Behind the Build Podcast

Jazmin.jmv
  • 5.0 (6)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Weekly

Building a multi-passionate life, scaling brands, launching dreams, and sharing the truth about the journey. jazminjmv.substack.com

  1. 6d ago

    13 Years In and I Finally Let Go

    You can be doing fine and not be okay. I was getting out of bed. I was making my bed. I was getting work done. And every single morning… I was talking myself into the day. This episode is deeply honest. I talk about the season I didn’t want to name, why I refused to call it what it was, and the thing I finally had to take accountability for: I trained the people around me to not recognize when I needed support, because I never asked for it. I also talk about what came after. The clarity. The community I didn’t know I needed that badly. What I finally let go of, and what it made room for. 13 years as a full-time entrepreneur. This was the hardest one. And I’m still here. Just because you know how to swim doesn’t mean you won’t drown. You don’t always get a big flame. Sometimes you just get a spark, and the job is keeping it alive until it’s a flame again. That’s what the last few months have been. Keep showing up. Keep going. Keep following the spark. Keep getting s**t done. PS. If you didn’t know, Substack Accelerator doors are open and we start 8.18. More details on my IG: jazmin.jmv https://www.instagram.com/jazmin.jmv/ Get full access to Behind the Build at jazminjmv.substack.com/subscribe

    13 Years In and I Finally Let Go

  2. Aug 5

    I’m Not Who I Was, but I’m Not Who I’m Becoming Yet. WTF Do I Do Now?

    My life is changing faster than I have the words to explain it. I could tell you about the projects. The app that’s slowly coming to life. The coaching programs that continue to evolve. The conversations happening behind closed doors. The ideas scribbled across notebooks and notes. But none of those things really capture what’s changing. I can explain the feeling a little better. For over a decade, my life revolved around building other people’s dreams. I stepped into businesses and treated them like they were my own. I obsessed over strategy, growth, systems, launches, and opportunities. I cared deeply about the people behind the brands, and I think that’s exactly what made me good - great - at what I do. I wasn’t clocking in and clocking out. I was invested. I wanted to see people win. More soon. xx Jaz @jazmin.jmv Get full access to Behind the Build at jazminjmv.substack.com/subscribe

    I’m Not Who I Was, but I’m Not Who I’m Becoming Yet. WTF Do I Do Now?

  3. Jul 30

    I Had Been Preparing for This Longer Than I Realized

    When I wrote When Preparation Meets Opportunity , I was reflecting on the work that happens before anyone is watching. Since then, I have had the chance to see what that preparation makes possible. In this episode, I share the unexpected encounter with a stranger, and the moments that reminded me that impact is not measured by the size of the room. The stage did not create the message. It revealed the work I had already done. Months of writing, documenting, reflecting, and learning how to communicate what I believe prepared me to be present when the opportunity arrived. None of that work felt significant while I was doing it. It gave me the language and confidence I needed when the stage appeared. Some of the moments that have been the most impactful or significant have not happened on a stage. And although this experience gave me the privilege of speaking in a theater, I also think back to that moment on the street. It reminded me to give the compliment, share your gifts, and pour into other people. You never know what someone is carrying or what your words of encouragement might mean to them. So if there is anything you take away from today, it is to share. In this episode, I talk about: * What speaking at Femland taught me about preparation and presence * Why writing became part of my preparation (and why I love Substack for this reason alone) * The encounter with a stranger that changed how I think about affirmation * Why meaningful impact cannot always be measured by audience size * How kind words, recognition, and genuine attention can shape someone’s day * Why every milestone deserves to be experienced before we rush toward what comes next The Substack Accelerator opens in August. If you have been thinking about starting a Substack, growing your audience, and making money from what you know, this is for you. I’m sharing the process I’ve used to turn my ideas into content, grow my subscribers, and build offers people want to buy. You already know something worth sharing. I’m going to help you package it, publish it, and get paid for it. https://jmvjaz.com/shop/48ca7bf6-4ef2-4fc1-8a53-9d7bedbe5e01?pageViewSource=lib_view&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fjmvjaz.com%2F&show_back_button=true xoxo Jaz Get full access to Behind the Build at jazminjmv.substack.com/subscribe

    I Had Been Preparing for This Longer Than I Realized

  4. Jul 23

    My First Business: What Still Works 10 Years Later

    I’m bringing this episode back because it’s been a trending question lately. What did I do 10 years ago to build my first business, and what still applies today? I’m deep in teacher mode right now. I’ve been sharing so much more here about the years behind the wins, the decisions I made before I knew exactly what I was doing, and the lessons that only became clear after building, growing, pivoting, and starting again. There’s a lot I can see now that I couldn’t fully explain when I was living it. I want to go back and connect those dots for you. Not just tell you what I built, but show you how I thought, what worked, what didn’t, and what I would carry into a business today. So if you haven’t read or heard this story yet, this is a good place to start. Stay tuned for more lessons about not only what I built, but how I built it, coming right here for my subscribers. If you’re building your first business, your second, or working toward seven figures, I would love to know where you are and what you’re trying to figure out. I want what I share here to be useful, so your questions will help shape what I teach next. The fact that you trust me with a place in your inbox means a lot. I read your replies, and I’ll do what I can to help. I’m forever grateful that I landed here with you. xoxo Jaz Get full access to Behind the Build at jazminjmv.substack.com/subscribe

    My First Business: What Still Works 10 Years Later

  5. Jul 16

    Building Through a Hard Season

    In this episode, I’m sharing an honest update from the middle of a major transition. I talk about bringing Dot Mode into beta, building the app differently with the lessons I learned from LTTA, and what it looks like to create something with longevity in mind. I also get into the personal side of this season, from showing up consistently online to navigating grief, friendship, community, and the desire to build a space where ambitious women feel understood and supported. This is a real time look at what I’m building, what I’m learning, and why I still believe I’m on the right path. TTYL, JAZ Get full access to Behind the Build at jazminjmv.substack.com/subscribe

    Building Through a Hard Season

  6. Jul 9

    Pivots Don’t Mean You’re Lost

    The path in front of you may feel like it’s shape shifting. Like the five year plan you meticulously outlined all of a sudden has new lanes, new opportunities, new ideas. Things you never expected to become such a large part of your world begin pulling at your attention. Things you once thought were permanent begin evolving into something else entirely. It’s all very exciting. But if there is one thing new usually brings, it’s letting go of old. More on @Behindthebuild Stay Connected: @jazmin.jmv https://www.instagram.com/jazmin.jmv/ Get full access to Behind the Build at jazminjmv.substack.com/subscribe

    Pivots Don’t Mean You’re Lost

  7. Jul 1

    Is Depression a Dirty Word?

    an intimate letter, to myself and you. xo The fires have been put out. The smoke has started to clear, though it still hangs in the air long enough to remind me where it came from. The residue settles into places I don’t expect, revealing itself only when I think it’s finally gone. The sunlight feels different after months of smoke. At first, the glimmers become your focus. You cling to them because they remind you life is finding its way back. Then the light keeps moving. It reaches the places it couldn’t before. The places the smoke had hidden while your attention belonged somewhere else. As the haze lifts, you begin to see what the fire actually touched. It wasn’t one event. It rarely is. It was the accumulation. Family crisis, and the financial demands that arrive alongside it. Relationships that shifted beneath my feet. Disappointments I didn’t know how to make sense of. The kind of season where every time I thought I could exhale, life asked me to hold my breath a little longer. It wasn’t until the smoke began to clear that I could finally see what the fire had left behind. Looking back, I don’t think there was a single moment. No day where I woke up and realized something had changed. It happened so gradually that I kept finding new explanations. I was tired. It had been a hard year. Things would settle soon. Once this was over, I’d feel like myself again. The story kept changing, but the ending stayed the same. Tomorrow would be easier. Maybe that’s what happens when you’re carrying too much for too long. You stop checking in with yourself because there’s always something asking for your attention first. The people you love. The responsibilities that don’t care whether you have the capacity to carry them. There was one word that kept finding its way back. I’d catch it for a second, then immediately replace it with something else. Burnout. Grief. Stress. Exhaustion. A hard season. Anything but that. Growing up, it was never just a word. It carried history. It carried fear. It carried people I loved. Somewhere along the way, I convinced myself it belonged to someone else. Someone who couldn’t get out of bed. Someone who had stopped trying. Someone who had given up. Not the woman who kept showing up. The one people called resilient. The one who always figured it out. The one who could carry everyone else, but never seemed to need carrying herself. If I’m honest, part of me believed it happened to people who had stopped fighting. I was still fighting. No one ever told me those two things could exist at the same time. So I reached for words that felt easier to hold. Words that sounded temporary. Words that didn’t ask me to question who I believed myself to be. Because if I could explain it away, I never had to ask the question I was most afraid of answering. Mine felt layered. Grief woven into exhaustion. Disappointment tangled with hope. Moments of genuine joy existing beside a heaviness I couldn’t quite explain. Looking for the light wasn’t denial. It was survival. When the air is thick with smoke, you don’t stand still trying to understand the fire. You keep moving. Toward the light. Toward the people. Toward whatever reminds you there is still something worth protecting. Then the smoke begins to lift. The light stretches across the landscape, revealing what it had been holding back. The trees that won’t bloom again. The ground forever changed by heat. The places that can be rebuilt. The places that cannot. There is a different kind of grief in that. Not the grief of living through the fire. The grief of finally seeing what it left behind. It wasn’t the fire that stayed with me. It was the residue. The heaviness that lingered long after the flames were gone. It settled into ordinary moments. The space between waking up and getting out of bed. The pause before answering a text. The extra effort it took to reach for a hopeful thought. It wasn’t the absence of hope. Hope was always there. It just felt further away. Therapy has a way of handing you words you weren’t looking for. Not all at once. Sometimes months after you first hear them. Sometimes long after you’ve stopped resisting them. One of those words was about being held. Beneath all that independence was a longing I’d never learned how to ask for. To be held. To be supported. To let someone carry me for a little while. For most of my life, I didn’t know what that felt like. Survival teaches you many things. How to adapt. How to endure. How to carry more than you should. Then I met my husband. He introduced me to a kind of love I didn’t know existed. One where being held wasn’t something you had to earn. One where support wasn’t transactional. One where I could finally put something down without feeling like I had failed. What I didn’t realize was that I had only learned to receive that love from him. Everywhere else, I was still the capable one. Still the resilient one. Still the woman who needed very little. And I think that’s part of how the heaviness took root without me naming it. When you’ve taught everyone around you that you don’t need anything, there’s no one positioned to notice when you start to sink. The support that might have caught it earlier had nowhere to land. I had spent years teaching the people around me that I didn’t need anything. It wasn’t their fault. When you spend enough years convincing people you’re okay, they eventually believe you. The hardest part is realizing that after years of teaching people you don’t need anything, they don’t know what it looks like when you finally do. Maybe that’s what this season revealed. Not that I needed people. That I always had. I’ve walked this landscape more times than I can count. Each pass revealing something I couldn’t see the one before. Maybe that’s what healing is. Not arriving at an answer. Having the courage to keep looking. For months, I searched for every explanation except the one that frightened me most. Not because one word could ever carry everything this season has been. It can’t. Not the family crisis. Not the financial weight that followed. Not the disappointments. Not the love that carried me. Not the friendships I found myself longing for. Not the version of myself I’m still getting to know. One word could never hold an entire landscape. But sometimes one word is enough to stop running. Depression. Maybe it isn’t a dirty word after all. Maybe it was simply the hardest word for me to believe could ever belong to my story. The fire eventually stopped burning. The smoke continues to clear. The landscape doesn’t look the way it did before. Neither do I. Forests don’t spend their lives trying to become what they were before the fire. They learn how to grow from what remains. To anyone who’s been searching for another word… I see you. With love, Jaz Get full access to Behind the Build at jazminjmv.substack.com/subscribe

    Is Depression a Dirty Word?

  8. Jun 24

    Less anxiety, and the app idea that came out of it.

    My relationship with time is… honestly kind of a thing. It’s not just about being on time. It’s about the anxiety that comes with constantly wondering if I’m running late, if I should go now, if I’ve missed the window, if I’m about to spiral because I got absorbed in something for five minutes too long. Weirdly enough, the thing that changed enough for me was a set of tiny clocks. I put one in my closet. One on my nightstand. One in the shower. And I know that sounds absurd, but the relief I felt when I could actually see the time especially in the shower was unreal. That little shift made me realize this wasn’t just a convenience thing. It was a calm thing. A peace of mind thing. That’s what led me back to dot mode, the app I’m building to help people track time in a way that feels gentler. It gives you gradual countdown alerts, so it’s not just one harsh alarm at the last second. It’s more like little nudges that say, hey, this is coming, you’ve got this. And honestly, that’s kind of how I’m building everything right now. Messy af. In real time… Figuring out what I’m making, why I’m making it, and who I’m even making it for. I don’t have the whole thing mapped out, and I’m okay with that more than I thought I would be. If you’ve ever felt like you’re building your life while still trying to understand yourself, this episode is probably going to feel very familiar. xo, Jaz @jazmin.jmv Get full access to Behind the Build at jazminjmv.substack.com/subscribe

    Less anxiety, and the app idea that came out of it.
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5
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About

Building a multi-passionate life, scaling brands, launching dreams, and sharing the truth about the journey. jazminjmv.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Jazmin.jmv
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    21
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Jazmin Mercado
  • Show Website
    Behind the Build Podcast