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Ep 27. Finding Harmony in Life & Business as a Work From Home Mompreneur
Episode 271st August 2023 • The Mom CEO Suite: Life & Business Systems for Mompreneurs Seeking Work Life Balance • Phylicia Pough, Life & Business Systems Strategist for Moms
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In this episode, host Phylicia shares about real time messiness that occurs when working from home as a mompreneur. She shares why she prefers harmony over balance and gives 7 things that can be implemented to find harmony in life and business.

About Phylicia

Phylicia Pough, MBA is a wife, mom of 1 daughter and an entrepreneur. For over 10 years, Phylicia has been behind the scenes of businesses and ministries, keeping things organized. Her journey started in Administration and developed into Systems & Automation Consulting/Strategy. 

Her latest venture is The Mom CEO Suite which is a community for the modern day mom in business that curates experiences and safe spaces for mompreneurs. The Mom CEO Suite also automates business and podcasting processes for mompreneur service providers.

Connect with Phylicia

Facebook: Phylicia Pough

Instagram: @PhyliciaPough

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/phyliciapough/

Connect with The Mom CEO Suite

Website: themomceosuite.com

Instagram: @themomceosuite

Join The Mom CEO Suite Facebook Group




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Transcripts

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Hey friends. Welcome to another episode. Welcome to

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the suite. So today's episode is going to

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be a bit more. Personal a little less of business,

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but I think it's a relevant. As we are.

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All moms in business and. I just feel led

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to share on this topic. I literally had a totally

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different. Topic and notes that I was going to

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record for this week's episode. Uh, but decided

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against it. And I think this is the better direction to go for

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now. So today. Today's Tuesday.

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I typically release. The podcast episodes

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on Tuesdays and I shared over on Instagram.

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Earlier today, I was just giving some insight

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into the reality or.

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The day-to-day of working from home

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with a young child and trying to manage

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life in business and how sometimes it can get messy. And

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so I was sharing. And my stories on Instagram, by the way, if you're not

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following me on Instagram, just go ahead and make sure you follow me. My

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stories are where I spend most of my time when I'm over

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there. But. I was sharing how

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typically on Tuesdays I will be coming into the stories,

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sharing about the. Hi Cass episode, that

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was going to be released for the day, but I had not even

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recorded the episode. That was supposed to be released for the day.

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And I was sharing that. You know, last week was

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just a tough week for me. And so it really.

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Hindered my creativity, my productivity.

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And just all the plans that I had. Really didn't happen.

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Um, I had a plan. I wrote it down in my

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planner last week, I was supposed to

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record and edit and publish all of the

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episodes for August. But again, that just didn't

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happen. And today, Tuesday. I thought. Okay, well,

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maybe I can wake up early. Before baby girl wakes

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up and record the episode. But I overslept. So

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that in happened. And so I figured, okay.

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Maybe I can just sneak in my

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closet for a few minutes because the episode. Is it going to

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be there long? My solo episodes are only like 15 minutes.

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Maybe I can just go on my closet and record and she

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can just be out in the bedroom playing with her toys.

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That didn't work because she was screaming and

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hollering. Outside of the closet door because she wanted to come in

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the closet with me. Uh, so then I thought, okay, maybe

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I can put on a show for her and. She can

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sit there for 15 minutes while I record this podcast episode.

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And again, that didn't work. Either because she wanted to run back and

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forth from my desk to, to back to where the TV was.

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And so it was one of those things where. I

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just had to hold off on recording the episode.

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And. Realized that it was just going to get done

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whenever it was going to get done. And typically I would

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have scheduled to do it during her nap. But I literally just got

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finished recording a podcast interview.

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For a September episode. And I also have some other things

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scheduled, but I canceled them so that I could record today's

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episode. And so. Just giving you guys

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some insight into the day-to-day like, yes, we can have

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plans. Yes, we can be organized.

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But every day. Does not always

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look like a day where we are crushing our goals.

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Where we are checking things off of our to-do

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list. Where things are going according to plan.

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Um, some days are tough and some days we just have

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to put work aside. To tend to.

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The needs of the child. And so. I want to talk

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today. About. How even in these circumstances,

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you can still find harmony in life and in

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business. I have seven things that I want to share with you guys.

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I'll come back at the end. And I will, share

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my lessons learned from this past weeks

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and today's circumstances. I'll come back and share my lessons, but

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I want to get into these seven things that can kind of help you

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to. Find harmony in life and business

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as a work from home. Mompreneur now

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I'm specifically saying harmony and I'm intentionally not

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saying balance. Because for me. Again, this is just my

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personal opinion. You know, it's not that I don't believe in balance.

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But. When I think of balance, I think of those scales

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Where there's two sides. And you have. Items when the

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scale and you're trying to get them to even out.

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And when I think about balance, it makes me wonder and it makes me

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think, am I. Am I placing unrealistic

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expectations on myself. And then setting myself up.

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For disappointing. in the long run. And so for me, instead of

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saying balance, because balance makes me think that, All of these things in

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my life need to be even. Instead of saying balance. I

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like to think of harmony. And when you look up, what

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harmony really means, harmony is defined as the quality

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of forming a pleasing. And consistent

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whole. It means agreement. And so

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you can have harmony. Where. Some of your days

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are messy, right? You might have a plan. Some things

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might not go according to plan, but in the end you can

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still have a pleasing and consistent.

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Pole. And it's not like I'm just trying to balance

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life and business, but I can have all of these other pieces of my life.

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Right. Because. bears motherhood. There's

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being a wife, there's being a sister. There as being the

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business owner. So it's all of these things that can work together

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in a pleasing way. However, I define pleasing.

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And be a consistent whole, so that's why I like to use the term harmony

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instead of balance. So, let me just get into the seven things really

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quick. That I found helpful in my journey. And I know

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that this, this resonates because the podcast interview that I just

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got out of some of these themes.

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That I'm going to share with you all today. Some of these things

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came up in her interview today as well. So

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I know that these are things that people struggle

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with. And that. People will resonate with. so the first

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thing. There will be helpful for you in.

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Finding harmony in life and business is freedom framing. Now

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freedom framing is the first phase in our

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framework here at the mom CEO suite.

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Freedom framing is really defining what

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freedom means for you in your life and in your business.

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This really is. Another way of setting goals, but you're

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setting goals in terms of freedom, because our whole mission here is

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to allow you to have the freedom to put family first without the

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business suffering. Right. And so we're thinking about what the

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end game for all of this is. Why are you really

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doing all of this? And so setting clear goals.

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Around those things can help you in the journey,

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in the day-to-day as you are working towards that. So that's number

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one. Number two is to get

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organized. And to plan ahead.

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So getting organized can mean. Writing things down in a

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planner or using some type of digital calendar.

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Or whatever that looks like for you. For me. Clanners are

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more effective but getting organized, whatever that means for you is going

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to help you along in the journey. Uh, this summer I traveled.

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With baby girl. Um, to South Carolina

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and I traveled by myself. So I, you know, I got on a

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plane, took her with me. It was just her and I, and on the way

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back home. There was a lady sitting next to me on the

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airplane and. She started talking

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to me about. How good baby girl did on the flight. You

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know, a lot of times when you, you, you hear kids on the airplane,

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they're very fussy. They're noisy, but she did do. Do

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well, which I'm glad about. But she

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said, um, you know, I don't know if I will be able to do that.

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But one of the things that she said was you seem very

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organized though, and yes, when it comes

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to being able to have harmony in your life and business and just

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making all of this work together, there needs to be a level of

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organization. I had to plan ahead and I had to think about.

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Okay. All of the things that I was going to need for her while we

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were in the airport, all of the different snacks. The type of

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support and help that I would need once I got to, the arrivals

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gate, all the things like I had to plan ahead and be organized.

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So that along the journey, I would not be frustrated when

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things came up. Okay. So that's number two to get organized.

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And to plan ahead. Uh, number three is to manage your

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expectations. And managing your expectations

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really looks like. Understanding the season of life that

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you are in Understanding the season of motherhood that you are

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in and really managing.

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Your own expectations that you put on yourself.

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And that other people put on you and being realistic about what you can

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really get done. As a work from home mom, this is

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one of those things that came up in the interview that I had today. We

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were talking about honoring the season of motherhood that we were in and

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how sometimes it can be frustrating. When you

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are. Looking at other people.

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Doing a lot, or it feels like they're doing a lot

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more, but they're in a different season of life and we

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have to really just get to a place where we're okay. In

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understanding that. Things may be a little bit slower for me. It

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may take me a little bit longer to do X, Y, and Z.

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But I am just honoring that this is the season of motherhood that I

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am, and I'm cherishing the moments and the time that I'm able

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to spend with my children in this season.

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Number four is to communicate and communicating.

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Can look like communicating your needs. And also

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communicating your boundaries. And so if you have a

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spouse. Communicating what it is that you need, where it is

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that you need support. And also communicating those boundaries. These

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boundaries can be with family. These boundaries can be with clients.

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But communication is going to be essential. In,

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minimizing your level of frustration when

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things. May not go the way that you expected. If you

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communicate them clearly, it can minimize. Those

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frustrations. Number five is to get support.

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Get support wherever you can get support in life. Get

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support in business. Whatever that looks like for you. And

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however that can look like for you. Again,

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people. We'll be quick to tell you what you need to do, but only,

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you know, your circumstance and only, you know, your situation,

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Somebody. May say, oh, you need to hire

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a project manager. That may not be the best

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thing for you. Maybe you just need to Outsource. Certain

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tasks in your business, you may not need to hire a

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full-time employee. Find support

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for your home life as well. What is it in your home life that you

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can outsource? What are the things that you are doing consistently?

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On a repetitive basis that you can outsource

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think cooking or cleaning. Laundry, whatever

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it is that you can do. Try to outsource it or get support from

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family, friends, or a tribe. That can help you in those

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areas. Number six. Is to indulge

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in self care. And I think. This is very

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important because at the end of the day, if we

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are not taking care of ourselves, We are going to be no

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good and taking care of. Our children,

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our families and our business. And so we really

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set the standard for how other people are going to treat

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us. Right. And so we have to indulge in caring for ourselves.

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And that can look like. The manicures and

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the massages and all those things, but on a deeper

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level, what does caring for yourself? Look like? Does that look like

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Russ, does that look like enforcing the boundaries that you have

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communicated? What does that look like for

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you in your life? Understand and

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recognize what those things are and then indulge in them.

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So you can be your best self, not only for you, but for your

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family and also for your business. And then finally number

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seven is to celebrate. Celebrate

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your wins. Celebrate your successes.

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Celebrate the milestones celebrate getting through the

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day. We need to learn how to begin to celebrate ourselves

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as moms and as business owners. We are keeping little

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humans alive, right? Maybe you're a little humans aren't so little anymore,

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but at some point you did. And so we need to celebrate how

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far we have really come. I think a lot of times we.

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Are looking at how far we have to go. Not

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realizing and recognizing that we have really come.

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A long way are ready. And so celebrating the

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success that we already have. The

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growth that we have already seen as success, doesn't have to be

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a monetary number. Or anything like

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that, but the fact that maybe you grew as a person.

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You gained more patients, you became more loving.

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Right. It can be anything, but celebrate your successes

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and your wins along the journey. Okay. So

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those are just some things that have been helpful for me and finding harmony in

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life in business. Now I want to quickly

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share. Just one main lesson that I learned.

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From this past week and just the messiness

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of today. And for me. The lesson was that I

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needed to put more white space in my

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calendar I need to give myself more time to do the

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things that I plan to do. So that when things do come

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up, when things do arise, when I do have a bad week,

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It doesn't slow down the progress. Or it

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doesn't slow down my timeline. So I need to.

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Uh, plan further ahead or start things sooner, if

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that makes sense. And so I hope that me

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sharing this was helpful that you resonated with

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something, even if it's just one thing that you take away that you can

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implement. Please do that because managing

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motherhood and entrepreneurship. It can get hard.

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You know, we say here on the podcast, a lot, motherhood gets hard. Entrepreneurship

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gets hard, but together we can do hard things. And I

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truly believe that. And so. I hope that this gave you

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some encouragement. To keep one in the journey, because I know there might be

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some days where you're thinking, how can I do this?

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Can I continue to make this work? And I believe

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that. If this is the path that was destined

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for you, then yes, you can. Thank you

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guys for listening. Make sure you follow me on Instagram. I would love

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to chat with you guys over there. I check out your stories and chat

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