Mom Update : Lessons from running my business and working less

When you own your business, it is normal to feel like you have to “ON” all the time. And especially as a mom, sometimes it’s so hard to separate mom life from business life. 

Last year my daughter was born and it totally rocked my world. Overall, I feel like I’ve become stronger and more confident in my ability to handle life as a human. But man, some days are tough.

Here are some of my learnings from becoming a mom and running my SEO agency. I hope you are able to use these in your own life (whether you are a mom or not) to work less and live more.

What becoming a mom has taught me:

• Allowing myself to trust my own timeline

I’ve felt behind my whole life. It started in school but stretched way beyond my university career, of feeling like I was always behind where I should be. Fast forward to starting my own business and once again, here it is! 

As I was building my agency and doing all the things, I realized that this belief that I was slow was really slowing me down (the irony). And then after becoming a mom, this even became more extreme because there was way more to do and less time to do it (ha!).

But I was determined to let go of this belief. And so with the help of my coach, I started practising opposite thoughts:

• I’m always on time

• I trust my timeline

• Everything is happening in the perfect and divine timeline.

This has completely changed how I run my business and helped me be more trusting and relaxed about my day-to-day life as a mom and business owner. 

• Living in the moment

Having kids forces you to live in the moment! That’s the truth. Whether you are changing a diaper or reading a bedtime story, many times things kind of slow down since babies and children experience life that way. 

There are times when this can be extremely hard and anxiety provoking but overall, I’ve found it to be a very enriching life lesson to practice living every day. 

• Marketing and SEO

When it comes to doing my business marketing and SEO, a lot of things have had to change in order to continue to be consistent and effective.

The biggest one is asking for support and reminding myself every day that there is always more available.

This one is particularly tough because I feel that as women we’ve been conditioned to want to do it all, especially when it comes to being a mom. And when you throw in running your own business, suddenly you have this infinite list of tasks that need to get done.

I’ve really had to work on not just delegating but getting smarter about the work that I really DO want to do and that will move the needle in my business.

I invite you to do some deep questioning in this area and consider what essential tasks need to happen for your business to move forward. 

Something else that has helped me quite a bit is creating yearly plans for my marketing and SEO. This allows me a structure that ensures consistency while also letting me play with creativity when I do feel inspiration hit. 

Focusing on quality over quantity has also been a bit turning point. I brought down the podcast to two per month instead of weekly. I’m doing one blog per month. 

Some more business tips for running your business and want to work less and have just as big an impact:

• Prioritize your high-level tasks first 

Sometimes it feels like you don’t have time but it’s because you are wanting to do all the things at once. Trust me, I’ve been there. Taking the time to prioritize tasks can really change the game.

This is what I do:

• Make a list of everything that needs to get done

• Prioritize each item by adding H (High Priority), M (Medium Priority), or L (Low Priority)

• The L things I try and push out and find a better time if I’m feeling particularly pressed for time.

• I review the H and M items again and look at if anything can be passed on to my team (I had a T beside those). 

• I also look if there is a way to batch two tasks together so they get done faster

• Dishes, House stuff, Whatever

Again, conditioning coming in here. I continue to remind myself that any dirty dishes, house stuff, and general messiness can get done later. Especially when you work from home a lot, it can feel like there is always something that needs to get done in the house (and there is!).

I really try and leave these things until later because otherwise, I’m using my precious creative time to do dishes, which doesn’t require any sort of creativity in my opinion. 

• It’s okay to disappoint others

When you start prioritizing your work and your life, it is possible that other people might get disappointed. That friend who was ranting to you during your work hours and now you aren’t picking up her calls might be offended. Or your partner who is used to watching that extra hour of Netflix together, but instead you are using that to read, might wonder what’s going on.

At the end of the day, you get to spend your time in a way that is meaningful to you and it’s important to really choose what you uncover what that is. Sometimes (just because we don’t want to rock the boat) we are catering to others’ whims and schedules when really we need to be prioritizing our needs. 

This is a habit and over time, with practice, you’ll change how you make small decisions that impact everything in your business!

• Getting good at delegating and letting go of control

This one is BIG. Especially as a business owner and especially as a mom. But the more you learn to delegate, the more you’ll be able to do the things that are within your “zone of genius” as Gay Hendricks (writer of “The Big Leap”) would say instead of ALL THE THINGS.

In my business, I’ve delegated:

• Inbox Management

• Podcast admin

• Client admin

• SEO Audits

As a mom and partner, I’ve let go of control in these areas:

• Cleaning the house (we have a house cleaner and I’ve also learned to ask my partner for help in certain areas)

• Childcare (I hired a nanny when my daughter was about 3 months and it changed everything! Now the time I spend with her is meaningful and I’m able to be truly present with her, as well as work on my business).

• Cooking (Ok, so my partner does 90% of the cooking. He used to be a chef so this is easy for me. We also order out sometimes and accept this as part of our lifestyle)

Here are some of the top tools I recommend for working less and living more:

• Focus Mate - you’re very own focus partner! This has changed the game for me and I recommend it to anyone I come across.
  

• Beeminder - goal-tracking tool with a bite. When you don’t complete your tasks and goals, you actually get a charge on your credit card. Talk about motivation! I’ve been playing around with this for different goals and I feel it has helped me get extra smart about my daily actions.
  

• Notes App (iPhone) - if you have android, there is an equivalent I’m sure. This is a super simple note-taking app that helps me take easy action. From making a weekly to-do list to having handy links available, I like that it’s not distracting and gets me to the action faster.

Wherever you are in your “work less” journey, I want you to know you aren’t alone. You have to literally find the right fit for you in terms of working in a way that feels meaningful but also allows you to still have energy at the end of the day to be with your family and kids.

What learnings do you have? Share in the comments below.