideal. That was the optimum. Ultimately we had to move it and. But you're putting things around that you haven't got any other calls so that you're managing that and I really, I think what I'm really hearing from you, which I'm really enjoying is it doesn't have to be perfect. Like it's not a case of like right in your in this phase and you're feeling creative and you can get all of your batch content done. Like that doesn't have to be all you're doing. That doesn't have to be, it has, doesn't have to be perfect every month. But if [00:39:00] you know. That you can then make conscious decisions about planning when you, when I'm going to do the podcast or when, you know, when there's the ideal time and if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out, but then if I know it's a bit harder, I know why it's a bit harder. Jac: Yeah. And it's also, I found like a great accountability. Your cycle is a great accountability partner. If you are tracking it and you do know when you can expect to feel less creative, such as this part of my cycle, I don't have to create content because I already batched it all. I can post and ghost. And even if I can't, I sell on my stories every day, but Even if I can't come up with anything that day, I can go off what my post was about. And so even just having a prompt or an idea from your creative phase to have that during the luteal phase, which as you explained, and I've had so many clients tell me, I just can't. Talk or formulate words during that phase of my cycle. If you can prevent that and make it, [00:40:00] you know, the energy behind our business, we know has an effect on the results we see. Yes, you can show up day in and day out, but if the energy behind it, isn't there either, then. Somehow in the online stratosphere, people can smell that BS from mile away. So why not back it up with prioritizing your cycle, your hormones, and all that fun stuff. And yes, it doesn't have to be perfect, but a little bit goes such a long way with this. Sophie: yeah, I love that, that it doesn't, it's not like a hundred percent or zero. like just a small things can make a big difference. guess what leads us into next is another question that came up. Is what if you don't have predictable cycles? So even I guess anything from short to like shorter cycles or generally longer cycles or just really unpredictable, where would you, where would you go with that? Because I think that must make this kind of planning idea. Like, you know, if you know roughly like, oh, this is what I'm going to and then you're a week out, that's going to kind of. Yeah, it'd be slightly harder, I guess. Like, where would you, what [00:41:00] would you kind of, advice would Jac: Yeah. I think that definitely for my clients that are struggling with that, we obviously focus more on the health stuff first. And so I would suggest making sure you're stabilizing your blood sugar, making sure you're not drinking caffeine on an empty stomach, that you're eating whole quality foods and lots of protein. Those are just a few things to help that I always. Test out with them as a baseline. And then if they are still struggling with inconsistent cycles, I send them to a medical professional. Cause I am obviously not a doctor, but I do have my certification in women's hormone health. So I haven't a whole lot of knowledge and a whole lot of resources for everyone's specific. And unique circumstances. But I like to also incorporate, like I mentioned earlier, kind of following the moon schedule, or even if you do have a period, trying to follow the other components of just like, let's just start with that week that you do [00:42:00] actually have a period and tapping into the superpowers that come with that phase of your cycle. It doesn't have to be all or nothing. And I feel like. Specifically syncing with the moon, that's going to be consistent. So why not get your body used to kind of this cyclical way of living especially from the health and wellness standpoint of things. But I think that's a great place to start. And again, just learning about this information, maybe that would be a situation where tracking your body temperature and learning more about those approaches could be more helpful to see. What's going long. Some people have really long follicular phases. Some people have even longer luteal phases. And I, we don't know that without tracking the temperature. So that could be helpful in that circumstance. Sophie: Yeah, no, absolutely. Amazing. This is so helpful. I said one final question and this is something I experienced as well. So someone asked that they have acknowledged or kind of recognized that they feel more like [00:43:00] imposter syndrome and doubts as they're ramping up with PMT Towards PMT. And then, and I also feel, and this was quite interesting to me, actually. is that I've noticed that like, for maybe a couple of days a month, I have like, chronic anxiety. Like I can't, like, it feels like something's sitting on my chest. It sort of comes out of nowhere. And for quite a while I was like, Oh my God, like, you know, I want to, I just don't want to do anything. I've realized now it's actually when I'm ovulating, which is really interesting to me because I didn't really associate. Ovulation with those kind of feelings, really, I guess. And I think it's just this thing of like, is that, is that likely to be the case? Like the hormones and like how, for me, those are sort of more mindset things. Like Jac: Mm hmm. Mm Sophie: through to our hormones as well? Jac: hmm. That perhaps someone could feel anxious because that's when estrogen is rising a lot and so many women deal with excess estrogen [00:44:00] thanks to the products that we're using, whether that's in the beauty department or house cleaning department or plastics that we're drinking from or eating out of. Those all disrupt our endocrine system and our hormones, and so we already are predisposed to excess estrogen. So add that on top of the estrogen rising during our ovulation phase, and that could lead to those feelings. I could definitely see that happening, and so what I would suggest is make sure that you're doing things such as, so the coolest thing about syncing your food to your cycle is that all the foods include nutrients that support what's happening internally. So if excess estrogen is something that's in your body, a great way to break it down is to help support your liver to get that out of your body. So it's not being recycled in your body. How do you do that by eating leafy greens, such as spinach or Brussels [00:45:00] sprouts, anything that is cruciferous and helps your liver break down those excess estrogen components. And so that would be something I definitely recommend during every phase of your cycle, but liver support should be non negotiable for. Really any menstruating woman and hopefully I would hope that that would help with kind of that like intensity and weight on your chest that you're feeling when it comes to the luteal phase and the lead up to PMT or PMS it is as I mentioned a little bit earlier our body already has a higher amount of cortisol, which is our stress hormone during that phase of our cycle. We also are requiring more calories. So a lot of times women aren't eating enough. They're not eating before their coffee. When that happens, they are throwing cortisol and Amping it up even more with caffeine on an empty stomach. I'm not saying to just eat for no reason. It's a way for your [00:46:00] body to feel safe so that it can metabolize the caffeine that you're throwing at it. So that's why I don't ask my clients to get rid of their coffee. Cause I know it makes them happy, but you got to equip your body to handle it and to handle that stress. And so also during that phase of your cycle, I am not having like higher energy calls that are going to stress you out or really. Really take a toll on your energy overall because it's already a downshifted energy phase of your cycle. I would say the number one thing that my clients and I struggle with is checking our phone in the morning. That is not a thing that's happening during this phase. We are not Opening our phone up first thing, having no control over what we're seeing and that creates even more stress. You just really want to kind of keep what I call the cortisol cap on because unfortunately, once the cortisol cap is off and it's already skyrocketing and then you're throwing all this gasoline onto the fire, it's hard to get back down. We are so many women are living [00:47:00] in a chronically stressed state due to Their kids, their family members, work, whatever, we really have to keep our boundaries strong during that phase and have it be unshakable and non negotiable and really just especially during that second week of the luteal phase, say no, as much as you can to social commitments, to work commitments, if, if possible just so that again, the burden is much, much less during that phase of your cycle. Sophie: Amazing. Yeah, that all makes so much sense now that you've kind of put it in that context. Oh my gosh, that's been so incredibly insightful and useful and I hope practical for people as well. I know I'm definitely going to go, I mean, the first thing I'm going to do is just map my cycle into my calendar so that at least I'm making, like, informed decisions about what I'm doing, like, why I'm kind of, why. Yeah. So I know that you have got loads of ways for people to work with you but it's kind of [00:48:00] dependent on what's going on for them. So how is it best if people do kind of want to investigate this a bit more or kind of find more resources or work with you, what's the best way for them to do that? Jac: Yes, thank you. So I believe each woman is so unique, has her own circumstance. So I always love to do a little bit of information digging as well as matchmaking when it comes to seeing what offer of mine. I have courses, live programs and one on one mentorship. I definitely Love having a conversation before matching them with anything, because each woman is unique. But I also have a bunch of great episodes on the menstrual mogul podcast, which launched just a few months ago. And so you get that breakdown of the four phases that you just heard here. You can listen to that forever. And I talk about a little bit of business, a little bit of. Self stories and, you know, reflecting on stuff like that, as well as. Habits for just our cycle health [00:49:00] overall. So that's the best way to, you know, continue this conversation. Sophie: Amazing. Thank you so much. I will link to a couple of the recommendations that Jacqueline's made in the podcast, in the podcast today, and then also her Instagram and her podcast in the show notes. Thank you so much, Jacqueline. Again, that was absolutely brilliant. Thank you so much for joining me this week. Before you go, make sure you subscribe to the podcast so you can receive new episodes every Tuesday when they're released. And if you enjoyed this episode, I'd love for you to rate or leave a review wherever you are listening to it. It only takes a few seconds, but it really does make a massive difference to new people finding me. Thank you again for joining me, Sophie, in this episode of Lionheart Marketing. See you next time.