Today we’d like to introduce you to Jamie Butler.
Jamie, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was a theatre major who saw dead people. As I began to shape my career I focused on individual readings helping people connect to their loved ones. Though I have always been comfortable in front of a camera I have not had a lot of luck in finding networks who would let me teach or show how my mediumship skills worked. They seemed to be more interested in me doing a reality show for entertainment value. I feel the audience is intelligent and ready to learn more about the communication to the beyond, wholeness living, spirituality and energy healing. I would continue to pitch my ideas and the pilots kept turning into someone else’s concept of what they thought the market needed to see to make some money.
After a full year in a law suit fighting for my ideas that I have been working on for years I began to realize that so many people are wanting to be heard but in the process losing their content to networks. I decided to create a network that is based on true collaboration. I built the set. I borrowed cameras. I learned editing programs and I spent many late nights writing a business plan. I pitched the idea to several people and found four women who wanted to create their own shows. We all paid into the network to hire a team to produce our content and found ourselves in the bright lights in of our dreams.
The Lighter Side Network was born out of integrity and the need to help myself and others to have the freedom to speak freely, be in their power and ownership over their own intellectual property. The Lighter Side Network was founded to create the space where the everyday and extraordinary meet. The Network’s weekly shows support wholeness living with thought provoking episodes, guest interviews, how-to’s and channelings. Our line up allows common topics to mingle with the unusual. Our programing is uplifting, educational and healing while still covering the hard hitting issues.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There is not enough space to explain all the challenges. I ran into bullies, men telling me how to run my companies, sexual assault, thief, anxiety attacks and my first break down. You would think I would have stopped and walked away but there was something gnawing the insides of me. During the whole journey my inner voice kept telling me I was being ridiculous. Who was I to try and start a network? You don’t know how to do it. Who even wanted to see me in front of a camera and how egotistical are you??!! All kinds of stories and old patterns ran through my head but I could not quit trying. I had this feeling, similar to how you can smell the rain in the rain before it pours. It was an elusive feeling but real. It felt exciting. Even though I could not explain it in words, this feeling motivated me. There were times I wanted to quit but I had so much to offer that I could not find out there in that big world.
I started to look at myself. Surprisingly, this introspect was the one thing I needed which sealed the deal. I discovered a pattern in my life I had not seen before. I would create the space I needed to thrive if it did not exist in my environment. I would do it time and time again! I create my own office space because others did not see my mediumship ability as a viable career. I began a community center, The Center for Love and Light, because there was not an all-inclusive, equitable space to practice my mediumship abilities and now The Lighter Side Network because there was not an online source I could go to and know the content I was absorbing was authentic and not driven by ad money.
Once I could recognize my strength in creating and building, I needed to focus on the community and asking for help. Yes, ask for help. Asking for help does make you helpless, dumb or weak. It is a way of learning from others who may have walked a similar path to you. Collect the wisdom all around you! You don’t need to reinvent the wheel, but you may to reinvent how it is used.
Overall, even when you feel at your lowest, you are still in the game. Pause create momentum. Take a break and readdress where you are going and why. If you still feel passionate about it then put all your efforts towards it. Invest in yourself. Find that inner strength, remove the time frames you set for yourself and put one foot in front of the other until you cross the finish line.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about The Lighter Side Network – what should we know?
What about my work? Where can I begin? I have seen and heard spirit since I was little. I did not dream of growing up and communicating to the dead for a living but as the years came people began to notice what I was capable of. I thought of myself as quit ordinary. As I began to help people connect to loved ones and help them with their healing, I saw the importance in it.
I have been a medium for the last 27 years of my life. I have written books, lectured at colleges, taught, worked world-wide, helped police, forensic cases, missing people and animals and conveyed the most sensitive of messages. I am still in awe of the world around me even at the age of 45. I am passionate about helping others awaken to their own intuitive abilities and believe that we all have the ability to perceive energy and spirit. I have been nicknamed the everyday medium because I focus on normalizing my mediumship skills into our society which enjoys seeing my abilities more for entertainment than its healing purpose. I also believe that laughter heals so the way I approach my teaching is through humor.
The network I created allows me to do this work and offer it to anyone and everyone in the comfort of their own home. My network helps people realize they are not alone. Our viewership knows they are watching content created by the host and not driven by ad placements or corporations. They are assured we partner with organizations which support the same level of integrity as we do. They know each show is privately curated and not governed or filtered by a network’s agenda. We are a living example of inclusivity and authenticity and have created over 300 episodes in the first year. I am so proud of this!
The hosts and some of the guests on the show wanted to continue building an online community and hence the Wholeness Living Online Expo was born! Three days packed full of lectures, teachings, healings and experiences all focused on living consciously and whole.
Which women have inspired you in your life?
The women in my family, my great-grandmother Bertha, my grandmothers GiGi and Nana and my mom’s Joyce and Jane, my Aunts Carol, Neva and Rachel have all influenced and inspired the woman I am today. I am going to look at the woman who were not gifted into my family structure and share how they impacted my life.
Third grade introduced me to the story of Helen Keller. I immediately learned sign language and discovered that there was a world others were experiencing that I was not. I read every book I could find on her. The perseverance she showed me was immeasurable. I learned I could do anything. I was hooked.
My spirit guide Maitland who is 9 years old took me by storm. She visited me daily and even at moments where I begged to be alone. She knew I needed comfort and she knew I did not know how to ask for it. She would whisper to me, I love you, I am hear for you. She made me laugh and created pauses for me by hiding my keys in odd places like the freezer. She would dead blot my door when I went to get the mail and lock me out. I could hear her giggling, wanting me to play along by checking the other doors. Games were her way to take me out of my mundane and get me to see outside the box a bit more.
My social media director Colleen Zeigler has deeply inspired me. She has shown me by example the power of self-acknowledgment and care. Though I am older than she is in numbers, I see her as my wise elder. We are all here to guide each other. Colleen’s confidence and care of self, family, friends and animals is contagious. I admire her ability to share her heart and hold respect for everyone. If I had to write her motto as an observer, I would say, “Life is not just a thing you do because you are here, it is the thing you choose to do every moment.” For Colleen it is all based around the ‘hell yes’ theory. She told me that if my answer is not a hell yes, I don’t need to be doing it. There has been a lot of great outcomes for me by following her theory!! Give it a try!
Pricing:
- Monthly Subscription to The Lighter Side Network $6.99
- Three Day Access to The Lighter Side Network $3.99
- One Day Access to The Lighter Side Network $1.99
- Wholeness Living Online Expo (14 hours of viewing) $75.00
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thelightersidenetwork.com
- Email: info@thelightersidenetwork.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamie_butler_medium/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thelightersidenetwork/
- Other: www.jamiebutlermedium.com
Image Credit:
Wesley S Cummings, Colleen Zeigler
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