Jesse Golden, author and founder of The Golden Secrets – a company that produces chemical-free skincare and wellness line – has used her multifaceted career as a platform to inspire and empower people all over the world. Jesse looks back into her childhood up to where she is now today, telling the story of how she battled with rheumatoid arthritis. She also talks her “golden secret” that developed her successful business from a hobby she was doing since high school. Her book, The Golden Secrets to Optimal Health, is a way for her to help as many people within a short amount of time. In this segment, Jesse shares how she’s broken the mold in so many ways and chosen to live a life of happiness, joy, and fulfillment.

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Listen to the podcast here:

The Golden Secret with Jesse Golden

I’ve invited a friend of mine, Jesse Golden, to come on with me to share how she’s broken the mold in so many ways and chosen to live a life of happiness, joy and fulfillment. She is as her last name sounds. She is a ray of golden light. I truly mean that she has a business based around that. Before we get into it, there are a couple of things. Number one is if you are not aware, we as a community got Unbecoming on the radio, which is so exciting. We are nationally syndicated across sixteen different AM/FM radio stations. I say that because I am so grateful and so proud of the community that we are building. If you are not in our community, please join us at UnbecomingPodcast.com/Community. It is a great place for us to have conversations like we’re about to have but in a safe place where I can hear your story as well, so it doesn’t feel so one-sided.

If you’re new to the show, you might be wondering what is this Unbecoming thing all about? That’s why I recorded a free six-part audio series for people who want to hear more about the Unbecoming process, how to create better results in your business and life, how to release the judgments, the beliefs, the expectations that are on us that we talk about on this show and that I talk about every week on this show. You can find that at UnbecomingPodcast.com/Success. I hope that you enjoy those six audio segments. They’re great and the feedback has been tremendous. What I want to do is I want to take you through a segment that I asked Jesse to stay on in the end and talk specifically about a couple of things. The first one was I wanted to hear more about an action step that someone could make now who wanted to build a product-based business. If that is you and you’ve always had a dream or you’re in the middle of it, read her answer. It is amazing and it’s a smart answer coming from someone who has mastered this. Even though she would never say that, I truly believe it.

Number two was, “What is one tip you could give someone to improve their social media following?” Between her two accounts, Jesse has hundreds of thousands of followers on social media and so I wanted to hear her tip that she could give me, but also I wanted to hopefully help you in that regard as well. The third one was, “When people approach you about growing their business, what is the most commonly asked question that you get and how do you respond?” I’ve been asking this because I want to know what I should be asking them. Her response to this was so great and she’s so honest about how she has created this amazing brand that she has. You can find all of that at UnbecomingPodcast.com/Golden. I asked her five questions and then I asked her how can we help you? If you want to be in support of Jesse and all that she’s about, head over there. You can find out how we can help her and how to build a great social media following and a product-based business.

The thing I don’t love to do in interviews is read their bio when they’re on the show because I find it a little bit awkward. However, it’s important that you know who all this information is coming from. I’m going to fangirl and brag about my friend, Jesse. She’s a devoted mother model, Hatha Yoga teacher, holistic health practitioner, author and Founder of The Golden Secrets. Jesse Golden has used her multifaceted career as a platform to inspire and empower people all over the world. Her accomplishments began at an early age when, as a child, she became a ballerina in her mother’s dance studio.

After putting the debilitating disease rheumatoid arthritis into remission through natural methods, Jesse has established herself as the face of hope in the health and fitness industry. She continues to thrive despite her diagnosis. She believes that every challenge we encounter is an opportunity for us to create more light for ourselves and the world. The Golden Secrets is about health, beauty, fitness, parenting, spirituality, environmentalism, elevating consciousness and empowering you to find your own path to fulfillment and optimal wellness. She has such an amazing brand and such soothing energy about her.

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I am so excited to welcome a new friend of mine, Jesse Golden, to the show. Jesse, thank you for being here. Welcome to the show.

Thank you so much for having me.

I am excited to have this conversation. I have a bunch of directions I want to go in this but to give people a little bit of context, you and I were introduced by our mutual friend, Alan Stein Jr. I remember I told you that there was something about your honesty and your vulnerability and a lot about your story that I wanted to bring it to my audience. I thought you would be a great fit for the show but also a great fit for people who are looking for a little bit of inspiration mixed with a real, practical and legit life story. I am excited that you’re here. We’re going to start at the 30,000-foot level. If I were to stumble upon your Instagram profile, I’d see hundreds of thousands of followers and this beautiful life that you are leading. I wanted to kick the conversation off by asking who the real Jesse Golden is?

The real Jesse Golden is a single mother first and foremost. That drives everything else that I do. My son is about to be fifteen, so at least for the last fifteen years, that’s been my driving force. I have my own company called The Golden Secrets which is organic, holistic skin care and wellness line. What I always call is my superpower but also that what makes me human is I live with rheumatoid arthritis. When people see me whether it’s in person, I’d much rather meet people in person but that’s always not the case, or they go to my Instagram page, it might be perceived that I have everything and everything’s put together. A lot of people do that. It’s part of the advertising.

I call it thriving with rheumatoid arthritis. I have daily struggles with running a company and being a mother. I do try and portray that. I have this little loophole that I think a lot of people do, but I’ll try and put a great picture because I did model for twenty plus years. I do understand branding and marketing. I put a great picture, grab your attention and tell you something insightful because it doesn’t work the other way around. I’ve noticed that on Instagram at least. You’ve got to pump things that’s going to get their attention. Once I got their attention, hopefully, I’ll share a little bit more about myself and tools that have helped me.

I saw your post where you’re in the car with your son and your partner. You were singing and it was so nice.

Giving up is never an option. Click To Tweet

That is real. I do talk about this. I hit the jackpot with my current relationship, my forever relationship. We’ve been together almost a year now and that has not always been the case. I’ve been married and divorced. I had some not so healthy relationships. I am so grateful for the relationship I’m in now. I love being able to share those little moments like that. There’s so much that I don’t share that I keep more private with my family. I always like to give people little snippets.

It’s fun to see the behind the scenes. I want to get into a little bit more of your story. You talked about rheumatoid arthritis. I want to speak about that. I talk a lot about seasons: seasons of life, seasons of business, seasons of purpose. It will give us a little bit more of a clearer picture of where you have been and where you are now. If you had to break your life up into three to four seasons, how would you label those seasons?

It reminds me of The Jane Fonda Documentary. My boyfriend was like, “You’re like Jane Fonda. You put all these weird lives.” I’ve had completely different lives. If I had to label them in seasons, I would definitely start with the hard winter. I grew up in Chicago. We legitimately did have hard winters, but I do think that there’s something about the energy there too because it is cold and you’re indoors more. It’s a blunt, heavy, strong footed energy. What still grounds me to this day is being born in that cold. I would say the next season would be summer. I went to Florida on spring break when I was seventeen and I never came home. That was it for me. That’s when I started living my independent life. Now I would say it’s like spring. Surprisingly, I’m 40 years old. I feel like I’m bursting new things even more now than I did in my twenties. I was stagnant for a long time. I’m motivated. I went to a psychic once and she said, “You’re going to be a late bloomer.” It took me a while to get into this body and figure out what I’m doing. I’m still figuring it out.

That must have been hard to hear. How old were you when you went to the psychic? Because you’re like, “That means not now?”

I was like, “What does that mean?” I’ve gone through a bunch of psychics, but I specifically remember this lady because I took a course from her on intuition. I was probably 30. I was like, “Okay.” I was already considered what I had thought was older.

You said that you had a very successful modeling career. Where did your journey begin?

My mom had a dance studio in Chicago, so I grew up dancing. I dreamt of being a ballerina. I wanted to be a ballerina. I got to dance with some amazing companies. I was so tall. I knew the end game wasn’t that great as far as on your body and finances. It’s a very short-lived career. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I got burnt out and that’s when I went to Florida. My aunt had dragged me to a modeling search in the ‘90s. That was a big fad. I was so over it because I had done some child modeling. She dragged me to this thing and I said, “All these people will rip you off and take your money.” The guy took my paper and he wrote comped on it. There was no reason why I couldn’t go. I couldn’t find an excuse why not to go. That’s when I started my career. I talk about this. A lot of people find it interesting, but I always hated modeling.

To me, I didn’t have any other skills. I was a ballerina. I was on my own. I had to survive and modeling equals freedom for me at the time. I could work once or twice a week. I can still live my life. When I started modeling, there was so much freedom involved because prior to that I was dancing. I was in school hours at a time. I didn’t have a quality of life. I didn’t embrace the whole modeling thing until I got pregnant with my son when I was 25. I was out here in California at that time. I was living here. Pregnancy modeling started becoming a big thing. They used to not show the woman’s belly. It was taboo. At that time, they had started showing the woman’s belly. They used to use regular models and put a belly suit on them. They started using models. I was working nonstop. I was like, “This is fantastic. I’m pregnant. I get to model and show my belly and eat.” I embraced it because I wasn’t a single mom at the time, but I had this premonition that might happen.

I thought, “What other career can I do where I can be a full-time mother and be able to take care of us?” I embraced it when I was around 25. When I was 29, I got diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis which was unexpected. I was considered the epitome of health to all the people around me. I was vegetarian at age eleven. I was a yoga teacher. I gave birth at home. I was considered probably the healthiest person that they knew. For me to get stuck with this weird disease that wasn’t spoken about back then, this was over a decade ago. The coolest thing is as far as my career goes, I feel like that was when the seed was planted where I started to be able to tell my story. I started to be able to become human.

It was the same time that yoga companies were coming to birth. Nike started doing yoga clothes. Lucy Activewear, it was a huge client of mine, and even Athleta. These companies started giving me a platform to share my story because they knew it would sell clothes. The fact that I was the epitome of health, I got sick to where I didn’t walk for almost a year of my life when I first got diagnosed. I made this full recovery through Eastern Medicine. They started to give me a platform to share my story. That’s when I was like, “I can do this. As long as there’s more depth to it and it’s not me selling a pair of yoga pants.” If I can inspire someone to go to a yoga class or inspire somebody that they could do it because I did it, that’s when I started seeing this brand coming to life. That followed with a bunch of messages and people telling me that did help them. That inspired me.

When you said that you are a vegetarian at age eleven, this need or desire or this obsession with health, where did that come from for you?

 

Originally, I became a vegetarian because I got food poisoning. In Chicago, there was a fad in the ‘80s, which is hilarious when I think of it now. They’re probably still there. They have these restaurants with these huge grills in the center and on the outside would be refrigerators with meat. You would go pick out your own meat and you cook it yourself. It was like a family-style indoor barbecue. I was with a family friend and I didn’t cook the meat well. I ended up getting food poisoning. I dreamt of cows. It was the first time I had ever thrown up or anything in my life. It was tragic. It was the first time I made the connection between the fact that I was eating an animal and it was making me sick. It didn’t feel right. It didn’t sit right with me. I told my family, “I’m never eating animals again.” I talk about this in my book. I’ll never forget my grandmother said, “You are going to die if you don’t eat meat.” We come from a Polish-German family in Chicago. You eat meat for every meal. Thank God, my mother was supportive. We went to a nutritionist and learned about different ways to supplement my food. She would cook two meals where often I would eat everything but the meat.

As a mom to have that conversation with your kid, that’s going so far against what your family probably knew at the time. It’s inspiring that she did that because you wanted to. It was a decision that you made, which is an empowering as you are looking to develop your own ideas and make those decisions for yourself.

Being a mom now, I see how much my mom allowed me that space. She never judged me. I was always a weird kid. I was always doing weird things. Becoming a vegetarian was minimal. I told her I was flying when I was a kid. I was spiritually aware as a kid. She never shut me down. She was always like, “That’s so cool,” which encouraged it. I feel like kids are so much more connected to the other side or whatever you want to call it spiritually. What happens with society and school is all this conditioning. They forget that. Later on in life, what’s happening now is everyone is trying to reconnect to it through meditation, yoga, nature and all this stuff because we lost it. We didn’t have the support system when we were a kid because kids have it innately.

That’s what this show is about. Unbecoming for me is releasing the judgment, the beliefs, the past conditioning to build a business and do what you’re meant to do in the world. I know that you’ve had all of these ups and downs, highs and lows. Can you talk to me a little bit about unbecoming for you? Is there something specific that maybe you had to unbecome in order to get to where you are right now?

I feel like there’s so much unlearning, unbecoming and reinventing myself because I’ve had so many different careers too. First, I was a dancer and letting that go. Then the modeling, which was like love-hate. The business I think came simultaneously with me writing a book. This is fascinating to me especially right now with raising my son. Many people have read this book called The Four Agreements and how the word is so powerful. I had a lot of people in my life that didn’t know any better. I was put in a category when I was a kid. I was cute and I was a dancer. That meant I couldn’t be smart or I couldn’t have an opinion. This was reinforced because I was surrounded by some friends, my school and stuff that were smart so they held that space. They were the smart ones. I was the dumb one. I was almost thrown away. I didn’t go to college. Everything reinforced that.

When I decided I was going to write a book, so much of it for me was letting go of all these ideals that I had accepted about myself. Knowing that I had gathered so much information through my life experience, living with rheumatoid arthritis and eventually, I did become a holistic health practitioner and a yoga teacher. I had to share all of this. I had to let all of that go. The biggest naysayer was in my own head going, “Who do you think you are? What are you doing? You can’t write a book on health.” When you share from an authentic place is the biggest thing. For me, it’s unbecoming and letting go of all of that stuff that I was told as a kid. That also float into where I am now as a businesswoman. I never thought that I would be running a company. That’s the biggest assumption that people make. Whether you’re a woman or a man or whoever you are, whether you have experience or you don’t have experience, most of us have no idea what we’re doing on a daily basis.

Looking back, you can see how all the dots line up. At the time, when you’re going through it, you’re like, “I don’t know how this is going to work or what this is going to look like.” What kept you going through the book as you’re writing it? Those voices are coming into your head like, “Who are you to write this book? You’re the pretty one. You’re not the smart one.” What kept you going?

I talked to Alan about this. Anybody who’s written a book, I’m like, “Did you have as hard of a time?” It was worse than childbirth labor for me. That book was so much growing pains. I wasn’t sitting up in a cottage in the mountains. I was writing it while simultaneously raising my son, working and creating a company. It took me about two years. It would keep me up at night to where I couldn’t even focus. If I had any free time, I was working on my book. It was almost like I had gathered all this information. I had gone through all this stuff. If I didn’t get it out of myself, I was going to lose it. As far as being able to keep moving forward, I always go through the same things. Anytime my life gets challenging, I take breaks and I go into nature. I do some yoga or hang out with my son or do something that’s joyful to switch up the energy and then come back to it. Giving up was never an option for me for that.

Why was that book so important for you to write, not personally to get out on paper? Was there a deeper or a bigger vision for that book or was it to say that you had done it?

There was a lot of validation for myself that I could do it. I was getting a lot of messages from people who would say I healed myself. I don’t like to use that word. I say that I’m thriving with rheumatoid arthritis. That was what originally made me want to start. I started a blog because I couldn’t keep up with all the messages and the emails I was receiving from people either having rheumatoid arthritis or some other autoimmune disease wanting help. This was a while ago. Now, I think it’s more accessible through social media and stuff. You can find other people that are going through things and ask them. I started the blog to start sharing basic things: diet, yoga and spirituality that had worked for me. Eventually, that translated into the book. Even to this day, I get messages on my Instagram. I don’t care what type of platform you have. It’s very time-consuming. It does ride on me if I have somebody that’s dealing with the health issue. I try and respond to them. It’s not always possible. I can say everything is in my book, so get my book. This is why I wrote my book. It’s such an easy way for me to try and help as many people as I can with the short amount of time that all of us have nowadays.

One of the important things that I see from anyone who’s going through something, whether it’s in business or in life is they wait until they’re already through it to share. Even your blog, it’s sharing what’s working for me because we’re an expert in ourselves. It’s important to be sharing you’re still in it, but you’re on the way out. Were you adopting that or were you sharing in real time? How did you get to the point of your book where you’re like, “I’m ready to do this?” It feels buttoned up. What was that process like?

We're constantly searching outside of ourselves when all we have to do is settle in and connect with ourselves. Click To Tweet

I went through so much. I had two books and then I edited it. There were three different editing processes. The main point of the book is what you just hit on. We all know what’s best for ourselves. That’s the overall message that my book gives. It’s not, “I’m a master and this is the diet you need to do.” The book is all about connecting with yourself. I ask you reflection questions so that you can dive in and ask yourself these things. I talk about meditation, tuning in, positive affirmations and the unconditioning. That’s why when we talked, I was like, “I talked about that in the book.” What have you accepted along the way and gone, “This is the way it is?” It’s renegotiating those contracts with yourself and all of that stuff. That also too was what helped me push it along. I’m like, “I’m not saying I’m the expert, but here are some ways that you can tune in with yourself,” because I fully believe that is where all the answers live. We’re constantly searching outside of ourselves when all we have to do is settle in and connect with ourselves.

I remember when we were chatting, you’re like, “This is my life.” I’m like, “Totally.” That’s an important conversation. You mentioned that after your book, you had a business. This was not a long-term vision for you, which I talked to a lot of people who were like, “I knew from five years old that I was supposed to be an entrepreneur. I had my eye on the prize. Now, I’m here.” As someone who didn’t expect for this to happen or maybe along your way, it’s getting clearer that this is the path for you. I believe that we build these businesses as extensions of ourselves. As someone who inspires others through beauty and positive daily rituals, how did this business come to be and how do you feel like it’s a reflection of who you are?

You hit the nail on the head. This company is my second baby. It all happened organically. I had no intentions at all. I had a blog called The Golden Secrets. I was spending a lot of time sharing and giving. One of the other unusual things that I realize is it’s unusual. I started making my own essential oils in high school. I was known as the Patchouli Queen in high school. I got more into it when I moved to Florida, my aunt had a store. She would let me buy these big essential oil packs. I would play with all these things. I always had a rejection of toxic perfumes or anything like that. I love essential oil. At this point, I had a remedy for everything. If I wasn’t feeling good or if I was tired or if I was anxious or if I wanted to feel some romance, I had all these tricks.

I had this one blend that I had been wearing literally since high school. Every time I wore it when I would go out, people would literally stop me and say, “What are you wearing? Where can I get that?” I would always throw it away and say, “I made it,” and I would move on. At that time when I had the blog and I had all this audience coming to my page, my friend who I admire and a great businessman, he was always complimenting me on the scent. He said, “Why don’t you bottle that and put it on your website?” I thought it was the craziest thing on the planet. I got this overwhelming anxiety like, “Everyone is going to smell like me.” That’s my golden secret. I sat with it. I thought, “Jesse, this is what life is about.” If I thought about it, this little bottle of oil has been the one constant in my life. It gives me a sense of connection to myself. I would literally use the oil as a tool to check in with myself on a daily basis.

The effects that the oil itself would give me, the effects that the people around me would get when they smelled it. I thought, “How could I not share this? This is so sacred to me.” I made 100 bottles and I put it on my website. They took off. I was like, “Where am I going to get bottles? How do I make labels? What am I doing? How do I go to the post office?” Everything happened organically. Everybody wanted to know what I was using for moisturizer and face oil. At that time, I was hand making all my own products. Everything happened organically where people were asking me, “What are you using for this and what are you using for that?” I birth one product after another. I have eight skews. I’m tapering back a little bit because it’s getting a little overwhelming. Right away I had this grand idea of having a whole lifestyle brand. I realized I needed to taper back a little bit. I kept thinking of Burt’s Bees and like, “Do one product, Jesse. Don’t get too overwhelmed.”

Back in the day when you were younger up to now, how much research were you doing? Was this like, “This makes me feel calm or this is moisturizing for my body?” How were you creating that? What was that process?

Some things right away made sense. There was a process where I was the Guinea pig. For years, I would try things on myself and what worked, what didn’t work. There were some things that were magic. There were some things I hated. I would look into all the other effects on the body, spiritually and physiologically. There were some trial and error. Before I decided to package it and sell it, there was a whole formulation process. I made sure and fine-tuned, obsessively formulated everything. While this is going to be the final thing, there’s no changing it. There was a whole process with each product.

I love how it seems everything is so intuitively guided with all the decisions that you’re making and even in your language. I feel like I need to scale back a little bit. How much does your intuition take over when you’re running your business and as you’ve been building your business?

This is funny because you totally got me. My first year I started my company, somebody had asked me what my margins were. I sat back and I closed my eyes. He goes, “No, this isn’t an intuitive question, Jesse. This is a mathematical equation. What is your margin?” Numbers are not my comfort zone. I had this meeting with my friend who’s great. I always downplay my business ability. He said, “No, Jesse. You’ve got to stop saying that because you’re good at business. You just don’t enjoy it.” That’s my new language. I live from an intuitive place. I love creating. I love formulating. I can do the business side and I am doing it, but it’s not my favorite thing in the world. It is totally out of my comfort zone every single day. Having to be on that side of my brain is not my favorite place.

Even knowing that is like knowing your role in the business as though you are hiring somebody. If you were going to hire someone who is using 100% of their intuition or is going to be mathematical, those are two roles. You get to occupy one. Hopefully, you have somebody doing the financial part of it or you can hire that out or outsource it. That’s such an important part that I don’t know that a lot of people are embracing. Everyone thinks that they have to do it all. I don’t agree. I don’t think that’s the most important thing.

This is a huge learning curve for me and I’m still working through it. Sara Blakely who owns Spanx, she’s a friend of mine now. When I first met her, she was speaking and she said, “Hire your weakness.” It stuck with me for many reasons. She also hates numbers and lives through her intuition. I thought, “If this woman can create what she created, it was such a relief.” She said, “Hire your weakness.” I love that. I totally agree. I have yet to find somebody that can do that.

 

From the appearance and even what you’re talking about, a lot of your business is beauty. Why is beauty an important part of your business? Would you say it’s something else?

That’s what people obviously see right off the bat. I grew up in that world so that’s what I know. My mom had a dance studio for 40-plus years. She was a model as well. She raised me and my sister. I grew up in a very feminine environment. My mother always took very good care of her skin. She always had a positive view of herself. She never talked bad about her body or her skin in front of me and my sister. She taught us how to take care of our skin. I always had a great association with taking care of my skin since I was a kid. I would put lotion on. I knew how to apply my face cream and all these kinds of things. I did always want to take it to a deeper level, which is what I did with my company where each product in itself is amazing. It’s also supposed to be a tool to remind you to tune in.

Every product comes with a positive affirmation card specifically for that product. It’s a time to tune in and check in, maybe do some rewiring if you have any negative thoughts about yourself. I always talk about this. I had a very negative inner dialogue for years. It was because I grew up in the dance studio. I’m staring at myself in the mirror five hours a day judging every single thing that I did. If you do that for a long enough time, your brain gets wired that way. Talk about the unbecoming is I had to do a lot of work. I’m continuing and I will always continue to do a lot of work. It’s a muscle that I constantly have to practice that on a daily basis. When I notice those negative thoughts come in, I switch it up. My products are my anchor to do that. I love sharing that with other people. I always tell people, “Try the product for 30 days and say the positive affirmations and see what happens.” It’s the coolest thing.

After we started talking, I was like, “I’m in. Let me try something.” I’ve loved it and I love the smell. As you’re putting this on and you’re saying your affirmations, it’s the same thing I’ve always done. As I’ve been brushing my teeth, I try new things. I used to do squats or I do it left-handed and all of these things. It’s this constant routine and practice built into something you’re already doing, which I love. That’s a smart way to do it. Most of our readers are solopreneurs with small teams, fewer than ten most likely. Maybe the thought of having a product-based business or hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram or wherever it is feels far away or maybe a few years down the road. What would you say to someone who’s struggling to either find their thing or inject themselves more into their business?

Injecting yourself into your business is so huge right now. The story is what sells. The story is what creates the brand, the products and everything. There’s a lot of trial and error. If you’re unsure, I would say yes to everything and figure it out along the way but also don’t let it stop you. I had a girlfriend called me. She’s a photographer. She’s struggling with her branding, her company and Instagram. She doesn’t know what to do. I’m like, “Nobody knows. Nobody has any clue what they’re doing.” The people that look like they know and that have the followers are sharing and they’re authentic. Just create the content and share. If it’s coming from an authentic place, personally, that’s what I’m drawn to. It’s obvious when that happens. Everything comes together. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel either. Sometimes maybe the way you say the same thing that’s already been taught can be more relatable to people.

Some of the conversations I’ve been having lately have centered on this like, “No one has any idea what they’re doing.” I’m like, “Good God, thank you.” I’m so happy that people are saying that and being more open about it because we don’t know. We know what other people have done, but that’s not what I’ve done. It doesn’t matter. If someone’s looking at your brand, you have such a beautiful feed. I’m sure you spend lots of time curating it. Somebody could come to your page and be like, “She’s perfect. Her brand is perfect.” What would you say to somebody who is worried about trying to keep up this image? It is so much of who you are. If they look at yours and be like, “If I have to look like that or I have to be perfect, then I have to bend myself in those crazy positions that you’re able to do.” What would you say to someone who is worried about something like that?

This has been heavy on my heart lately. When I started Instagram, the branding and my company, things were still like old advertising, which was my forte. I modeled for twenty years and I knew all the tricks on how you sell things. That’s why I always wanted to have a deeper message. This has been heavy on my heart because it’s tricky because I don’t want to be Debbie Downer and depressing either. When I’m doing a bendy pose or something, I am literally thinking to people and I try and say this message without saying the same exact message every time, “I did not walk for a year.” 60% of people are considered completely disabled with my diagnosis. I can do a back bend. I want people to expand their brain and not be in these little boxes as far as the beauty stuff and perfection.

I did my first video at 40 years old with no makeup. That was a huge thing for me. The lighting was good. I had a good video girl. It was a vulnerable moment for me. It was important for me to share that. I do want to go more towards that way of being authentic and being natural like how I am in real life. It’s so tricky with Instagram. It is in social media. 75% of my sales come from Instagram. I feel like I have a very short window to get people’s attention, but I’m working on that. That’s the thing too is I’m a work in progress. I’m constantly trying to evolve and go with the times. What’s happening right now is people are too perfect that imperfections are going to become more beautiful. All the filters and everything, the pendulum is going to swing the other way. The imperfections are what’s going to be beautiful.

If you had to predict where your brand or brand image is headed, is that more in line with what you’re hoping to look for?

I am. Originally when I started the branding, I almost thought more of the Victoria Secret vibe. You’re a goddess. You’re going to look like a goddess. You’re going to be a goddess. I’ve always wanted people to love themselves. Sometimes it can be contradicting if the message is a beautiful woman with a great photographer and great makeup and everything. I don’t want people to feel bad about themselves. It is definitely somewhere I am going but it’s all loving, all accepting. I did this project with my girlfriend. I dealt with this a lot when I was younger because I was pretty. I modeled and stuff.

We did this message. I see this happen a lot with women where if a model who some would be perceived has a perfect body is wearing lingerie and posing, she could be considered not slutty or whatever she’s selling herself short. If a heavier set woman does the same exact thing, she’s empowering. I even want to get rid of that. I want everybody to be all loving, all-encompassing, no matter shape, size, skin or whatever. Own who you are. That’s what it’s all about. Whatever it is that you have to offer, once you embrace it, I feel like that’s when everything happens. Your life starts coming together. Your life aligns with you. It’s when we try and be other people is when we misfire.

Do some rewiring if you have any negative thoughts about yourself. Click To Tweet

I love the way that your brand is moving. That it’s important to get rid of those barriers, these labels that we’re putting on other people and focus them back on ourselves. How do we love ourselves a little bit more? As someone who would be a role model to lots of people, especially on Instagram and on your social media feeds and in your book and whatnot, who do you look up to? Who do you see a role model in your own life?

I was raised on Oprah, but do you mean in my personal life?

Yeah.

I always talk about my cousin. She’s not in my life that much now, but she planted so many seeds when I was a kid that made me who I am now. She started yoga in the ‘80s. She gave me my first bottle of essential oil. We were always doing witchy things in the tent on her dad’s farm. She planted all these seeds. I’ve always looked up to her. She has this Mother Earth goddess vibe. You feel safe when you’re around her. She’s definitely somebody that I’ve always looked up to. I can’t say any one person now. When I think of people that I look up to, it’s people in general in my life that have gone through some nasty things and have decided to be an amazing human despite it. I love and adore those people because they break all the barriers. They make you feel ridiculous for complaining little daily things.

It’s exactly the same message. It’s what you see in others is what’s within yourself. For you to see that in the people in your life, that’s your message as well. I love that you’re able to highlight that in other people. The next question I have is what is something that you wish more people knew about you?

I’m way cooler in person. It’s the whole thing that people perceive that I have everything. It’s not that anything comes easy to me. I work my ass off. I’m self-funded. I’ve been on my own since I was seventeen. I raised my son entirely on my own financial and otherwise. I have a debilitating disease. I don’t complain about it. People think that because I don’t complain about it, that I don’t have any trials or tribulations. I choose to focus on the good stuff.

We can all take lessons from that in our own lives as things come up. Just because we’re not focused on them, it doesn’t mean that they’re not happening. You’re choosing a different path. I feel like I could talk to you for days. Where can people find you if they want to learn more about you? Can you share where you’d like people to go?

Instagram, @JesseGolden is probably where I post most often. @TheGoldenSecrets on Instagram and the website. I still do a blog on there at TheGoldenSecrets.com. You can pretty much find everything in those three places.

What is the name of the product that I got?

It’s Beauty Face Oil Serum.

I love the smell. I’m using it. I’m a big skincare person. I love trying new things. I bought two bottles. If this episode were broadcasted to the entire world for 30 seconds, what would you say?

 

I would say that I believe that we’re all in this together and that what affects one of us eventually affects all of us. The more positive vibration we put into the world, the more we raise the vibration of the whole. We need to come back to love. That starts with loving yourself. That’s the foundation for everything thereafter.

Jesse, thank you so much. Having you on here and hearing more about your story, it’s so inspiring to so many people. I love that you have a platform through which you can share your message of inspiration, of beauty, of loving yourself and the daily rituals and practices that you put out. Thank you. I appreciate you being here.

Thank you so much for having me and allowing me to share a little bit of my story.

You’re always welcome anytime. Thank you again.

—

We’re in the second round of the after-hours conversation with Jesse Golden. Jesse, what is the greatest strategy, tool or resource that you’ve integrated in the past three years or so that have had a significant impact on the growth of your business?

It’s the affiliation program.

Talk to me about that.

The one I use is called Refersion. It’s great because other people that are already using your products, your customers, they can easily join and then they share through their social platforms or with their family and then they earn a commission. That brings new customers to your site.

I have never heard of that.

You have a bunch of little busy bees out there that already love your brand and they share it. It’s a win-win because they make a commission.

What is the biggest mistake that you see brands or creators making as it relates to building a business or brand?

People are too perfect that imperfections are going to become more beautiful. Click To Tweet

Not having a clear message.

What is one action step that someone could make now who wants to build a product-based business?

Start sharing, start creating the audience even before you have the product. With social media, start creating the brand.

What is one tip you could give someone to improve their social media following?

Be authentic and don’t overthink it.

That’s so important because you can get lost in the day-to-day.

I do it myself. Most of the things I share, it’s advice I need to take myself.

When people approach you about growing their business, what is the most commonly asked question and how do you respond?

They don’t know how to do it or how do you do it? That’s the biggest assumption people have, is that people think that we come back to the same space that we know what we’re doing. It’s not that we know what we’re doing, it’s that we work hard to figure it out. If I don’t know something, then I research it. I figure it out and I’d get it done. Keep moving forward. Keep chugging along.

What is one thing that my community can do to help you spread your message?

Join my affiliate program. When you go to my website, you can sign up for my newsletter, you get 15% off your first order. Share the message. I’m a huge advocate. I read this quote and it stuck with me. It says, “You are where you spend your money.” It does matter what companies you are supporting. Supporting female businesses or businesses that are eco-friendly or environmentally friendly that are giving back is important. All of that does energetically affect you so support small business.

Thank you so much for taking the time to do that. I know there’s been so much good stuff. I’m going to research that affiliate tool. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Important Links:

• Jesse Golden
• UnbecomingPodcast.com/Community
• UnbecomingPodcast.com/Success
• Unbecomingpodcast.com/Golden
• The Golden Secrets
• The Golden Secrets
• The Four Agreements
• The Golden Secrets Blog
• Instagram – @JesseGolden
• Instagram – @TheGoldenSecrets
• TheGoldenSecrets.com
• Refersion
• Beauty Face Oil Serum

About Jesse Golden

Devoted Mother, model, Hatha yoga teacher, holistic health practitioner, author and founder of The Golden Secrets, Jesse Golden has used her multi-faceted career as a platform to inspire and empower people all over the world. Jesse’s accomplishments began at an early age, when, as a child, she became a ballerina in her Mother’s dance studio. After putting the debilitating disease rheumatoid arthritis into remission through natural methods, Jesse has established herself as the face of hope in the health and fitness industry. She continues to thrive despite her diagnosis.

Not having the ability to answer all the emails and calls she receives from people asking for help, Jesse started The Golden Secrets to share the tools and tips that she has acquired, both from her journey back to health and through her life experiences. Jesse believes that every challenge we encounter is an opportunity for us to create more light for ourselves and for our world. The Golden Secrets is about health, beauty, fitness, parenting, spirituality, environmentalism, elevating consciousness, and empowering you to find your own path to fulfillment and optimal wellness.