September 12, 2024 • 25 mins
When faith leads, everything else falls into alignment.
Jessica and Alex open their hearts to share how faith has grounded their business, guided big decisions, and strengthened their relationship as both spouses and co-founders. From learning to surrender control to honoring their values in every offer and opportunity, they dive into the real talk about boundaries, discernment, and being obedient to God’s call—especially when it’s uncomfortable.
They remind listeners that blending business and belief isn’t just possible—it’s powerful. Tune in to hear how faith has become their compass in navigating business, life, and love.
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Alex & Jessica Fortis
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Alex Fortis (00:09):
Welcome to Married to the Hustle, the podcast where
love, faith and business cometogether.
Jessica Rosario-Fortis (00:14):
I'm Jessica, and with me is my
partner in life and business,alex.
Together, we're diving into thewild world of entrepreneurial
couples.
Alex Fortis (00:22):
Each week, we'll bring you real stories,
hilarious moments and valuableinsights from couples who are
building businesses and rockingtheir relationships.
Talk about living the dream.
Jessica Rosario-Fortis (00:33):
Or surviving the nightmare.
Alex Fortis (00:35):
So buckle up and get ready for a fun ride with
Married to the Hustle.
Hey guys, welcome back to thisweek's episode.
I'm here joined by my beautifulwife, jessica, and today we're
going to be talking about howfaith has helped us in business
(00:58):
and never forgetting, rightwhere this all comes from the
power of the almighty Godhimself, and being obedient to
him, and it's definitelysomething that touches us very
deeply never forgetting aboutthe man above, being obedient to
him and just listening to whathe's trying to tell you.
So this week's episode we'regoing to dedicate to that, and
(01:20):
we're super excited to startsharing some things how we feel
and how things have worked inour business.
Jessica Rosario-Fortis (01:27):
I love it and, you know, one of the
most powerful channels andthings that we've done is this
podcast itself, because I don'tknow if you remember when this
landed on our hearts, probablyabout a year ago, and we knew
that this is what we needed todo to be able to share our story
(01:48):
and to be able to connect withother business owners, because,
y'all, the struggle is real.
And so, in having aconversation with our pastor, I
said to him you know, pastor, Ihave, I have this, this desire
in my heart to reach couples inbusiness, and he was basically
like what are you waiting for?
Alex Fortis (02:09):
Right.
Jessica Rosario-Fortis (02:10):
And and I was, like I don't know, just
waiting for the perfect timing,right.
And he said but wait a minute.
You guys just talked about yourbusiness and how it's never a
perfect time and you just dothings, and you do them scared,
and what makes this anydifferent?
And that really left an imprintin my heart, knowing that
delayed obedience isdisobedience to God and the
(02:35):
purpose that we're, that we'recalled for, right?
So, yeah, we wanted to justkind of share a little bit about
that story with you guys.
Alex Fortis (02:43):
Absolutely, I mean.
I'm a firm believer thatnothing happens without having
him in your life.
Jessica Rosario-Fort (02:49):
Absolutely .
Alex Fortis (02:50):
And asking him where you need to walk to is
just the right thing to do.
You know, having having thoseconversations with him us as
human beings wanting to do whatwe want to do in our lives, but
not wanting to do what God wantsyou to do in your life we
cannot move forward in lifewithout having direction from
(03:15):
the Lord, Jesus Christ.
Jessica Rosario-Fort (03:17):
Absolutely .
And you know, I won't forget, Iwas in a small group this last
semester and something powerfulthat the group leader said was
that when you turn on your GPS,do you do it in the beginning of
the trip or at the end of thetrip Right In the beginning,
right.
(03:37):
And so the same thing goes withour time and building a
relationship with God it's arewe doing it in the beginning or
are we turning on that spiritualGPS at the end of the
destination Because we get lost?
And then we're like, oh wait,god redirect me, right, and your
GPS is going redirect, redirect.
And I thought that was sopowerful because I'll be the
(04:00):
first one to say that sometimesmy consistency lacks with the
quietness, and one of the thingsthat we did about two years ago
we stopped watching the news inthe morning and reading our
devotional and in prayer, andjust being in the quiet has been
(04:29):
something that really hashelped me balance out my day and
start my day right.
When I don't start my day thatway, I feel like my day is off
the entire day.
Would you agree?
Alex Fortis (04:41):
I agree.
And going back to your point,pastor Lynn, shout out to Pastor
Lynn hey, pastor Lynn, a fewweeks ago we were fortunate to
sit in one of the sermons thatshe did.
I tell you what.
She couldn't be more real,right, and you were just talking
about what you take in is whatyou put out, and Pastor Lynn had
mentioned that garbage in isgarbage out Absolutely.
(05:02):
Why not take in the positivity,right, so you can release the
positivity, right, be a shininglight to someone else, right?
We never know what someone elseis going through that you meet,
so you know someone could behaving a bad day, a bad month, a
bad year.
How do you encourage someone?
Right, and it's with the wordof God.
Jessica Rosario-Fortis (05:22):
Yeah for sure, and one of the things for
me is really being true to whoI am, and I find that when I was
omitting faith in my messaging,I had to be this or that, and
so I'll never forget.
I had a coaching client who wasbuilding two separate
(05:42):
communities and I remembertelling her why are you building
two different Facebookcommunities?
She said, well, because I don'twant to offend the people that
are not people of faith.
And I said, well, if you offendthem, then they're not your
right audience.
And she started to merge hercommunities.
She had two separatecommunities and how was I any
(06:06):
different?
You know, I didn't have twocommunities, but I certainly was
omitting a lot of who I am andmy spirituality and my faith and
, at the end of the day, that'snot something you know for
public consumption, right?
Just because I'm a woman offaith doesn't mean that my life
is perfect.
In fact, I come to God everyday with my imperfections, just
as I am.
(06:26):
So I thought that that was suchan aha moment to be able to
define who I am and what mymessaging is and, as such,
that's been something that, evenwhen hiring to support me in my
coaching business, I think isvery important for them to know
who I am and what I speak on andwhat I believe in, so that the
(06:47):
messaging that's being put outthere it's the messaging that's
mine, right?
That's true to me, and I'mwalking with integrity and I'm
also walking with authenticity,and you know, my faith has
definitely been one of thethings that has influenced the
dynamics of our relationship,even, and it's been what keeps
us grounded and balanced,because, y'all, building a
(07:10):
business is hard, but building abusiness with your spouse is
harder, and being in arelationship or being married is
hard, but being in arelationship and building a
business is harder, right?
So it doesn't matter what angleyou look at it.
The challenges come times twoor 10X we can say 10X but the
(07:35):
importance is to have a commonground on being reminded of who
you are and what you've beencalled to together, and so I'm
taking this very seriously thatthis, married to the Hustle, is
our ministry and it's our newministry, and we want to be able
to continue to pour to you guysand to amplify your voices too.
(07:57):
If you have a story to tell, wewant to talk to you and we want
to be able to share that withthe world.
Alex Fortis (08:03):
And speaking on that, how does the faith play a
role?
Our faith play a role insetting and achieving business
goals as a couple, us as humanbeings.
I mean there's just so muchgoing on in this world right now
.
Right, there's Satan trying toput things into our minds where
we believe other things than weshouldn't be believing.
(08:25):
Right, keeping the faith.
I'm one of those and, jessica,I tell you I love to serve
people.
I know when God is speaking tome and he's telling me if
something's going to happen hereor not going to happen.
And I've had conversationswhere you're talking to somebody
and you get goosebumps becauseyou feel like you're actually
(08:48):
serving them.
Right, they're looking forguidance and because my faith is
still, I'm growing in it.
The little that I know and whatI learned from our pastors, I
learned from the people yousurround yourself with.
I'm able to share that withother people that might be going
through different stages intheir life and in business
(09:12):
always say if it's meant to be,god is going to make it happen.
Jessica Rosario-Fortis (09:16):
Oh yeah.
Alex Fortis (09:19):
So I'm a strong believer in that, jessica, I
tell you, you know, I'm one thatis more lay back.
And Jessica, well, what's goingon with this, what's going on
with that?
And I understand her pointbecause you know, she's the kind
of brains behind the business.
Jessica Rosario-Fortis (09:33):
The integrator.
I'm the integrator.
Alex Fortis (09:34):
She's the integrator Correct and I'm
usually like, well, if it'sgoing to happen, God is going to
make it happen.
Jessica Rosario-Fortis (09:40):
Yeah, and y'all.
That is so hard for me.
That's so hard for me becauseI've lived a life where I
planned out my years and and Istill do but I lived a life
where things were planned out,where I knew exactly what I was
going to do this year forvacation next year and what I
(10:02):
was going to wear and who I wasgoing with and what was you know
.
And so just being able to planmy life around that, for me it
was just amazing.
Everybody knew that if anythingthat needed to get done, give
it to Jessica, because she'llmake it work.
One of the things that I havethat I am learning I have not
learned it, I am learning is thefact that I need to relinquish
(10:27):
control because, at the end ofthe day, there is something out
there that's so much greaterthan me.
I know who I am right, I knowwho I am in Christ, I know who
he has called me to be, andthere have been times that,
instead of me trying to controlthe outcome, I've actually
(10:50):
prayed for an outcome, and it'shappened very recently where,
you know, I was presented withsome opportunities that I
actually was conflicted aboutand I presented it to God every
day and my God make it socrystal clear that if it's not
for me that I don't walk intothat door and I see this in my
(11:13):
daily life it's like I almostfeel him whispering to me
Jessica, calm down, slow down,it's my timing, it's not yours.
Alex tells me that all the time.
Remember, it's God's timing,not yours, and I'm like I know,
I know, but I was in the middleof a conversation and in the
(11:34):
middle of that conversation thedoor closed.
It didn't even close.
I closed it, and in the middleof that conversation I was like
oh well, this is exactly thesign that I needed and this is
exactly not what I want for mylife at this time.
But I appreciate being presentedwith these opportunities
because that's one of the things.
(11:55):
Like, as we continue to growprofessionally, there's going to
be things that come out of thewoodworks and just like we know
that not all money is good money, not every circle is a good
circle for you, not everymastermind is the right
mastermind and not everyspeaking opportunity is the
right speaking opportunity foryou, and we have to learn to
(12:18):
discern that, and thatdiscernment truly comes from the
Holy Spirit, our companion.
So that has been somethingthat's been very hard for me to
not, you know, control that nextthing, but more along the lines
of, if it's meant to be Lord,make it happen, and if it's not,
(12:39):
make it so crystal clear thatthe door is closing, because
then I'll know that it's youJesus.
So that has been something thatI've had to really work through
in my life.
And, no, it's not perfect Alexwill tell you wasn't perfect
this morning or yesterday or theday before but but the
awareness of knowing that thisis something that I need to work
(13:02):
on, that suffices for me rightand we're not perfect.
Alex Fortis (13:07):
But God is such a forgiving God that he allows us
to come to to him withoutproblems, without issues, right,
asking for forgiveness and heforgives.
Just having the faith right,believing in him, believing that
he wants good for us, right,even us as business owners.
He wants good for us andthere's opportunities that come
(13:30):
our way.
Pure example yesterday, just tothrow that out there we got an
invite to do a pretty niceaccount and it's a seven day a
week account and you look at thepayout and it's like, oh, wow,
yeah, this payout, we candefinitely jump on this.
But God told me there's no wayyou guys can handle this right,
because they wanted to start onSunday.
(13:52):
So, walking away from that,listening to what he's telling
you, because he's telling youthat he's got bigger and better
things coming your way.
Just be impatient with that.
Jessica Rosario-Fortis (14:03):
Yeah.
Alex Fortis (14:04):
He's never going to give us more than we can handle
.
That be honest with you guys.
A little background about me.
I was born and raised in aCatholic religion.
I did baptism first, communion,confirmation, and in the
Catholic religion, you know,they teach the Bible a little
different and I wasn'taccustomed.
You know I never read the Bibleuntil Jessica and I visited a
(14:30):
non-denominational church and itwas eye opening and I was like,
oh my gosh, so this is what Ishould have been learning this
whole time.
And now I'm motivated, I wantto learn more, I want to read
the Bible and I want to be abetter version of Alex Right.
And it's not easy because aswe're out there in this crazy
(14:54):
world, you know you start seeingthings that you know you feel
are a little indifferent to yourbelievings.
So it is a little tough.
Jessica Rosario-Fortis (15:04):
I mean for me, I grew up Baptocostal is
what I tell everyone, my dadBaptist and my mom Pentecostal
household.
The God that I knew back thencertainly is not the God that I
know now, but it's the same God,which is crazy, right, it's the
(15:26):
same God.
And clearly that goes back tomy relationship.
And back then I guess I was,you know, instilled into
religion.
And this is probably not a hottopic.
But just recently I had aconversation with one of my
parents and we were talkingabout like what's my testimony,
right?
And immediately, immediately,the conversation went, it went
(15:48):
south.
It just they.
Basically it was like, well,that you didn't get lost in the
world and that you were savedand that you know.
And I was like, no, that's yourtestimony for me, not mine,
right, and understanding thedifference between religion and
truly having a relationship withGod is just such a different
thing.
And for me I mean, even though Ihave a little bit more
(16:12):
experience in the word andchurch, and I grew up, you know,
in both religions basically Forme it's like I'm still learning
something new.
There's times that I read partsin the Bible and I'm like, oh
my gosh, you know, I never readthat before and you know,
there's a Spanish song that saysit's una novela right.
(16:32):
And sometimes I read the Bibleand I'm like, oh my God, the
Bible is una novela rightBecause of the stories that we
get to hear and learn.
But a lot of that learning camefrom small groups.
Alex Fortis (16:44):
I totally agree.
Like when I get involved withthe men's small groups, I just
absolutely love being there,being in fellowship with guys
that are going through thingsthat I can probably help.
They can probably help me outwith things I'm going through.
Just being in a room,fellowshipping, like that, it
(17:04):
just means the world to me.
I made it a point to make sureI block my time out for that
small group right, and being apart of that I'm showing up.
I think I missed one meeting.
I'm not going to lie, but Ithink we were.
We were somewhere away.
Jessica Rosario-Fortis (17:20):
Yeah Right, we were away and I
couldn't pick between a cruiseto the same time Right.
Alex Fortis (17:27):
Ideally, you know, we should have invited the guys
in a men's group to the cruise,so we could still have a meeting
.
Jessica Rosario-Fortis (17:33):
Listen, yeah, I'm down for that.
And hey guys, let me tell you,just so you guys can keep it on
the radar, we're planning aretreat for Married to the
Hustle, and so that's going tocome in 2025.
That's one of our goals and Idon't know, it might be on a
cruise, you never know but it issomething that we want to do to
be able to bring couplestogether and talk a little bit
(17:56):
about faith and talk a littlebit about business and how to
communicate better with eachother.
So being in fellowship withother like-minded individuals is
such a beautiful thing, and notonly men being in men's groups
and women being in women'sgroups, but also finding a
couple that can be a mentor foryou.
They can be a role model foryou.
(18:17):
In one of my small groups,somebody said one time also
who's your Moses and who's yourJoshua, who is the person that
you're looking up to, but who'salso that person that you're
taking under your wing.
And I think that's so importantto be able to learn from other
couples that have been marriedfor years and and have
experienced their own hardshipsand what has made them stronger
(18:38):
and what has helped themovercome.
So that's all part of buildinga strong relationship, being
grounded in your faith, but alsobuilding a business One of the
things that I would say inexperiencing marriage challenges
when it comes to building ourbusiness and maintaining strong
faith and a strong relationshipBecause, again, you know, we
(19:00):
don't really clock out becausewe're salaried, but we leave the
office and we go home and we'restill spending time together.
It's like, how do you not go tothat?
Oh, it's you again, you werethere.
I just left you five minutesago, right?
You know, one of the thingsthat has helped me with that is
also setting some boundariesaround our time at the office.
(19:22):
So, you know, our time with Godis our time with God, and our
time home to just chill andwatch Netflix is our time to
chill and watch Netflix, right,and just like our time in
business is our time in business.
And so setting boundaries hasreally helped us navigate those
challenges in building a strongbusiness while also maintaining
(19:43):
a strong faith.
Alex Fortis (19:44):
Yeah, and we're touching on faith and we're
talking about faith and business, right, and this morning I was
reading Mark 4.
Do you mind Can I share thiswith you?
I've never done this before.
If you see, in Mark 4, verse 3goes down.
I'm just going to start atverse 3, but it says Listen, a
(20:07):
farmer went out to plant someseed.
As he scattered it across hisfield, some of the seed fell on
footpath and the birds came andate it.
Other seed fell on shallowpathand the birds came and ate it.
Other seeds fell on shallowsoil with underlying rock.
The seeds sprouted quicklybecause the soil was shallow,
but the plant soon wilteredunder the hot sun and since it
(20:29):
didn't have deep roots, it died.
Other seed fell among thornsthat grew up and choked out the
tender plants, so they producedno grain.
Still, other seeds fell onfertile soil and they sprouted,
grew and produced a crop thatwas 30, 60 and even 100 times as
much as they had planted.
(20:49):
Then he said anyone with earsto hear should listen and
understand.
And then it goes down to verse13.
This here what I'm about toread.
It really opened my eyes right,because if you want to plant
seeds going back to.
(21:10):
We want to live our own lives.
If you do it the way God Jesuswants you to do it, you'll see
the abundance that he alwaysgives us Right.
So on 13, verse 13, he saysthen Jesus came to them.
He says if you don't understandthe meaning of this parable,
(21:30):
how will you understand all theother parables?
That was what we were justreading about.
That was what we were justreading about.
The farmer plants seed by takingGod's word to others.
The seed that fell on thefootpath represents those who
hear the message, only to haveSatan come at once and take it
(21:51):
away.
He's referring to the birdsthere, right, the birds came and
ate up the seed.
Then the seed on the rocky soilrepresents those who hear the
message and immediately receiveit with joy.
But since they don't have roots, they don't last long.
They fall away as soon as theyhave problems or are persecuted
(22:14):
by believing God's word.
And then the last one I thinkis the last one here the seed
that fell among the thornsrepresents others who hear God's
word, but all too quickly themessage is crowded out by the
worries of this life, the law ofwealth and a desire for other
(22:35):
things.
So no fruit is produced.
That's going back to like inthis world where we're going
through right now right, we'refirm believers, but there's so
much trying to pull us the otherdirection.
And the last one here, and theseed that fell on good soil
represents those who hear andaccept God's word and produced a
(22:59):
harvest of 30, 60 or even 100times as much as had been
planted.
I read that this morning and itwas like eye opening.
Yeah, yeah.
So it's things like that, likestaying in the word and just
being obedient.
Right, with everything in lifeyou know, not being.
(23:21):
You know one thing, one placeand then going home and being
someone else.
Right, let's be obedient, let'slearn to serve each other a
little bit more and have thatfellowship.
That's very, it's so important,so important.
Jessica Rosario-Fortis (23:35):
Yeah, I agree, this was such a powerful
statement, and just to be ableto read that verse and you know
outline it based on, you knowwhat our interpretations are, I
think I think that's just such apowerful thing to be able to
share, because the reality isthat you know, we are all called
to do something and sometimes,you know, our faith can be
(23:58):
fragile when we're going throughadversity and when we're
experiencing challenges.
We hope that this was a goodword for you guys and that you
were able to, you know, get aglimpse a little bit more about
who we are and what we do andtruly what the mission of this
podcast is, and so we reallylook forward to continuing to
share with you guys, in futureepisodes, a little bit more
(24:21):
about our story, our beliefs andhow we've incorporated faith,
business and love.
And until next time, keephustling.
Alex Fortis (24:40):
That wraps up another episode of Married to
the Hustle.
We hope you enjoyed today'sshow and found some inspiration
and practical tips to apply toyour own business journey.
Jessica Rosario-Fortis (24:50):
We love hearing from you, our amazing
listeners.
If you have any stories,questions or tips to share,
connect with us on social mediaor send us an email.
Your input makes this podcasteven better.
Alex Fortis (25:01):
And don't forget to subscribe to Married to the
Hustle on your favorite podcastplatform so you never miss an
episode.
And if you enjoyed today'sepisode, please leave us a
review.
It really helps us grow andreach more entrepreneurial
couples like you.
Jessica Rosario-Fortis (25:15):
Join us next week for more exciting
stories, insightful interviewsand valuable advice.
Until then, keep hustling, keepthriving and keep loving what
you do.
Alex Fortis (25:24):
Thanks for tuning in and happy hustling.
Welcome to Married to the Hustle, the podcast where
love, faith and business cometogether.
Jessica Rosario-Fortis (00:14):
I'm Jessica, and with me is my
partner in life and business,alex.
Together, we're diving into thewild world of entrepreneurial
couples.
Alex Fortis (00:22):
Each week, we'll bring you real stories,
hilarious moments and valuableinsights from couples who are
building businesses and rockingtheir relationships.
Talk about living the dream.
Jessica Rosario-Fortis (00:33):
Or surviving the nightmare.
Alex Fortis (00:35):
So buckle up and get ready for a fun ride with
Married to the Hustle.
Hey guys, welcome back to thisweek's episode.
I'm here joined by my beautifulwife, jessica, and today we're
going to be talking about howfaith has helped us in business
(00:58):
and never forgetting, rightwhere this all comes from the
power of the almighty Godhimself, and being obedient to
him, and it's definitelysomething that touches us very
deeply never forgetting aboutthe man above, being obedient to
him and just listening to whathe's trying to tell you.
So this week's episode we'regoing to dedicate to that, and
(01:20):
we're super excited to startsharing some things how we feel
and how things have worked inour business.
Jessica Rosario-Fortis (01:27):
I love it and, you know, one of the
most powerful channels andthings that we've done is this
podcast itself, because I don'tknow if you remember when this
landed on our hearts, probablyabout a year ago, and we knew
that this is what we needed todo to be able to share our story
(01:48):
and to be able to connect withother business owners, because,
y'all, the struggle is real.
And so, in having aconversation with our pastor, I
said to him you know, pastor, Ihave, I have this, this desire
in my heart to reach couples inbusiness, and he was basically
like what are you waiting for?
Alex Fortis (02:09):
Right.
Jessica Rosario-Fortis (02:10):
And and I was, like I don't know, just
waiting for the perfect timing,right.
And he said but wait a minute.
You guys just talked about yourbusiness and how it's never a
perfect time and you just dothings, and you do them scared,
and what makes this anydifferent?
And that really left an imprintin my heart, knowing that
delayed obedience isdisobedience to God and the
(02:35):
purpose that we're, that we'recalled for, right?
So, yeah, we wanted to justkind of share a little bit about
that story with you guys.
Alex Fortis (02:43):
Absolutely, I mean.
I'm a firm believer thatnothing happens without having
him in your life.
Jessica Rosario-Fort (02:49):
Absolutely .
Alex Fortis (02:50):
And asking him where you need to walk to is
just the right thing to do.
You know, having having thoseconversations with him us as
human beings wanting to do whatwe want to do in our lives, but
not wanting to do what God wantsyou to do in your life we
cannot move forward in lifewithout having direction from
(03:15):
the Lord, Jesus Christ.
Jessica Rosario-Fort (03:17):
Absolutely .
And you know, I won't forget, Iwas in a small group this last
semester and something powerfulthat the group leader said was
that when you turn on your GPS,do you do it in the beginning of
the trip or at the end of thetrip Right In the beginning,
right.
(03:37):
And so the same thing goes withour time and building a
relationship with God it's arewe doing it in the beginning or
are we turning on that spiritualGPS at the end of the
destination Because we get lost?
And then we're like, oh wait,god redirect me, right, and your
GPS is going redirect, redirect.
And I thought that was sopowerful because I'll be the
(04:00):
first one to say that sometimesmy consistency lacks with the
quietness, and one of the thingsthat we did about two years ago
we stopped watching the news inthe morning and reading our
devotional and in prayer, andjust being in the quiet has been
(04:29):
something that really hashelped me balance out my day and
start my day right.
When I don't start my day thatway, I feel like my day is off
the entire day.
Would you agree?
Alex Fortis (04:41):
I agree.
And going back to your point,pastor Lynn, shout out to Pastor
Lynn hey, pastor Lynn, a fewweeks ago we were fortunate to
sit in one of the sermons thatshe did.
I tell you what.
She couldn't be more real,right, and you were just talking
about what you take in is whatyou put out, and Pastor Lynn had
mentioned that garbage in isgarbage out Absolutely.
(05:02):
Why not take in the positivity,right, so you can release the
positivity, right, be a shininglight to someone else, right?
We never know what someone elseis going through that you meet,
so you know someone could behaving a bad day, a bad month, a
bad year.
How do you encourage someone?
Right, and it's with the wordof God.
Jessica Rosario-Fortis (05:22):
Yeah for sure, and one of the things for
me is really being true to whoI am, and I find that when I was
omitting faith in my messaging,I had to be this or that, and
so I'll never forget.
I had a coaching client who wasbuilding two separate
(05:42):
communities and I remembertelling her why are you building
two different Facebookcommunities?
She said, well, because I don'twant to offend the people that
are not people of faith.
And I said, well, if you offendthem, then they're not your
right audience.
And she started to merge hercommunities.
She had two separatecommunities and how was I any
(06:06):
different?
You know, I didn't have twocommunities, but I certainly was
omitting a lot of who I am andmy spirituality and my faith and
, at the end of the day, that'snot something you know for
public consumption, right?
Just because I'm a woman offaith doesn't mean that my life
is perfect.
In fact, I come to God everyday with my imperfections, just
as I am.
(06:26):
So I thought that that was suchan aha moment to be able to
define who I am and what mymessaging is and, as such,
that's been something that, evenwhen hiring to support me in my
coaching business, I think isvery important for them to know
who I am and what I speak on andwhat I believe in, so that the
(06:47):
messaging that's being put outthere it's the messaging that's
mine, right?
That's true to me, and I'mwalking with integrity and I'm
also walking with authenticity,and you know, my faith has
definitely been one of thethings that has influenced the
dynamics of our relationship,even, and it's been what keeps
us grounded and balanced,because, y'all, building a
(07:10):
business is hard, but building abusiness with your spouse is
harder, and being in arelationship or being married is
hard, but being in arelationship and building a
business is harder, right?
So it doesn't matter what angleyou look at it.
The challenges come times twoor 10X we can say 10X but the
(07:35):
importance is to have a commonground on being reminded of who
you are and what you've beencalled to together, and so I'm
taking this very seriously thatthis, married to the Hustle, is
our ministry and it's our newministry, and we want to be able
to continue to pour to you guysand to amplify your voices too.
(07:57):
If you have a story to tell, wewant to talk to you and we want
to be able to share that withthe world.
Alex Fortis (08:03):
And speaking on that, how does the faith play a
role?
Our faith play a role insetting and achieving business
goals as a couple, us as humanbeings.
I mean there's just so muchgoing on in this world right now
.
Right, there's Satan trying toput things into our minds where
we believe other things than weshouldn't be believing.
(08:25):
Right, keeping the faith.
I'm one of those and, jessica,I tell you I love to serve
people.
I know when God is speaking tome and he's telling me if
something's going to happen hereor not going to happen.
And I've had conversationswhere you're talking to somebody
and you get goosebumps becauseyou feel like you're actually
(08:48):
serving them.
Right, they're looking forguidance and because my faith is
still, I'm growing in it.
The little that I know and whatI learned from our pastors, I
learned from the people yousurround yourself with.
I'm able to share that withother people that might be going
through different stages intheir life and in business
(09:12):
always say if it's meant to be,god is going to make it happen.
Jessica Rosario-Fortis (09:16):
Oh yeah.
Alex Fortis (09:19):
So I'm a strong believer in that, jessica, I
tell you, you know, I'm one thatis more lay back.
And Jessica, well, what's goingon with this, what's going on
with that?
And I understand her pointbecause you know, she's the kind
of brains behind the business.
Jessica Rosario-Fortis (09:33):
The integrator.
I'm the integrator.
Alex Fortis (09:34):
She's the integrator Correct and I'm
usually like, well, if it'sgoing to happen, God is going to
make it happen.
Jessica Rosario-Fortis (09:40):
Yeah, and y'all.
That is so hard for me.
That's so hard for me becauseI've lived a life where I
planned out my years and and Istill do but I lived a life
where things were planned out,where I knew exactly what I was
going to do this year forvacation next year and what I
(10:02):
was going to wear and who I wasgoing with and what was you know
.
And so just being able to planmy life around that, for me it
was just amazing.
Everybody knew that if anythingthat needed to get done, give
it to Jessica, because she'llmake it work.
One of the things that I havethat I am learning I have not
learned it, I am learning is thefact that I need to relinquish
(10:27):
control because, at the end ofthe day, there is something out
there that's so much greaterthan me.
I know who I am right, I knowwho I am in Christ, I know who
he has called me to be, andthere have been times that,
instead of me trying to controlthe outcome, I've actually
(10:50):
prayed for an outcome, and it'shappened very recently where,
you know, I was presented withsome opportunities that I
actually was conflicted aboutand I presented it to God every
day and my God make it socrystal clear that if it's not
for me that I don't walk intothat door and I see this in my
(11:13):
daily life it's like I almostfeel him whispering to me
Jessica, calm down, slow down,it's my timing, it's not yours.
Alex tells me that all the time.
Remember, it's God's timing,not yours, and I'm like I know,
I know, but I was in the middleof a conversation and in the
(11:34):
middle of that conversation thedoor closed.
It didn't even close.
I closed it, and in the middleof that conversation I was like
oh well, this is exactly thesign that I needed and this is
exactly not what I want for mylife at this time.
But I appreciate being presentedwith these opportunities
because that's one of the things.
(11:55):
Like, as we continue to growprofessionally, there's going to
be things that come out of thewoodworks and just like we know
that not all money is good money, not every circle is a good
circle for you, not everymastermind is the right
mastermind and not everyspeaking opportunity is the
right speaking opportunity foryou, and we have to learn to
(12:18):
discern that, and thatdiscernment truly comes from the
Holy Spirit, our companion.
So that has been somethingthat's been very hard for me to
not, you know, control that nextthing, but more along the lines
of, if it's meant to be Lord,make it happen, and if it's not,
(12:39):
make it so crystal clear thatthe door is closing, because
then I'll know that it's youJesus.
So that has been something thatI've had to really work through
in my life.
And, no, it's not perfect Alexwill tell you wasn't perfect
this morning or yesterday or theday before but but the
awareness of knowing that thisis something that I need to work
(13:02):
on, that suffices for me rightand we're not perfect.
Alex Fortis (13:07):
But God is such a forgiving God that he allows us
to come to to him withoutproblems, without issues, right,
asking for forgiveness and heforgives.
Just having the faith right,believing in him, believing that
he wants good for us, right,even us as business owners.
He wants good for us andthere's opportunities that come
(13:30):
our way.
Pure example yesterday, just tothrow that out there we got an
invite to do a pretty niceaccount and it's a seven day a
week account and you look at thepayout and it's like, oh, wow,
yeah, this payout, we candefinitely jump on this.
But God told me there's no wayyou guys can handle this right,
because they wanted to start onSunday.
(13:52):
So, walking away from that,listening to what he's telling
you, because he's telling youthat he's got bigger and better
things coming your way.
Just be impatient with that.
Jessica Rosario-Fortis (14:03):
Yeah.
Alex Fortis (14:04):
He's never going to give us more than we can handle
.
That be honest with you guys.
A little background about me.
I was born and raised in aCatholic religion.
I did baptism first, communion,confirmation, and in the
Catholic religion, you know,they teach the Bible a little
different and I wasn'taccustomed.
You know I never read the Bibleuntil Jessica and I visited a
(14:30):
non-denominational church and itwas eye opening and I was like,
oh my gosh, so this is what Ishould have been learning this
whole time.
And now I'm motivated, I wantto learn more, I want to read
the Bible and I want to be abetter version of Alex Right.
And it's not easy because aswe're out there in this crazy
(14:54):
world, you know you start seeingthings that you know you feel
are a little indifferent to yourbelievings.
So it is a little tough.
Jessica Rosario-Fortis (15:04):
I mean for me, I grew up Baptocostal is
what I tell everyone, my dadBaptist and my mom Pentecostal
household.
The God that I knew back thencertainly is not the God that I
know now, but it's the same God,which is crazy, right, it's the
(15:26):
same God.
And clearly that goes back tomy relationship.
And back then I guess I was,you know, instilled into
religion.
And this is probably not a hottopic.
But just recently I had aconversation with one of my
parents and we were talkingabout like what's my testimony,
right?
And immediately, immediately,the conversation went, it went
(15:48):
south.
It just they.
Basically it was like, well,that you didn't get lost in the
world and that you were savedand that you know.
And I was like, no, that's yourtestimony for me, not mine,
right, and understanding thedifference between religion and
truly having a relationship withGod is just such a different
thing.
And for me I mean, even though Ihave a little bit more
(16:12):
experience in the word andchurch, and I grew up, you know,
in both religions basically Forme it's like I'm still learning
something new.
There's times that I read partsin the Bible and I'm like, oh
my gosh, you know, I never readthat before and you know,
there's a Spanish song that saysit's una novela right.
(16:32):
And sometimes I read the Bibleand I'm like, oh my God, the
Bible is una novela rightBecause of the stories that we
get to hear and learn.
But a lot of that learning camefrom small groups.
Alex Fortis (16:44):
I totally agree.
Like when I get involved withthe men's small groups, I just
absolutely love being there,being in fellowship with guys
that are going through thingsthat I can probably help.
They can probably help me outwith things I'm going through.
Just being in a room,fellowshipping, like that, it
(17:04):
just means the world to me.
I made it a point to make sureI block my time out for that
small group right, and being apart of that I'm showing up.
I think I missed one meeting.
I'm not going to lie, but Ithink we were.
We were somewhere away.
Jessica Rosario-Fortis (17:20):
Yeah Right, we were away and I
couldn't pick between a cruiseto the same time Right.
Alex Fortis (17:27):
Ideally, you know, we should have invited the guys
in a men's group to the cruise,so we could still have a meeting
.
Jessica Rosario-Fortis (17:33):
Listen, yeah, I'm down for that.
And hey guys, let me tell you,just so you guys can keep it on
the radar, we're planning aretreat for Married to the
Hustle, and so that's going tocome in 2025.
That's one of our goals and Idon't know, it might be on a
cruise, you never know but it issomething that we want to do to
be able to bring couplestogether and talk a little bit
(17:56):
about faith and talk a littlebit about business and how to
communicate better with eachother.
So being in fellowship withother like-minded individuals is
such a beautiful thing, and notonly men being in men's groups
and women being in women'sgroups, but also finding a
couple that can be a mentor foryou.
They can be a role model foryou.
(18:17):
In one of my small groups,somebody said one time also
who's your Moses and who's yourJoshua, who is the person that
you're looking up to, but who'salso that person that you're
taking under your wing.
And I think that's so importantto be able to learn from other
couples that have been marriedfor years and and have
experienced their own hardshipsand what has made them stronger
(18:38):
and what has helped themovercome.
So that's all part of buildinga strong relationship, being
grounded in your faith, but alsobuilding a business One of the
things that I would say inexperiencing marriage challenges
when it comes to building ourbusiness and maintaining strong
faith and a strong relationshipBecause, again, you know, we
(19:00):
don't really clock out becausewe're salaried, but we leave the
office and we go home and we'restill spending time together.
It's like, how do you not go tothat?
Oh, it's you again, you werethere.
I just left you five minutesago, right?
You know, one of the thingsthat has helped me with that is
also setting some boundariesaround our time at the office.
(19:22):
So, you know, our time with Godis our time with God, and our
time home to just chill andwatch Netflix is our time to
chill and watch Netflix, right,and just like our time in
business is our time in business.
And so setting boundaries hasreally helped us navigate those
challenges in building a strongbusiness while also maintaining
(19:43):
a strong faith.
Alex Fortis (19:44):
Yeah, and we're touching on faith and we're
talking about faith and business, right, and this morning I was
reading Mark 4.
Do you mind Can I share thiswith you?
I've never done this before.
If you see, in Mark 4, verse 3goes down.
I'm just going to start atverse 3, but it says Listen, a
(20:07):
farmer went out to plant someseed.
As he scattered it across hisfield, some of the seed fell on
footpath and the birds came andate it.
Other seed fell on shallowpathand the birds came and ate it.
Other seeds fell on shallowsoil with underlying rock.
The seeds sprouted quicklybecause the soil was shallow,
but the plant soon wilteredunder the hot sun and since it
(20:29):
didn't have deep roots, it died.
Other seed fell among thornsthat grew up and choked out the
tender plants, so they producedno grain.
Still, other seeds fell onfertile soil and they sprouted,
grew and produced a crop thatwas 30, 60 and even 100 times as
much as they had planted.
(20:49):
Then he said anyone with earsto hear should listen and
understand.
And then it goes down to verse13.
This here what I'm about toread.
It really opened my eyes right,because if you want to plant
seeds going back to.
(21:10):
We want to live our own lives.
If you do it the way God Jesuswants you to do it, you'll see
the abundance that he alwaysgives us Right.
So on 13, verse 13, he saysthen Jesus came to them.
He says if you don't understandthe meaning of this parable,
(21:30):
how will you understand all theother parables?
That was what we were justreading about.
That was what we were justreading about.
The farmer plants seed by takingGod's word to others.
The seed that fell on thefootpath represents those who
hear the message, only to haveSatan come at once and take it
(21:51):
away.
He's referring to the birdsthere, right, the birds came and
ate up the seed.
Then the seed on the rocky soilrepresents those who hear the
message and immediately receiveit with joy.
But since they don't have roots, they don't last long.
They fall away as soon as theyhave problems or are persecuted
(22:14):
by believing God's word.
And then the last one I thinkis the last one here the seed
that fell among the thornsrepresents others who hear God's
word, but all too quickly themessage is crowded out by the
worries of this life, the law ofwealth and a desire for other
(22:35):
things.
So no fruit is produced.
That's going back to like inthis world where we're going
through right now right, we'refirm believers, but there's so
much trying to pull us the otherdirection.
And the last one here, and theseed that fell on good soil
represents those who hear andaccept God's word and produced a
(22:59):
harvest of 30, 60 or even 100times as much as had been
planted.
I read that this morning and itwas like eye opening.
Yeah, yeah.
So it's things like that, likestaying in the word and just
being obedient.
Right, with everything in lifeyou know, not being.
(23:21):
You know one thing, one placeand then going home and being
someone else.
Right, let's be obedient, let'slearn to serve each other a
little bit more and have thatfellowship.
That's very, it's so important,so important.
Jessica Rosario-Fortis (23:35):
Yeah, I agree, this was such a powerful
statement, and just to be ableto read that verse and you know
outline it based on, you knowwhat our interpretations are, I
think I think that's just such apowerful thing to be able to
share, because the reality isthat you know, we are all called
to do something and sometimes,you know, our faith can be
(23:58):
fragile when we're going throughadversity and when we're
experiencing challenges.
We hope that this was a goodword for you guys and that you
were able to, you know, get aglimpse a little bit more about
who we are and what we do andtruly what the mission of this
podcast is, and so we reallylook forward to continuing to
share with you guys, in futureepisodes, a little bit more
(24:21):
about our story, our beliefs andhow we've incorporated faith,
business and love.
And until next time, keephustling.
Alex Fortis (24:40):
That wraps up another episode of Married to
the Hustle.
We hope you enjoyed today'sshow and found some inspiration
and practical tips to apply toyour own business journey.
Jessica Rosario-Fortis (24:50):
We love hearing from you, our amazing
listeners.
If you have any stories,questions or tips to share,
connect with us on social mediaor send us an email.
Your input makes this podcasteven better.
Alex Fortis (25:01):
And don't forget to subscribe to Married to the
Hustle on your favorite podcastplatform so you never miss an
episode.
And if you enjoyed today'sepisode, please leave us a
review.
It really helps us grow andreach more entrepreneurial
couples like you.
Jessica Rosario-Fortis (25:15):
Join us next week for more exciting
stories, insightful interviewsand valuable advice.
Until then, keep hustling, keepthriving and keep loving what
you do.
Alex Fortis (25:24):
Thanks for tuning in and happy hustling.
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