Hot Flashes, Carpools, and Dirty Martinis
Juju Hook is a consultant, coach, and speaker. For more than a quarter-century, she developed brand strategies for corporations. Today, through online programs, live events, and one-to-one coaching, Juju motivates, inspires, and educates PrimeTime women in topics related to business, life, and relationships.
After launching a successful online branding program and blog at 48 and developing a following of more than 50,000 fans, Juju Hook launched her book, Hot Flashes, Carpools, and Dirty Martinis: The Quintessential Guide for Turning Midlife Into PrimeTime. The book targets an audience of middle-aged women hungry for tools to help them re-invent themselves and answer their call to contribute in a new way.
You can find her branding blog at StrategicJuju.com and her program for PrimeTime women at PositivelyPrimeTime.com.
What We Discuss with Juju Hook:
- The impetus behind writing her book
- The decision to show up in her book
- What is PrimeTime?
- The power of self-affirmations
- We are not our thoughts.
- Signs women are ready to make the shift
- Juju’s book writing process
- Listening to your calling
[02:55] The Impetus Behind Writing Her Book
When she was approaching 50 years old, she had a breakdown followed by a breakthrough. She had an altercation with her son that caused his son to climb out the window and run away under the pouring rain.
She managed to drive her son to school and the school noticed he was soaking wet. This caused the school’s principal to call her out. Juju was so concerned about her son being worried about not doing his homework and being mediocre forever.
Juju realized that what she believed about “the middle of life from 50 on” were not true. And she woke up to the idea that it was her time and her son was going to leave. She was more qualified, more intuitive, more insightful, and more ready than she had ever been to do something really big. She couldn’t hide anymore. And so that was what precipitated the book.
The anti-aging industry wants to sell solutions to a problem we don’t have.
Juju’s book was a journey for her. She went out and talked to hundreds of midlife women and almost everybody believed some form of the lies she believed to some extent. Women are plagued by those lies. But the older we get, the less we get worse.
[09:21] The Decision to Show Up in the Book
Before the book, Juju was writing all about branding, brand strategy for entrepreneurs, and brand strategy for small businesses. She wasn’t sharing a whole lot about herself.
And the book changed things for her. It allowed her to identify a group of people she wanted to serve and what her real purpose was. Now, her level of joy is at an all-time high.
It’s not just about how much of you do you show, but about how much do you show the people around you who are part of your story.
Juju was motivated to tell stories of strong women she knew who were rocking primetime. And that process was very vital for her especially that it was storytelling time for her.
[12:14] What is PrimeTime?
A lot of us come to the end of 25-30-year careers, and there’s this big question about what’s left.
If we perceive it as a time of loss, that’s exactly how we’ll experience it. If we perceive it as an opening to show up for our best shows ever, then that’s the way we experience it.
Juju has a group online called PrimeTime Posse, of 1000 women who are all in their prime time and a private group of women who are really going to the next level with their brands. She’s just elated to see these women step into their biggest shows to be the star.
[15:00] Sorting Ideas for Her Book
When you tell a story or you write a piece of ad copy or a website, you’re essentially taking people from A to B. And you ask the question, what do I want for people? What do I need this to achieve?
Juju attempted to drive a point home about lies that women have been told about midlife such as:
- I’m irrelevant.
- I’m running out of time.
- I have extenuating circumstances that prevent me from doing this.
- I don’t have any more capacity.
Then she included the sensory details to get readers to have the experience. She wants women to realize that they’re not losing value as they age and that now’s the time to step up.
[20:23] The Power of Self-Affirmations
Talking to yourself in the mirror allows you to look at yourself. Talk to yourself and also label yourself in a positive way. Then remind yourself that life loves you because the universe has your back.
There are two ways to go through life – (1) believing that everybody’s doing the best they can with what they have to work with at any given moment and (2) believing that everything’s hard and everybody’s out to get you.
If you believe the first one, you get over stuff a lot faster. You can forgive people a lot faster, you can let things go a lot faster, and you can move on a lot faster.
[25:16] Overcoming Self-Doubt and Insecurity
We are not our thoughts. And especially insecure thoughts, they’re not based on truth. For every thought that we have, there are 1,000 other alternative thoughts that we could have. They’re transient. They always go away.
Learn to see things and not wrap a big story around it. Not validating the thoughts with the feelings is very freeing.
Insecurity is not going away. It’s going to keep coming back for the rest of your life, especially when it’s time to do something harder to go next level or to try something new. And you’re not going to defeat it. You just have to recognize that it will come to an end and it doesn’t have any meaning.
It’s our thoughts that make us suffer and that cause suffering. Even if there’s no change in the situation, if you have a shift in the meaning that you are subscribing to the situation, you will suffer less and you will experience less pain.
Episode Resources:
Get to know more about Juju Hook on www.jujuhook.com or follow her on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Join their Facebook Group PrimeTime Posse.
Juju’s branding blog StrategicJuju.com and her program for PrimeTime women at PositivelyPrimeTime.com.
Link to her book on Amazon: Hot Flashes, Carpools, and Dirty Martinis: The Quintessential Guide for Turning Midlife Into PrimeTime
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