A conversation with Jillian Rothschild-Scholar, a classically trained Feng Shui expert and founder of Feng Shui in Motion, a private consultancy based on the wisdom of ancient, time-tested systems.
Jillian Rothschild-Scholar is a classically trained Feng Shui expert. She founded Feng Shui in Motion, a private consultancy, to help ambitious people who feel like there’s something off in their lives or businesses get clarity, achieve balance and take action to get the results they desire.
Jillian shares that, growing up in the Midwest, she was a pretty unconventional kid. She found herself drawn to alternative modalities, such as herbs, tarot cards and horoscopes, even at a young age. Jillian grew up in a single parent home, having lost her mother when she was a young girl, and so was searching for clarity to address some of her doubts and insecurities.
Jillian had a multi-decade career in university admissions. At the same time, she was voraciouly devouring any book she could find on Feng Shui, even taking a certification training. By the time she was laid off in a massive restructuring in 2019, she had a decade of study, practice, a side business, and strong accumulated financial resources to turn to for support.
"I was really in acceptance of it being an opportunity for me to shift. And transfer the skills that I had learned and build a business and help people in a totally different way using a similar skillset, but a different modality". Jillian Rothschild-Scholar
Key takeaways:
- When considering a career change, think of the skills you’ve developed in your previous career. Jillian had developed great people skills. She had spent many hours listening to people, learning to ask really good questions and identifying emotional cues that might be holding people back from making decisions, and what would they need to hear in order to feel confident to move forward.
- Don’t quit your day job. Jillian was practicing and studying Feng Shui and helping her friends for free, while continuing to work in university admissions for close to a decade before making it her full time job.
- Know that it takes trust and courage to go after the things that are really important to you. Jillian now, after living on this planet for a number of years, understands that she has tools and resources and gifts and talents that will enable her to withstand anything that life throws at her.
About the guest:
Jillian Rothschild-Scholar is a classically trained Feng Shui expert, and her foundational training is in the ancient wisdom of the over-400-year-old Wu Chang Feng Shui Mastery lineage.
She has been working in a private Feng Shui consultancy since 2010. She used the wisdom of ancient, time-tested methods, systems, and applications, while offering practical solutions for modern lifestyles to solve problems. One of her strengths is that she simplifies the intricate details so clients can take immediate action to enhance the physical, emotional, and/or spiritual aspects of their lives.
Facebook:- https://www.facebook.com/FengShuiJillian/
Linkedin:- https://www.linkedin.com/in/fengshuiinmotion/
Website:- http://www.fsinmotion.com/
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Jillian Rothschild Scholar: I was really in acceptance of it being an opportunity for me to shift. And transfer the skills that I had learned and build a business and help people in a totally different way using a similar skillset but a different modality.
Welcome to Making Change with Your Money. A podcast that highlights the stories and strategies of women who experienced a big life transition and overcame challenges as they redefined financial success for them. Now here's your host, certified financial planner, Laura
Laura Rotter: Rotter. My podcast guest today is Jillian Rothschild-Scholar.
Jillian, I am so excited to have you on the podcast today.
Jillian Rothschild Scholar: Thanks for inviting me. I'm looking forward to talking with you.
Laura Rotter: So Jillian is the founder of Feng Shui in Motion, and she's a Feng Shui expert, and it's really [00:01:00] a practice, as she describes it, that can help you bring better balance to your life and make informed choices.
So, Jillian, I'm so excited to learn about both. How you decided to found this business, what drew you to it and to have a better understanding of the journey that brought you here today? Before we start, I have a question I like to start the podcast with, that may inform our conversation as we move forward.
And that question is, what was money like in your family growing up?
Jillian Rothschild Scholar: So for me, money growing up in my family was the word that I would use in my family is frugal. So I actually grew up largely with a single father. Mm-hmm. And he was an active-duty serviceman for a number of years, and he became a reservist after my mother passed away. And because it was him raising two girls on a military salary on a [00:02:00] civilian, um, officer salary, it, he looked at every penny. Everything was calculated. There was definitely caution about sort of where our status was and what was good enough for us, and that left me with a, lot of lessons about how to handle money, how to balance checkbooks, and understand investing really appreciate luxury items and what was a need versus what was a want. Now, don't get me wrong, I ate well, I was safe, I was loved. I had affection. I mean, all of the things that needed to happen as a child, like I feel very, very grateful. And I know my father is like, unbelievably frugal to an nth degree that I never really fully understood until I read his Chinese astrology chart, which is part of my business, and that was my first exposure to understanding money.
Laura Rotter: I love that, that you read his Chinese astrology chart and that gave [00:03:00] you some more insight into Yes. Who he was and what motivated him and still does.
Jillian Rothschild Scholar: I can't get the old man to change like he's gonna stay in that house. He, I, this is a true story. Love my dad. He has a very old stove. Forget the placement of the stove, which is part of the work that I do in my feng.
Forget like the location, direction, orientation. That's all part of my business. I think the stove is over 25 years old. It's like an electric stove. The knobs are kind of janky. I'm like, dad, you know, last time I was, let's get you a new stove. Why do we need a new stove? That works just fine. I was like, no.You know, there's got some bells and whistles and you, you, the timer doesn't work. It's like a twist timer. Like a timer doesn't work. Dad, you can afford a new stove. Everybody wants to spend my money like he was going on and on. I, I was, everybody's trying to get me to spend my money. Okay, well cuz you make, uh, plenty, he has plenty of money and he can afford a new stove. And I think that he deserves nice things that are reliable and work. And I [00:04:00] don't have to worry about whether or not he's gonna leave a burner on, I can't get him to buy new stove. That's an example of how frugal this man is.
Laura Rotter: It is so true that especially if he did go through a period of financial hardship, it is so hard to shake that. I've found that. So much so. What kind of impact did that have on you, Jillian, and the decisions you've made? Starting with, I guess maybe, did you have a job, a first job that you remember growing?
Jillian Rothschild Scholar: Oh yeah. My first real paying job, I worked at a flower shop. I was really, really good at combining gift things. Like someone come and say, I want a dozen roses. I'd be like, let's get you a card with that. Let's get you some balloons to go with that. What about this? Nice, pretty extra bows, like I was really good at helping put together like a whole image so that they had an experience, and that was my first job. My dad had to drive me to and from that said job, it was at Flower Rama. I don't even know if that company still is [00:05:00] operated anymore, but I learned all about how to cut and process roses and.
Laura Rotter: Where did you grow up? Cuz you're in Arizona now,
Jillian Rothschild Scholar: but I'm in Arizona now. I was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio. The birthplace of aviation. My dad, who knew, who knew? Right. A nice Jewish girl from Ohio gets in the
How does that happen? Yeah, so I was born in, my dad was at the Air Force base working and I, we moved into that house when I was four or five. I'd have to go back and look at the exact date and, mm-hmm…he still owns that house. I grew up in that house. He still owns it. .
Laura Rotter: Wow. So you remember working at Flower Rama?
Oh yeah, I'm enjoying it. It sounds like also,
Jillian Rothschild Scholar: I think in hindsight, I didn't really enjoy it. I mean, I made the best of it cuz I needed to make money and I wanted to feel independent. Listen, I was growing up in the Midwest, it was like the Gap was the thing, right? And if you didn't have a Gap shirt in the social circle that I was in, it really wasn't considered good enough.
So in order for me to afford the things that I thought were trendy or would made me feel like I belonged, I [00:06:00] had to work. And so, cuz he was not buying me a shirt from the Gap. hat was not happening. And that's how, that's how I started working. It was a short-lived job, but it was the first actual job that I got.
Laura Rotter: So where'd you end up going to school? What was the, the next step along the way?
Jillian Rothschild Scholar: I was a pretty unconventional kid. I was not like a great academic student. I wasn't. Was not very disciplined. I never played an instrument. I, I was really interested in herbs and tarot cards and horoscopes and sort of anything different that I could get my hands on in the Midwest.
And so I went to the University of Toledo. I studied political science and, um, comparative European politics. So my first job at Flower Ramma led to like a series of other, you know, retail type jobs. And when I got to university, I took a job in the admissions office and we were on something called the Teleteam, and we worked for three hours, four days a week.[00:07:00] Calling prospective students just to like talk to them and say like, Hey, I'm a student here and this is my experience and this is why I think you should consider this school. And I worked in the admissions office for years. I took a job as a resident advisor so I could help pay for some of my education, even though bless my father, he had a college fund for me, but I was still going to a state school.
It wasn't the school of my choice. Like I had to make other choices about my educational experience. Mm-hmm. And so I had worked in the admissions office for all those years and when I was graduating with said degree, my bachelor's degree, my colleague was like, what are you gonna do? And I was like, how do I get your job?how do I get your job? Because you have a great job. Like I can do this job is I can do this really well. So actually I started applying all over the country and. I got my first job in California at a very small, tiny liberal arts college and that, and I spent the next 20 years in college admissions at various universities doing different things with different populations.[00:08:00]
Building, building a my skillset and I ended up making a ton of, well then in there, somewhere in there, right? I was in a self-help path and I was reading all of these kinds of self-help books and somewhere in there I picked up a book on feng. A friend of mine. Said to me like in the early 2,000s, 2000, 2002, I think she said that I brought her this book and I was like, this is what I wanna do, and um, this is what I'm doing.
So I just, we worked a day job, studied, practiced, met teachers, built my confidence, built a business slowly, slowly, slowly. And I studied Chinese astrology and I studied fei and I was applying all this techniques and I was doing it to my own life while I'm married. Having like just living right. and I was sort of like had golden handcuffs at this job because I was making like six figures and I was doing really, really well and I was coming home crying on a regular basis cause I hated it.
But I was making a ton of money and had to stay and I could see what was coming down the pipeline through all my experience. [00:09:00] I knew that there was gonna be a massive, I knew I couldn't stay like I was making so much money.
Laura Rotter: So, lemme stop you for a moment. Oh. So before you go on to the end of what was, you know, a decade or so of a career, I imagine two decades.
Jillian Rothschild Scholar: Two decades, yeah.
Laura Rotter: So there were two questions that came up for me. First of all, you said you were a weird kid in Ohio, interested in sort of off the path, more spiritual pursuits.
Jillian Rothschild Scholar: Yeah.
Laura Rotter: So Jillian, I'm wondering, first of all, how did you even hear of them to be interested in them?
Jillian Rothschild Scholar: Oh, okay. So I can answer that question.
Yeah. So the Dayton Daily News was the regular newspaper that came to our house and inside the newspaper was a page of comics, and then the other side, , the crossword puzzle and the horoscope, and I used to argue with my dad about who got the paper first because I wanted the horoscope and he wanted the crossword puzzle, which he still does to this day, and still gets the paper.
That's my first memory of being interested in [00:10:00] anything alternative because I was walking around in that time period of my life with all kinds of. The truth is, is I was in a single parent home, my mother had passed away, and I was a young girl and I was just walking around with doubt everywhere and feeling insecure, even though in hindsight it's really kind of unfounded.
But that, those are the feelings I had at the time. And so I was looking to anything to give me clarity about how, how things were gonna be.
Laura Rotter: Uh, so, so that's sounds reasonable. I mean, you did have a lot of uncertainty growing up and it's, and you were looking outside. For ways to start to answer this question of what will be.
Jillian Rothschild Scholar: Yeah.
Laura Rotter: And then so this multi-decade career in University admissions. What skills that you have do you feel you know, were used in that career? You stayed there long enough that it must have been something that you felt you were good at to have.
Jillian Rothschild Scholar: Well, I was good at it.
Laura Rotter: And when you look back, [00:11:00] like what skills are now, did you develop through that career that you're bringing into this new.
Jillian Rothschild Scholar: Before I spent hours and hours listening to people, I, I learned how to ask really good questions. I learned what close-ended questions are, what open-ended questions are. I learned to identify emotional cues behind what people are saying so that I can dig into what the challenge or obstacle may be that would hold someone back from making decisions.
Period. Just making decisions. Of course, the decision is please come to my university and say amazing program. What would that person need in order to help them make the informed choice that would make them feel confident about moving forward with said program or said institution? That's significant.
And I also learned that an experience starts with hello and it doesn't end at the, at the end of that phone call. So I had the gift of being able to help people go from the first handshake [00:12:00] and the first impression of the university through to the first day of class. So I helped them. Know more about the school, answer their questions, fill out their admissions application, go through the process of submitting any documents.
Because some of the programs I was working with were like doctorate programs where they needed to submit resume and letters of recommendation and essay and help them, and then help them go through the process of financial aid and identifying what kind of resources they have and how affordable it is, and any emotional stuff that came up with, oh my God, I have to take out an thousands of dollars loan to pursue my dream and is it gonna be worth it? And what am I gonna get in the end? And can I afford this? And it's incredibly emotional and we can see that now in the climate in America now, how many people took out loans, whether or not they can pay them back as a different story. And so then getting through them to accept their financial aid package and and agree to that process and actually go to class. I can't tell you how many people would go through their whole process and like not show up. It was like, why are you not in class? Get your, we went through [00:13:00] months of this go to class.
This is what you said you wanted. So sometimes it would be. Addressing the emotional challenges to get, getting people to stop procrastinating and going to move forward, and sort of giving 'em a little kick in the, the rear end to continue moving forward. So all of those really became very transferable skills to what I'm doing now.
It sounds like it really was. You were a liaison for these people through an entire process. You really got to build a relationship. So you're using people skills and you went into the detail of what you were doing. You're also doing very, you were doing very detailed work. Yes. Which sounds like something that you know you're good at.
So now at some point you got sick of it. So when did that happen?
Jillian Rothschild Scholar: So about halfway through my tenure as a admissions representative, I really got serious. I felt like I read every feng book that was on the shelf that I could get to my hands on. I was like going to the half price bookstore and I was like buying books for like a couple dollars and like eating them like snacks.
And I was just trying to [00:14:00] sift through all the information that is out there. And I had even done a certification training with my first teacher in a more Western Ngk perspective than. Practicing and helping my friends doing stuff for free and just, just getting some experience. And I learned pretty quickly that I was hungry for more information because I didn't really, really feel like the, the results were holding the way that I had expected them to.
And it also didn't correlate with what I knew was happening in other countries, so like big, huge corporations all over the world, international organizations use fei, but their buildings do not have UA mirrors on them to reflect negative energy of their competitor. That doesn't exist, and it doesn't make any sense that we should be putting that on our house.
That did not make any sense to me. So I really started to inquire with other practitioners and they introduced me to classical shui, which led me to my classical shui master teacher. I spent a year and a half doing private mentoring with her while I'm working my day job.. Taking my [00:15:00] time. doing the real work that it takes, mentoring with her taking cases.
Laura Rotter: Wow
Jillian Rothschild Scholar: And I had some really challenging cases when I was working with her. And I even said to her, I was like, why am I getting these crazy cases? And she's like, cuz you can handle it. Yeah. So by the time it was time for me to run my own business, I saw the writing on the wall. I knew that the company that I was working at was having problems.
People were unhappy. Things were falling through the cracks. The training wasn't what it used to be. The, the student quality wasn't coming through very well. The results weren't where they needed to be. The vibe was just off. It was rumored for a really long time that the people that were making a ton of money, i e, me and a handful of other people who were like the top 1% were gonna let go. Cause, cause the company could not survive. They just couldn't. With what was happening, you could see the writing on the wall.
Laura Rotter: So it wasn't a university, a university subcontracted out to your company.
Jillian Rothschild Scholar: There are for-profit colleges out there that are basically a company. And so I did spend a number of years at not “not-for-profit” colleges. Yeah. [00:16:00] And, um, I ended my college admissions career at a for-profit university.
Laura Rotter:: Thank you.
Jillian Rothschild Scholar: Um, and they paid me very well and I made them a lot of money, but it wasn't sustainable. I could see that it wasn't sustainable.
Laura Rotter: Nice.
Jillian Rothschild Scholar: And so, I was really prepared for, like, I could see what was going on in the company. I could see what's happening on my own Chinese astrology chart. So I wasn't really surprised and I was very prepared for the day that there was a massive layoff. It was hundreds of people. It wasn't like I was the top per 1%. And like they sent us an email and they're like, come down to this room, bring your badge.
You know, like there was no severance, there was not a penny of severance. It was shocking. No severance after I was with them. Over a decade. There wasn't a penny of severance. And I was prepared. Right. I was totally prepared and I was like,
Laura Rotter: what do you mean by prepared? I'm sorry. Were you
Jillian Rothschild Scholar: finding Cause I could see it.
Writing on the law, I knew that I was unhappy and it wasn't like a one week acceptance process. This was rumored for months. This had been going on for a really, really long time. So the process of getting into acceptance of, [00:17:00] well, if I'm not doing this, what would I. Left me in this place where as soon as we got laid off, I was like, it's my day.
I get to do what I love and I get to build my business. And I was like, I was ready to dash out the door. People were crying, rightfully so. Right? They weren't prepared. They have families like they're, I get it. Like I totally understand, but I was really in acceptance of it being an opportunity for me to and transfer the skills that I had learned and build a business and help people in a totally different way using a similar skillset, but a different modality. And that is part of what's incredibly gratifying because when you're looking for a college, you're looking for the right fit. In the work that I do, people are looking for the right fit of a practitioner or a consultant.
When there's a click and you can feel it. When there's a click, when there's a fit, it builds a relationship. And so I generally work with people over time. I have some people that I've been working with since then. and I have some clients that have shared their, like I have one [00:18:00] client who calls me his secret sauce. He's so cute. My secret sauce. I was like, really? You don't have to share. Keep it a secret. It's, I've got plenty of resources to go around. And he did start to share with other people and brought me word of mouth business and he's, you know, people are evolving and they're doing really, really well. And it's a beautiful experience to see because I don't generally tell my clients who the other clients are like.
Pretty private people often don't wanna like throw an on the advertise like I use feng shui cuz people, it's not really accepted here. Right. And so I keep my clients pretty private and it's sometimes I have to say to my clients who are doing really, really well, I have to say to them like, I know you can't see this, but you're doing really eally well to like reassure them you're okay. You're doing really, really well.
Laura Rotter: So I'd love to get into more details of what you do. I do have a question though, Jillian, about again, when you made that transition, it was
Jillian Rothschild Scholar: 2010. Well, no, I started, I, yeah, I mean, I started practicing Feng Shui later and I got laid off in [00:19:00] 2019, so I'd really had been, it was about a decade of study, practice, building a business on the side as a quote hobby.
Right. It was,
Laura Rotter: So I'm just, I I would love to get a sense of financially, you talked about that you had a six figure income. Yeah. Um, were you married at the time? Were you, you know, married the whole time?
Jillian Rothschild Scholar: Yep. Married the whole time.
Laura Rotter: And so how did you handle
Jillian Rothschild Scholar:
Laura Rotter:,
Jillian Rothschild Scholar: I mean, I, I'm anentrepreneur, .
Laura Rotter: Yes. And I actually just saw, uh, a drawing that someone made that people imagine when they start their own business, this sort of upward sloping line. But what it really is is sort of a squiggly spiral that might
Jillian Rothschild Scholar: have, you know, if you're lucky, just and bumps and rises and ups and downs.
Laura Rotter: Yeah. So you said you were prepared, and I certainly know, know your financial background now when you were younger.
So in what way were you prepared financially, did you think about how many months you'd need to have a runway for? Just curious how you thought about.
Jillian Rothschild Scholar: Two things. [00:20:00] One, during that time I was the breadwinner and my husband was finishing his doctorate degree and building his career as a professor and instructor at various colleges and universities.
So by the time that we got laid off, he was a lot more stable in his career and the things that he was doing. So even though I was the breadwinner, cuz I made more money at the time, there was a lot of stability because we both had income coming. The other thing that happened was a colleague of mine who was sort of in the same boat, very quietly mentioned to me there was something called income insurance.
And at the time there was a company that was offering income insurance that you could buy a package to secure your income if you ever got laid off. And I was like, well, this is a great idea. So of course, I paid the highest amount that I could afford at the time, and this is not even a joke. I got laid off and fulfilled the requirements of the policy to pay out within days.
because they didn't renew the policy like they had. They had said like you had to be laid off and [00:21:00] you had to go through unemployment process for. Six weeks or eight weeks or some crazy amount of time in order for the, the policy to pay out. Mm-hmm. . And I'm like biting my nails the whole time. Like, oh my God, I hope I get this payout cuz it was a significant amount of money.
So part of that security and transition was that I had this policy and it did pay out and it let me feel a little bit freer as we transitioned from one significant pot of income between the two of us to the insurance policy payout and relying on his income and. , that was 2019 and then the pandemic hit, so we were all home anyway.
Laura Rotter: Nice. So Jillian, for our listeners, please, you know, tell me how your services work, who, who's a typical client you work with and, and what kind of questions they come to you with and what do you help them with?
Jillian Rothschild Scholar: So I help people who are dealing with nanswered life questions, they're feeling like something is a little bit off and they aren't sure what's going on.
Often people are in a [00:22:00] situation where they're like, my life was going great and X happened, and now things are spinning outta control and they're looking to get some clarity and some directions they can confidently move forward with ease and a feeling of empowerment.
Laura Rotter: So might that be getting laid off?
Jillian Rothschild Scholar: I mean, that's what's coming. It could be getting laid off. It could be a major life event, like getting laid off. It could be, I wanna make a job change. I don't know how Or when could be a life cycle event, like a marriage or a divorce or death. It could be a financial issue, like not necessarily.
Bankruptcy, although that does happen, but it could just be like, I bring in all this money, but it just goes out. It flows out all the time. I, you know, I can't seem to save anything. It just seems like there's always issues with money could be a relationship issue. Like, um, having trouble communicating with my spouse.
I can't seem to find a partner. My kids are not behaving. It's like anything under the umbrella of the human experience where people are feeling like something is off, where you're feeling like something is in doubt When. When you're in a sense where you don't feel empowered and you feel like things are out of control and you've, and almost [00:23:00] always, my clients are highly intuitive, this the kind of client that I attract is that almost all of my clients are intuitive or have some kind of special gift or talent of some kind, and they are looking for an outside perspective to get a sense of what is really happening, why, and how to get back on track so they feel like they know how to move forward in a way that is gonna be easier, uh, with a, with less obstacles and a sense of flow. It's sort of like when you're on a river and you're in a boat and you wanna go with the flow of the river, otherwise you're like rowing your ores against the, the stream of the river and you don't wanna live life like that.
It's too exhausting. feng. The work that I do is not a religion. Some people will be like, oh, there's so much religious aspect to it and there's really not. This is just going with the flow of nature. And one of the concepts is that life should be about the middle path. That there are highs. And those, those can feel great.
And there are lows which often feel really crappy, but the more often that you can be in the middle path where there's not so much drama and life is just good and you feel like you're moving forward [00:24:00] and you can achieve your goals. And of course there are gonna be challenges. There are gonna be years that are better than others.
there are gonna be years that are crappier than others, but the more that you can stay in that middle path, the longer you live, the more at ease you are. This is the whole concept of, of yin and yang, that there's light and there's darkness, but in between the light and the darkness, there is this. Line in between.
If you look at that little fish symbol that is yin and yang, right, that everyone goes, oh, it's the fish symbol, black and white. There is a force that holds 'em together. And that force, that middle path, is what we wanna be on as much as possible. And this is really what I help people with. I help people understand if they're in the dark section, if they're in the light section, if they're protecting something amazing that they already have, if they're in a, a challenging situation they're trying to get out of and how to get back on.
I also practice Chinese astrology, which is known as the Four Pillars of Destiny. Because I'm in my practice, I'm pairing an individual's energy based on the time that they're born, their own personal energy with the energy of the space and how to align that so that they can sort of resonate with the, the best energy that's the most [00:25:00] supportive in the space based on their own person.
I also help with property selection. Architects, bless them, have different ideas of what is good for a property versus what Shui says. And, um, often their sons with really amazing architecture. I, I work with divination systems, so when people have doubts on their hearts and minds about things that are going on, often I will encourage them to experience a divination reading so we can get some clarity about what is hiding behind the situation, from hiding behind the question from a different perspective so they can get some clarity.
and sometimes I will make personal calendars for my clients. So using Chinese astrology based on their birthday, I will make calendars for 12 months to help people identify the right timing to do the most important things in their life, like investing, like wealth management, financial activities, health things like, uh, surgeries or treatments of some kind, or I like, I have a lot of clients that use it for relationships.
There are certain days during the [00:26:00] year that are more favorable for you to engage in relationship activities, like going on dates, um, or having having date night with your spouse. That is also good use of that, and also just something called a do not use day, which is like, days where you just don't use those days for important stuff because sometimes avoiding crappy energy is, is enough to make things go smoother if you just avoid crappy stuff.
Um, and I also teach, I have events for Chinese New Year. I teach classes, I have home study courses, and, uh, That's, and I build relationships over time with my clients and help them year to earth.
Laura Rotter: I think Jillian, it's interesting because when I, you know, before we did this interview, I know FEI is used often with properties as you described.
Uh, But it seems you offer a lot of other services like the Chinese astrology, like the divination. I'm curious if there is a service in particular that you're drawn to more than others or certain kind of work that you're drawn to more than others and And why or why not?
Jillian Rothschild Scholar: So my experience [00:27:00] is that people's interest is usually peaked with Chinese astrology cuz they wanna know about themselves.
Like they, oh, tell me about myself, or I've got this issue. Tell me, is there something on my chart that explains like why I got I'm getting divorced, or why I'm calling you now because I'm confused. And usually there's an answer in the Chinese astrology. And so, That is used as a diagnostic tool, and the feng shui is the remedy.
So there is a concept in Chinese metaphysics called heaven earth man, which is known as the three lucks:heaven, luck, earth, luck, and human luck. So heaven luck is what you're born with. You cannot crawl back in your mother's womb and be born at a different time. You're just, this is the energy that you're sort of stamped with when you take your first breath.
Then there's also something called human luck, which is in between heaven, luck and earth luck. So human luck is the choices you make, your free will, the places that you put yourself in based on the the decisions that you make in life. And then earth luck is your feng. So the idea is that that's divided into three even sections, and you can largely influence two out of the three.
So for me, [00:28:00] I find that the FEI is largely the most satisfying long term, whereas the Chinese astrology is really just interesting and fun because people get excited to learn about themselves and know what could be coming and how to prepare for the right energy. , but it's when you put them together, which is what I do, because in my practice, when a person signs up for a fung shui consultation, I also look at their Chinese astrology chart.
When you put them together, that's when the results are really meaningful and they are much more vibrant and more satisfying.
Laura Rotter: So feng is beyond just influences or, uh, of a residence or how a house looks. It's beyond that. It's hard for me as a layperson to understand.
Jillian Rothschild Scholar: Yeah. So I, I tell people that I work with energetics, that I don't work with aesthetics.
There's a lot of social media out there that says like your ha, your front door needs to be symmetrical and it needs to be looked like this. And you have to have two lights and two plants, and it needs to have a red rug and like your door needs to be red and like your curtains need to be this color.
[00:29:00] And you have to have all five elements to balance a room like that. You need trinkets that you need, like this money frog, or you need this Calhoun in the room placed in a particular, this dragon over here, two rabbits go together if you're gonna do relationships, trinkets, tchotchke. None of that belongs in classical feng.
And it's, if you look at major corporations, they're not using it either. What they're doing is they're using the orientation of the property based on where it is on the land. So the, the land form, the mountain, the roads, the water, all gives information to how the chief flows. So feng Hui literally translates to.
Wind water and the, one of the first things I learned in my classical training was the poem that basically translates to say something like chi or energy rides on the wind, and it stops the boundary of water, which is why water is so important in feng shui. So the proper placement of a pool, or a spa, or a creek, or a lake or pond is significant to the relationship to a house.
And your home can [00:30:00] be beautiful and it should be appealing to you and to your aesthetic. It should you. My opinion is that you should walk into the house and feel like you are there, because I do have walked into houses where people are like, oh, we're married and we have kids, and there's no family pictures anywhere.
There's nothing like, it doesn't really feel like they live there. And it's not cuz they're trying to be minimalist, they just don't put pictures up and that can be their prerogative, but it should still feel like you live there and it's your home and that's all important and it can be beautiful and it could still have really crappy tui
Laura Rotter: I love hearing you talk about all this because you clearly have so much energy about you. It, it. Awakens you and enlivens you as you describe what you
Jillian Rothschild Scholar: do. Yes. I've been on other podcasts and I think that the, the listener assumes that, oh, we're gonna talk about feng shui and it's gonna be all about balance and harmony and beauty, and everything is gonna be wonderful.
And I get passionate about it because I think that some of that is false narrative and it's myth, and we need to bust myths out there about fei.
Laura Rotter: So as we, um, get towards the [00:31:00] end of our time together, I'm wondering if you could watch the continuum and it seems to have been sort of a career right out of college for 20 some odd years, and, and then you finding what really speaks to you and feels like a gift that you're bringing to the world.
How Jillian has. Definition of financial success shifted over that period of time or success in general If that question resonates
Jillian Rothschild Scholar: with you. I'm lucky enough to be in a situation where I've worked very hard and I've had the, I've had good opportunities come to me where I can work hard to make good money, and I've saved pretty aggressively, which puts me in a place where I have the security to build my business and I.
I'm really blessed because I've made some beautiful choices and I've made some really informed choices over the years. Like for example, my financial guy who I've seen his Chinese astrology chart and he's amazing and like he's really good at what he does, so of course I'm gonna hire him. And that [00:32:00] puts me in a position where I have some security and I also have a spouse that is doing really well, so I have somebody else to rely on.
Not everybody has this. Mm-hmm. . And it does take, in my opinion, some real trust and courage to go after the things that are really important to. One of my clients said something to the effect of, be happy while you're living because you're gonna be dead a really long time. Like . It seemed in my twenties, I could hear people saying like, follow your bliss and do the things that you really love to do.
And I didn't really understand at the time like how to do that because I wasn't walking around with a lot of courage and a lot of confidence. And so my co, my confidence and my courage really built over time. Learning my own chart, practicing my own skills, doing my own feng, understanding that I have enough tools and resources and gifts and talents that I can handle anything that life throws at me.
I absolutely can because if I had to pick up somebody else's problems, I would take my own [00:33:00] problems back in a heartbeat. I know what people are dealing with and there are some really heartbreaking, tender things that are on people's shoulders based on their history or the experiences they're having now.
And I, I don't want to have to go through that. I want to help them get into a better path. And so I feel really blessed to, I don't know if that answers your question, but I feel really blessed to know that I have some security and I have some resources that understanding and that confidence got built over time.
Laura Rotter: Thank you. I mean, what I'm hearing you say, and as I look at the continuum of your life story so far, is you grew up with an understanding that's important to have financial security. Yeah. And. You've retained that understanding, so yes, right.
Jillian Rothschild Scholar: I wasn't recklessly like leaving my job, like I'm just gonna quit my job because
Laura Rotter: Exactly.
Jillian Rothschild Scholar:I love Feng Shui. I think I can build a business. Somebody that we both know in common, basically said to me very early on in the process, like, don't quit your day job. And I was like, what do you mean don't quit your day job? [00:34:00] Don't quit your day job. Like it's not time to quit your day job. And so I really took that to heart and so I stayed.
Like I said, I stayed at that company for a really long time. Building my business, taking things really slow, doing things in increments so that by the time it I got laid off, I really felt like I could do this.
Laura Rotter: And at the same time, as I'm understanding you, you had savings and you work with a financial professional so you understand what your financial situation is.
So I, I think both are important. I think taking the blessing of having the ability, to both emotionally make the leap into starting your own business as well as financially and recognizing what a blessing that is
Jillian Rothschild Scholar:. I also knew what I needed, like I knew, I know in my chart, like my chart likes insurance, so I had lots of insurance ready to make that leap. that when I, when I was due, I, I knew that I could do it without having to,
Laura Rotter: And thank you for bringing in the astrology piece. I don't practice Chinese astrology, but I'm very familiar with my [00:35:00] astrological chart under, you know, more, what's it called?
Jillian Rothschild Scholar: Traditional Western. Western astrology.
Laura Rotter: There's western astrology and I certainly have a lot of important planets in my second house, which is a house of sort of resources.
And I know. Myself. Similarly, how important it is for me to feel both financially resourced as well as emotionally resourced. Yeah. And similar to you, took a leap after 2013 and started my own business and continue to recognize how important it is to to bolster both senses of resources.
Thank you so much for your time and for agreeing to be on this podcast, Jillian.
Jillian Rothschild Scholar: It was fun. Thanks.
I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Jillian Rothchild-Scholarcholar of Feng Shui in Motion. Some of my takeaways, [00:36:00] number one, When considering a career change, think of the skills you've developed in your previous career. Jillian had developed great people skills. She had spent many hours listening to people learning to ask really good questions, and identifying emotional cues that might be holding people back from making decision.
And also identifying what they would need to hear in order to feel confident to move forward. A second takeaway. Don't quit your day job. Jillian was practicing and studying Feng shui and helping her friends for free. While continuing to work in college admissions for close to a decade before making it a full-time job, and finally know that it takes trust and courage to go [00:37:00] after the things that are really important to you.
Jillian now, after living on this planet for a number of years, understands that she has. And resources and gifts and talents that will enable her to withstand anything that life throws at her. Are you enjoying this podcast? Please don't forget to subscribe so that you won't miss next week's episode. And if you love the show, a rating and a review would be so very much appreciated.
Thank you so much.
Thanks for listening to Making Change with Your Money Certified Financial Planner. Laura Rotter specializes in helping people just like you organized, clarify, and invest their money in order to support a life of purpose and meaning. Go to [00:38:00] www.trueabundanceadvisors.com/workbook for a free resource to help you on your journey.
Disclaimer, please remember that the information shared by this podcast does not constitute accounting, legal, tax, investment, or financial advice. It's for information purposes only. You should seek appropriate professional advice for your specific information.