In this episode, our host shares how having simple systems in the home saved her sanity as a mompreneur working from home with a young child.

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

Join The Mom CEO Suite Email Community

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You are now tuned in to the Mom c e O Suite

Podcast. I'm your host, Felicia wife,

mom, and entrepreneur. In this podcast, I'll be sharing my

mompreneur journey along with strategies that will help you build your

online business operations in a sustainable way.

The goal is to help you build a business that fits into your lifestyle as

a mom who values putting family first. We will also hear the

experiences and expertise of other moms with

service-based businesses. You'll get a peek into our journeys, so

you'll know that you are alone. Motherhood gets hard,

entrepreneurship gets hard, but together we can

do hard things. Welcome to this.

Hey friend, welcome to another episode. Thank you for being here today.

I'm going to be talking about how systems saved my sanity as a

mom preneur. Now we know this intersection of being a

mom and an entrepreneur. It comes with its own set of

unique challenges. There's ups there's

downs. There's joy. There's sadness. There's just

so many changes that occur throughout the journey. And

so I just wanted to share a little bit of how in the

midst of all of those changes. And the challenges

that I've been able to maintain my sanity bus

for. I say thus far, because you know, my

daughter, she's in the toddler stage now, and it's just a

new set of things happening, which I'm sure toddler moms can

relate to. Male prior to

me becoming a mom, I was an entrepreneur. If you haven't heard this before.

Just going to share for those who may not know I was an entrepreneur before

I was a mom. So I was used to. The hustle, the bustle.

Used to just working whenever I chose to. And then I became a

mom and I knew things would change. I just did not know

how much they would change or in what way that would change.

But I, I quickly found out. Now when my daughter was in the

newborn stage, you know, during that stage, they're still. Very

easy to care for and maintain an M. In my opinion. Let me say

that. Because they just eat and sleep a lot.

And so I was still able to

just still do work as normal. I wasn't

doing as much work because I was on my.

Maternity leave. But. There wasn't any type

of challenge with me doing some light work. If I wanted to.

As she continued to grow. And she transitioned into

more of the infant stage. She needed more of my attention.

And this is where. Some of the challenges began to

arise because I was out of my three month

maternity leave that I had given myself. And so now I was trying

to jump back into work full force. And

do it in the same way. And in the same pace that I did

before I had my daughter. And I was just trying to kind of bring

her along on the journey. And that did not work out, obviously.

And. It created a situation where. I was a

frustrated mom. And a frustrated business owner. Because my

daughter. Also she's seen during this stage to

be. Very cranky. At times and I

being a new mom, you know, I really didn't know. What I should or should

not be doing. I was just doing a lot of things, trial and error. I

don't know how I came across it, but I came across some information on the

internet. About net times

and wake windows. So basically there's this

concept. The infants. They still need to have

X amount of hours of sleep, but they should only be

awake for. These designated or suggested wake

windows. Which were like three to four hours. For me.

At the time that was like a light bulb aha

moment. Because up until that point, I was still just letting

her. eat and sleep. Whenever she seemed hungry, you're tired.

But not really realizing that she was. probably just cranky

because I wasn't putting her to sleep. I was just allowing her to be

awake. and letting her take the lead instead of me as

the parent taking the lead. So. When I found out about these wake

windows. What I did was I created this. Nap

time. Routine for her. And let me tell you guys, it

was amazing. What it looks like basically she woke up

around seven 30 in the morning. She was awake for three

hours. And then she took a nap from 10 30.

Until new, then she was up for another three hours. And then she took

another nap from three until four 30.

And then she was up for another three hours until 7:30 PM. When I

put her to bed. When I implemented. This.

Into our daily routine. This

just made things a lot easier.

She was less cranky because she was getting her sleep. Obviously

right. And. I was able to have

designated times throughout the day. Where I

could get some work done. And so

I, I didn't have these feelings of frustration anymore.

I didn't have these, these feelings of, oh, am I going to be able to

even do this? Do I need to shut down my business? All of those

negative thoughts and feelings that I was having. It went away

and it even led me to. Transition into a space where I was more

productive, because I knew that. I only had three

hours of. On interrupted work

time to get things done per day. Yes, I could work before

she woke up. Or at night when she went to bed, but most of the

time. I was trying to get my restaurant in those times. or in the

morning, just waking up early to prepare myself for

the day. And so I knew three

hours each day. I had. Of uninterrupted work

time. It just helped me to be more productive. Now

as she got older. The way she operated

changed. Then we had to adjust the schedule a little bit. So

the schedule that she's on now. her wake windows are

longer since she's older and now she only has one nap.

And she takes a two hour nap. From one to

3:00 PM. When she's awake., there are times where I can do

some light work like emailing or. I'm doing some things on social

media. That doesn't require too much of my attention,

but still just having that designated two hours per day.

Is such a game changer for me as a

mom who has a child. And is working from home. It's

just a relief to be able to have that time designated to

get work done. Now. As. With anything

you learn as time goes on. And so once we got the

nap time portion down, It was like, okay, now what do we

do? What are we going to do during all of these other times

when she's awake? And so I started adding more

things to the schedule. That. Outline what we would

do. During her await time. So there's times where we're outside

playing. There's times where she just has some free.

Playtime and she's running around the house. There's time

where we're doing learning. And reading. And things like that.

And so. Having all of this. It's really a

system, right? Having the schedule, having the

routine. This is a system it's just a system for your

home. And. It. Outlines. How you're

going to operate from day to day in your home with

your child. As a systems person. I don't know why I

didn't think about it. Right. I, I focus heavily on systems for the

business, but it did not. Occur to me

initially, to create systems for the home. But

once I did. Guys. It helped me. To keep my sanity.

So if you don't have systems in your home, I encourage you just to

start create a schedule that's a process, which is a part of a

system, right? And so having these

systems in place. It really allowed. First

of all for me and my daughter to know what we were going

to be doing on a day to day basis. And

even now at this point, This just recently happened.

It was getting close to her nap time. And instead of me,

Taking her to her neck, she initiated going

upstairs or wanting to go upstairs to take her nap.

But that could not have happened if I had not. I

created this system. And implemented. A lot of

times in business when it comes to.

Systems and processes and automations. We'll

create these things. But then we never. Implement

them. And if you don't implement, you won't see the benefit of it.

Okay. So having these systems in my home were

super beneficial because again, it allowed. She, and I had to know

what we were going to be doing on a day-to-day basis. It provided

me with relief. I was able to

take breaks and I was able to still be able to show

up. And be productive in my business. Now, along

with being able to take breaks. This gave me

peace of mind. That if anybody else was watching her.

That they knew what the standard was.

So her dad. my sister's. She went away for a

week. to stay with my sisters out of town. Her

grandparents recently came into town

during my wedding anniversary for the weekends to watch

the kids. And. They got a document. They

got some SLPs that I have for my home. They got a

document that outlined. Her schedule. And it outlined

what. Things should be done throughout the day. And so

having that, it gave me a peace of mind. To

know that in my absence, She would still be

taking care of. At least to the basic standard that I had

said. And being able to go away and have that break.

With that peace of mind. Is priceless. And so

it's the same thing with your business.

Right. Having systems in your business. They allow you as the business

owner to show up and be productive in your zone of

genius. Because you're not doing all the things. Other

people are taking care of. Working in the business in some

capacity, and you're able to stay in your zone of genius and be

productive in the things that are going to help grow the business. Having

those SLPs allow you to take the breaks. It

allows you to step away from the business. With the peace of

mind, knowing that your business is going to

continue to operate. Knowing that your business is going to be

taken care of to the basic standard that you have set.

Systems can be super simple and I don't want you to

overcomplicate it. It's literally just. How

you do. Anything for a particular area. You can

have systems in your business. And you can have

systems in your home if you don't have any systems in your home yet. Start

with the daily schedule. And go from there, but you can keep it

simple. It does not have to be anything that is complicated.

I hope that in me, sharing more of my mom preneur

journey. That something resonated with you that you are

encouraged to take some action. Maybe you got an

idea to implement something in your home. Or in your

business. And so let me know, shoot me a message on Instagram,

which part? Of today's episode most resonated with you.

I would love to chat with you. I hope this was helpful. And I will

see you in the next episode. Thank you for listening to the Mom C e

O Suite Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, can you do us a

favor? Leave a review on iTunes and share with other

moms in business like you. Help us spread our message and empower

others who are at this intersection of motherhood and