We recently connected with Jill Arena and have shared our conversation below.

Jill, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you come up with the idea for your business?

It was the late summer of 2020 and I was sitting on my bedroom floor in New York City. I was in the process of my new morning ritual which consisted of building an altar, doing yoga, meditation, card pulling and journaling. At the time, I will still virtually working as an Executive Assistant for a biotech start up, soon to be married in my parents backyard and planning a swift move to my mother’s hometown in North Carolina. In the chaos of COVID-19, my fiancé had lost his job, we were living within blocks of a hospital and I began to dive deep into learning more about the many tools of spirituality as a way to not only process and cope with our new reality, but to also better understand the many new spiritual gifts that were starting to come to me as deep inner knowings.

As a child, I was deeply aware of the spiritual world around us and luckily for me, it was safely encouraged by my mother as I gave her messages from loved ones who had passed on. For instance, it was well known in our home that a cardinal represented a great grandmother, and if she spoke to me in a dream or during my play, my mother was happy to know she was around protecting and loving us from afar. As a young adult, I had more than a few instances of being visited by the spirits of my family, all of which were welcomed not only by me, but also by those who I shared the stories with.

When the pandemic hit, the spiritual world quickly got louder. I was no longer just in occasional contact with my loved ones, I was also now in communication with spirits I had never met. I had begun dabbling in hosting private sessions on just a few close people in my life and was beginning to put together a plan to become trained in modalities such as reiki, yoga, meditation and more.

Through my new morning ritual, I was able to cultivate a grounded sense of confidence as I took care of myself emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually. This time spent in mindful practice had become one of the only places in my new daily life where I could find peace, hope and a sense of safety given all that was happening in the outside world around me.

It was one morning that August when I picked up my journal and my business idea began flowing out of me. With clarity, confidence and trust in something larger than myself, I was able to write out that my soul would only be content in working for myself with the purpose of supporting others in their healing. I meditated on what I could offer and my morning ritual immediately came to mind. I knew that my morning ritual would be the basis of what I would create space and ultimately offer guidance for my future clients. I was sure in that moment that a business had been born.

Jill, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

As a Spiritual Advisor, I work with a wide range of intuitive tools to support my clients along their journey. With a number of certifications such as reiki master, 200-hour yoga teacher, 100-hour meditation teacher and a slew of intuitive gifts such as mediumship and animal communication, my services have a wide range of capabilities.

I work with both humans and animals, and also communicate with those who have passed on to the other side. Each one of my sessions is tailored to the individual, their goals, needs and specific life scenarios and calls upon the many modalities listed above. Majority of my clients see me on a regular weekly basis or months or years on end, allowing us to form a deep bond and giving them an opportunity to feel secure along their healing journey.

Clients come to me with a wide range of hopes and goals. I meet regularly with business owners, executives, new parents and those in their late 20’s. My clients sit along a spectrum of age, but are all highly driven, motivated and open minded individuals.

With an emphasis on empowerment, confidence building and consistency, my clients have been able to achieve massive life-altering goals such as pregnancy, home ownership, new career opportunities and financial strength. Most of all, my clients have been able to find a large sense of trust, confidence and peace within their every day lives. Many of them have gone on to train or enter into mentorship with me and now either have their own spiritual practices or blooming spiritual business.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

My now full time business was a side hustle for about a year and a half while I worked a corporate job as an Executive Assistant. I would see clients before work, during lunch breaks and even after work. I accidentally found my first clients simply by word of mouth when I finished my second reiki training. I posted that I needed to practice for free on some people in order to complete my training, and quickly I was told “I would love to do this weekly. How much would you charge for that?”

From there I build out weekly programs, and word began to spread. I met people virtually for an hour or two on a weekly basis for $75 a session. I enjoyed the work so much that I didn’t mind giving them more of my time. I felt I was benefitting from our sessions too, as I got to learn more and more about how to guide and the other modalities people has interest in.

Towards the beginning of 2022 the world was re-opening and my company asked me to either move back to New York, or to Canada. Both of which I was not open to. Luckily for me and my business, I had already began saving up some money to go full time, I just wasn’t sure when.

By this point, I had some major clients signing up for 3-6 month programs to work with me weekly. I had introduced new modalities, such as mediumship and reiki trainings. I completed my 200 hour yoga certification and really began to take my business more seriously. I invested in learning how to brand myself, build a website, bought an LLC and hit my baselines of being a business owner all with a mentor I trusted deeply.

When I was informed that come June 2022 my company would no longer be able to pay me to work remotely, I was also able to collect severance and keep my laptop; 2 key factors in going full time into my business. I had my new website up and running, clients were booking and I was already fully in love with the work I was doing. I took it as a divine sign from the Universe that June 2022 was my time, and I went with it!

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

The idea that working a 9-5 where productivity and being over-booked is the only way to achieve the lifestyle you want is the biggest lie I was ever fed. Even before college, I was told that showing up for work 5-7 days a week no matter what what happening in my body, my life or my mental health was the only way to feel safe and secure. This mindset tormented me for years and ultimately, I know now, that my body was rejecting it.

Working for myself and often with other women, I have chosen to build my business around my own body’s cycles, the seasons and my joy. I know when is the time to be creative, when the time is to hunker down and handle baselines such as finances or emails. I know that summer will be slower and that fall and winter people are more willing to turn inward towards their healing. I also know to not force myself to do anything that feels off, like a burden or that goes against what my mind, body and soul are asking for. \

Through this decision to live and flow within my natural working cycles, I have also admitted that I am not good at everything, nor should I be. As an Executive Assistant in the corporate world, you are made to wear whatever hat is needed at the time. The pressure of that version of the unknown added to my anxiety, depression and stress so much that I lost who I was. Now, I am more than happy to fully admit my weaknesses; I have learned when to ask for help, when to hire additional support and when to delegate.

Owning a feminine, heart-lead business rather than working a fast-paced 9-5 has allowed me to reclaim my health and ultimately, achieve even more than I thought I could.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jill-arena.com
• Instagram: @iam_jillarena

Image Credits

Photos by Porsh
The Photo Brief