IAM121- Full-time Model Turned Health Coach, Personal Trainer and Chef

Jill de Jong was born in Holland, and her successful modeling career brought her to the US. She was based in New York for many years, explored Miami for a few years, and then fell in love with Los Angeles, where she currently resides; a great place to pursue her passion for health and wellness. She made the career shift from full-time modeling to a health coach, personal trainer, and chef, and has never looked back.

When Jill is not working, you can find her in the kitchen cooking or outside in Malibu running, biking, surfing, or stretching in a yoga class. She recharges by spending time with her boyfriend and friends. Meaningful conversations and delicious food make her heart sing. To stay motivated to exercise, she signs up for triathlons and Spartan races.

• CEO Hack: Pebbles (little things that don't make an impact) and the rock (most resistance). Do the rocks first.
• CEO Nugget: (1) Connect with other entrepreneurs. (2) Outsource things that aren't going to get done. (3) Understand what advertising works best
• CEO Defined: Take the lead. Do things that you are scared of doing. Align with your purpose and push the envelope.

Website: https://www.jilldejong.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_modelsdoeat/
Additional links: https://www.modelsdoeat.com/

Jill's Book: Models Do Eat: More Than 100 Recipes for Eating Your Way to a Beautiful, Healthy You: More Than 100 Recipes for Eating Your Way to a Beautiful, Healthy You

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:27

Hello, hello hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO Podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Jill de Jong of jilldejong.com. Jill, it is awesome to have you on the show.

Jill de Jong 0:38

Thanks for having me, Gresh, a pleasure.

Gresham Harkless 0:39

It's a pleasure to have you on and what I wanted to do, which is read a little bit more about Jill, so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's been able to do and she is doing now. So Jill was born in Holland and her successful modeling career brought her to the United States. She was based in New York for many years, explored Miami for a few years, and then fell in love with Los Angeles where she currently resides because it's a great place to pursue her passion for health and wellness. She made the career shift from full-time modeling to a health coach, personal trainer, and chef and has never looked back. When Jill was not working, you can find her in the kitchen cooking or outside in Malibu running, biking, surfing, or stretching in a yoga class. She recharges by spending time with her boyfriend and friends. Meaningful conversations and delicious food make her heart sing. To stay motivated to exercise she signs up for triathlons and Spartan Races. Jill, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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Jill de Jong 1:34

What a great introduction. Thank you, made me smile.

Gresham Harkless 1:37

There you go. If anything, food always makes my heart sing as well, too. So we definitely have that in common. But what I wanted to do was just hear I guess a little bit more about what I call your CEO story. And what led you to start your business?

Jill de Jong 1:49

Yeah, well it's always a great question. Because I think like, a lot of people look at CEOs thinking, Oh, they got lucky or, you know, as they formed in my modeling career to like, oh, just you won the gene lottery, but it's so much work to actually have like a successful career. And there are so many obstacles to overcome, and you have to have a lot of patience, right? So my modeling career led me to do what I do now. And my modeling career got me my visa to the US because it's hard for people in other countries to permanently live in the States.

So that was my ticket in, let's say, and my health and wellness journey started actually when I wasn't well when my immune system was weak. I had been traveling for several years, I mean, like, early to about 10 years internationally, and had not really, that did not add pretty, I actually had a pretty poor diet because I was introduced to calorie counting when I started modeling. And at the time, I didn't even know what a calorie was.

And I thought it was part of my profession to count them and make sure I didn't eat more than necessary. But I was like, well, this is really not fun. You know, this is most of the food that I want to eat is definitely high in calories. And I'm gonna go on the diet, right, and I'm gonna go on that diet food, low calories, an artificial sweetener. But years of doing that really made me sick. I felt foggy. I had cold sores several times a year, I was permanently sleep deprived. But it also had to do with jetlag. But I was just really feeling off and I didn't know what to do.

And I was looking for answers, I needed help. And so a visit with a nutritionist really awakened me like it was such an eye-opener, to understand how food can affect your mood, how food, everything you put in your mind has an effect on how you feel, and even your thoughts. So I was super motivated to get better to feel better because it was just not I was not happy. And I was feeling weak. And I really needed to change. So that was really motivating for me to start cooking.

And because I did not cook I didn't know how to. So I started studying thinking I was only going to get the certification and then eventually get the book out. But I fell in love with the course and I fell in love with helping others because they really make you go out and talk about your passion in business and like help you set up a business and that was such a great year that really changed things around for me because when I started going from the modeling industry where it's more about me and me paying my bills and me traveling, it's more about that, you know, your own unity instead of now sharing your knowledge and lights and passion with others and being of service that really changed my perception of life. And I just felt this renewed energy. And I was like, This is what I want to do with my life.

Gresham Harkless 4:36

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, I definitely you know, I always tell myself and always hear people say that any type of rejection kind of is not a rejection. It's a redirection, so it puts you down a path you should have always been and it seems like it redirected you right towards your being and finding and loving the passion for what you have for helping out others and then also being able to kind of do everything you need to do to hope to have built and created that book as well.

Jill de Jong 4:59

Exactly. it's incredible, then that's the beautiful word like redirecting, and I was being redirected, I needed to have more experience, I needed to have more expertise. And that book, you know, like it's coming out actually, it's now coming out in February 2019. And it's called Models Do Eat. It's about improving your relationship with food. It's a collection of women. It's not just me anymore. It's all about a collaboration I wrote. I'm the main author of the book, and I invited nine other models who are also certified health coaches, nutritionists, personal trainers, and some best-selling authors.

Gresham Harkless 5:34

Well, that's awesome. And I absolutely love the brand, and the name Models Do Eat. Because as you said, sometimes there's a perception out there that you don't eat anything, you don't exercise, you only do these things you live in, like the actual absolutely perfect lifestyle, but it's awesome that you've been able to kind of tell your story, and then by telling your story sounds like you've been able to attract other people that have similar stories and want to actually do the same things. And that's kind of like what has come out for the book.

Jill de Jong 5:59

Yeah, and it's much more fun to do this together than doing things by yourself. Because as a CEO, it can be it can feel a little bit lonely, you know, to work from home, or like, or to work in and like, an office, but we don't mind that I have a lot of employees yet, or you have the employees, but you're like, you know, this is your first time you're doing this. So how are you going to give them direction, it's really good to hang out with people that are in a similar situation or have done things, you know, are actually better than you or have done have had more experience. And that's what I found. I like found, so much support in the group of women, because some of them had already published books and others had never.

So I, you know, we can all support each other on the journey. I think that's also the message of the book where models and our thoughts are in the press, I should say like, people think that models are catty and very competitive. And, and this is the other side of it, like, hey, you know, what we're so much better too, like when we unite our forces. And it's a great example for, you know, like, also young women to not like look at their Instagram pages as competition, but to say what do we have in common and go from there.

Gresham Harkless 7:05

What I wanted to ask you is here a little bit more, and you might have already touched on it, like how you help support and serve the clients. And what would you kind of clarify as maybe like your secret sauce?

Jill de Jong 7:13

Well, the secret sauce is, I think the personal approach because everyone is different. Like we have different personalities and different lifestyles. We might have kids or no kids. I think the personal approach is most important, because the people that want to stay in shape and exercise, have the best intentions. But a lot of diets, a lot of exercise programs are so intense, and they are so restricting, or so demanding that it's hard to keep up with. And the personal approach is where I really dive deep. I go, I really ask and see where I can help emotionally too. So the personal approach is like emotional support and understanding where my clients are lacking and need more support. And sometimes they really just need to be listened to a lot of my you know, a big part of my job is to listen and ask good questions. So they can come up with their own solutions and to the site, the psychology of eating well, and exercising, I think that's might be the secret sauce.

Gresham Harkless 8:12

So now I want to just switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an app or book or a habit that you have, but it's something that you feel makes you more effective and efficient.

Jill de Jong 8:22

Oh, well, I think that might be pebbles and the rock. Have you ever heard of the pebbles and the rock lists?

Gresham Harkless 8:41

I don't think so.

Jill de Jong 8:30

Well, so I don't quite remember where I heard that might have been the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, but it's about prioritizing. It's about feeling productive at the end of the day, I love feeling productive every day. So what they say is, the rocks are your priorities like are the ones that actually the rocks are the things that you feel most resistance to the list that you kind of put up the things that you don't really feel like doing right now. But maybe later. So the pebbles are the little things that really don't, it doesn't really matter if it gets done today or not. But when we have to feel resistance to let's say, the rocks, we started doing pebbles, it's kind of like going to work for if you have to, like vacuum clean your house, and your doctor ever really doesn't, you know, make a difference.

So but was good, right? And so when you start doing the rocks first, like as a rule, like the things that you don't like to do the most resistant to it makes the whole day feel lighter. And so like, if you can make it a habit to do that first thing in the morning, you're going to feel like a winner all day. And those pebbles are going to go quickly too. And then you actually have more time for the rest of your day and more headspace to conquer the rest.

Gresham Harkless 9:44

I love that. And I love that kind of metaphor. And I can definitely visualize it seeing the pebble in the rock because we all have rocks that we don't really want to look at and we definitely don't want to move. So definitely make sure you move those so you're not focusing on the pebbles that aren't really making as much of an impact as the rock would.

Jill de Jong 9:59

Yeah, Uh, you know, it's we're all human after all right? We gotta have some hacks and just push ourselves to do the things that we're not either not good at or not, you know, don't necessarily love to do but there's a certain sense of pride and accomplishment and confidence that comes out of doing the box first.

Gresham Harkless 10:15

Absolutely. Being able to identify them and move them along. I definitely agree with that. So I love that CEO hack. And now I wanted to ask you for a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice you might give to entrepreneurs and business owners or something you might tell your younger business self?

Jill de Jong 10:29

Yeah, well, there are a few things. I mean, there's, like, I already kind of touched down on the first one to connect with other entrepreneurs. Because it can be lonely. And sometimes you just need to hear from someone else how they did something or feel connected to feel the glove support and what you do. Because sometimes, you know, like, I feel like as a coach, I also need to be coached at times. So I might listen to a great audiobook, or like a personal trainer, I even have a personal trainer. So I feel like you got to look for people that inspire you, motivate you, because you motivate all day coach all day, you're leading the way, but you also need to have some key people in your life to connect with that can so you get the energy back to.

So that's number one for me. Number two, I would say outsource things that you're really not good at, or really feel that much resistance to like those big bucks never get done. Outsource it, pay someone like something for what you really don't want to do, because it's going to wait you're wasting your time, and you're most likely not going to do a good job doing it. And there are so many great and cheap resources these days like fiber, I use that a lot when I need graphs or things for websites. And you pay them a small fee for publishing rights if they design something for you. So it's really great outsourcing social media, the backside of it, you know, like so you don't have to be online the whole time that you just provide the pictures. If that's not your favorite thing to do so like to outsource things, if you want an assistant that can pay someone full time, there are so many websites that offer, hourly surface, our assistants for hourly rates.

So I think that's, that's a great one. And then the last one, really understands, like what type of advertisement works best for your products, what the consumer what your clients really feel drawn to, like, for example, I had advertised in a local magazine because I wanted more local clients. So it was the Malibu magazine, and the advertisement had zero interaction like I did not get an email, I did not get a call, I was like, wow, that's kind of crazy. It was half a page. It was very visible, it was a three-month issue. And then I actually was like, six months later, I was interviewed for the magazine. And it was a four-page interview. And from that interview, I have, like so many calls so many new clients, and they keep coming. It's just because that magazine has been laying around on coffee tables, it's not something that people throw out really quickly.

And I gotta say, like that. So I understood that I don't need to waste money on advertisements for the local things that might have to do that for Facebook. And it's not, you know, you won't ever voice money on advertisement, of course, like you always learn from it. But I really learned that personal connection is really important for the clients that work with me. And interview really made a personal connection made it made them trust me, I gave free advice. I share my story. And I think that's what people are looking for.

Gresham Harkless 13:26

Now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is kind of like the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And I know you touched on it a little bit. And we're hoping to have different, quote-unquote, CEOs on the show. So what do you think being a CEO means to you?

Jill de Jong 13:37

A CEO means to me to take the lead to do things that you're scared of doing to really align with your purpose and push the envelope and motivate others to help you with it.

Gresham Harkless 13:47

I love it, I love it, I love it. Well, awesome, Jill, I truly appreciate you for taking some time out of your schedule. What I want to do is pass you the mic so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you want to let our readers and our listeners know. And how they can get a hold of you. And of course, get a copy of your book when it comes out.

Jill de Jong 14:02

Thank you, like my book is coming up in February 2019. We're gonna launch it at Fashion Week, in New York, and it's already on Amazon. So if you want a buy a copy already, it will be delivered to you in February, but it's making sure you can get it signed. If you want it signed, just let me know. So my Instagram name is _modelsdoeat and my website is jilldejong.com. And I'm looking forward to connecting. So anyone who wants some advice or like, and wants to connect personally Instagram, direct messages, or emails work fine.

Gresham Harkless 14:40

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, Jill, you are awesome. I truly appreciate you for taking some time out. We'll make sure to have those links in the show notes just so that anybody can follow up, but you're rocking and rolling. And I appreciate you and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Jill de Jong 14:52

Thank you, Gresh thanks so much for making this available for everyone. You know, those listening and for all of us to share on your platform. It's a wonderful thing to do and this is your gift I appreciate you sharing it with the world.

Outro 15:05

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co

I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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