My Thoughts on Resilience: Read “Meet Jennifer Jacobs,” an Interview by Bold Journey


Meet Jennifer Jacobs

August 4, 2023

We recently connected with Jennifer Jacobs and have shared our conversation below.

Jennifer, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
I’m pretty sure that my resilience comes from my deep roots here on this 5th generation farm. Without the resilience of my family in the past, the farm wouldn’t have lasted this long. Through hard times, sickness, poor times, strife, farm failures, and the whole myriad of problems that you can encounter on a farm, you just have to keep going. You just have to keep tending to everything that needs tended to. In any weather, and no matter what else is going on, and no matter how you feel, you have to keep doing as much as you can each day. And that constant push just builds resilience. The longer you do it, the more resilent you are.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I have a large farmstand where I provide local farm goods. I’m currently working on a farmstand expansion and I’m excited about that. I can’t wait to keep growing and have more space so I can share more of my farm products with the community, as well as other wonderful handmade stuff from other amazing local farmers, homesteaders, growers and makers.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
1. Keep going. Don’t stop moving forward. Do as much as you possibly can each day to move towards your goal, even if it doesn’t feel like you’re getting anywhere. It may be slow, but you are still moving forward.

2. Social media. Post often even if it feels like no one is watching your posts. Just keep building that page every day and don’t stop.

3. If something is not working for you, stop doing it. Maybe you thought that a certain product was going to be the core product for your business but it’s not working out, or not profitable enough, or no one is buying it. Try something else instead.

Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
I’m overwhelmed all the time. There is so much to do here on the farm with the business, the livestock, the land, the house, and my toddler. So when I’m overwhelmed I just pick something and I do it. Getting things done makes me feel like I’m making progress.

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