Mommy's Home Office

I want to talk about this podcast.  If you are wondering what it takes to produce a podcast and how much equipment and time it takes...well, my friend, you are in luck! I am going to break down my podcast workflow and tell you exactly how I produce this show every week. First, let’s talk about why I chose to podcast.   I could have chosen to blog, video on YouTube or a live show on Facebook or Instagram but I chose to podcast.   Why?  Because I am a podcast junkie myself and love to talk.   I knew that I would need to be consistent with whatever I decided to use as my regular content and I was really turned on by the fact that I could batch record episodes.   Sure, I could batch anything but getting dressed and made up for the video was too daunting and then all of the editing makes me want to cringe. Plus I like to write but I wanted my voice to be heard so I figured I’d give podcasting a shot. So, now I’m addicted.  I have refined my system so that it takes far less time than it did in the beginning and I’m

Today is about creating content.  We have Sarah Schwab the Content Creation Coach with us today. Sarah is going to talk all about her 3 pillars of content strategy and give some great tips on how to create content. Check out these highlights: How Sarah became an entrepreneur [1:45] Sarah niched down [4:05] Switzerland and her biz [4:20] Content Strategy - 3 Types of content [6:00] Content is different than copy [11:50] Tips for creating content [13:36] Love-hate relationship with creating content [15:47] Content marketing is not a magic pill [16:18] Why I chose to start a podcast [18:30]  Sarah is starting a podcast [21:00] Sarah wrote a book about content creation [13:36] How competitive dance ties into her book[23:35] How Sarah juggles her mommy/work life [24:23] The importance of having a specific workspace [28:50] Sometimes working is a lot easier than parenting [30:23] I went 9 days without my laptop

I know I’ve talked about Amy Porterfield in the past!  I actually talk about her a lot and that’s because she has been instrumental in my business and my life. Saying that she has changed my life might have you rolling your eyes or thinking yeah right whatever.  She’s just a social media influencer. But you would be wrong, my friend. She has basically been one of the best professors in my online marketing education.  Think of it as an Online Biz MBA. So how did I find her... I started listening to her podcast back in 2013 when I was trying to grow my senior living business. She always had hands-on tactile advice.  She really does try to make every episode a mini training. I learned a ton from her and after every episode, I would make an effort to implement what I had learned. And it was working. Fast forward 2 years, when I finally signed up for B-school and I only signed up for it because I wanted Amy’s bonus package. It was so full of behind the scenes gold that I used to get my business systematized and fu

Today, we are talking to Stacy Brookman, she teaches people how to write their life stories and get over all of the labels that we put on ourselves and that others put on us.   For the full show note experience head over to www.MommysHomeOffice.com/resilient  Links mentioned in this episode: Stacy's Free Webinar - The Four Simple Proven Methods to Writing the Very First Chapter of Your Life Story in Just 7 Days  Asana Training - FREE Thanks for Listening! Special thanks to Stacy for joining me this week and to Carson Baker for being an awesome sound engineer.  Until next time!

Are you like me?   I have big dreams and set big goals.  But actually working on them or taking action usually starts out great but then fizzles out? Starts out amazing. I plan (I looooovvvve planning) and get everything ready.  And that works for about 3 days. This same cycle happens to us in our businesses too.   We set big goals and then get bogged down in the day to day aspects of it.  Our big goals get pushed to the side and they never get accomplished.   For the full show note experience head over to www.MommysHomeOffice.com/transition  Links mentioned in this episode: Beautycounter Asana Training - Free Mommy's Home Office Thanks for Listening! Special thanks to Carson Baker for our amazing sound experience. Until next time!

Corporate moms this one’s for you - whether you are currently a corporate mom or you come from a corporate background.   Today, Fabienne and I will be digging into how to make the transition from corporate to entrepreneur and all the juicy bits that go into it.  Check it out! For the full show note experience head over to www.MommysHomeOffice.com/transition  Links mentioned in this episode: Fabienne’s Free Training - How to Transition from Corporate to Entrepreneur Asana Training - Free Thanks for Listening! Special thanks to Fabienne for joining me this week and to Carson Baker for our amazing sound experience. Until next time!

I get asked a lot about what tools I use to run Mommy’s Home Office so I’m going to be doing a few episodes about those tools. Today we are going to talk about the absolute essentials for running an online business and a lot of them are free or under $30.  So let’s get to it! The first tool I love is… Canva Cost:  Free or $12.95 a month   Why I love Canva: You don’t need to know the dimensions of each different platform it has them. It already has done for you templates that you can take and make your own. It’s FREE or you can use Canva for Work which is worth the $12.95 a month.   Check Out Canva HERE Acuity Scheduling Cost:  Free or $15 a month If you take clients, set up interviews, set meetings or anything else that requires your calendar and scheduling please use a scheduling tool.     No more back and forth! Acuity also lets you take payments through Stripe and PayPal, so you can charge for your appointments, create packages, gift certificates, products, digital products, create payment plans and subs

If you’ve been wondering what you can do to make money from home?   This is the episode for you. Becoming a virtual assistant (VA) is the perfect way to make money and work as many or as few hours as you want.   Kayla talks about the ins and outs of VA work and how she earns $10,000 a month doing VA work. Biggest Takeaways You Don’t Want to Miss: Kayla was living paycheck to paycheck when she started her blog. How she thought online business was a scam in the beginning. She started earning extra money as a freelance writer and pivoted into a virtual assistant. How she turned her side hustle into a full-time business. The biggest VA jobs and how to get a VA job. I know first hand, so many online business owners need help.  There is no way for them to do it all and if they are doing that it’s hurting their growth.   They need help with social media, writing copy, creating graphics, podcast transcription, filtering all the emails, scheduling posts, invoicing clients and list goes on and on.   Check out these h

Finding your why is a journey that we all must go on.  Whether it’s your reason for getting healthy, your reason for going back to school, your reason for being/or staying married or your reason for starting and running your own business. Today I’m going to talk about the latter.   Starting and running your own business is no joke.   It takes a lot of time and commitment and lots of fails to get it right. If you don’t have a really strong why, and I mean rock solid, behind it then it’s likely you won’t reach your goals. I finally found my why but it was something I struggled with for a very long time.    

Biggest Takeaways You Don’t Want to Miss: Monica went from corporate desk job to stay at home mom to blogger to Facebook ads coach. How she pivoted her business from blogger to ads coach. When is your business ready to start running Facebook ads - Monica goes into details and What posts should you run ads to and how you get the best ROI for your money. Don’t be Facebook's low hanging fruit. It’s only good for Facebooks wallet, not yours. If you’ve been scared to run Facebook Ads or maybe you run ads now but you want to get lower CPCs, then listen up because Monica is demystifying Facebook ads for us in today’s episode.  You’re going to want to start running ads after hearing this conversation.   Check out these highlights: How Monica went from the corporate cubicle to stay at home mom. [2:28] Monica and her husband paid off $120,000 in debt.  [5:53] Pivoting your business and how to know it’s right.  [7:07] How Monica got super low cost per conversions with her Facebook ads. [8:05] When should you start ru

Today I’m sitting down with Larken Lech the talent behind Larken Lech Branding and Design. Larken helps entrepreneurs create brands that they love. Ah-mazing! I’m super excited to introduce Larken to you. She’s going to talk about how she got started in online business. Through her story, you'll see that being a mom and going after your dream is totally possible. She also goes into her struggle with the postpartum depression.  And how starting her business helped her overcome it. She’s sharing the about cohesive branding, when you should do before hiring a branding expert and her biggest branding pet peeve. Plus she has an amazing course that she is offering us! Check it out here. Let’s get started! I’ve got a couple of quick announcements today too: I have created a FREE behind the scenes training to help with the overwhelmed and frazzled feelings that we all have as moms juggling a million things every day.   I use a free tool called Asana to manage my tasks and #ALLTHETHINGS that go into my biz life and mo

Time Management Moms let’s get real for a second.  I’m not the best time manager.  Time management has been a struggle for me. Plus, I’m a serial procrastinator.  Juggling the kids, the house, the husband, and two businesses is not an easy feat. Oh and I forgot the PTA (and a side note on that...no matter what position you sign up for and how little time they say it will take...they are lying...it always takes more time than you think.   Don’t get me wrong PTA is important but chose your position or volunteer level wisely). Ok, enough on that rant.    I'm betting you’ve felt this way before.  Letting stuff pile up until you just can’t take it anymore, seeing a deadline rapidly approaching or just trying to get everything in while your kiddo is napping, before they come from school, or while you have a few minutes of time.   Trust me, I feel you...Time management is something I’ve been trying to master for years. And everyone is a little different when it comes to what works. I have a few tricks up my sleeve f

Today I’m sitting down with Micala Quinn the founder of Live Free Mama. Live Free Mama helps moms get started in their freelancing career so that they can experience freedom and flexibility while raising their family. SOOOO Awesome! I’m super excited to introduce Micala to you. She’s going to talk about how she got started in online business. Through her story, you'll see that earning a full-time income from home is possible, even after a few failures. She’s sharing the ideas about what’s possible for moms, how anyone can freelance and her biggest tip to getting clients. She also goes into the 4 things you need to start your freelance business.  This might give you some ideas for starting your business and brand, so listen close.   Plus she has a great brainstorming guide that she is sharing with us! Check it out here. Let’s get started! I’ve got a couple of quick announcements today too: I have created a FREE behind the scenes training to help with the overwhelmed and frazzled feelings that we all have as mo

Ok, so I’m not gonna lie.  This is an area that I struggle with and it wasn’t until I had kids that I finally was able to delegate it.  I always felt bad for the women that had clean other people's houses because growing up my mom was one of those women.  She would do it on the side to make extra money for our family.   It took me a really long time to change my mindset around it.  I finally realized that because of these wonderful families paying my mom for her services that we were able to do and buy the things that we needed. So after years of trying to handle it myself, I finally have my house cleaned every 2 weeks by this amazing sister team.  They are angels to our family.  They give us back so much time.  It takes the 2 of them 4 hours to clean our house so that’s eight hours it would take me by myself and I know how valuable that is.   Plus, I have four boys in the house so keeping bathrooms clean is a disgusting never-ending battle. Pretty much daily, I wipe down everything in the bathrooms with disi

I’ve talked a lot about biz stuff the last 5 episodes so today I’m going to talk about mommy life.  You know me, I loooove systems and I started incorporating some of my biz strategies into my home life and OMG it has made a big difference.  The frustration, time and overwhelm have definitely gone down.    Because there are so many facets of our mommy life I want to break them down into smaller chunks.  Today’s topic will benefit you whether you have a biz already or not because we are going to talk about my biggest time sucker...Food, grocery shopping, and meal planning.  And since it’s still January most of us are trying really hard to eat healthier and choose healthier options. I don’t know about you but I am the one in charge of getting the family feed and everything that goes with it especially because my hubby travels for work almost every week.   I have this love-hate relationship with this role of mine because I love food and I love grocery shopping but having the time to plan, shop, prep, and cook ca

If you’re anything like me, when your kids are around it’s super hard to get anything done. Cleaning, organizing, or anything that isn’t about them, especially working or having 10 minutes of quite to say record a podcast… is virtually impossible.   But if you really want to, you can find little pockets of time to work.  And I know personally that there’s nothing to get your butt into gear and get it done, then having a short amount of time ticking away.  That’s why timers work so well. (but that’s a whole other episode that we’ll cover) I don’t know about you but some of my best stuff comes out when I’m under pressure.  Tell me you’ll be at my house in 15 minutes I can speed clean like a pro. :)   So I’ve come up with a list of ten tactics to use when you need to sneak in a little bit of work time.  Some of these you may have heard but I bet there’s a few that you hadn’t thought of yet.

In today’s episode, I want to talk about how to manage your biz and make it work with your life using systems. Systems and processes are one of my favorite things.  Today I’m going to share a few of those with you!   Links Mentioned in the Podcast: Free Asana Training - Kick ass at managing your biz & mommy life! Scheduling with Acuity - Schedule Appointments, Sell Digi Products, Sell Gift Certs or Packages, Sell Subscriptions, Offer Payment Plans Accounting with Quickbooks - Easy online accounting tool Gmail/Email Boomerang - Send emails at a later time and send unopened emails to the top of the inbox Integration & Automation with Zapier - Create automation in your biz and mommy life Integration & Automation with If This Than That - Create automation in your biz and mommy life ConvertKit - Email Service Provider - Collect and send emails & set up funnels. Beautycounter - Cleaner, safer beauty products.

The easiest way to start with little to no money is FB & Instagram. I talked about this a little in Episode 1 and I want to go into detail here. This is just a starting point, you will need a website eventually. But this can take off some of the pressure and overwhelm of having everything figured out from the start. And get you to take action. All you need is a smartphone.  No fancy equipment or backdrops.    Links Mentioned in Podcast Ecamm Live - Add Text, share your screen and add logos to your Facebook Live   Beautycounter - Cleaner, Safer Beauty Products  

Today we are going to talk about coming up with an idea for a work at home biz.   I’m going to cover my top 5 different types of work at home opportunities.  Some of which you may not even know that you can make money doing these things. Links Mentioned in the Podcast: Proofread Anywhere Webinar and Course 10K VA Course - How to become a VA that earns $10k per month Beautycounter - Cleaner, Safer Beauty Products  

This is a safe place for moms to get support in their biz life and mommy life with no judgment.   I’m going to have brutally honest mom conversations. That isn’t just the curated FB and Instagram feed that we all see and we all compare ourselves to.   Don't forget to subscribe to the show!