Episódios
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In this episode, I'm here to help you tackle the challenge many mom entrepreneurs face: balancing business growth with family time during the summer break. I'll share practical strategies to maintain momentum in your business while spending quality time with your kids. Drawing from my experience and my signature three-step method, you'll learn actionable advice on leveraging the summer months to refine your company vision, boost energy levels, and enhance storytelling skills. By involving your children in these activities, you not only strengthen your bond but also tap into their imaginative perspectives. Together, let's ensure you feel empowered and supported as you navigate your entrepreneurial journey. Today's episode is my answer to this listener question below.
Q&A: It's time for growth in my business. This fall I plan to hit the ground running. I know I will have to network more to take my business to the next level but I feel rusty and fear coming across as inept. What are some things I can focus on this summer while respecting that I also said I want to spend more time with my kids during this break?
Do you have a question? Send in your mom founder question today: https://www.instagram.com/melissallarena/
Key Points:
Summer Challenges for Mom Entrepreneurs: Balancing business growth with family time during the summer break can be tough, but I'm here to help you navigate it. The Imagination to Impact to Income Method: Let's dive into my three-step method tailored for mom entrepreneurs: accessing a fertile imagination, making impactful decisions, and creating pathways to income. Practical Strategies for Summer Success: Revamp Your Company Vision: Involve your kids in reimagining your company vision, leveraging their fresh perspectives and creativity. Boost Energy Levels: Focus on essential self-care practices like nutrition, movement, and emotional well-being to increase productivity and capacity. Enhance Storytelling Skills: Practice storytelling with your kids to refine your communication and articulate your business narrative effectively. Networking and Confidence Building: These summer activities contribute to enhancing your networking skills and boosting confidence in business interactions. Opportunity for Growth: Consider joining my group coaching program, "Fertile Imagination to Networking Success for Mom Founders," where you'll find support, mentorship, and a community of like-minded mom entrepreneurs like yourself.As you navigate the summer months, seize the opportunity to invest in your personal and professional growth. By implementing these strategies and participating in my coaching program, you'll be equipped to tackle the challenges of entrepreneurship with confidence and purpose, achieving success while cherishing precious family moments.
This episode is brought to you by the Fertile Imagination to Networking Success for Mom Founders Program: A LIVE 9-week group coaching masterclass to fast-track making connections with the right people to take your business to the next level.
What's included in this program:
9 weeks of live networking coaching and community Value-packed on demand curriculum on everything from navigating impostor syndrome to who to network with, how to find them, what to say, and on planning your fall and winter 2024 networking calendar focused on your business growth goal. 3 hours/ weekly investment this summer (2 whenever or wherever you wish) to hit the ground running in the fall and feel ahead for a change Lifetime access to tools and resources built for mom founders including meditations and unexpected ways to let go of mom guilt and overwhelm Exclusive opportunity for the first five mom founder participants including a multimedia podcast guest feature, two private bonus sessions, and a 30% discounted investmentSpecial extras: Daily Wins Workbook, Impostor Syndrome Journaling, and Networking Email Templates and More
I’m also offering exclusive bonuses for the first five mom founders only which is a guide on how to boost your productivity as a solopreneur so you can easily fit this into your summer calendar, two private one-on-one (to implement networking outreach, to role-play your elevator pitch), and a 30% discount.
Where do you want to be 9-weeks from now? There are two options you can feel excited, intentional, and prepared to hit the ground running in the fall ready to pitch, connect, or partner with absolutely anyone who can help your business skyrocket into next year or you can play smaller, stay stuck in the same day-to-day monotony of business hiding from the people and places where the better opportunities can be created?
You are bold. You are the type of founder who will do anything for your clients! It’s time to do this for yourself! Treat yourself the same you have committed to treat others. Go for option 1. Bold you!
Believe in yourself as much as you believe in others! Imagine if you believed in yourself as much as you believed in your kids! You’d knock yourself out of every and any park!
The fastest way to get to option 1 is by investing in Fertile Imagination to Networking Success today.
Sign-up now for the 15-minute call for the details and summer start date--> https://go.oncehub.com/ClientSessionMelissaLlarena
Let’s talk here so that you won’t miss out on all of the bonus exclusive to this round of five mom founders. If you have questions email me melissa [at] melissallarena.com
TRANSCRIPT:
Three things you can do this summer that are going to help you feel like you're ahead of the game come this fall. This is a question I got from a listener. She says, it's time for growth in my business. And this fall, I plan to hit the ground running.
Now, I know I'm gonna have to network more in order to take my business to the next level, but I feel rusty and honestly, sometimes I'm scared that I'm gonna come across as inept. So what are the things that I can focus on this summer as a business owner? While respecting the fact that I also said that I want to spend more time with my kids.
Okay. I love this question. And if you have your own questions, absolutely send it over. I'm on Instagram at Melissa Lorena. I love this question because it comes up every single break, whether it is a winter, spring, or a school break of any kind, anywhere you are in the world, this is something that is uniquely a challenge for the primary caregivers of their children or family members who might be aging.
And I want to be sure that you have. All the tools you need this summer in order to feel supported and to know that there are things that you absolutely can do in order to make progress on your business. So I wanted to just share this idea with you. A recent client who participated in my group coaching program, fertile imagination to networking success for mom founders, Michelle.
She actually pointed something out pertaining to what is the point of differentiation of partnering with me versus someone that doesn't acknowledge the fact that you are a mom first. Here's what Michelle had to say. She said, it made me feel, the program that is, as if I wasn't always failing. I wasn't always failing.
Um, having to feel disappointed when things were not going my way or when things were not the way I imagined or hoped. So in the program, Michelle goes on to say that there was so much context around this idea that as long as you are moving. Towards your dreams, even if it's at a snail's pace, you are doing what you can, and that's more than enough.
So here's the thing. During the summer months, our schedules completely change for a lot of us. And we have to reprioritize what comes first, but here's something that I know personally and I also know having helped a lot of mom founders who have very different circumstances. If you decide not to do anything pertaining to making progress on your business, then there are absolutely consequences.
And here's some of them. Come September, when all of our peers are out there full force, marketing their programs, marketing their podcasts, marketing their offers, we often will feel left behind. Like we are way behind the eight ball come September. And what then happens is this pattern. You end up doing.
Everything that you should have been doing little by little over the summer in the beginning of the fall, in September. And so that is what then brings about burnout. That is then what brings about this idea that our business and motherhood is an all or nothing game. It's something that either you're all in, Or you're fully out of, and I want to really, really emphasize that it does not have to be the case.
There are absolutely things that you can do this summer that are gentle, that are purposeful, that are intentional, that will keep the ball rolling in your business. And I really, really encourage you to think through. What you want to feel in September once the kids do go back to school once the kids are back in their Regular routine and you have a bit more time to yourself to think so something else that is a consequence of not doing anything that is strategic and quite Intentional over the summer that is going to give you the biggest bang for your time Buck is this idea that It is going to be so important, irrespective of where you are as a mom to really, really keep your kids engaged over the summer.
I know, right? I heard you from the left field. So here's why that matters. As it relates to our children during these summer months and at any point, they are what I like to call imagination experts in residence. Thanks. And we lose sight, oftentimes, that a day spent with them can actually help us gain access to our own imagination.
A day spent with them playing around can help us feel fresh, give us the opportunity to think differently about things, give us this sense of fresh enthusiasm that plugs us back into why we started our business in the first place. For And so you will be missing out on this opportunity that's quite special during the summer to hang out with the kids and actually learn from them over the summer, see how they might consider certain challenges and approach certain things, right?
So that's something else that if you decide to completely let go of your business over the summer, you might miss out the opportunity to bring that fresh sense of enthusiasm, fresh perspective, a fresh playfulness. To something that you've been struggling with or thinking about in the year before while the kids were in school, like now you have these amazing humans that are around you who can help you rethink, reimagine what's possible for you in your life and in your business.
So why not leverage that unique time during the summer to bring them on board your own sort of team, right? So that's something else that you will miss out on if you decide to not do anything business related over the summer versus figure out a way to bring your kids into the loop. Here's something else that tends to happen.
So we get rusty. That listener mentioned that her networking skills are already rusty. So now imagine a summer spent where you are at home or you are on vacation and you are a hundred percent not in a business mindset and not using that way of thinking. What ends up happening is that you're going to have to warm yourself up come the fall and you're going to be warming yourself up come the fall when everyone else is.
Would have already been warmed up throughout the entire summer season. And this is not to say at all that you don't get to decompress, relax, not think about business. But what this is to say is that there are huge benefits for making progress on your business, even at a snail's pace. And I would argue that that is the reason why over the last 12 years as a mom founder with three children, I have been able to do some pretty kick ass things, such as bringing amazing guests to my podcast, like Suzy Batiste, Beth Comstock, I mean, amazing humans, and it's because I never really fell asleep, like a comatose on my business, never, never, never, even when I was tandem nursing, my identical twins, I've I continued to make progress and again, we're not talking about rockstar progress.
We're talking about snails pace, but snails pace might be the way that you achieve your big bold ambition. All right. So now let me share with you three things that you can do this summer that are not going to put you in a place of conflict. Where you're going to be telling yourself, but I promised that I was going to be spending more time with my kids, and then of course I also promised myself that I would hit the ground running come September.
That is the conflict that I want us to really nip in the bud right now on this episode. Okay, so here's where we will begin. I want to share with you my framework. This is the framework that I teach my participants in my group coaching program. And this framework really comes from experience and having partnered and worked with so many working moms just like you.
It is called the imagination to impact to income method. So three step method for mom, business owners. Here's why this method works for a mom founder, and it is specific for someone. Okay, so the first step of the method is about having access to a fertile imagination. That is also the title of my book, my bestseller.
The reason why this is critical and key and cannot be skipped for a mom business owner Is because oftentimes we find ourselves in the most complicated and gnarly experiences and we need to figure out how to keep going, whether it is figure out who's going to pick up Jake versus who's going to pick up Mary or figure out how we're going to stay, stay in terms of And the best, keep our best foot forward when we are exhausted and we're trying to complete our launch marketing plan, whatever challenge you have as a mom, if you do not have access to your fertile imagination, you are limping your way through business and life.
What this means is if you do not have the ability to think expansively beyond what you may have seen another mom. Ever do as a business owner or as a matriarch of her family, then you are greatly limited because modern society comes to you at a fast rate and thinking expansively and beyond what you have seen is the name of the game when it comes to maintaining your mental health and still kicking ass in business and being an amazing mom.
So that is step one to. Everything and anything that I teach my clients who are mom founders who want to find business success on their terms, on their timeline and alongside their kids. Now that's step one. Step two is impact. So at the end of the day, a lot of us go into a lot of things and we end up feeling scatter brained.
This is impossible to actually make your maximum impact. So once you have access to unlock these fresh ideas, because now you have access to your fertile imagination, which is step one of the three step method, it is then that you can choose from all those ideas, the one idea you're going to go all in on.
Okay. After you have decided to go all in on that one idea, That is when we could start talking about step three, which is what are the possible roads to income for you on your terms as a mom founder and the pathways to income have everything to do with the things that are within your control, the things, the skills that you need to get very good at, including storytelling, including networking, including productivity.
I mean, there's a plethora of skills that I do teach my clients. But then on top of that, there's also this ability and desire to communicate your story and communicate why you are the person to actually help someone else solve their challenge, right? So as a business owner, that is why we opened up our business, our businesses in order to solve challenges.
So this three step method, I https: otter. ai into precisely what it would look like to begin this three step method alongside your kids during this summer, and in a way where you do not feel like you are robbing time from your kids, nor robbing time from your business. So, let's get to it. So before we get to the nuances here, overall, the reason why my three step method works for mom founders is because oftentimes we have gears that are just stuck in our minds, right?
And so again, we're starting with the imagination, so we have to unlock the ability to come up with fresh solutions, fresh ideas. Then we're filtering, we're going from scatterbrained to focused by having one thing that we're going to focus on. And ultimately that is what's going to help you save time and money.
And so now let's go back and see what that looks like for a summer well spent that you absolutely are proud of and excited about come the fall when you're ready to run fast towards your goal. So, this idea of a fertile imagination. Step one, as I said, you have got to turn on your fertile imagination.
Here's how you know that your imagination is dead, is in a coma. Well, let's imagine that you have the same challenge this summer as you had last summer and you don't have a new solution. That is how you know that your fertile imagination is turned off. So we've got to be sure that that's step one. Our kids are the best human beings.
to help us turn on our fertile imagination. Think about it this way, right? Our kids, they clock in about 10, 000 hours of using their imagination when they're little. Imagine having access to an expert who has clocked in those 10, 000 hours and is not shy about sharing what is in their imagination, right?
All right. So here are the three things you can work on with your kids that are related to your business over the summer and not feel guilty about doing so either. First thing, and this is something that I have worked on with my clients in my group coaching program, and I have invited them to actually bring their kids along for the ride.
So point, the first point, you can work on your company vision with your kids. So let's imagine you've been in business for six years, for 12 years. For more than one year, chances are your company vision might not be pulling its weight. Your company vision has got to be re imagined with more expansive thinking.
Your company vision needs to energize you. Why is that? Because moms, we have finite energy. So we need all of the. Energy levers we can get right in order to keep going. So over this summer, what I would encourage you to think about is your company vision. Your company vision is not a one pager business plan.
It's not what you might have on your pitch deck and share with your investors. A company vision is deeply personal. It should be visual and it's okay if it is totally unreasonable. I actually encourage you to make it unreasonable. Thank you. And who's often unreasonable? Our children are often unreasonable.
That is why I would invite you to actually, age appropriate, speak with your kids and work on your company vision together. Have them present some dares to you. Have them stretch how you think about what's possible as a business owner. Have them Encourage you to simplify your language pertaining to what makes your business different.
So I'm a hundred percent sure you have not thought about this. The reason why I have thought about this is because there's a lot that we say we can't do because we have kids. And I want to flip the script on things that we can do and we could probably do better because we have access to these imagination experts in residence over the summer.
So working on your company vision, that is where it's at. And I remember when I was partnering with Michelle, she has an organization that's a nonprofit. And in terms of the work that they do, it's something that you wouldn't imagine talking about with your children. It's about NICU stays, pregnancy, and the loss of children.
But even in that scenario, there's a way for you to share your story with your child. And there's a way. For you to really refine your messaging and have them help you focus or hone in on one point of differentiation, where it feels like a good experience. It feels like a meaningful experience. It feels like a quality time spent with your child over the summer.
So that is one thing you can totally do over the summer with your kids. You can absolutely whip out the crayons, do what you got to do and think about your company vision. Learn And your vision needs to energize you. If it is not energizing you, then what you just did was come up with like a boring website company description.
And that is not what we're going for here. So company vision with your kids, leverage your imagination, make sure you're tapping into your expansive thinking. This can be a fun thing. This is something you could write on a post it note, put on your laptop every time that you feel a bit exhausted, but it'll get you over that hump.
That is one thing you could work on over the summer with your kids. There's a process behind them. There's a criteria, a five prong criteria for a company vision. All of that, those are the things that I share with my clients during the group coaching program, which effectively only takes about three hours of your time every single week.
And most of it would be on your time because there's an on demand training component too. Here's a second thing you could work on over the summer alongside your kids. And this is, again, having to do with the three step method that I presented earlier. So these are like pieces of the method that I want to bring to life for you, for someone who wants to spend time with her kids, but also wants to continue with her work.
Making progress on her business. I encourage you to work on your energy levers with your kids. What does that mean? So in order to be very productive You need to increase your Capacity in order to increase your capacity as a leader of a business It is important that you have the essentials down packed.
What do I mean by the essentials? Well, when it comes to your nutrition, when it comes to movement, when it comes to your emotional health, all these things and sleep all need to be worked on in order for you to feel like you have more in you to give to the world. And these are the things you could work on over the summer with your kids.
Personally, my kids still go to bed at 8 PM. I don't care if it's a break or not. Because ultimately, mommy doesn't want to break and so for me, when it comes to these energy levers with my children, I mean, I'm very much so well practiced over every single break and that is something you could work on over the summer with your kids and you can feel like you're making them.
Major progress pertaining to your business goals in the fall. Why is that? Because right now you need to gather energy. You need to figure out like when you are best, are you a morning person, a nighttime person, do you get more output before your kids wake up or when your kids go to sleep in terms of your business?
Figuring those things out now over the summer will pay off in the fall. You don't want to spend the fall season thinking about how to organize yourself. You want to think about and plan these things over the summer and you can absolutely do this with your kids. Here's one thought for, for food or food for thought, right?
Imagine if taking a nap with your kid over the summer, like one day, imagine if that would actually be a great investment into your business. Like, is that possible? I know it is. And so I want to encourage you to think about that over the summer. Here's something else that you can work on. This is the third one.
Third thing you could work on over the summer with your kids and feel like you're making progress on your business. This idea of storytelling, when it comes to storytelling, it is so urgent that you are able to articulate a story that is going to resonate with the right person. Who can help you take your business to the next level come in the fall.
So why not practice the art of storytelling with your children? A, they're going to be honest. If you're telling a story and it's boring, they're going to tell you. B, they're also going to challenge you so that you can really, really have some sort of focused message. You can really be more innovative in terms of the way that you articulate a story.
You can speak more clearly, maybe a little faster, make it a bit more punchy. I mean, they can absolutely help you communicate and they can even help you Draw on a napkin your story, draw on a napkin what makes your business different, draw on a napkin your business idea. Why is that important? So here's the thing, when I've spoken with a lot of mom founders who have business ideas and want to bring on investors.
They, they have shared with me how they feel that oftentimes a man who has the same idea could just draw something on a napkin and then he'll be cut a million dollar check. And so that is why I encourage you, a mom founder, to actually, over the summer with your kids, again, break out the crayons, the markers, or what have you, and draw on a friggin napkin your ideas.
Leverage the art of storytelling, practice this with your children and you will be better off come the fall. Now these are very practical ways for you to optimize your summer days so that this way in the fall you don't feel as rusty. And these are core skills pertaining to networking. And here's what I want to really say about that.
When it comes to networking, you need to have a kickass company vision, period. If your company vision doesn't light you up like a Christmas tree, then there's no way that you're going to magnetize the sort of investors, partners, or clients that you would want. That's step one. Two, when it comes to selling anything, enthusiasm and illustrating high energy, again, those energy levers you'll be working on over the summer with your kids.
If you don't have that sense of energy and this ability to just like bounce from enthusiasm pertaining to talking about your business, you're just not going to get the attention that you deserve on your business, nor on Your own story. And so again, this is going to be helpful in terms of networking.
I'll tell you what, when I interview my podcast guests, for example, when I interviewed Beth Comstock, former CMO of GE, something that she shared with me and on a lot of my podcast guests have shared with me is that they love my energy. And this is not about inflating my ego at all. What it is is it is a strategy I can teach you to grow.
But let's start getting the basics down in terms of practicing these energy levers that I just shared earlier with your kids over the summer. Then, when it comes to storytelling, how does this help you with regards to networking? You want to be interesting. Otherwise, who's going to want to hang out with you?
And the bar for interesting? Is totally doable. I don't want you to feel like, Oh, I'm not that interesting. I'm just a mom. I just do like regular things like that is absolutely ridiculous. You and I can have the most fun time humanly possible by just talking about something that we have both experienced over the summer.
I'm pretty sure we can. And honestly, you are interesting. I just want you to just see that as a fact. I want you to just not even imagine that that's impossible. And at the end of the day, you're so interesting that you decided to create a family and create a business and create a life that you absolutely want.
to cherish. So I believe you are interesting. So yeah, interesting people tend to network with interesting people, interesting people hang out with interesting people. And so that is going to be important pertaining to things you could do over the summer to actually go ahead and feel like in the fall, you're not so rusty.
You have some very relevant networking skills and you have an idea of what works best for you and your family by way of energy levers. Okay, so what does this all mean for you? I just shared with you a sense of how you can make this summer freaking amazing pertaining for being with your kids and also making progress on your business.
I just shared with you things that you can absolutely sneak into the day and leverage your imagination expert in residence at the same time. And these are things that you can do on your own. I mean, you could effectively devote about three hours a week this summer working on these things. Thanks. But, here's the thing.
If you don't have the nuances behind my step by step method, my three step method, as in, what each step contains, then it is going to be way harder to get the juice out of this lemon over the summer. The other thing is if you don't have access to other moms that are trying to do the same thing, then that means you're going to be hoping to find motivation to keep going versus having that group experience and that group encouragement available to you if you join me and four other mom founders this June in my group coaching program, fertile imagination.
To networking success for mom founders. We kick off in mid June. Now, am I nuts to kick off in mid June for mom founders? Absolutely not. I'm not, because what I know to be true is that all you would need is to dedicate three hours a week for nine weeks through the necessary steps that I have shared with you in this episode, along with the steps that we would go through together.
In my group coaching program, this is what I know to be true, to be the case that you need in order to feel so ready in September to speak with the right people and to have the right conversations that can truly take your business to the next level. Let me give you an example with regards to my client, Michelle, something she shared with me, which I'm so proud of pertaining to her experience in the program is the following.
She had known about the first IVF baby for years before partnering with me in this program. But having gone through this program and gone from feeling hesitant to put her big dreams out there, too bold about asking for what she wants, she had the guts to actually approach the first IVF baby and ask her to wear her merchandise.
And she's like a huge influencer. I'll share the testimonial that Michelle has after this episode, so you can hear what else she got out of the program. But what I encourage you to do is really just imagine, imagine if you used this summer to get so ready for the fall, that in the fall, you didn't feel like you were behind.
You didn't feel rusty anymore. You didn't feel like you never get to win and you also got to use this summer in a way that filled your heart as a mom who could be present with her kids and also share with her kids a piece of herself, her business. And I think that's important. I really do think it's important.
So here's the action step for you. I want to speak with you. I want to speak with you soon because of the following reason. This cohort of five mom founders in total who are going to be part of Fertile Imagination to Networking Success for Mom Founders this season, so this mid June, this cohort is going to have things that are exclusive opportunities.
The investment level for this cohort is going to be at a 30 percent discount for participating in this round in terms of having a private midpoint coaching session that is going to be a bonus for someone that participates in this round starting mid June. You're also going to have an opportunity to be a guest on my podcast.
If you're starting in this round again, starting in mid June, and you're going to have my eyes on your business so that you have a sounding board for whenever you want to approach a investor, you want to approach a partner, you want to approach a podcast guests or someone that's going to sponsor your business, you're going to have the opportunity to ask me, Hey, Melissa, am I being direct in what I want?
Hey, Melissa, is this email going to get. Opened and is my message on target with what you and I talked about or hey, Melissa, if I do this in the fall, am I going to reap the most rewards or am I going to be like stretching myself thin again? Like I did last year. These are all the sort of questions I have answered for my mom founder clients in the past in my group coaching program.
So I want to be sure that. If you are curious about participating in a program with me, this is your shot. This is your shot to participate with me over the summer. And really, I am so, so committed to making sure that when you're partnering with me, we are honest about the motherhood season that you are in.
We are honest about the business season that you are in, because that is how we can make it work. It is important that you do spend time on your business, but it is obviously even more important that you're a present parent. And I make sure of it pertaining to my group coaching program. So I will leave you with that.
You will hear Michelle's Q& A with me right after this. And I really encourage you to do that. To reach out to me, the link will be in the show notes. You can absolutely schedule 15 minutes with me for free. We'll go through the program details and I will answer everything that's on your mind in terms of the group coaching experience.
Again, it would just require three hours of your time each week. Most of it is on your own time from your, your couch or anywhere you are in the world. It'll be about one hour. That is a Q and a session and I'll give you all those details on our 15 minute free call. So go ahead and call me or schedule that time with me.
And we will absolutely go through the details. You can also email me melissa. lorina at gmail. com. Everything is in the show notes, and I hope you have the best summer ever. I never do this, but I wanted to just share a conversation between Michelle and myself pertaining to her very specific experience in the fertile imagination to networking success.
Group coaching program, certainly, if you have any questions pertaining to being one of my five mom founders this summer, so that this way in the fall, you are as confident and competent as Michelle is in distinguishing her organization versus anyone else and the confidence that she had to reach out to the first IVF baby.
If you want some of that confidence by this fall, Go ahead and send me an email, Melissa dot Lorena at gmail. com or sign up for 15 minutes with me on my calendar. You can see all this information in the show notes right on your device. All right. Enjoy the conversation. It is really raw and candid, and I hope that it really answers any questions pertaining to what it would be like to partner with me and to have me as a mentor, I would love to have the conversation and I'd be honored to support you and your company.
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What's your calling? Ever thought you might be called to something more? What if your calling is waiting to be answered today? This could be the most inconvenient time for a calling to come your way, yet it can also be the perfect time for you to rise up and show up for yourself and others. If this resonates with you, then this is the episode you won't want to miss. Join us as we dive into a conversation with Michelle Valiukenas, a mom founder who answered her calling and created an incredible impact through The Colette Louise Tisdahl Foundation.
I'm thrilled to introduce you to Michelle Valiukenas, an extraordinary mom founder whose journey and accomplishments are nothing short of inspiring. Michelle is the founder of The Colette Louise Tisdahl Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to improving outcomes in pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum, and infancy, as well as supporting grieving families through financial assistance, education, and advocacy.
But this episode is about more than just Michelle's impressive achievements. It's about you and the unique calling in your life. My intention for this conversation is to encourage you to answer that calling, to find the courage and inspiration to pursue your purpose just as Michelle has. Throughout our discussion, which feels as much like a mentorship session as it does an interview, you'll hear the powerful story behind The Colette Louise Tisdahl Foundation and the critical needs it addresses—needs that often go unmet by insurance, social workers, and government organizations.
Michelle's story is a poignant reminder that the problems you see and the passions you hold might be signs pointing you toward your own calling. You might think that someone else is already tackling the issues that matter to you, but as Michelle's experience shows, there are gaps that only you can fill. This episode is your sign to step up and make a difference. So, let's dive in and explore how you can answer the calling in your life, just as Michelle has.
Let’s talk about your calling. https://www.instagram.com/melissallarena/
This episode is brought to you by Fertile Imagination to Networking Success: a LIVE 9-week group coaching masterclass designed to fast-track your connections with the right people to elevate your business.
Before we continue today’s conversation with today’s guest Michelle, a participant of the Fertile Imagination to Networking Success for Mom Founders program I want to ask you a question.
Are you a visionary mom founder who knows that she needs to get better at networking because the growth of her business depends on it? Has feeling awkward, or uncomfortable ever gotten in your way from putting yourself in the right rooms and stepping forward to talk to the right people who can cut you a huge check that can change the trajectory of your business and take your business to its rightful next level?
This is an exclusive call for 5 mom founders to join FI to Networking Success this summer. By dedicating just 3 hours a week, you'll be prepared to hit the ground running this fall. You'll get better at networking, identify the right connections to propel your business forward with clarity, and develop a mom-friendly strategy that works regardless of your kids' needs. My proven three-step method—Imagination to Impact to Income—will help you confidently and competently put yourself out there, ensuring you stay connected to your business and dreams in a manageable way, even as you spend more time with your kids this summer. You can have both.
But here's the catch—you need to act fast. If improving your networking and selling skills is a priority, now is the time. This transformative program is available at a 30% discount for those who join my June cohort. To secure your spot, we must talk in May. If you wait until June, the investment level will increase and spots may be filled. Will I offer this program again? Not in this way and not with these exclusive add-ons:
An intimate, five-participant cohort of mission-driven mom founders. This means personalized access to me, similar to a VIP one-on-one mentorship, which could be valued at 10X the investment level of this group coaching program.
As an added bonus, you will be featured and heavily advertised as a guest on my podcast, Unimaginable Wellness, alongside trailblazers like Suzy Batiz, Asha Curran, and Beth Comstock.
For a limited time, you'll have direct access to me for personalized feedback on your outreach efforts—an invaluable opportunity to accelerate your progress and maximize your results.
Exclusive to securing your spot in May for June, you'll receive a midpoint private session. This working session will focus on executing your outreach plan—it's about immersion and action.
Move quickly to take advantage of this unique opportunity and transform your business while nurturing your family. Secure your 15-minute program details call today!Book a 15-minute call HERE: https://go.oncehub.com/ClientSessionMelissaLlarena
Let me know if you have questions about the program via email Melissa[.]Llarena [at] gmail.com
Official bio
Michelle Valiukenas, once described as a "social worker trapped in the body of an attorney," began her career representing domestic and sexual assault victims in litigation. After a decade, she was called in another direction after losing her second baby, Colette. She remains the proud mom of two angel babies, Sweet Pea and Colette, and her only living child, her son, Elliott Miguel.
Michelle now runs The Colette Louise Tisdahl Foundation, which she founded to improve outcomes in pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum, and through infancy as well as support grieving families through financial assistance, education, and advocacy. Since its launch in 2018, the foundation has helped over 2,300 families and distributed more than $1.5 million in grants. Their ability to give is dependent on the generosity of donors, partners, and supporters and any help is always appreciated.
A writer, speaker, and advocate, Michelle addresses topics like infertility, pregnancy loss, and parenting after loss. She advocates for reproductive rights, health equity, infertility awareness, and the needs of families. At home, she enjoys relaxing with her son, husband Mark, and their dog, Nemo.
Links:
Donate: www.colettelouise.com
FB: https://www.facebook.com/colettetisdahl
IG: https://www.instagram.com/colettelouisetisdahl/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellevaliukenastisdahl/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheTisdahl
You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbanq9_1LEX6hoxGeLGU3ZgTranscript:
So let's start with. With you. So Michelle, share with us, share with the listeners who you are and a bit about your organization and really, really let us know like what makes your organization distinguishable versus other organizations in this space.
Absolutely. Well, thank you. So I'm Michelle. I'm a mom of three. I have two angel babies, Sweetpea and Colette, and an almost four year old who I think has the energy of all three of them. And our road to parenthood was It was tough. We struggled with infertility. I've only ever gotten pregnant via IBF and we lost our first pregnancy and then with our second, our daughter Collette made it past the scary first trimester and when I was 21 weeks pregnant, I was hospitalized with severe preeclampsia.
And told you'll be here until you deliver. And so just talk about the world sort of just coming to a pause and thinking, what is it, what are we going to do? And once I was hospitalized, I was in the hospital about a day or two, it occurred to me how blessed and how lucky I was that we could actually afford.
to handle this hospitalization and what was likely going to be a NICU stay. And I also realized in that same vein is that I knew I was definitely the minority that could do that. And so I remember turning to my husband and saying, we need to do something about this, all of that. And he, he turned to me and he said, please, for the love of God, could you please just worry about yourself once?
And I said, well, that's not really what I do. Who are you married? What are you talking about? But really it just sort of stayed with me and throughout the whole process it kept coming back to me in my head. Ultimately I was in the hospital just over three weeks and then the doctors recommended delivery.
So Collette was born at 24 weeks and five days and went straight to the NICU. And we spent nine days in the NICU before she died and I always call it she gained her angel wings. In that whole process, going through NICU and seeing the whole, the toll it takes on parents, right? And I was being told by doctors and nurses, and I was hearing doctors and nurses tell other parents, you might want to save your leave time, go back to work now, and save your leave time for when baby comes home.
And I had a very difficult postpartum recovery, and I couldn't imagine. I was in no shape to go back to work. There was absolutely no way that I could have gone back to work. And Just thinking about that and thinking how much time they were losing with their kids and not being participating. And so all of those kinds of things just kind of sort of making this idea and this thought process to provide financial assistance for families.
And when I got out, so I had worked in nonprofits my whole life, and when I got out, I had always sworn. I would never, ever, ever, ever, ever start my own nonprofit. And so funny things never say never. And so I thought somebody else was doing this. And what I found was I'm still to the state. I don't see that anybody is touching the pregnancy part in terms of financial assistance.
And that to me was very important. So organizations were hitting NICU or law and or loss. But nobody was helping pregnancy. There were very specific locations, so it might be a certain state, a certain county, certain hospital. And there was very formulaic, this is what we provide, are these things. And so I was looking at it and I was thinking, first of all, On the location idea, I've always been a proponent of health equity and fairness, and I thought why should it mean that, like, just because I deliver at a certain hospital, I can get financial assistance, but if I deliver at another hospital, I can't.
So that was very much a thought process. The fact that pregnancy wasn't included, and I felt like that was a big piece of not only our story, but of a lot of people's stories, right? And, and it's just kind of. Makes sense. If you're helping in pregnancy, you have less there's less chance of long NICU hospitalizations and less chance of loss.
And so doing that. And then I didn't want to be very formulaic. I wanted to know for me, it's always like every family is different and has different needs. And so I really wanted something that would Allow us to look at each application, each family independently and adjust what we were doing based on their need.
And so we launched on CLED's due date, so September 7th of 2018, and it's just been amazing to see the, the takeoff and the need that is happening. So we are. Right now we have helped over 2, 300 families. We've hit all 50 States and we've given away a little over 1. 5 million. And it's just been crazy. And we're not, we're not meeting the need.
I mean, the need is so great. And so many people just really find themselves in these situations that become crises. And that there's no planning for a lot of these.
So I was curious, that thought somebody else is doing this, somebody else must be paying attention to this cause. I think that's something that happens oftentimes when, when we feel like, okay, there's a little bit of media coverage, as they say, like maternity leave, paternity leave, like these topics are like spoken of, right?
Like in media, social media and all of that. And so it's, it's very easy. For us to assume, well, someone else must be handling that. There must be someone who's the advocate of this message and this cause. And so my question to you is the following. So in your world, right? Like where does the book stop? So like certain organizations are handling.
What sort of expenses, and then where do you like close the gap or meet the need that is not being fulfilled by those entities or other entities?
Right. Great question. So I think one of the biggest things is that there's a cap on services. So there's organizations that, for example, will give to families that qualify under their guidelines, they will give 100 gift card.
And that could be gas, that could be food, that kind of thing. And that's great. And we still, we have a lot of our families who have also requested that help or received that help, depending on how it is. And so that's something, again, like the pregnancies piece is not a problem. Being taken into, into account, some organizations, they have X amount of dollars and they give them out where we're very fiscally responsible about how we're giving them out throughout the year, but there are some organizations that might get X amount of dollars.
And then once that's up, they're done until the next budget cycle. And so not loving that where we're not stuck to. A certain dollar amount, we're not stuck to what people might need. And we've been very adaptable to what our families need. We didn't think about just because it wasn't something that really factored into our experience, but we didn't think about the cost of transportation and that being a really big request and that remains our number one, number two request.
And it makes sense because we have found that our average family is traveling 62 miles one way to the NICU. And so that's a. Huge cost that adds up really, really quickly, right? And that's the average. I mean, we've had people who are driving, driving 200, 300 miles to do, to get to the NICU. And so I think we've been very much like, let's hear from families.
Let's see what they need. We also spent a lot of time talking with social workers to say, what are the things coming up? But really it's trying to get a little bit of support so that a family could it. Do a pregnancy bedrest or limitations that they can be seen their babies as much as they can, that they can do the memorialization of their loss.
And so it's really been, I mean, we sit and we review every single application and really read it and, and really try to find where it is that we can help. And what are the things that we can do that gets Things accomplished. And I think that that's really unique. We, we don't have formulaic anything. I mean, we look at it.
There are things we've never covered that will come up. So for example, I'm thinking of, we had a girl who was 16, had a baby in the NICU and what she had told her social worker, her biggest fear was that she was sort of stuck in this cycle. Her mom had gotten pregnant very young with her. Her grandmother had gotten very pregnant with her mother.
And neither of them had finished high school. And so for her. She was like, I want to do better for my, for my child. And so she said, I would like to finish my high school degree. And so they worked with us and the hospital was able to find a laptop that she could use to do online school while she was sick.
at the NICU, so with her baby, being able to do that. And we helped with her tuition to finish that degree. And so it's not in the grand scheme of things, like it's not necessarily that her being able to do this meant her baby did better, but it also meant she was starting something and, and doing something and breaking a cycle, which I think is a huge issue.
And so those are the things that we want to hear about too. All of those like unique one off things. Situations that may only happen to one family ever and really taking the time to look at those.
Okay. So again, on that thread, right? Somebody else is doing this because I think, like, let's say like watching TV and seeing current events and seeing things on TV and we're kind of like stuck in our own lives, right?
We're like, okay, well, I have food. I have water. I have resources as an example. And I imagine a lot of the listeners might feel really, really confused. Blessed and also just like, not in the same state of needing donations, right? In order to get through a really rough and emotionally trying moment. So, okay.
Along that thread of somebody else is doing this. It sounds to me, Michelle, that. Somebody else was not going to help that girl feel a sense of accomplishment and then carry that, that positive feeling and emotional state as she was with her NICU baby, like, and babies Feel us like they know, right? Like they know if mommy is okay, like they can tag.
So, okay. So somebody else was not doing that in terms of tuition for this one person. So same idea. Why don't you share a couple of other instances that might not feel so obvious to someone that's never been in that situation, but would like to help you, especially Mother's Day just passed. And obviously.
We don't really need just one day to be celebrated and respected. This should be like annual all the time forever. So, okay, what's another thing that somebody else was not doing, but through the foundation, you guys were doing and you guys are a lean team. I just want to say that right now. Like when, when, when we're saying when Michelle is saying like somebody else is doing this, it's like legit, like a.
Family in a house with a child, with a bunch of energy and trying to do something that's so amazing. Right. So go ahead. Give us another, another moment. Yeah, I think
we've done things like a family who has lost a baby and maybe was able to come up with the money for a cremation, but might just have ashes in a box and don't have them in a really pretty urn.
Right. And, and it's not that urns are super expensive, but. If a family has been through a lot and may not be able to afford the 400, the 500 that an earn could be. So those are things on the last thing as well. Sometimes we have families who, again, they've, they've had something covered. It might be that.
Their particular community has a, has a program, has a plan. Sometimes funeral homes just donate the whole thing and they, they like recoup the expenses, things like that. But then they want memorial jewelry. They want something that they can hold onto their baby as they go forward. And especially in really early pregnancy losses, they don't get the, they don't get the funerals and services and things like that.
And so that might be the only way that they can really remember their baby and remember what that means. And so some people will sort of look at it and say, why are you covering jewelry? And what we know is that that's. That's not just a piece of jewelry, right? This is not, this is something that is really important and that reminds people.
I mean, you talked about Mother's Day and I think anybody who has ever lost from the earliest pregnancy all the way through an infant knows that a lot of people, especially the earlier in the pregnancy that it is, don't really look at people like moms and dads. And so that's something that I think is saying.
Even if the world doesn't see me, that I know and I'm recognizing my motherhood, my fatherhood, and I think that's really important to do. On NICU, it's been, sometimes it's medical equipment that they're sent home with that insurance doesn't cover. So it might be the, I'm trying to think, it's like there's an oxygen concentrator that a lot of babies are sent home with that they might need and it could be a couple hundred dollars and insurance doesn't cover that or they're deductible.
And so we're helping with those kinds of situations because we don't want kids going back to the NICU. We don't want parents Because they have no other option, skipping doctor recommended steps and things like that because they can't have another option. Helping with post NICU, right? So sometimes we have a family who has already been discharged, but when I talked about the distance, Of a NICU that also means that once they go home, they have a distance of doctor's appointments and they may have a lot depending on NICU babies can, can run the whole spectrum of things.
Right. And so if they have to see multiple doctors pretty regularly and they're doing that drive, we want to help with those situations. We want to help when they go, if they have to go back to the hospital, which is always terrible, but some, we will do that too. We've had. Family is where baby is sent home, but then needs heart surgery or some sort of surgery and they need to be older and weigh more and be a little bit healthier.
So they'll go home for six months and then come back and then the costs are the same, but they're not NICU, they're in a different situation. And for us, we use NICU, but very, very adapted kind of things of what that really means. And I think that that's really important. Anything in the pregnancy sphere can be childcare.
If you think of a stay at home mom who hasn't really needed to use childcare and then is put on bed rest, any parents, anybody who's been around toddlers and kids knows bed rest with children around that's not happening. Right. And so is it childcare so that the pregnant person can. Actually have some bed rest or in situations where they can't lift a lot with that child care help doing that, all of those kinds of things that just I think are so useful and so helpful.
We had, we had a story of a woman who, and luckily her doctor was really responsive. She was missing. She was a high risk pregnancy and she had to be going to weekly visits pretty early in the pregnancy. Okay. And the doctor started noticing that she would miss appointments last minute and cancel last minute or not show up or show up an hour late, all this.
And luckily the doctor reached out to a social worker and said, I don't know what's going on, but something clearly is happening. And so the social worker reached out and it turned out she didn't have reliable transportation. She was relying on not a great public trans, not a really great public transportation option or relying on friends and family for rides.
And that wasn't. Reliable. And so we were able to set her up so that she was using, she could use lift rides that were charged to our account to go to and from prenatal visits. Right. And so, you know, you look at that and you think she ended up giving birth to, I think the baby was either full term or very close to full term.
So baby was in the hospital a couple of days and then released. Right. And did her going to regular prenatal appointments help that? Absolutely. Absolutely. And so I think it's really just being gracious and understanding. And I think that one of the things that also separates us from a lot of places is we've been through all three of these stages.
And so we know, and we can think of things. I mean, we're talking about the distance of NICU. Colette was in a NICU that was, 10 to 15 minutes from our house and that felt so far for us and that we actually looked into do we get an Airbnb right here? The reason why we didn't was because the way that the hospital is set up, there was hotel options was still going to be like a five minute drive and things like that.
And so we ultimately were like, well, we'd rather be in our comfort in our home if we're already going to have this. But if there had been a hotel across the street, We would have been in that and that was very something. So when you start adding up long distances where people can't go every day, can't, they're going once a week or whatever, that's really difficult.
That's really something else. So
this episode is brought to you by Fertile Imagination to Networking Success, a live masterclass designed to fast track your connections with the right people to elevate your business. Before we continue today's conversation with our guest, Michelle, a participant of the fertile imagination to networking success program, I want to ask you a question.
Are you a visionary mom founder? We're hearing Michelle's story and she has a huge vision and a huge ask. But do you also have a big mission that you want to fulfill in this one divine life? If it is the case for you, here's the question. Has not being able to network with confidence, with poise, with intention ever gotten in your way?
Do you feel like not feeling that networking comes naturally for you, or maybe it's this feeling awkward about talking to strangers, or maybe you put your foot in your mouth, or you just don't know what to say or how to start, has that ever gotten in the way of the growth of your business? Does the growth of your business actually depend on building relationships that are mutually beneficial with other people, people who you do not yet know.
If that is the case, then this is a call for five mom founders only. I want you and I to have a conversation about this if this is pulling at your heart if networking is something that you need to get better at five mom founders this summer will be partnering together to help one another get better at networking and the best part it'll be this summer.
It'll only require three hours a week on your terms and time so that this way come this September, you can hit the ground running, totally running. So you get better at networking. If you participate in fertile imagination to networking success, you'll be able to identify the right connections to propel your business forward in the fall.
with clarity and you would have already developed a mom friendly strategy that works regardless of what your kids need. My proven three step method that Michelle knows intimately at this point, the imagination, To impact to income method will help you get way better at networking just in time for the fall.
And it's going to help you be more confident and feel more connected. Competent about putting yourself out there so that you can do it a lot more in the fall so that this way you are going to stay connected over the summer with your business so that come in the fall, you will not feel like a fish out of the water.
You will not feel like it's been a little bit. You're a little rusty when it comes to being a professional and engaging with people. You know why? Because over the summer as one of the five mom founders who can participate in my group coaching experience, you will have an opportunity to To work on your story, you will have an opportunity to understand how you need to plan out the rest of your year as it relates to your networking activities.
You will have clarity in terms of what needs to happen in the fall. So that this way, regardless of where you are in terms of your annual goals, you can exceed them. So that this way, if you feel behind on what you have been able to accomplish the beginning of this year, you can accelerate, put the foot on the gas and talk to people who already know what you need to do in order to improve your business outcomes.
So here's something that I wanted to share with you. I would love to have a conversation with you. If this is resonating, if you know that networking is something that you have got to get good at. And there is no time like the summer when business might be a little slower, when you might be able to have more time to yourself as opposed to supporting clients so that this way you can do all the work it takes in order to feel completely ready in the fall by way of networking.
So here's something that is so important. I am only bringing on five mom founders this summer. Is huge. This is going to be unlike any other time in my life. I wanna tell you exactly why you will want to talk to me on a 15 minute call on Zoom about. How networking can help your business grow exponentially, immediately.
So you will want to reach out to me this month of May because only if you and I speak this May and only if you participate in my cohort this summer, Will you have access to these bonuses, these extras, these never again coming your way opportunities in terms of being part of Fertile Imagination to Networking Success, the program that Michelle, the guest on today's episode, participated in and has gotten success from.
Here we go. So only now this program, this nine week program that is virtual, that will only need three hours of your time each week. And really two hours are on your time, wherever you are in the world. It's on demand. One hour will be with me and a group of four other like minded, intense, wonderful women who also want to learn how to network.
But here's the thing. So this program is available only this time at a 30 percent discount for those who joined my June cohort and there will only be five spots. That is it. And that is why it is important to speak now in May in order to secure your spot so that this way you get guaranteed that spot in June.
If you wait beyond June to speak with me about this group coaching program, the investment level is going to increase and the spots are not guaranteed whatsoever. Now will I offer this program again? Not in this way, not with these exclusive add ons. Let me explain. Here are the add ons that will never come your way again.
If you do not have a conversation with me, this may pertaining to participating in the virtual imagination to networking success. group coaching program, which is virtual. Okay. Never again, exclusive to the first five mom founders who participate in this program this June exclusive. So five people will be in this cohort.
It is going to be intimate. It is practically personalized access to me. Very similar to a VIP one on one mentorship experience over the course of nine weeks. And that could have been valued at least 10 X the investment level. So I want to just say that is huge. This investment level, this level of access for me to answer your questions so that you are totally unstoppable in the fall will not happen again.
It will only happen for these five mom founders at this 30 percent discounted rate. If that, this might actually be more than a 30 percent discounted rate at this moment. Also exclusive to joining me as the group of five, this June month. Also, you will be featured and heavily advertised as a guest on my podcast, unimaginable wellness, this right here and this platform.
There are trailblazers who are also featured like Susie Batiste, who invests in different businesses like Asha Karan, who. I mean, has spread generosity throughout the world. People like Beth Comstock, the former CMO of GE, who's on the board of different organizations. You will absolutely be in the scene in the same Light in terms of these icons, because you will have an opportunity to be on my podcast and I will feature you and your story like no one's business that is not coming for anyone beyond the five mom founders this June, that is exclusive, that is, that is worth the price of entry period.
Also, for a limited time, only if you participate in June at this discounted rate of 30%, only in June, will you have personalized feedback from me on your outreach efforts? What does that mean? If you have to go and write an email to the chief procurement officer of L'Oreal, I will hold your hand and I will, I will help you write exactly the right words.
I will help you ensure that that person gets back to you. That is how high touch this very specific program will be in June only. Also by securing your spot and talking to me in May so that you are one of the five mom founders in this cohort. You will also receive a midpoint private session. This working session is going to focus on executing your outreach plan.
It's about immersion and action. It is about getting this done. There is just no way under the sun. I want any mom to feel left behind or behind on her ambitions. I am in it to win it with you first five mom founders. We must talk in May about one of five spots in June. Again, you're going to want to move very quickly to learn further details about fertile imagination to networking success, a group coaching program that will launch in June.
Michelle already went through it. You can hear her story. You can witness how I would coach you. If you were a participant in this group, And you could also have a sense for the fact that Michelle got a lot more than she imagined. Not only has it been favorable in terms of her business, in terms of her boldness, in terms of how she's going out and talking to people that can absolutely change the course of her non profit, Also, she realizes, appreciates, and does not feel any longer conflicted about spending time with her son playing, because now the reframe is that that is in support of your imagination, the skill that you need in order to innovate in your business, in order to thrive.
Talk to people in order to have a conversation. That's going to be fruitful for everyone. And in order for you to achieve what is on your heart. So my question to you again is, are you a visionary mom founder? If you are, let's talk, just head on over to the link in my show notes. If you are listening to this on a drive, on a run.
And then go ahead and write my email address. It is melissa. larina at gmail. com m e l i s s a dot l l a r e n a at gmail. com. I could've given you my business email, but I wanted to give you one that was 100 percent straight to me. And this has to be done in May so that you can be guaranteed one of five spots in June so that you can absolutely have the answers that you need real time practically so that you can be part of an intimate group of women who want to be and bring the best of themselves to both of their worlds.
Being a mom and being a business owner as well. You can have it all this summer. This program is truly, truly, truly flexible because it was built for mom founders. That is precisely what I have been for 12 years, and I am honored to support and serve you on your journey. So go ahead, reach out to me, look in the show notes.
I will put a direct link to my calendar for 15 minutes also. That's an alternative. So it's quite simple to get in touch with me. Email me or schedule the 15 minute. I appreciate either approach and my Instagram account is also always in the show notes. So. Either way you slice it, I'm available for it.
And there's not much time. It is like May 16 today, the day that I am recording this. So please be aware that as I speak to people first come first serve, these exclusives are exclusive. If you and I speak in May and you don't, you join in the June cohort. Okay. So a little bit more information. What. is inside fertile imagination for networking success.
I want to just share with you a bit more so you will know how to initiate the right conversations with the right people who can take your business to the next level fastest. So you're going to have your own signed paperback copy of my bestseller fertile imagination so that this way you can transcend the limitations of your current ceiling and unlock your most expansive thinking.
That is really important when you're a mom founder. And you've got a lot of things that change. Okay. You will also Have access to weekly on demand training videos that will empower you with the imagination to impact to income method. What does this mean? You will have a step by step system to elevate your company and personal vision.
You will know how to pinpoint your primary focus for maximum business impact. You will know how to increase your energy and productivity. You will know how to innovate. You will know, you will know how to navigate imposter syndrome, refine your leadership narrative and strategize networking efforts, right?
Tailored to your business, tailored to your stage of motherhood. That is huge. I have not seen that anywhere in my entire life, which is why I wanted to create it. Then in terms of time with me, with the other members of this cohort, this very special cohort that will be happening in June, you will have an opportunity to join us nine times and ask us anything in terms of what you've got going on.
We will be doing some role playing or hot seat sessions. We will be able to help you really regain your weekly focus. Every single week is a different week. And so we are there for it because It's like minded women, and you will have lifetime access to these resources and implementation tools very specifically so that you can turbocharge your networking efforts come this fall, the rest of the year, the rest of your life, please be aware this program is one where it is live in the sense that every week.
I will help you every week you have a question. Something is getting in your way from the growth of your business or achieving a networking win. I will help you if you have anything that has held you in the past from investing in yourself. I invite you to consider this an investment in your legacy.
This is not an investment in yourself alone. This is an investment in the legacy of you and your family. When I think about my podcast and the skills that I've used and how I have used my imagination to impact to income method, this has helped me build a treasure trove or treasure box of contacts and humans and beautiful people that can not only help me right now, and I can help of course, but can then help my children and my children's children going forward.
This is not about me. The program is not about you. This is an investment in your legacy. So let's go and have that conversation. 15 minutes and the link is available for you. Enjoy the rest of the conversation. Yeah. I mean, what I'm hearing you say, Michelle, is that. What distinguishes your organization versus the big name organizations that I'm sure a lot of people have heard of that are in a similar space, maybe not specifically pregnancy, but kind of thereabouts, is that the dollars that are donated to Your organization are going to actually get through to a patient or a parent.
And then on top of that, there's something very distinguishable, which is the simple fact that a lot of people have lost touch. With what other people who are emotionally incapable of expressing what they need, they've lost touch of what someone actually needs, like only, only someone like yourself and your family, Michelle could read an application and say, you know what, no, this person is asking for a piece of jewelry with their child's name, birthday, whatever it might be, not because they just want to be flashy, but because they Because this is like the emotional connection that they get to have, like literally just softly on top of their heart.
You know what I mean? Like, I don't know that someone who hasn't been through it would read an application in the same way. And I also don't imagine that a big organization that has been around is going to be as sensitive because it's, it's a reality, right? So different organizations have different. KPIs and they have different commitments that they have to make to different people.
But this organization is, is so grassroots. It's so real and it's been already impactful across the 50 states over a million dollars. I mean, what's the exact number I want to be sure just
over 1. 5.
Yeah. Yeah. Operating out of your home while you're looking at your child and your husband is. Your support.
So I think, I think there's a lot to be said in terms of getting to know your organization, getting to know you and really supporting you. And I want, I want to just ask you something that's like, so, so bold. I mean, like we're talking like. I don't even know another planet, right? Kind of bold. So let's just imagine, let's imagine that there is someone listening to this conversation right now.
And this person has, they got their tax money back, let's say, right? So they got like some thousands of dollars back from taxes and they themselves Maybe they're a rainbow baby, right? Or maybe, or maybe they have suffered some sort of a loss or have some reason to kind of want to support moms. Like what would be like that magic wand check that you would want that person to consider cutting and give it 30 days?
Yeah, so I will tell you my, my goal right now is by the end of 2024 is to raise an additional 50, 000. The reason for that amount is we are budgeted right now to be fiscally responsible. We are budgeted, we give away 5, 000 every week and the need is far out far exceeding what we're giving out. We are always looking and so like any extra dollars that we can do, we are always trying to do a little bit more.
Then that, but that's what we can responsibly know. We do. 50, 000 would allow us to go up to 6, 000 a week, which means that every week we would be helping between one and two more families. So our average giver give right now is about 500 a family. We do have up to a thousand with some families who just really need a lot more assistance And so it would really end up being probably a hundred more families next year that we could help And so that's that's really my goal So if anybody wants to write a fifty thousand dollar check today I would absolutely adore it and I would then be able to spend the rest of the year Perhaps just maybe getting we can get to 200 families, right?
So that's really what I would say, but I think You On the donation piece, and I, and I really, this is something we've really worked hard for is we have worked with certain donors and they cover our overhead costs. And like Melissa said, we are very lean organization is mostly me. My husband helps me review applications just to see, I brought on an assistant to finally help me who works 20 hours a week.
So we are very, very lean organization, but we have worked with donors. And so we have a couple of donors who cover our overhead. Expenses. And so every donation that comes in goes directly to the financial assistance program and directly to a family. So I, for me, that's always something I have looked at at other organizations.
And I think there's some really big organizations that if you did, if you looked at. They are giving your, your donations going 50 percent to marketing or to anything like that. And that was something I wanted to be really clear that that was not our goal with raising money. Our goal was to help a lot, as many families as we could.
And so it's going directly. 100 percent of that is going to a family in need.
Perfect. Perfect. And so then I just wanted to slice that number up a bit because I know that someone listening might be like 50, 000. Oh my God, from my personal family budget. But no, let's think creatively, right? Let's use our imagination.
So. What would be some other ways that someone can help who is listening to this conversation? And let me just like, start with this one idea. First of all, for the most part, if you work for an employer, they have a matching system, so that's an option available to you. So let's just imagine 25 is like, Not possible.
So let's just say whatever the half of 25 is work was possible, right? Let's just imagine. Then you would ask your employer to have the other half. And again, I'm just thinking very big. That's one way, but something that you shared with me as a result of being in my group coaching program was this idea of using your birthday and how that was really, really helpful.
So why don't you explain that? Cause that might be. An alternative for people
listening, right? Yeah, we found the birthday really started on on Facebook and that you could have fundraisers for your birthday that your friends and family could donate to and that they would do it through Facebook. They would get tax receipts.
Yeah, that way. And so it was a really good way. And so what we found was that families and friends who are doing that we're having pretty good success rates and right. And it could be anywhere from 100 to 100 up to it's really dependent on what the person would want us. That is a goal and much sort of promoting they want to do of that.
Really, we were finding that that was a great way. I think, especially, I mean, as all of us get older, right, I don't want a lot of stuff. And so I would prefer that somebody donate, you know, those funds to a cause I would really believe in. Like, I would prefer those kinds of, Things. And so I think that's a great way to tell people, like, don't, don't spend your money on a gift for me.
I don't need a gift. Could you instead donate to a cause I really believe in? And I think a lot of people are willing to do that and really willing to say, okay, that's great. One of the things, I mean, just today, my mom and her birthday is in October. So she's already thinking ahead that far. She said, I'd like to go to dinner with the family and then anything that you would have spent on me, I would like to be donated to the foundation.
And that's a really, it's a really beautiful way to do things. And it's a really great way to just sort of say, I'm going to do it. And that a lot of people, I think we all can. Generally afford from time anywhere from 25 to 50 if, and that's saying you don't really have a lot of money, a lot of wiggle room in your budget.
And so if you have good friends who would spend that amount of money on you to take you for dinner or for for drinks or something like that, or who would give you a gift saying instead, okay, don't don't do that and donate to a cause that I really believe in. And so that we have found is really been a huge.
Like way that people can, can take advantage of, and it doesn't just have to be birthdays. It can be, I have a friend of mine from college who had twins in the NICU and she always promised that if everything worked out and they came home, that she would do a donation every year on their birthday. And so she does it for her kids birthdays.
Right. And so I think it's just really great ways to, to kind of continue that. And
Yeah, absolutely. And so before we close, just because you have a t shirt and I know that you have merchandise that is also in light of this organization, what does your t shirt say? It's a blue shirt for anyone listening
to the audio.
And then it says mama of an angel. And so. Yeah. And we have all of the, like we have of angel and of NICU warrior. We have mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, siblings. So my son wears often wear a brother of an angel shirt for NICU or NICU babies. We have onesies all the way up through kids shirts so that they themselves are NICU warriors.
And then even in adult sizes, we have that as well. We have an IVF line that we have recently come out with. Yeah. For something that is really at risk and, and really trying to be challenged in a lot of different ways. So again, it's IVF baby all the way up through adult t shirts, IVF mom, dad, all of that.
Yeah.
And then, Oh, and then we also just added, I was like, I knew there was another area, but we just also added at a recommendation of a social worker we work with who said, I don't have personal experience, but I really want to root for people. So we now have an advocate line. So it's NICU advocate, IVF advocate, and loss advocate.
And so really just trying to, I think, Okay. And you said this one time was like a t shirts, not just a t shirt. And I think that's really important when I wear this shirt and I have a NICU warrior and I have an IVF advocate and all of those things, when I wear this, I feel closer to Colette and, and it's also something that.
My joke is always, I talk about a lot of taboo topics, right? When I wear these, I'm also telling other people like it's okay. And you are not alone. You're not the only other person. And it's so interesting how I get such great feedback where people will come up to me and say, well, I also have an angel baby or my sister.
Lost a child or anything like that. And I think that's a really great just connection way to know that you're not alone and to know that other people are experiencing that and talking about it. So yes. And the proceeds go to our financial assistance program as well. So
perfect, Michelle. So let's just give everyone a sense of where they can go to learn more about you and the organization.
So website, social handles, what are they?
Yeah. So it's Colette one L two T's Louise. com is our website on Facebook. We're Colette Tisdall T I S D A H L on Instagram. It's Colette Louise Tisdall on Twitter, which is my, my personal favorite. It's the Tisdall and, and then we're on YouTube, LinkedIn, and just really Google us.
We come up and you can kind of check out all the different things.
Thank you, Michelle. So I wanted to just close by saying the following because I think it really, it, it, it's important that, and this needs to be said period, but this idea that somebody else is doing this or somebody else must be doing this, or somebody might be paying attention to this topic is, is so like, that's a really dangerous thought.
It's a really, really dangerous thought, and I think we have evidence of that in our surroundings and the world at these, at this time, and I think it's also, it's also something that needs to be really, really, you need to sit with this idea that, guess what? What if it's you? What if it's you who is supposed to be the advocate of that cause?
What if it's you that's supposed to solve that challenge? What if it's you that's supposed to open your mouth, use your loud voice and amplify someone else who is no longer here on this earth? What if it's you? And I'm saying that to Listeners, I'm saying that to myself, I'm saying that to Michelle, like, I think it's really, really unfortunate that oftentimes when we see things, it's almost like we're desensitized, and we look the other way, like, oh, they must not be talking to me, there must be someone else handling this, that's super powerful.
Here's the reality, oftentimes, there just is not. There, there really is not, there is not. And so I invite anyone that's listening more than anything else. There might be something on your heart. There might be a message that you want to share that you are thinking to yourself. Nah, they, I couldn't possibly make a dent in that world or, or someone else must be handling that.
And I want you to just. Really thoughtfully sit with that, even meditate and consider the idea that maybe somebody else is not handling it and that somebody else is actually supposed to be you. And so I want to just end right there. Thank you so much, Michelle. And, and all of your links, you're welcome.
And all of your links are going to be in the show notes. So if you're listening to this. Just look at the device at the bottom, look in the description and you'll see all these links at the same time. Michelle is super, super approachable. So if you want to know what's the best way for you to donate money to the organization, reach out to her.
Would Instagram be the preferred place to kind of just send you a DM? That's totally
fine. Any of the social media, any of that, like I said, we're really lean. So I'm, I'm checking all of those. There's no, nobody else is doing that. So, yes,
it is definitely a very lean team. So thank you again, Michelle and anyone that's listening.
If this really caught your attention, if you want to be that somebody else for this organization, do not hesitate and reach out to Michelle, or if you want to reach out to me, cause we're already hanging out on Instagram and I could reach out to Michelle, I'm happy to be the conduit. So thank you again, everyone.
And until next Tuesday. I never do this, but I wanted to just share a conversation between Michelle and myself pertaining to her very specific experience in the Fertile Imagination to Networking Success group coaching program. Certainly, if you have any questions pertaining to being one of my Five mom founders this summer.
So that this way in the fall, you are as confident and competent as Michelle is in distinguishing her organization versus anyone else. And the confidence that she had to reach out to the first IVF baby. If you want some of that confidence by this fall, go ahead and send me an email. Melissa dot Lorena at gmail.
com or sign up for 15 minutes with me on my calendar. You can see all this information in the show notes right on your device. All right. Enjoy the conversation. It is really raw and candid, and I hope that it really answers any questions pertaining to what it would be like to partner with me and to have me as a mentor, I would love to have the conversation and I'd be honored to support you and your company.
All righty, so Michelle wanted to have an understanding like when you were first or not even like what were you thinking at the time that you and I spoke pertaining to the program, like what were you trying to accomplish? How did you feel before deciding to go for fertile imagination to networking success?
Right.
I had really reached kind of a turning point in my work. I spent the first few years just getting the word out so we could get applicants and families to apply. And I did a lot of work on that. And, and now it was shifting to really trying to fundraise and grow our program. And so, you know, I knew that that wasn't necessarily my strongest suit, I can go find community and tell people about resources all day long, right?
And I can do that. And that was like a very, although it took a lot of work, I was very easy for me to come up with. But now to flip it, it's, it's hard. And I'm not great at, I'm not great at it. Asking for money, and I'm not great at all these things, and I knew I had to do it, and I knew I had to network, and I knew I had to do everything, and it was also coming at a point where we really closed ourselves off during COVID, and that was because we were expecting a baby, and then we had a baby, and we didn't have a vaccine for him until he was almost two, and so we were really protective of him, and so not only had it been that I Was much more of an introvert and that a lot of those kind of crowds and everything stress me out and I had to really prepare for it and be on top of it.
But then we had had this like long hibernation where hadn't done any of it. So it's kind of a skill that wasn't my best skill and then it was rusty. So I think that's really where I was at. I think the program came along and I just thought to me, it felt like one of those things that I thought would really help me a lot.
And that. It would feel like one of those things, if I didn't do it, I would regret it. And so that was really, that was my thinking and how I was feeling going into it.
That's so interesting. What, what made you think that if you didn't go into it at that moment, you would regret it? What, what kind of went into that?
I think it was just, I didn't even really know where to start. And I think I just. I needed somebody who would work with me to develop a better plan. I needed some of that, like outside motivation that I wasn't, that I was lacking because it's hard when you're doing this day in and day out, especially when you are on your own, largely, it's hard to know, am I doing things the right way?
Is this, what is this? And so. I think in talking with you, I was like, this is somebody who's going to push me out of my comfort zone. And I need that right now. And I wasn't getting that. In any other way, really, I was getting it sort of informally here and there, but it wasn't getting somebody who's going to like, be like, no, let's push you out of this comfort zone and everything.
And so I really just wanted that. And I, and I knew I needed that. And so that was really where I thought if I Don't do this program. I don't know how I'm going to find somebody who's going to do that. And I don't know that I have it in me right now to do it for myself and really push myself.
So before starting the program, what sort of doubts or uncertainties did you have about joining and then how did you overcome them?
Yeah, I think it was, I think doubts are just, it's hard for me to invest in myself and hard for me to like, kind of take that step back. That time to say I'm working on myself, but it does have another goal. And also it, we should be invested in ourselves. And so I think that was really one of my biggest doubts.
I didn't feel like in some other programs and things that I've looked at, I felt like I don't really know that this is going to be successful. I more felt like really, I was like this. I was like, Melissa is going to kick my butt a little bit and, and get me out of my comfort zone. And that was what I needed.
And I knew that that's what I needed. So I think that was really where the, kind of the doubts settled it. Like, yes, they were there when I first started, they were still there a little bit. And then I think it was very quickly, it was like, Oh yeah, no, no, this is really what I needed was I needed that push.
Yeah, and you know what? I think it's interesting. So your background like you're like a JD Like weren't you like were you a trial attorney? I was yeah okay, can I just put context here because the the assumption would be that a trial attorney would be like Crazy intense, totally like gunhole, super loud.
I'm just kind of curious, like, like this was not you then, or was it simply because of all the emotions or what was it that?
Yeah. Yeah. I think it was definitely the emotions. I think I was never super aggressive. I knew how to like turn it on for the little bit of the case, but I wasn't really super aggressive outside of court.
And so I think it was kind of like, I didn't have that same platform of saying like, okay, in here, in this context, this is what I have to do. I didn't feel that same way. I think it was definitely the emotions, right? It's really, it's really hard in fundraising because I think there's this part of me that's like, what do you mean?
You're not going to give money to my daughter. And I think that's a really hard position to be in where it's like. I have to separate that out and understand that it's, it's not the same emotional thing for most people who are going to encounter it. And so I think I needed that. I think it was also just tired, right?
Like, I think fundraising is really tough. I think there was some things of growing up and just culturally is like, you're not supposed to ask other people for money, right? It's supposed to be, stay within the family, all of that. So I think it's a very foreign concept to me to ask for money and ask, And really ask for help.
I mean, I think that that's something that was tough for me. Right. And so I think all of those things kind of Combined into this point where it was hard for me to, to, to do it and to think of how to do it. And fundraising is known for taking a really long time to come to fruition. And I was exhausted and, and I didn't know how to start.
And that was the really big thing. So.
So then what aspect, what aspects of the program set it apart from other experiences and how did those differences contribute to your success? I
mean, I think the first thing is I had never really seen a program that fully integrated the fact of being a mom and what that took, as well as your work.
And so I think it was just this, I was like, this quote always thinks of me as like, you're supposed to, in the same age, you're supposed to work like you don't have a kid and you're supposed to parent like you don't have a job, right? And that's not the reality. Right. They're both hand in hand, things that happen with your child affect work and things that happen with work affect your child.
And so kind of that tug and pull, what I always liked was that you were very forthcoming of like, this is you working within all of your obligations and all of the things that are going to pull with, pull at you. And you were going to have to adjust things as, as it goes on. And so I think that was one of the biggest things that felt like Dad was saying, you want to be the best mom you can possibly be, and you also want to do the best job you can possibly do, and that is going to ebb and flow on both ends, depending on, you know, needs and what's going on, and that's okay.
And then how can we do this? And so one of the things that I think was really good That I really appreciated always was how being with your kids was like a way to sort of work on your imagination and to sort of play with life and, and see it through their eyes. And that to me was really helpful because I think there was a lot of, if I, if I did all this stuff with my son, that was great.
But then I was also thinking about all the stuff that I didn't do and vice versa. And so I think it was just very much being able to say like, Even spending time with our children, we are developing ourselves and, and really thinking and playing it out of it and getting out of our own heads, which I think was like one of the biggest benefits to the program was I was forced to get out of my own head, which is a dangerous place to stay in and, um.
Yeah, I would agree I said that to myself yesterday. I was like get out of your head What is it in your head you're dead or something like that? Okay, so then the other question would be Okay, so is there a particular aspect of the program? So something specific that exceeded your expectations or significantly contributed to your growth and success
I think the strategies of networking, not just being when you show up to an event, but doing a lot of the pre work, I just had never really thought of it.
And I had looked at networking, uh, In the terms of like, you show up to this event. It's super awkward. Maybe you meet a few good people, but then there's not really a great, it's just awkward. And it's, you know, weird to do it. And instead to convert that into making some context saying, Hey, I'm going to be here at this.
Let's connect all of that removed a lot of that awkwardness. And then I think that also, cool. The other thing was, like, helped with how do we follow up afterwards? I think it was so much easier when you had had some pre conversations to then do the follow up of you had a little bit of a dialogue already going into it, and then you had the dialogue at an event, and then you had afterwards, and so it was much more seamless, and for me, who has some of that inner dialogue and that imposter syndrome, everything, it then put me in a space where people We're already connecting with me and it wasn't me going in cold to an event and not knowing anybody not Having any sort of connection with anybody and I think that was a big difference, too
Yeah, people were trying to give you hugs, which I'm not saying that we could promise hugs at all networking events, but They go.
Wow, it's a really it's pretty intense. Okay, so then let's talk about results or achievements that you're most proud of Proud of. So how do you see them impacting your future endeavors?
I mean, I have been making contacts and reaching out to people that I never would have thought to reach out to. And so we had had some success probably last year and a little bit before that with Some of the doctors that were from the hospital we delivered at and just being very gracious and very, we had a big fundraiser and the neonatologists were all coming up to me independently and saying like, we know, like how much good you're doing for our families.
And that was huge, but I didn't really know how to like, start that connection, right? Like that connection started because we had been at that hospital. We had all these great relationships with social workers and they like helped us with all of that. But it didn't, I didn't really know how to do it. And instead it was like, okay, so how do you capitalize on those, you know, strategies for how you're on showing up on LinkedIn strategies for who you're looking to connect with and getting past sort of that.
I mean, there's a lot of noise in this area and getting past that noise to say, okay, let's start thinking about who is the strategic person. To connect with and who is, and then also like defining our, our goals and setting them out and saying that I had never felt like I could say, this is my goal and not sound like I was.
Being too salesy and instead saying, like, this is my goal and like, I want to work with people who believe in this mission to get me to that goal.
So what would you say is like the boldest thing you said or did throughout our time together?
So I will say that, so Elizabeth Carr, who is the first IVF baby born in the U.
S., I have followed her on LinkedIn, and she's very much an advocate for reproductive rights, and we started an IVF line after the decision in Alabama, and all that we really wanted, I think one of the ways that we're going to combat this is for all of us to start telling our stories, and how IVF has helped us grow our families, I think that that's huge, and that's One of the first things that we can really do and so it just so happened that during infertility awareness week, which was about a month ago She posted something and orange is the color for infertility awareness And she said every year I remind myself that I don't have a lot of orange and I always mean to buy more orange And I don't and I just commented and said I would love to send you A t shirt that says IVF baby in adult sizes, and we have them in orange, and so she, like, said, yes, I would love to wear one, and so we sent her a shirt, and she has agreed that once she gets the shirt, she will wear it and post on social media, and I think it was just one of those things, right?
It was just It kind of like came to me and I was like, you know what? The worst case is she can ignore it and it's not going to change anything of like what I'm doing. Right? And the best thing is she can do what ended up happening, which was like, yes, I'll do it. And here's my address. And how do we do that?
And so I think that was probably one of the boldest. Things I've done, and then I think really just putting myself out there saying it. My goal is 50, 000 by the year, saying that to people and explaining why that was the case and what that was coming from. There wasn't an arbitrary number. It was a very well thought out plan and in terms of the numbers.
And then This is what I want to do. And so how do I do that?
That's amazing. Okay. So the first IVF baby now has a t shirt and it doesn't even stop there because now you establish that relationship. Okay. So final question. So if you were to recommend this program to someone considering investing in their personal or professional growth, what key insights or benefits would you share to help them make an informed decision?
I would say that Melissa is a very, is very good at The balance of pushing you out of your comfort zone, but also telling you what you're doing is really that you're doing well and having those things. And I think that's a, that's a delicate balance. And I think you achieve that very well. And so, and then reframing things and really allowing yourself.
We get so in the weeds about what we're doing and it's hard for us to regularly take ourselves out and look at the big picture. And I think that that is. Something that you forced us to do. I think also you really forced me to like, look at what my goals were and in a year, five years, 10 years, and then push me like, well, why couldn't it be this?
And it was very different for me to think that way. And to not put in all of the, the normal judgments that come up like, Oh, we're never going to do this. We're never going to do that. That's not realistic. And just really say like, okay, what if that was your goal? And I think that was really helpful for me.
I think creativity and imagination piece was really helpful. And I think learning from our kids, I mean, My God, like the stuff my son says and comes up with is, is hilarious and is really, it's amazing to see. I mean, he, yesterday we took him to the children's museum and we were in the elevator and there was a baby and I waved at the baby in the stroller and then he took that as a sign and he said, hi, it's me, Elliot.
And I just kept thinking, oh my God, the boldness. Like I would never, like, I wouldn't think of saying that, but he was like, okay. And, and just the confidence of like, he knew it was, it's me, Elliot. Like, of course you should know who I am and that kind of thing. And those, and I just remember sort of really sitting there in that moment and kind of trying not to giggle because it was so adorable and cute and all that, but also thinking, you know, Hey, there's a big lesson to be learned here of the directness, the boldness, the he wasn't afraid, he wasn't thinking all the things of like, are they gonna think I'm annoying?
Are they gonna, are they gonna judge me? Are they? And none of that mattered to him. And that's a huge lesson for all of us, how kids are, don't have that. And yet, because they don't have the time of like all the years of questioning and self doubt that have factored into us, and that that's something we can really learn from our kids.
Yeah, and I think that's a lot of times when we lose sight of the fact that the, the source of information and insight almost doesn't matter in a way, right? Like here's this child teaching what this fancy smancy leadership guru could be teaching an executive at an organization, which is to be bold in your vision, right?
Right. And, and be open to conversation with anyone at all. And I think in the program, that's something that I wanted to just really highlight, which was that we have imagination experts in residence right under our nose, and they always have these little sayings like, Oh, tell me your, your company vision.
Like if I were a five year old, well, hello, a lot of us have like legit five year olds in our homes that we could filter some of this communications and messaging and we could just like. Get down to what really matters, which is simplicity and just making sure that we're talking to the right people and that we have what it takes to, to solve the challenges that we want to solve.
So thank you so much, Michelle, for this. I'm so sorry. I was like, hijacking you. I'm like, Oh my God. No, it's fine. I'm like, Michelle still would be, but yes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So yeah, this was fantastic. I will go ahead and pause it.
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Hello, fellow mom founders and corporate executives! Before we dive into today's episode, let me paint a picture for you: it's Maycember, and life is throwing everything it's got at us—projects, unexpected snafus, and plans shifting faster than we can keep up. But amidst this chaos, there's a beacon of hope: a way to navigate this month with more presence, less stress, and a whole lot more emotional and mental bandwidth. Today, we're going to explore how to increase your mental bandwidth through mindfulness, drawing from valuable insights and personal experiences. From the power of loving awareness to the neuroscience benefits of mindfulness, we'll uncover practical tools to help you thrive in both your personal and professional life. So, grab a cozy spot and let's dive in! Be sure to find me https://www.instagram.com/melissallarena/
First off, let's talk about the power of loving awareness. In our fast-paced culture, it's easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of trying to reach our goals. But what if, instead of constantly striving for the next thing, we practiced loving awareness? This means being fully present with what is, without judgment. This loving awareness is also a synonym for mindfulness and one way that has helped me increase my mental bandwidth is by training in and practicing meditating with the big idea of responding to what is with loving awareness. Ultimately, meditating in this context is about embracing the beauty of the present moment, even amidst the chaos of Maycember.
Next, let's explore the concept of mindfulness as a tool for softening our approach with our kids, employees, even clients. As a second-generation New Yorker, I know firsthand the benefits of moving swiftly through city streets. But I also learned that this intense approach wasn't serving me well as a mom and sometimes as a coach/mentor. In business, when I am helping a mom founder do from timid to bold in her goals, and asks, there is always impostor syndrome that pops up, old stories, deep insecruties, emotional challenging moments. I have learned over the last 12-years that there is a time for tough love but also for compassion and empathy….what’s I can bare….is different than what you can bare and sometimes you can bare more than me. That's when I decided to learn how to meditate and embrace mindfulness. By softening our approach and practicing mindfulness, we can cultivate a deeper sense of empathy and compassion for ourselves and those around us." Chances are we work with fellow working moms and everyone has their own situations they are working through to make it through this Maycember.
And finally, let's consider the neuroscience benefits of mindfulness. Studies have shown that mindfulness practices can lead to increased resilience, stability, and the ability to concentrate. For me, this has been an incredible shift. Imagine that you are confronted with a highly stressful and high stakes decision. This is the norm for mom founders and corporate executives. Full stop. Chances are you will say one thing or decide one way if you are operating from a reactive point. Meanwhile, if you have mindfulness tools in your back pocket then you can use them even if it means taking the world’s deepest breathe and then be able to thoughtfully respond to a touch situation and say a completely different thing and in a different tone that will be received favorably….ie. in a non-scathing way. I want to help you do that at work and home.So, by incorporating mindfulness into our daily lives, we can enhance our mental bandwidth and better navigate the challenges of Maycember.
Now, let's talk about how mindfulness specifically benefits working moms in business. As a mom myself, I understand the unique challenges we face in balancing our professional and personal lives. Mindfulness offers us a powerful tool to manage stress, increase focus, and make better decisions. It helps us stay grounded in the present moment, even when our minds are racing with deadlines and responsibilities. By cultivating mindfulness, we can become more effective leaders, more empathetic colleagues, and ultimately, more fulfilled individuals.
In fact, committing to becoming a meditation practitioner and getting certified in Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield's two-year program has transformed my life. It's made me a more patient mom, a better listener to my husband, and has helped me increase my emotional and mental bandwidth. And I want the same benefits and more for you.
Join me for a LIVE Intro to Mindfulness Course, starting on May 20th at 7 pm CST. We'll meet for four sessions, each session focusing on a different aspect of mindfulness. But remember, this is a LIVE course and will not be recorded. Spots are limited, so don't wait!"Also, there is zero experience necessary with mindfulness nor do you need any privacy either – that’s why we have a mute button!
Go to Instagram @melissallarena and send me a DM today. Otherwise, email me at [email protected]. Let's embark on this journey together!"
https://www.instagram.com/melissallarena/
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What if your everyday mom moments could fill the pages of a book? What if motherhood has taught you leadership skills unmatched by any book or top-tier business school? What if the only thing holding you back from sharing your message with the world was simply not recognizing and appreciating your own value and the support others can offer once you do?
These personal topics, especially if you're a bookworm or entrepreneurial mom, are discussed in today's episode with Zibby Owens, bestselling author of "Blank". Zibby is also the award-winning podcast host of "Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books" and the founder and CEO of Zibby Media. With four children and a Harvard Business School graduate, Zibby's journey is nothing short of inspiring. Check out her full bio below.
In the meantime, don’t forget to say hi on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melissallarena/ to let me know who else you’d like me to have as a guest. I love guest and topic ideas.
This episode is sponsored by my book, "Fertile Imagination," A Guide for Stretching Every Mom's Superpower for Maximum Impact. In this episode, I realized that Zibby Owens possesses a fertile imagination, the ability to conceive of something that a mom may not have done before.
I mean, how many moms do you know who, after a decade of being a stay-at-home mom, decide to disrupt entire industries? That's precisely what Zibby is doing, and that's why I was so inspired to have her on Unimaginable Wellness. Through my podcast and the guests featured in my book, I aim to showcase individuals who harness their imagination for good, making an impact that can reshape opportunities for their children and future generations.
Helping moms ignite their imagination to solve meaningful problems is what truly ignites my passion. As your host, Melissa, I urge you to consider: Do you know what truly ignites you as a mom, a human, a woman? If not, and if you're unsure how to rediscover your interests, then "Fertile Imagination" is here to guide you.
As a mom of three young boys, I've experienced the Groundhog Day feeling and the endless cycle of sibling squabbles. That's why I wrote "Fertile Imagination," to help readers like you embark on a journey of activating your imagination, listening to its whispers, and integrating what excites you into your daily life.
So, whether it's Zibby's story or your own journey of exploration, "Fertile Imagination" is your roadmap to unlocking your inner powerhouse and designing a life aligned with your passions.
This is an amazing conversation for you to absolutely take notes and maybe even look some stuff up because if you want to be an entrepreneur, Zibby does drop some nuggets of wisdom in terms of some tools you might want to consider.
But at the same time, it's important to appreciate that Zibby was able to create and is still in the process of building an empire. She's authored several books based on everyday life moments that many moms, myself included, often overlook as potential sources of inspiration and revenue as entrepreneurs.
There's undeniable value in our daily experiences, even if we don't always recognize it. My book, "Fertile Imagination," guides you in harnessing these moments that ignite your passion and shows you how to share, sell, or leverage them to make your maximum impact on the world. Visit http://www.melissallarena.com/fertileideas or fertileideas.com to grab a free chapter of "Fertile Imagination."
Now, let's delve into the official bio of Zibby Owens.
Official Bio
Zibby Owens — like Pippa Jones — wears a lot of hats. She is the award-winning podcast host of Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books; founder and CEO of Zibby Media, which includes the publishing house Zibby Books, a book club, retreats, classes, and events; and is the proud owner of Zibby’s Bookshop, an independent bookstore in Santa Monica.
Her previous books include Bookends: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Literature, children’s book Princess Charming, and two anthologies that she edited. A frequent contributor to Good Morning America, Katie Couric Media, and other outlets, she is – most of all! – the mother of four fabulous kids ages 9 to 16 — and wife to Kyle Owens, founder of Morning Moon Productions.
Follow her on Instagram and Substack where she tells it like it is.Learn More
· https://www.zibbyowens.com
· https://www.instagram.com/zibbyowens/
TRANSCRIPT
How are you? I'm great. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited. So I just got through your book, Blank, and oh my goodness, talk about like the turns and tosses and like the silliness. It was really entertaining. And as someone that reads nonfiction, for the most part, I was like, Oh, wait a minute, I'm missing out.
Thank you. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. I'm so curious, Zibby. I mean, I asked my listeners kind of what was on their mind, right? What did they want to learn about Zibby? Mom of four, someone that is disrupting the entire publishing industry. I mean, you're making us feel like rock stars. Let me just say any author out there.
But what is it about Zibby? You that makes you so like inventive and innovative in terms of the way that you approach business, mom, life, and this book tour right now with blank. What is it about you? Where did you get that spark? That is a good question. I don't know where it came from, but I will say I like to have fun with anything I'm doing.
So I feel like, for example, the book tour, which I'm calling the Zippyverse tour and going to all these stops and I have tour t shirts and friendship bracelets and sunglasses. The point of that is to make it feel fun for the end user. to make authors, to make myself an example of how an author could be treated as a rock star.
I'm just like doing it myself. But also, I think most things that I'm doing are in response to something else. So this tour is in response to my last tour where I had a few stops, well one stop in particular, where literally two people showed up to an event and I'm like, I cannot have that happen again.
So instead of just blindly walking into places, I decided to be more in control of it and have my own tour website and then have people so I can be aware of which events are doing well and which aren't and monitor my own marketing. So I guess the tour is an example of how I do most things, which is get a lot of data, figure out what works and what doesn't work, try something new, do something different, have fun, and see if it works or not.
And it might not work, and if not, then I switch gears and try something else. And as to where it came from, I don't totally know. I think it's just who I am. I love it. I love it. And I think it's, it's so interesting because we physically met at Mom 2. 0, and I was just like smitten beyond belief. I was like, oh my god, just like, it's like you're like Shakira for us at this point.
Also on tour. By the way, like you guys should parallel share tour buses and such you're living parallel lives. Right. But I was so excited that you were there and I thought it was really, really interesting that you were sharing your perspective on the publishing industry. And you just mentioned data.
And I will say as someone who is excited about building a community of moms that have this like Fertile imagination, like really like expansive thinking approach to problem solving in their lives. I was thinking to myself. Okay. So what shifts are coming up? What do you know? Is there some sort of like magic eight ball in terms of what's happening in publishing?
Based on your right now real time experience on this Zibby tour Is there any are there any shifts in publishing? I'm sure like During other times in this industry, there are different genres that, for whatever reason, have been rising to the top. Right? Like, romanticy is huge right now, and I look at some of these festivals I'm going to, and the lines for the fantasy authors are wrapped around them.
So, um. The buildings. I mean, it's crazy. Why does that happen? I don't know. Like, why is, why did the rom com market take off right now? Not sure. Did anyone predict it? No. So what's coming after this? It's hard to say. I think that, People are looking more and more for escapes than more hard stuff. I mean, I love a good hard memoir that'll make me cry, I really do.
But I think for the most part, life is so heavy that people Need an outlet and books are becoming that obviously, as you well know, TikTok and Instagram have changed how books are consumed and found and all of that, which is really interesting. So I'm definitely watching all of that really closely and I find it very interesting and always wondering like, what else can I be doing?
Definitely have not mastered TikTok, so open to any. Anything, any suggestions, but the way that other people have adopted it and promoted books and have books and industries take off just points to the fact that sometimes you don't know where the next thing is going to come from, but the point is to be aware as it's coming.
Everybody bemoans the state of the industry and will people stop reading and I find it incredibly encouraging that so many younger readers are just totally into these things and I, these types of books and it speaks overall to the need for community around books and connection and that's what books provide and having people um, It doesn't have to be books that are on the bestseller list.
It can be books that are taking off on TikTok or that somebody you really respect likes or something like that. But there will always be that as a way to connect, which I think is great. And I think in terms of that idea of community, that is something that I secretly have always wanted to ask you, because I sense that the reason, or one of the reasons why Blank is doing so well right now, I mean, bestseller, is that because of the support that the community has been giving you, but then you've been nourishing this community too.
And so I'm just curious, like any stories of like meeting people in person who are part of your community and how we can continue to help this book, like keep skyrocketing. Oh, that's so sweet. And yes, I think you're right in, in part. I mean, I have been doing the podcast, Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books, since 2018.
And there are a lot of people who have sort of been on this crazy ride with me. I mean, in 2017, I went on social media for the first time. Like, I didn't even have an account. And I had been at home with my kids for 11 years, and I had been out of, I've just been out of it, even though prior to that I had been working in different things, marketing and writing, and I had ghostwritten a book and things like that.
But. I had been out of it for a while, and as I've gotten back into it, I've done what I always do, which is sort of share from the heart and share the backstory and share my deepest feelings, which I've been doing since I was 14 and started writing for Seventeen magazine about like how I felt about my body and gaining weight and all of that.
So I've been really open about like how excited I am when good things happen, how dejected I feel when like, years ago when I first lost the Webby Award. So now here I am like six years later and this year I won the Webby Award. So like there have been people who have been along the way. So for me, it's more a symbol of things than the award itself, although I'm very excited, but it's like My kids helped me that first year try to campaign and get their friends to vote and all that stuff and then they were there when I didn't win like comforting me and now this year I could tell them that like we won and they could all like hug me and now they're older and so anyway people I think are rooting for me because I've been really open and yes I help lots of other people but I love that I mean it helps me just as much but I love getting to know authors and talking to people and and and you Just because other people have helped me so much by sharing in their memoirs or their essays or whatever, I give back by doing the same thing and hope that it, you know, I'm paying it forward and that it helps other people.
And I'm, I, I do think that my community has turned out to read blank and that makes me really, really happy. I think it's also a quick read. I think people are enjoying it and it's more, it's more fun. I think, I just think people are looking forward to it. Now for something like that, that's just a little more fun, and I totally agree with you in the sense that a lot of the moms around me, like I've noticed, there's like this like book club mentality.
Either you're in a book club to like escape family life, and it's just like chit chat with girlfriends about like really random things. Or like a book club and you're an aspiring author. And like, you want to get in the minds of perspective readers. And so the escape society, I'm just going to like name them that.
I wonder like, okay, like fact and fiction are so blurry right now. And I was reading blank and I couldn't help but think like. Does Zibby have like a secret Instagram where she's like going to open houses? So what's the secret there? What's fact? What's fiction? And, and I loved the book. It was very unexpected.
Thank you. Yeah. I love going to open houses. I have gone to 8 million open houses. I always like pull the car over and pop in. It's something like the kids are like, I'll be like, open house. They'll be like, no. So I just love doing that. I love seeing, I love design. I love just seeing how people live their lives too.
Like I, I don't know the fact that like people just open up their homes. It's amazing. So I do not have a secret Instagram account, but, but I do love open houses. So that part is absolutely true. That part. And then there were So many other moments in the book, and I'm not going to give any spoilers away, but there were so many moments that I was like, yep, that visual.
I know it. I've seen it. Like, let's just talk about, for example, one, like the Benihana Onion Volcano, like it. Yeah. When you said that, or when I heard it in the book, because I have the audio version, I was like, yep, I know what that looks like. I know those volcanoes. And it's like one of those mom moments, like, should we get like a fire extinguisher kind of a thing?
But where did you pull out these different sort of like visuals that were like, so quote unquote, gettable? I mean, that's my life as a mom, like, I, I mean, I, I am doing all these things, I am in it, like, I have four kids, like, this is my life, and it has been for a very long time, so, I'm just putting in all the things, they just come out, like, I'm, I wasn't like, oh, I need to be sure to put the Benny Hanna image in, in fact, I barely even remember where that is, but, It's, it's just like, I've been, I've seen that so many times, and I have, I could fill endless books with just the kid stuff, so I think that I've noticed as I write fiction, which is new for me, I mean, this type of process, I, I, things are coming out that I don't even know.
I mean, I'm writing my next book now, and I have this huge outline, so I really just have to like, put the words in, like I've already figured out the whole story, and it's, I actually made it kind of a little less fun for myself, I think, because I already know everything, and now I just have to, like, write it and make it fun, but.
Anyway, I started writing it with this detailed outline and like, I wrote 10, 000 words about something totally not even in the outline. Like where is this going? But it's like I had to, I invented this whole backstory. Point is like my subconscious kind of takes over, I think, or whatever happens. But fiction is something I don't totally understand how I'm doing it.
But I know that it's like a mishmash of all these things that are in my brain, like a. Okay. The endless trips to Benihana and like the fact that my daughter's hydroflask like never fits in the car and like they pushed me out of the way to like get to the radio thing and I'm like always about to get crash my car like all those things are just my life that's just my day to day life so and I know I don't always post that stuff like on social media and in my newsletters like I'm very intentional about not including my kids and things that are too specific to them.
Um, But that is my life. I mean, I post the glamorous parts and I post, I mean, I hope to, I hope, I hope I post like enough real stuff that people know, but I don't want to reveal personal things about the kids. So anyway, all to say, yes, I've been there many times. You have like best customer out of Benihana, right?
So it's, yeah, totally like, okay, it was just hilarious to me. Like when that mention happened, cause I was just like, taken there immediately and then wanting teriyaki chicken. But anyway, that withstanding, you're actually making me hungry right now. I know it's, it's early, but like I could, I could have a turkey right now.
So this, this, so this is something that I find really common with so many women that Have been either out of the workplace or they're like starting brand new. Like you just mentioned these tiny, regular, banal moments of motherhood. And what you managed to do, my interpretation of it is make it into a story, make it into something that matters to a reader and like engage the reader.
Like, why is it that. In, in your situation, I assume like that that's enough for a story, enough to engage a reader. And I found so many other moms are like, but I have nothing to write about. And you can write a whole like 10, 000 word thing about that. Well, I think it's how much we value those stories. I think a lot of moms don't put worth into what they're learning, but we're learning lots of things every day as parents.
I mean, I learned more from being a mom than through all my education and I've gone to lots of schools and da da da, but it's an on the job, constant learning, constant changing, like full body experience and no one can tell you how to do it and you can't study for it In that way, it's like a nightmare, right?
You have to just, it's the most important thing in the world. And, you know, for people who like to prepare, there's not that much you can do that will actually help, right? Until you get to know what you have, what you're dealing with, the sleep books. Do they work? I don't know. I mean, I've read a lot of them.
Did they help me? Not so much. So I think that as we are dealing with our kids, and learning and ingesting information. It's, it's information that others are ingesting in an equally unsure point of their lives. And by reflecting it back, I think we're reminding each other that none of us are in it alone, even though it can feel very isolating.
I mean, a night at home, my kids are older now, like my youngest is now nine, but Like the the tantrum not ending at home at bedtime. I mean, I have felt like well, is this ever gonna end? Will this kid ever stop crying or will this child ever fall asleep or how am I ever going to get out of the situation?
And There's nobody to call, like, it doesn't matter, you can't, so, anyway, it can feel very lonely and isolating and terrifying, but really we're, so many of us are going through similar things, so as long as we share it, it makes it, and add some humor to it, I think it will help get through those day to day moments that can feel really difficult.
I agree. And I also think about my kids almost like imagination experts in residence. It's like, they help me imagine how a situation can be more fun. They help me imagine how I can like, lighten up. Mom, I've heard that before. Like they, they really do help me navigate the, the, the stuff that is impossible to just kind of navigate with just my thinking, rational brain.
Right. Cause things don't always make sense. And, and what you mentioned right now, as far as motherhood and loneliness and just like solitude, that's how I felt when I was writing my book. And when I was reading your book, I was like, wait a minute, like, how is it like, I almost feel like we all need an outlet, like if we do embark on writing a book, right?
And so maybe I haven't found one yet. And like, I need to go get one. But at this point, it's It's going on artist dates for me, so I'm all about like Julia Cameron's like idea of like going and doing fun things. So as you're on this Zibby tour, I'm just wondering like, do you have an outlet? Maybe one where you just kind of step it up in your enthusiasm and feel energized and things like that.
Hmm. Outlets for me. I really enjoy design, like graphic design and all that and like Canva and creating things and I'm not good enough at it. Like it's very frustrating to me. I want to be and I keep trying, but I seem to, I know what looks good, but sometimes I don't know quite how to get there. So I have a lot of fun.
Doing that and trying always to improve and also teaching myself new things like this morning for instance Like I had a bunch of files on Dropbox that I'm like, I need to get these files onto YouTube There must be a better way So like next thing, you know I'm like learning how to use Zapier and like trying to schedule zaps and I'm like, I don't even know what I'm doing I'm probably about to make a huge mistake.
It ended up not totally working now I have to go back and figure it out But like Okay, that's fun for me. I, I, I just enjoy a challenge. And even if it's something as simple as that, so I realize that's not as lofty as Julia Cameron, but also I have so many things that I do. I mean, I have my podcast, which I have been doing daily for four plus years, and I still have tons of episodes each week because even though I've gone to three times a week, I had booked so many that, uh, the ones I'm doing now are coming out so late, which is ridiculous.
Like, I really have to, now I might have to change it all again. But anyway, I have all these different things that I am constantly kind of multitasking. Doing the podcast or having a meeting about, like, the marketing of a particular book or helping another author or writing an essay or maybe I should do a gift guide for Mother's Day or like, I mean, like, I, I am always like that.
So I feel like my life is one procrastination from something else all the time. But it sounds like productive procrastination, which I want to make a thing, like, I think, I think we need to celebrate productive procrastination, because if you have so many ideas in your mind, it's kind of like, all right, follow this thread and then go follow this other thread and something's going to work for sure.
And. And I'm wondering, like, when it came to your own business and when it came to, I'm not sure if it was like a clean transition from podcasting to publishing, but when it came to your own business, how did you like follow the thread in terms of like brick by brick building out this Zibby verse, which is like, wow.
I mean, I didn't try to start a Zibby verse. Like, I'm literally wearing a sweater today that says Evyverse, that these two amazing women, Susie and Andrea, who live in Minneapolis, who I've gotten to know, and I went, and they offered then when Blank came out, to your point, to like host me in their town and introduce me to all their friends.
And I was like, I'll go to Minneapolis. So I went, and they gave me this fabulous event, and then they gave me this sweater as a gift that like a friend of theirs like sewed on. I mean, it's so nice. I, that was not the plan. Like, I really started out, to be perfectly honest, just trying to sell a book. I didn't have a platform.
I wanted to write a book forever. I'd written, I'd ghost written a book. I'd had a novel rejected in my 20s and I wanted to get back to it. And I had a bunch of parenting essays I'd been writing. That I wanted to turn into a book and so I started a podcast and I just, I think I'm just good at taking something and growing it and turning it into something else or just seeing opportunities of what comes next or if somebody else suggests something like testing it out or trying it or like mulling it over and figuring out how I would do it and just trying.
I mean, it was so frustrating at the beginning. I was like, okay, no one is ever going to download this podcast. I'm going to be stuck at 86 downloads an episode forever. And I was like, but you know what? I still love what I'm doing. So even if I only get 86 downloads an episode, I'm not going to stop. And even if I have like five different books rejected, I'm not going to stop.
Like, this is what I want to do. I, I, I'm very persistent when it comes to things that I enjoy and that I feel like I'm on the right path, even if it's not being validated to me externally, so I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing and see and that's how I've gotten here and The publishing, obviously, was a different level because it took a lot of investment and hiring and all of that.
So I did a ton of research. It took me a couple years to decide to do it. Like, I thought about it for a while before I did it. I had lots of calls. I had, there, there is some method to the madness. But in the end, I just thought, what's the worst that happens? I try to start a publishing company to help authors and it fails.
Still, still cool. So, that's sort of my attitude. What's the worst that's going to happen? Yeah, and I think, I think a lot of times we just like assume like the worst is like total demise, the end of, of all our finances and just like, it's very catastrophic, I think, or maybe it's just my anxiety or something, but I, I see that, I see that, and so right now, just to kind of like put it out there, as I think about it.
Cool. My book, and I think about, okay, how can I bring together a community of moms who want to think expansively about what's possible for themselves, who want to use their skills in ways that have never been used by other moms around them before, like What would you suggest would be, like, my first step?
Okay, so, developing a community. Well, you already are doing a community. You have a podcast. You wrote a book. I mean, you don't need You don't need my help. I should be asking you, like, what has worked for you? Seriously, you know, for me, what worked for me is really taking like activating my chutzpah, honestly, that is what has worked for me so far, like talking to people who I know the book will help feel empowered, like one of the people that read my book, for example, she's like, I felt like I was back in fourth grade when I read it.
Fertile imagination, like that teacher who's like, you can do it. And a little bit like Navy seal ish too, but you know, more like the teacher that's kind and generous. And like, that is what I was going for. So I wanted to just like, put myself out there intentionally to your point. Right. So it was kind of like, okay, like, where are these moms who need this information and who are super educated too?
And I think. That's like a tiny little nuance, but it's like, I don't know about you. I know you went to HBS, I went to Tuck. We have our MBAs and I can't say that doing a ZAP on Zapier was something we learned in our relative business schools. I'm just saying. Right. Do you know how to do zap since Zap, zap year?
I know. I'm a zapper. Yeah. I zap. Yeah. Oh yeah. We zap. We zap. We zap a lot. I get my emails with all my little zaps and this is how Zapier saved me time, right? So yeah, I'm happy to go in there and like help you zap stuff. Yeah, I might need that after this call. For sure. For sure. But like, this is not what we were taught like in business school.
It was more about like how to plug into an organization and how to lead and how to like look at P& Ls and stuff. And granted, of course, we have our respective PNLs, but I'm just wondering, like, what would you say is the most valuable thing that you've learned as an entrepreneur, like doing it here in your space that you think should be taught in a business school?
That's a great question. Because yes, I did take these things in business school and they, did they help me? Right, exactly. Like, I mean, honestly, I think they should teach you that You can watch a quick YouTube tutorial about literally anything and teach yourself how to do it. That is how I started a podcast.
I was like, Google, how to start a podcast. You know, how do I? I watch videos all the time. Like we got locked out of the car the other day and everyone's like, what should we do? And I was like, I'm sure there's a YouTube video about this. And like, there was. So, I think it's, it's knowing that like, there are so many experts in so many things that anything you want to do, there is a guide.
And now it's easier than ever to take people's advice and have them teach you. I think being open to learning and innovating, and this is something we learned is, The ability to sort of shift gears and be, pay attention to market trends and da, da, da. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like we learned that, but you know, I feel like my cases in business school were like operational challenges and, you know, the cranberry manufacturing and like, I was like, what?
And like, then in like our one conversation or one class, it was called leadership about like all the ways that people led wrong. And, and so I think about that, but I'm also like, I don't want to ever lead as the professional only version of myself. Like, I've decided that the best way to lead is just to use myself, even if it's my mom's skills.
in the workplace. Like, I feel like I lead as a mom and I feel like it has only made me a better leader and they don't talk about that at business school at all. There is something about like taking care of people and gathering people and the softer skills or moments. Like with my company, I decided like three days a week, we all, Like take a break and go and have a nice lunch together every week.
That's what we do. It's part of our culture. It's just like what we do. And I have them to my home and we sit around my dining room table and have lunch. And it's so nice. And it's like, I want to take care of them. I want to my teammates, like my most important dinner guests, because that's what they are.
They are so important. And why would you treat an employee any differently than that? Like, if you don't want to have them. If you don't feel like they deserve that, they probably then should not be working for you. Do you know what I mean? So, and, and leaving, like I leave every day at 2. 30 and go pick up my kids.
And I get it all done the rest of the day, but like, do I need to be in the office? So I just think there are so many things we could have learned about there are ways to make it work and finding flexible environments and leading by example and Making it work. And, and then I guess just always, like, I think that businesses, leading a business is like raising a kid in that as soon as you feel like you have it down, everything changes.
Right? I got it. And now, suddenly, they're a year older and I don't know what I'm doing again. And none of the clothes fit. Like, I have to start again? Are you kidding me? And that's what it's like in business. Like, things are constantly changing. Oh, okay, maybe it's an external change that's impacting the organization.
Maybe it's an internal growth change. But we have to be ready to, like, run to the gap and get new clothes. It's so funny. I was just telling a client yesterday that using your imagination is like the perfect change management tool. Like, I mean, so many people that have businesses are able to just go from one thing to another quite quickly, just really edit, change, refocus, and then, and then not feel like, kind of like, I don't know, maybe it's just me.
Like for me, I would kind of feel like men. I did it wrong. Embarrassed. Like I was going this way and now I'm like, no longer doing this thing. What people are going to think. And so I think that's something else that stops you. And the same could be said when you're at a target and your kids have a meltdown and you have a choice, be the mom that you intended to be in front of other people or care what they think.
And then be that another kind of mom. It's. The parallels are striking between motherhood and entrepreneurship for sure. So on that point, I'm just curious, like, can we name the superpower that you got from being a mom that you apply in business? What, what would you name that superpower? Being humble. 100%.
The superpower is the ability to constantly learn and change. Honestly, I mean, you have to constantly adapt to changing conditions as a mom. So adaptability. Yeah, I think constantly being able to adaptability. Yeah. Regroup to do lots of things at once and to deal with things that are ultimately out of your control even when you care Yeah, and that's when it's like the hardest, right?
It's like when it's your heart when it's your name when it's the Zibby verse, right? It's different than if it were this third party entity and I think I think we can, we can close the conversation there because I think right now a lot of listeners are probably wondering to themselves like, holy cow, maybe there is value in my like super regular mom life moments.
Maybe I could write a story, right? Much value, so much value, so much value. And I think now the onus might be on people that have these like MBAs and things to put that value in like an income statement, like goodwill, at least, right? Like just like find a place. To, to demonstrate that we, if we use the success markers of the world, like finances and money and all that, like, how, how can we translate that to like real income financial security for moms?
I mean, I think, I think the value is huge. And so my hope, my intention is through your story, Zibby, through this conversation that anyone listening feels like, what? Heck yeah, I matter. I matter. And I think that's so true. Thank you so, so much, Zibby. This was amazing. Where can people buy your book? Blank. Yes.
Please buy blank. You can buy it literally anywhere. Go to your local independent bookstore, order it online. My website is zibbyowens. com. You can, there are links to lots of places to buy it there. You can get a signed copy at Zibby's bookshop through my website. You can. Get it, I don't know, wherever you get books or you can listen or you can read it on Kindle or whatever and you can follow me on Instagram at Zibby Owens or and or my sub stack zibbyowens.
substack. com and you know, I tell it like it is. Absolutely. Thank you again, Zibby. Thank you. Here are the three things that I would love for you to just really reflect upon after this wonderful conversation with Zibby Owens. Point number one, if you are a mom, even if you have not, I don't even know, use social media for the last decade, I want you to realize that it doesn't matter.
Everything that you want to know about launching a business, you can just Google it, you could even use AI. to help you get started. There is no reason not to explore your entrepreneurial muscles. Absolutely zero reason. So Google it. If you want to build an empire, launch a community or write your own book.
Point number two, We underappreciate ourselves. Let's just imagine what it takes in order to run a house. Imagine what it takes to raise a wonderful human who is going to contribute to society after we leave this planet. There's so much value in what a mom does and no, we do not need to see that value demonstrated in the bank account in order to appreciate it.
You have value that I promise you can absolutely change the world, but we need bravery. That might be what's missing. Bravery. Just be brave to demonstrate to the world that you can do A, B, or C. Be brave to actually start taking the steps and figuring out how you want to express your skills and talents with the world.
And realize that whatever it is that you're doing at home, someone else is paying someone to do that too. Please be aware. So. Underappreciating what you're doing at home, even if it feels like it's, you know, what every mom would do, of course, is, is something that needs to be re evaluated because you have so much value, and I think it's very obvious in the conversation we had here between myself and Zibby.
Point number three. So here's a very big call to action. If you went to a business school anywhere in the world, right, I would invite you to actually speak to a dean and ask that person, whoever they are, if they're open to having you teach a class, maybe on how to be a humble leader, maybe on how to be Empathetic as a leader, maybe on how to really, um, be a more nurturing leader.
These are the skills that you already have built in, in terms of being a mom. And these are skills that you can a hundred percent teach at a business school, and I would invite you to have that conversation with a Dean. As a matter of fact, I plan to do that myself. And so there you go. That is my action item.
Other than that, be sure to buy Zibby's book, Blank. It is available everywhere that you would ordinarily shop for books. Also buy my book, Fertile Imagination. Imagine double fisting two books by moms who might not have time to read a lot of books, but made the time to write books. And I would encourage you to think about your own life experience as worthy of filling the pages of any book.
Thank you again. Next episode drops on Tuesday. Make sure that you follow Unimaginable Wellness.
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Attention, mom founders! With summer on the horizon and the impending chaos of kids being out of school, there's no better time to reclaim control over your precious time and accelerate your business growth. In this episode, Melissa dives deep into three common time wasters holding mom entrepreneurs back from reaching their full potential. But fear not, because she also provides actionable strategies to replace these obstacles with productivity and profit.
Say hi, I want to know if you agree or vehemently disagree with these three? https://www.instagram.com/melissallarena/
Time Waster #1: Second-Guessing Yourself
It's time to kick self-doubt to the curb! Melissa shares valuable insights into overcoming the hesitation that often holds mom founders back from reaching out to potential leads and seizing opportunities. Learn how setting a timer and taking decisive action can transform your approach to networking and business growth.
Time Waster #2: Fixating on Gender Disparities in Funding
Don't let the fact or myth of effortless funding for male entrepreneurs discourage you! This is huge! Use your finite time focused on getting after it! Find the people who will be more likely to listen rather than waste one second on imagining who is not going to listen to you! Melissa encourages mom founders to channel their imaginative prowess into seeking mentors, partners, and opportunities for growth. Discover how embracing proactive networking strategies can empower you to break free from limiting beliefs and achieve your goals.
Time Waster #3: Spreading Yourself Too Thin
Are you juggling too many activities, diluting your focus and impact? Melissa highlights the importance of prioritizing strategic endeavors over scattered efforts. Learn how to refocus your energy on key initiatives and leverage targeted outreach to accelerate your business growth.
VIP Networking Day Opportunity: Take Action Now!
Ready to supercharge your networking efforts and achieve tangible results? Melissa introduces a limited-time opportunity for mom founders to participate in a VIP networking day. During this intensive three-hour Zoom session, you'll receive personalized guidance and hands-on support to execute your outreach strategies in real time.
How to Secure Your Spot: Act Fast!
With only two spots available, time is of the essence! Don't miss out on this exclusive opportunity to level up your networking game and propel your business forward. Sign up for a 15-minute Zoom call with Melissa within the next 72 hours to explore the details of the VIP networking day and secure your spot at the special rate. Remember, the clock is ticking, so act now to seize this opportunity for accelerated growth and success as a mom founder!
Contact Information:
For more information or to schedule your 15-minute Zoom call, sign-up here: https://go.oncehub.com/ClientSessionMelissaLlarena . Let's make this summer your most productive season yet!
TRANSCRIPT
Three time wasters for mom founders and how to replace that time with more productive activities. I don't know about you, but I have three children. I am looking at the summer season and I cannot say that I'm going to have more time to devote to my business and my practice where I'm teaching mom founders like you to leverage the art of strategic networking for profit.
So what I have to do every single season right before is really map out The most optimal use of my day hours. So I wanted to give you a sense for some of the things I've noticed, some patterns I've noticed when I've been coaching mom leaders throughout these last 12 years. So here's the first time waster that I have noticed that are stealing money straight out of your pockets.
Okay. So time waster number one, second, guessing yourself. I'm just going to say it like it is. You are having sex with your self doubts, and apparently it seems to be something that feels very good because we do it quite often, and I include myself in this as well. Oftentimes, it is hard to really almost take the wheel back of our days when it is us who is captivated by This idea that no, I don't know how to sell myself or no, I shouldn't talk to that person because I don't have a warm intro and what happens is essentially you're just there stuck looking at a long list of human beings that most likely will want their problems solved.
Buy the person that's gonna call them and you do nothing you do nothing and the reason why I share this is because I was talking to a mom founder for example she literally has warm leads in her linked in right now we're talking about people. Who have raised their hands and said to this person that they want to connect with her and potentially they want to do business with her.
Certainly they would like to make money with her. And yet there's this hesitation. There is this hesitation to do the deed and reach out to people that are. Literally warm leads in your LinkedIn platform. And that is a time waster. This idea that we're looking at something multiple times in a day and wondering to ourselves, should I do it?
Can I do it? How will I do it rather than starting to take the steps necessary to actually reach out to those people and follow up with every single one. So I wanted to just share a potential solution. This is going to sound so obvious, but I want you to actually take action on this one. I invite you to set a timer.
It could be 20 minutes. We could consider the Pomodoro process where it's like 20 minute increments and then some breaks. Set a timer and get that list of warm leads in your LinkedIn platform done. It sounds simple. It totally does. But I want you to ask yourself, like, why haven't you done it yet? Like if you actually have people, again, who have raised their hands in your LinkedIn said, I want to do business with you.
Certainly at minimum, I would like to make money with you. Why have you not actually gone and done this follow up? Right? So that's the first point. Second, guessing yourself. It is often very, very enticing, very, very alluring to just think about thinking about and thinking about thinking about. And I've noticed this so, so often, especially with a lot of mom founders who are hella educated.
Because I think we had the luxury when we were in business school or law school in grad school to really reconsider and re argue and recreate and reinvent the wheel where right now the market moves quite quickly. And I don't think we have that luxury as a mom founder, you don't have that luxury unless you have a lot more time than me, then my God, please.
Tell me, how do you have more time? So that's the first point. Here's a second time waster for mom founders. And again, how you might want to replace that time with more productive activities. So there's this idea and I hear this time again, and it frustrates me just because there have been so many opportunities and moments in my life where I could have said the same thing.
And even had the same thoughts. Here's this idea. The idea that you are not getting investment dollars as easily as men who can at minimum just spit an idea on a napkin and somehow magically conjure up millions of dollars in investments. I want to ask you for real, for real, how does having that thought help you?
Now, if you need that chip on your shoulder, if it drives you crazy and it makes you fight harder than amazing, but if you're wasting your already stretched out mental bandwidth on using this excuse or thinking about it, Then, again, you are wasting your time. You really, really, really are. And I believe that as moms, our superpower is having a fertile imagination.
Just the other day, I was interviewing one of the most influential people in the book industry, Zibi Owens. And her imagination is wild and amazing and wonderful. And so she's building out her business. Now if she had to just think to herself, my goodness, all these guys that are at the helm of leadership and other organizations, they have it so easy.
Maybe I know from the people with whom I've interacted, let me not even try. Then I just can't imagine that she would be one of the most influential people in publishing. I just can't see it. Instead of thinking about that idea, that whole, like, drawing a napkin on the table. It must be so easy for a guy.
Instead of that, why don't you find a guy, quote unquote, it doesn't even matter if they are a guy. Why don't you find a person that you believe literally just drew on a napkin and sold their idea for millions of dollars and ask that person to mentor you. You're going to think that is wild and crazy, but you know what?
I've done similar things in the past and I've approached strangers in libraries. If you're one of those strangers in the libraries, yes, it's me. And I have absolutely figured out a way to build rapport with strangers, connect with them, turn them into connections. And also add value by my way as well, not just me taking from their insights and wisdom.
And so again, if this is your thought, okay, great. How can we leverage that idea in your favor and take action? So you stop wasting your mental energy unless you have extra energy. I don't know. I don't know. There are some moms that have like A lot of energy, but I just want to invite you to imagine this idea that you can actually step up to a person that you think just drew on a napkin and got millions of dollars, and you could just ask them to teach you how to draw.
You could go to a supermarket, buy a whole, Oodle of napkins and just start drawing like a mofo. And let's see what comes up for you. Certainly something will come up. That's going to be more productive than just thinking in your mind that I wish I were a single guy. Okay. That's the second time guzzler third one for mom founders.
And again, how to replace this time guzzler or waster with more productive activities. So spreading yourself and your efforts across a wide array of activities. And I want to be really nuanced here, specifically doing this, spreading yourself across a wide array of activities, because that one activity, that one activity that you originally were thinking about doing, because you knew in the heart of hearts that that activity would turn around your business, such as having B2B conversations.
Whereas in years before you've only had. B2C conversations, right, where that one game changing, I've never done it before idea started to get hard because you were actually starting to take the steps and doing that big, crazy, unnatural for you idea. Let me be super clear when I say that. So let's just imagine.
That you have always sold to individuals. You have an organization. You've always sold to individuals your product. And now you're trying to gain distribution at big box stores. Let's just imagine. And you know, like, okay, like if I crack that code, then I'm going to make a Real progress towards my dreams.
Then I'm going to have a business that is like a really kick ass amazing business here. Right. And so that idea, it sounds wonderful. Like a fantasy. It sounds amazing. Like a goal. It sounds amazing. Like even a napkin drawing, but then once you start taking steps and you hear rejections, or you're not getting callbacks or.
People are questioning, well, how many units have you sold? And what is the, what was it? I remember when I worked at Procter Gamble, the whole like shelf, uh, velocity, right? Like how quickly can it fly off the shelf idea? When those numbers just don't land in terms of the ones that you offer to the person that is in charge of distribution, like that is when all of a sudden you'll say to yourself, you know what?
Let me just do more of B2C. Let me just do more of B2C in all these different ways. Let me just do anything other than this brand new thing that I set out to do. And that is where you start to lose focus and the impact that you can have on your business really is diluted for sure. So what would be the best way to actually replace that time waster with something that is a lot more productive?
So something that will be a lot more productive is to go back to the original strategy and find someone who executed precisely on that strategy, maybe ask them to mentor you, ask them for templates, pay for their templates, hire them as a coach, and do it in differently, right? So if whatever it is that you're doing is not producing the results that you imagine, that's one side of it.
The other side of it must be or could be that the sales cycle is going to be longer. And so that's the other side of it. So if you intend to actually make some progress in that way, it's important to just go back to the drawing board, but not like erasing the whiteboard, but go back to what you originally intended to do, what you know in your heart to work.
Okay. And figure out how to crack that nut or code or whatever it is that you're selling or trying to accomplish. If you are living any of these three time wasters, right? And let's just imagine that your cash runway is running out. Then I want to invite you to imagine this scenario. This is a crazy idea that I am so excited about.
Because This is how I support my mom founder clients. So picture it. Yes, we are going to Sophia Protillo from the Golden Girls. That's what she used to say. Picture this. A power packed three hour zoom session right from the comfort of your home. We do it over zoom. So you don't have to sacrifice time from your business or your family.
And during this intensive session, I am your guide. We literally hop on zoom, share screens and start diving into the trenches together, reaching out to potential investors, maybe podcast guests or partners or media giants in real time. So you know that list of warm leads? Yeah, we're going to execute on it real time together so that this way your spirit and my spirit are co creating some happy flow of progress.
And we are not stopping to let you think over, think, rethink, or re imagine. So, This idea of a three hour session with me, it is called a VIP day. It is a VIP day that you will be very prepared for because I'll provide a questionnaire up front. You will have an opportunity to really think through. How we will leverage every single minute, because every single minute counts for a mom founder world, we'll have the opportunity to, again, before we hop on that three hour call, I will know what your business goals are, your target investors, or potential podcast guests and partners or media contacts, right?
And also what challenges you are facing, whether they are more mindset or strategic or tactical, right? And we're just going to be making sure that those three hours together are maximized, just totally maximize. Then real time. Live on zoom. It's just about action. We're going to roll up our sleeves and dive into the heart of Networking reaching out following up doing everything that feels hard to do when you're by yourself Because you don't have someone telling you like do the work It's not like you have this boss, right?
And we're gonna actually implement everything that I just shared with you as far as execution in real time So we're gonna leverage some of the insights from your pre work We're gonna identify the people as I said all on the spot And you're going to see firsthand how you can actually craft some compelling outreach messages and make meaningful connections that matter.
And it does not have to mean you are being stopped or paused by gatekeepers. That is actually what makes my process different. I don't actually engage with gatekeepers. Fun fact. All right. So. Again, a lot of this outreach tends to be so daunting, especially when you're doing something new, exploring a new strategy.
But with my guidance, you're going to get it done. I mean, whether it's through email, LinkedIn or another channel, you're going to have a clear plan of action and you're going to have a ton of confidence to execute this real time. Okay, so I think it's so important. Also, follow up. I know a lot of times, of course, like one point out, one reach out, one email is not going to be get you all these results immediately.
Although, for a client, it only took an hour for her to get On the calendar of someone in an insurance company, but let's just imagine we're reaching out to 50 people, a hundred people, and some will not get back to you within that three hour timeframe. So I'm going to make sure that you know how to follow up with the individuals that we reached out to during that three hour, let's just call it sprint.
So at the end of this VIP networking day, you're going to feel empowered. energize, and you're going to be totally unstoppable. I think it's so urgent right before the summer lets out that you have optimized your time in terms of outreach efforts, that you have absolutely done as much as possible to put the ball in your court so that things start moving towards the direction of your biggest ambitions.
And I can help you there. Now, I want to be really, really clear. I have a special rate for this VIP networking day for members of my podcast community, and I will happily share with you what that rate is during a 15 minute. Zoom call with me, because I need to get to know you. I want you to get to know me and we need to like have a certain vibe so that I know that you will get the results that you deserve.
Right? So I'm going to put that link into the show notes. You will be able to sign up for the 15 minute call with me so that we could hop on zoom, go through the details of this VIP day. But here's what I neglected to mention this very moment. To lock in the special rate that I do have for you, my dear listeners, you're gonna have to secure your spot in the next 72 hours.
What? Yes, 72 hours because I want to know that you are decisive. I want to know that you are ready to work real time, not delay, not overthink, not get ready to get ready. This is about action takers, right? So in the next 72 hours, go over to the link in my show notes, which you can see on the device where you're listening to this conversation and sign up for 15 minutes with me.
Within the next 72 hours, now, I will share with you the details during that call. We will get to know each other during that call and you can make a decision on that call. You do not, to be clear, you do not need to have the actual VIP day. In the next 72 hours, the VIP day must happen by May 22nd, May 22nd is May 22nd, a magic date.
It is not, but I am a mom founder too, and that is the last day of school for my three boys. So I want to make sure that I can 100 percent focus on you. And that is why we must get this accomplished by May 22nd. So. Go ahead into the show notes and be sure to sign up for the 15 minute session. So you have a good idea of precisely what you would be getting into.
If you were to secure your spot, I only have three spots. That is it. That is all I'm doing in terms of the VIP networking day. So three hours with me, we're focused on those warm leads that have been hanging out in your LinkedIn. Or we would be focused on going after those B2B clients that you feel like.
Intimidated about, or we will go after the podcast guests or partners with whom you'd like to make more money. And so that is what we will do all about action. And honestly, the clock is ticking, so I encourage you to act very, very quickly. Three spots must talk to me within the next 72 hours, and the VIP day must happen by May 22nd.
So, that is an option available to you, my dear podcast community listener. Now, if for whatever reason you're not able to go to the show notes, You can email me melissa. larina at gmail. com m e l i s s a dot l l a r e n a at gmail. com. Again, this will be in the show notes. Here's what I want to say, here's what sets me apart in terms of as a coach to mom founders.
So I, as I said earlier, I totally skip gatekeepers. And I know that it might feel a little eclectic, a little direct, a little, Oh my God, who does she think she is? But here's the reality of the matter. I always aim to get on the shortest supermarket line. Okay, hear me out. So I have several strategies that I have leveraged in order to bring the guests that I have on my podcast, whether it's been Beth Comstock, the former CMO of GE or Gary Vee, who has millions of people.
Knocking at his digital door. I have absolutely never found a situation where I am working through someone to get to someone to get to someone else. It's been direct, I have not had a PR agency, and it's worked for me, a mom founder with three kids. So I want to teach you how to do the same exact thing so that this way, this summer, you already have a lot of hot irons out there in the fire, right?
That are out there and can absolutely produce the results you need when the time comes, whether in the summer or in September, when you have full focus of your business and what you want to accomplish next. Okay. So I want to leave it there. I also want to say that You can email me melissa. larina at gmail.
com. If you are an entrepreneur or you are an investor, you're absolutely welcome to have a conversation with me. If you are looking to tackle another list or another outreach effort in this very way. I am not going to offer this VIP day for someone that is not a mom, because what I know to be true is that a lot of times we have had to, as moms, pause our careers, slow down our efforts or downshift what we've been doing in the world of work.
And I want to help moms very specifically fast track their success. So this way you could have the right conversations, you can get into the right rooms and you could absolutely have the success that you deserve and that you're deserving. children would want you to have two. Could you imagine that?
Could you imagine, could you imagine, just imagine for a second, your child seeing you on that three hour zoom call, right? Like from a distance, let's say they're having a snack and they're with a childcare provider with your partner, or they're being entertained in some way. And they're seeing mommy. Get it done.
They're seeing mommy like on zoom, just like zooming through a list. They're seeing mommy like show up for herself, right? They're seeing mommy not waste time by second guessing herself, because here's the reality. Our kids think that we're like amazing sometimes. Imagine if you felt the same way. Imagine if you actually believed that you were as amazing as your kids see you.
Imagine that. Yeah. So let's kind of Melissa dot Lorena at gmail. com and me, but go to the show notes and be sure to sign up for the time. Alrighty. Enjoy the rest of the day. Next week we're going to have Zibi Owens, again, one of the most influential people in the publishing industry in New York on the podcast.
We're going to go over so many things that are unexpected, including how having an MBA versus being a mom. Compare and contrast, right? What are some leadership skills that we have learned as moms that we did not learn in our Ivy League MBA educations? I think you're going to absolutely enjoy that conversations.
It is amazing and we really get to it. So have a wonderful day and do not hesitate to reach out to me. I actually want to hear from you because I want to know How I can support you, I have seen way too many mom founders second guessing themselves, assuming that they're not, you know, worthy of success and really self sabotaging your own progress.
And I want to help you stop that so that this way everyone can be happier. Thank you very much.
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Have you ever stopped to consider the significant role empathy plays not only in our personal lives, but also in our professional environment? That's exactly what we did in our recent conversation with Michael Tennant, the founder and CEO of Curiosity Lab. Michael, a new dad, shared with us his deep respect for his wife and all mothers, and how becoming a parent has forced him to remain present and lead with empathy. We explored how empathy can be a secret weapon for anyone - be it moms, founders, entrepreneurs, or creators - and how it can shape healthier, happier lives.
Our exploration into the world of empathy didn't just end there. We dug deeper into our emotional understanding. You know those butterflies you feel in your stomach when you’re nervous or that lump in your throat when you’re sad? We discussed how our bodies physically respond to our emotions and how we can mindfully navigate these sensations. We also delved into the five core emotions - joy, fear, anger, shame, and sadness - and the three types of empathy - cognitive, somatic, and emotional. We learn that all these are here to keep us safe and, with a touch of practical exercises, we can use them to make intentional choices in our interactions with others.
This episode is brought to you by Fertile Imagination: A Guide For Stretching Every Mom’s Superpower For Maximum Impact – My book is now available on Amazon in its audiobook format, paperback version and Kindle format. Grab a free chapter on www.fertileideas.com.
DM me on Instagram @melissallarena just type the word FERTILE and I’ll share the link if that’s easier to get to fertileideas.com for all the details you need to celebrate your own Fertile Imagination! Here’s that link: https://www.instagram.com/melissallarena/
About Michael Tennant
Michael Tennant is the CEO of Curiosity Lab, a purpose-driven venture studio and consultancy that aims to make empathy easy and accessible to learn and teach. He is also the author of the book "The Power of Empathy," a 30-day guide that walks readers through the five phases of empathy. Through Curiosity Lab, Tennant creates and incubates businesses that help values-aligned individuals and organizations use empathy to live happier and healthier lives and to nurture productive and inclusive environments. He also teaches empathy to various organizations, schools, government and non-profit organizations, including NASA. Tennant's approach to empathy has been shaped by personal loss and he advocates for greater emotional proficiency to deal with challenging moments and to foster connection. His innovative approach has led to his company receiving an investment from Pharrell and the Black Ambition Prize in 2022.
Let's face it - balancing motherhood and business isn't just hard, it's a superpower. Join us as we navigate through this enlightening journey of understanding empathy, emotions, and more. Share your thoughts and let's explore together.
In this episode, you will hear:
Michael’s leadership has steered the organization towards nurturing businesses that are not only empathetic but also align with individual and organizational values.
His book, "The Power of Empathy" is structured as a 30-day guide, aiming to simplify the concept of empathy and make it accessible.
The book takes readers through a comprehensive journey of understanding empathy, breaking it down into five phases. This approach provides a clear and easy-to-follow structure for those looking to improve their empathy skills.
Curiosity Lab aims to utilize empathy as a means to enhance various aspects of life and work. They believe that empathy can improve happiness, health, productivity, and inclusivity.
Tennant’s collaboration with NASA, demonstrating the broad reach and relevance of his empathy training initiatives
How Tennant's personal experiences, particularly his own losses, have significantly influenced his perspective on empathy – Empathy can not only be a personal skill but also a viable business strategy.
A major part of Tennant's advocacy revolves around promoting emotional proficiency to help individuals navigate difficult situations and foster stronger connections.
How empathy plays a crucial role in creating productive and inclusive environments – Michael champions empathy as a necessary tool in building harmonious and effective workspaces.
One of the notable investors in Michael's company is the renowned artist Pharrell. This suggests that his work has resonance and appeal across different sectors, including entertainment.
In 2022, Curiosity Lab was honored with the Black Ambition Prize. This recognition is a testament to the studio's purpose-driven work and innovative approach to empathy.
Curiosity Lab and Michael's innovative approach to empathy have earned recognition and awards. This affirms the significance and impact of their work in promoting empathy.
SHARE this episode with shared with entrepreneurs and business leaders seeking to enhance their understanding and application of empathy in various aspects of life.
Supporting Resources:
Curiosity Lab
“The Power of Empathy” - https://www.amazon.com/Power-Empathy-Thirty-Day-Personal-Growth/dp/1797220276
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About Fertile Imagination – www.fertileideas.com
You can be a great mom without giving up, shrinking, or hiding your dreams. There’s
flexibility in how you pursue anything – your role, your lifestyle, and your personal and
professional goals. The limitations on your dreams are waiting to be shattered. It’s
time to see and seize what’s beyond your gaze. Let’s bridge your childhood daydreams
with your grown-up realities. Imagine skipping with your kids along any path – you,
surpassing your milestones while your kids are reaching theirs. There’s only one superpower versatile enough to stretch your thinking beyond what’s been done before: a
Fertile Imagination. It’s like kryptonite for impostor syndrome and feeling stuck when
it’s alert!
In Fertile Imagination, you will awaken your sleeping source of creative solutions. If you
can wake up a toddler or a groggy middle schooler, then together with the stories in
this book – featuring 25 guests from my podcast Unimaginable Wellness, proven tools,
and personal anecdotes – we will wake up your former playmate: your imagination!
Advance Praise
“You’ll find reality-based strategies for imagining your own imperfect, fulfilling
life in this book!” —MARTHA HENNESSEY, former NH State Senator
“Melissa invites the reader into a personal and deep journey about
topics that are crucially important to uncover what would make a mom
(and dad too) truly happy to work on...even after the kids are in bed.”
—KEN HONDA, best-selling author of Happy Money
“This book is a great purchase for moms in every stage of life. Melissa is like a
great friend, honest and wise and funny, telling you about her life and asking you to
reflect on yours.” —MAUREEN TURNER CAREY, librarian in Austin, TX
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In this episode, you'll delve into the insidious impact of imposter syndrome on mom entrepreneurs. Discover the toll it takes on your confidence, time, and financial opportunities, and learn why confronting it head-on is crucial.
I emphasize the necessity of breaking free from societal norms and embracing expansive thinking, a key component of your journey with my Imagination to Impact to Income Method™. We'll explore the risks of not addressing impostor syndrome, especially regarding missed networking opportunities and stalled career growth.
Through a strategic blend of personal anecdotes and actionable steps, I offer you a roadmap for overcoming imposter syndrome and maximizing your networking potential. Plus, I'll highlight the urgency of seizing the opportunity to enroll in my "Fertile Imagination to Instant Access" masterclass, available now at a beta rate with limited spots remaining.
You're encouraged to sign up for a 30-minute breakthrough session www.melissallarena.com/sessions with me to explore how the masterclass can transform your life and propel you towards success. Let's rewrite the narrative of your success story together and step boldly into your greatness.
Free Resource: From Contact to Connection: The Go First Networking & Follow-Up Playbook for Mom Entrepreneurs
SIGN-UP for playbook: https://bit.ly/hypernetworking
• Easy to follow steps to craft your networking outreach goal
• Research necessary to not ask silly questions or feel awkward
• Unconventional follow-up ideas and timing that will not come across as thirsty/ pushy
• Templates that you can tailor based on your business goals and personality
• Worksheet to uncover ways to add value to contacts and make everyone feel goodBONUS: 30-second elevator pitch that is MEMORABLE not FORGETTABLE---this is there too
TRANSCRIPT
Listen up, ladies! Are you familiar with that nagging feeling of not being "enough"? Do you have ideas, hopes, and dreams but no confidence to do them? Well, if you've been battling imposter syndrome, you're not alone. But here's the kicker: it's costing you more than just confidence; it's robbing you of time, money, and opportunities you can't afford to lose.
At last week’s Mom 2.0 conference, there were hundreds of attendees, including several famous ones. From video gamers to industry disruptors, I connected with many. Now, here's the kicker: If I let my impostor syndrome go unchecked, I wouldn't have had the courage to ask them to be guests on my podcast. Did I hear that little voice in my head saying, "Who am I to do this?" or "Melissa, you're out of your league"? You bet I did. But even as I hit send on those email invites, I reminded myself: With 12 years of coaching experience and my proven method, my impostor syndrome can stick around, but it won't stop the party.
Let’s turn this to you….Picture this: You've got dreams as big as the sky, but every time you take a step forward, that little voice in your head whispers, "Who are you kidding?" It's time to put an end to that self-doubt and reclaim your power.
As a mom founder, you're already juggling a million things. You don't have time or resources to waste on self-doubt. That's where my method comes in - it's not just about suppressing those feelings; it's about conquering them and stepping into your greatness.
Enter my Imagination to Impact to Income Method ™. This isn't your average self-help spiel; it's a battle plan tailored specifically for moms like us. With my proven strategies, you'll learn to crush imposter syndrome and turn your dreams into reality.
But don't take my word for it. Listen to what one of my incredible clients had to say:
Melissa will push you out of your comfort zone, will force you to really look at where you are and where you want to go, and then push you to think even further. Then, she will help you come up with steps to get to your goal and provide support as you do the work. Her ideas are incredible, her methods to get you out of your rut and propel you forward are unmatched. Her Q&A is awesome, especially when she says, okay, let's do this together and sits with you on Linkedin to find the contacts or writes an email with you or otherwise helps you get where you want to go even when you're overwhelmed or uncertain what is next.
So, how do we tackle imposter syndrome head-on? We start by breaking free from societal norms and embracing our limitless potential. This requires expansive thinking which is also known as a fertile imagination. You have choices that you will not even think about if you limit yourself to what you’ve tried or seen other people in your circles do.
In my program, I go through the ACE acronym which stands for asset, community, explain…without expansive thinking you will never come up with the idea to use impostor syndrome as an asset….there are other options available to mom founders which I have used and teach.
From there, we dive into strategic networking and intentional relationship-building, because success isn't just about what you know; it's about who you know and how you leverage those connections. If you are stuck in step one I feel like an impostor and I do not have a method that works for me then you won’t talk to stakeholders. You won’t aim for the top of the food chain in your industry. You’ll stay in the middle limited by your comfort level.
And it we play this out to leveraging these connections…it won’t happen….you’ll talk to people without the power, authority, or know-how to help you achieve your company vision in a short period of time…you won’t have the guts either to ask for what you REALLY want. A lot is at stake if you do not pre-plan for how you will handle impostor syndrome as a mom founder and certainly not as one with big hopes, ideas, and dreams that you want to bring to life in this lifetime.
Remember, embracing your limitless potential starts with breaking free from imposter syndrome and leveraging your network for success. Don't let self-doubt hold you back from achieving your dreams. It's time to rewrite your narrative and step boldly into your greatness.
And now, I want to tell you how I can help you right now….this is huge and something I’m totally excited about it because it is about bringing mom founders out of the sidelines….from the networking conversations they need to be having to fast-track their success!
Listen in: I've got an opportunity you won't want to miss. Introducing "Fertile Imagination to Instant Access: A LIVE 9-week group coaching masterclass" - your fast track to success.
But here's the kicker: imposter syndrome is costing you more than just confidence; it's robbing you of time, money, and opportunities. And one of the biggest missed opportunities? Networking your way to faster income success.
That's where this masterclass comes in. Available now at a beta rate, but with only 3 spots left in April, this is your chance to conquer imposter syndrome, master the art of strategic networking, and unlock your full potential.
Sign up for a 30-minute breakthrough session with me today go to www.melissallarena.com/sessions, and let's kickstart your journey to success. We'll dive deep into your goals, challenges, and aspirations, and explore how this masterclass can transform your life and propel you towards the income and impact you deserve.
But remember, spaces are limited, and enrollment is closing soon. Don't let imposter syndrome hold you back any longer. Head to www.melissallarena.com/session now to secure your spot and schedule your breakthrough session.
Together, we'll rewrite the narrative of your success story and make magic happen. Let's turn your dreams into reality, starting today.
I can't wait to connect with you and see you thrive in the masterclass. Let's make it happen!
Alright, powerhouse moms, it's time to take charge of your destiny. Say goodbye to imposter syndrome and hello to a future filled with limitless possibilities. Remember, you've got the power to make it happen. Until next time, stay fierce, stay fabulous, and keep chasing those dreams. This is Melissa, signing off.
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Ever feel that pang of guilt when you finally score a kid-free getaway with girlfriends? How about when you go away to a conference and that means missing your son's trumpet solo? Big confession. I recently went to a conference and missed my kid’s solo. Yep, I felt mom guilt especially while I watched the livestream, but as a mom of three, I knew I was doing my best and that this conference (ironically the Mom 2.0 conference) was a big deal for my book and business. And (further justifications) it wasn't an on-stage solo in front of an audience...it was a Saturday morning classroom solo in front of a teacher. All of this to say, yes, mom guilt still continues to pop up for me when I pick career over family (and it doesn’t even happen a lot!), and yet it's a constant juggle. So imagine this: what if you had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to live in another country without your family to explore your childhood career dreams? Sounds impossible? Would that make you feel guilty? This episode tackles the monster called "mom guilt."
Enter Alisha Fernandez Miranda, a super-achiever mom of twins who decided to hit pause on her high-powered CEO career at 40. We delve into her story and ask the lingering questions: Does mom guilt ever truly fade? Is self-care a selfish act, or a necessity? Most importantly, can our actions teach our kids valuable life lessons that words simply can't? Tune in to episode 225 for an honest conversation that will empower you to embrace motherhood on your own terms.
Let's connect on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/melissallarena/
In This Episode You Will Uncover:
-How to navigate the guilt of pursuing your own passions as a mom, especially if it means taking time away from your family.
-The importance of role modeling and showing your children how to live a fulfilling life, even if it means taking risks.
-Why it's better to try something and fail than to never try anything at all.This Episode is Perfect For You If:
-You're a mom who feels stuck in a rut and longs to pursue your own interests.
-You're wondering if it's possible to chase your dreams while still being a good parent.
-You're looking for inspiration to break free from self-doubt and create a life you love.Key Points:
-Many moms struggle to find inspiration for pursuing their own dreams because the media often portrays women who achieve success without children.
-The guilt of leaving your family can be a major obstacle, but sometimes the risk of not following your dreams is greater.
-By taking action and showing your children how to live a fulfilling life, you can inspire them to do the same.
-It's okay to fail, and in fact, it can be a valuable learning experience.
Taking time for yourself can ultimately make you a better parent.This episode is brought to you by Fertile Imagination: A Guide for Stretching Every Mom's Superpower for Maximum Impact, which reached the #1 spot as an Amazon bestseller in both the motherhood and women and business categories! Woo hoo! And if this episode deeply resonates with you, then you are definitely invited to read my book, Fertile Imagination! In my humble opinion, I believe double-fisting Alisha's book The What If Year and mine, Fertile Imagination, would make for an epically fun weekend of reading. Dive into Alisha's adventures and live vicariously through a fellow mom, and then turn to my personal framework to help you think about your best first step on getting your imagination fired up about your own adventure!
As I alluded to earlier, this episode tackles the struggle of mom guilt that tugs at our hearts, even when we deserve a getaway or break from adulting! I’ve been there too!
Moreover, I, Melissa, share a vulnerable moment straight from my book, Fertile Imagination, where I spent Sundays unlocking a surprising talent. And guess what? It was totally worth it!
Intrigued to discover your own hidden mom superpower?
Head over to https://www.melissallarena.com/fertileideas/ and grab a FREE chapter of Fertile Imagination. It's your guide to maximizing your impact as a mom. Imagine achieving goals you never thought possible, all while rocking motherhood on YOUR terms.
Download your free chapter today and ignite your fertile imagination!
https://www.melissallarena.com/fertileideas/
Official bio for Alisha Fernandez Miranda
ALISHA FERNANDEZ MIRANDA is the author of My What If Year, featured on Good Morning America, CNN, MSNBC, NPR and as one of People’s Best Books. She is the host of podcasts Extra Shot with Alisha Fernandez Miranda and the award-winning Quit Your Day Job. Alisha also serves as chair and former CEO of I.G. Advisors, a social impact intelligence agency that consults with the world’s biggest nonprofits, foundations, and corporations on their philanthropy and social initiatives. A graduate of Harvard University and the London School of Economics, her writing has appeared in Vogue, Marie Claire, Insider, Romper and Huffington Post. Originally from Miami, Alisha currently lives in Scotland with her husband and children. Follow Alisha on Instagram @alishafmiranda and her website at www.alishafmiranda.com.
TRANSCRIPTAlisha Fernandez Miranda. I am excited to have you on the podcast, and I feel like you need to like stamp my passport. Where are we going? Where are you located? Let's chat. Let's chat. Thank you so much, Melissa, for having me. I am in Edinburgh, Scotland right now. Behind me, it's like hurricane force winds blowing outside, which is sort of typical, typical Wednesday for January in Scotland.
Yeah, kind of, sort of like, uh, Canada, actually, so it's, it's interesting, but Alisha, I am so excited to have you here. When I saw your profile, cause I know you're going to be attending probably like mom 2. 0, right? Yes,
I'm going to be there this year. I was like, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa. There's like this like twinsie of me somewhere in, in Europe.
So that's a good thing. Cause I want to eventually land there. But when I saw that you wrote the book, my what if year, I was just like, Holy mother of guacamole. This is so cool. Like, this is like really, really cool. So why don't you share with listeners just a little bit about my what if year, and then we'll go into maybe like what has stopped a lot of moms from pursuing their own what if years.
Totally. So I guess the story really kind of started for me in 2019. I was living in London. I had done the expat thing. I grew up in Miami and moved to London in 2008. I was the mom of my twins who were eight years old at the time. I was CEO of a business I had founded with my husband and we were kind of consulting to the biggest foundations and wealthy people, companies, nonprofits, all on social impact and philanthropy and how to give away money a bit better, which was an interesting job.
And I sort of, I had done. All of the things that I had said I was going to do in my life. I had my list. I had checked everything off my list and I found myself approaching 40 and thinking, oh my God, is this really where I want to be? Then of course, feeling horribly guilty about. Thinking, is this really where I want to be?
Which we can definitely talk about. Cause I think a lot of moms can relate to that. And I just sort of had this moment where I was like, what, what, what were all the things that I didn't do that I had maybe always wanted to do? And is it really too late to try them? Or could I do this crazy thing, which is to take a year and through a series of little small.
Sabbaticals, I was calling them, could I go try out all the jobs I wanted to do when I was a kid and never got a chance to do the things that I really loved, like working on a musical or working in the art industry. And so that was my what if year. It was an attempt to explore these paths that I never got to explore and to do internships at the jobs I had always dreamed of doing.
So all of that sounds like so theoretically amazing. It's like, I want to just the, the abort mission, but, and I guess you could say on life and I just want to go and be in Cirque du Soleil. That's what I wanted to do. Actually. I have that in my own book, fertile imagination. I didn't do it just let's just to be clear.
You haven't done it yet. That's true. I am working on mobility, so you never know what's up for me. But that was like my thing, right? I was like, Oh, how cool would it be Cirque du Soleil? And, and I have other, I have a list of other things too, but there was, there was nothing, I never saw any woman, certainly any mom, Nor any Latina do something where she was away from her kids for such a long time during a time when they still needed her, right?
And 40, my goodness. So 40 years old, like how far could someone go 40? I'm just curious from your own perspective, like what sort of things were like, okay. Within the realm of possibilities for a mom versus what you did.
I mean, it's such a good question because the guilt was real and the feeling that my primary responsibility was always to my family, no matter what, even if that meant putting myself further down the list.
It was just, I had just accepted that. I had accepted that that was the case. Without really stopping to think, what are the implications on my family? If I am a person who is not happy with my life and not feeling complete in myself or full in myself. So, I mean, of course, who are the people that had done this kind of like, They press the abort button on their life, right?
Okay, you have like Elizabeth Gilbert who wrote Eat Pray Love, not Latina. Didn't have kids, I don't think either. But she went, she took a year. She went to eat pasta in Italy and to India. And then she went to Bali and fell in love with a hot surfer. And that was the end of that book. But that was not a possibility for me.
Neither was the Cheryl Strayed Wild. Also not Latina. Also no children. Because there was no way I was going to sleep in a tent for like a year at a time. But again, she left to deal with her grief. And she walked the Pacific Coast, the Pacific Crest Trail. And this idea of literally blowing up my whole life, that was off the table for me.
Because I love my children. I love my husband. And I was so conscious that whatever I did was going to be at best inconvenient for them. And at worst, a really big deal. for their day to day lives, if I was going to leave and go try these things. And so I was very, very conscious of that. It wasn't like I was just like, Meh, screw you all, like I'm going off to Italy to eat all the pasta.
So when I started thinking about what this experience was going to be for me, I had a plan. I had, Months of planning, of fitting everything in, of figuring out who was going to pick up my kids from dance and soccer on the different days when my husband had to work, of organizing everything, of figuring out how to do my internships at the same time as their vacations from school, so they could come with me and join me.
This was like a beautiful color coded plan because I wasn't willing. To really throw their happiness out. I could never, I could never have done that to them and I couldn't have enjoyed myself if I knew that that was the case. Now, of course, I say all of this and then I'll tell you my first internship started on February 29th, 2020.
So all of my careful plans went completely out the window as soon as the pandemic hit, but definitely. I was very, I was putting myself first, but only to a certain extent. I was very conscious that I didn't want my kids and my husband to be collateral damage somehow to my desire to go and chase these opportunities.
And it's so interesting because it's, it's true. Like, it's like, who is it that you look towards as inspiration for what's possible in your life? And me too, for, for some odd reason, I don't know if it's just like a quirk, but like, I look at these like billionaires that have no children whatsoever that are men as like, Oh, why can't I be like Tom Bilyeu?
And it's like, Hello, you have three kids, two of whom are identical twins who are 10 years old. You live in Austin and there's just no way for you to create a fitness bar or a protein bar without high fructose corn syrup without breaking some nails, right? Cause the machinery that Tom broke and used, I wouldn't do.
So it's, it's just a weird, it's super weird, right? Like what a, what an interesting thing to kind of compare yourself. Those articles that are like advice from successful CEOs. And one of the things that, and they're almost always men. And one of the things that they'll say is get up an hour early, get up at 5 AM to start working and start your day and exercise and clear your head.
And I'm like, if I'm getting up early, I'm making breakfast for people. I'm feeding the dog. The kids are getting ready for school. So that's, that's not possible in my life. I think you can be a successful CEO, by the way. And still have all those responsibilities, but that model, that inspiration, it's, it's not really meant, I think, for people like us, at least it hasn't been historically.
Yeah, which is why we have to kind of carve our own path. So as a mom with two kids who were eight years old, who started this adventure right when the pandemic hit ultimately. And at that, you started with. theater as your first internship, which I think listeners can now appreciate had a big hiatus, right?
During that time, how did you sort of navigate the mom guilt? And then also just like the regular guilt, because this was a very unique timeframe. And I'm saying that 1000 times unique once in a lifetime timeframe. Right. As far as being away from family when there was a lot of uncertainty and fear. So why don't you share a couple of stories about that?
I felt, I felt, I felt so guilty at every point. I mean, I felt guilty for even thinking that I maybe wanted to. A life that looked different because I had been brought up to always be grateful and appreciative of what you have and what you have been given. My dad was a Cuban immigrant. I grew up in a family where that story of we left everything to come here and give you a better life.
And you need to work hard to get to the point where you don't ever have to do that and be appreciative and grateful for everything we've done and what you have. That was my. like cornerstone mythology of my entire childhood. So I felt guilty even for, for thinking. This thought that I was unhappy, that was like something that I shouldn't be, I shouldn't be thinking that.
That's just being ungrateful for everything I have. And so I felt guilty even from the inception. I felt guilty about doing something that was about putting my needs, even for a short period of time ahead of my family, even though I did not abandon them completely. I felt guilty about all of those things.
And I like to joke always that my dad is Cuban and grew up Catholic. My mom is Jewish. And so I have the most guilt. I have Catholic guilt and Jewish guilt. It's like all the guilt forever. But at the same time, I could recognize, finally, after a lot of thinking and soul searching, that I was not in a good place in myself.
I was not happy. I was not being the best mom I could be, or the best wife I could be, or the best me that I could be. Because I felt like I was treading water in my own life, and I was living a life that I had signed up for, but wasn't right for me anymore. And so, really, I got to the point where it felt like the risk of not doing something was greater than the risk of doing something.
And this worry that I was always going to feel this way, or maybe even worse, became so great that I just knew, I That it was going to be worth the kind of short term inconvenience for my family as it, as it was going to be worth it to have this experience. Now, right before I left, like the night before I left, my husband and I were sitting on the sofa, and at the time, You're thinking back like late February 2020, China had already been in lockdown for a month.
Italy had gone into lockdown. Iran was, I think, in some sort of lockdown. But there was still, people were still saying like, oh, it's going to be contained to these three countries. This is not going to spread. It's going to be very small. The idea that the pandemic would have happened on such a scale was so far from our heads.
But I did have a conversation with my husband and I said, do you not want me to go? Do you want me to stay behind? And then I held my breath. Because I was so worried he was going to say, yeah, I think you should stay, which I was going to be devastated if that was the case. Theater was like my dream, the dream of the all the dreams.
It was the dream to be able to be part of a production. And I had these incredible opportunities to be part of two shows about to open on Broadway and off Broadway. And so I went and then. The whole time I was there, I kind of had my fingers in my ears until the very end. Things were getting worse. My husband was definitely freaking out.
And I was like, nothing's happening. Everything's fine. This is all going to blow over. It's not going to be a big deal. And it wasn't until things got really bad. That I decided to leave. And then the following day, before I got on my plane, they announced that all the Broadway theaters were closing for what was initially going to be a period of, I think, four weeks.
And then of course ended up being, I want to say 21 months altogether before everything got back to normal. normal. But yeah, I mean, I was a little bit in denial and I, I, the thing is I felt guilty anyway. I felt guilty, but I did it anyway. Right? Like that's how I navigated the guilt. I never stopped feeling guilty.
I just knew that it was important. And so I was able to push the guilt to the side. and do what I knew I needed to do. Yeah, and,
and I was wondering about that. So like, kind of like exposure therapy, like, do you feel that it got a little bit easier the first time you're like, Oh, okay, everybody survived.
And then the next time and the next time. So do you feel like it got easier during that time?
I don't know. I don't know that it's gotten easier. The first time I went on a work trip after the twins were born, they were about not quite 18 months old, I think. And I had a new job that I had started and I went to China and my husband was in, we were in London at the time with the kids and I flew for a kajillion hours to get there.
I got there like in the middle of the night and I pick up the phone to call home and it's like a disaster zone at home. Like, They've already been to the, the emergency doctor with my daughter who has like a horrible cough and her nose is blocked and she can't breathe the, and now Carlos is starting to feel sick and I was so upset and like, I have to get on, I have to get on a plane home.
I have to go home right away. And of course I couldn't do that. I had other responsibilities. He was like, look, it's going to be fine. You don't need to come home. You're not going to get home in time anyway. Continue with this trip. So I've always had that fear that something has gone wrong. And sometimes stuff has.
I went to Paris once on a girl's trip with my daughter and my son broke his arm. And thank God he didn't need surgery, but he was in the emergency room with my husband for several, I mean, like stuff has gone wrong. Even in the book, as soon as I get to New York on my internship, my kids have terrible food poisoning and they have thrown up all over the house.
They're all three in bed together, my husband and the twins and. He eventually they had to get that room professionally cleaned before I got home because it was so it was so disgusting. Okay, so stuff goes wrong. It does go wrong. It still goes wrong, and I don't know that it gets easier because my kids are 12 now, and for whatever reason, it feels like they miss me more sometimes when I go away.
Now, I don't know if it's that they're better able to articulate how they're feeling than they were when they were little or what. So it's it's. I know that things are going to be okay. That has changed. I know the more times I do it, that everybody will survive. But I'm not sure it really gets easier. The thing that is easier is that I've seen The positive impact of taking these moments for myself, whether it's a work trip that I need to do, or just going to spend a weekend with my girlfriends because I haven't seen them in a long time, or sometimes meeting my parents somewhere that I wasn't able to do.
I mean, they're so rejuvenating. They helped me reset. They helped me come back into my life and myself, uh, feeling better and doing better all around. And I think that's, what's gotten easier because I know that it's worth it. Yeah. So even if I still feel guilty about leaving them and I still worry about what's going to go wrong, I know now that I've done it so many times for really fantastic experiences that I would do it again.
And I think anyone that's listening, that's inspired by this, I think you don't have to necessarily. Go away for an entire year. We could do this like baby steps. What I mean? It's like you nurse your kid or you bottle feed your kid and then you introduce solid slowly. So it's kind of the same idea for us.
I know in my case, in my book, Fertile Imagination, like I decided to actually take storytelling classes at Magnet Theater in Midtown in Koreatown. Love it. Yeah. And it was nine Sundays and I was coming from Connecticut. I like to call it fancy town, Connecticut, and it was a schlep, right? And so the whole idea is I know that on Sunday, technically, if I followed a certain script, like I was supposed to be at home, I don't even know, either washing the walls or like being at a soccer field or like something, right?
Making pancakes for somebody, for sure.
Right, in the shape of their desired animal farm person, right? Or whatever. I'm thinking dinosaurs and I'm just saying animal farm. I'm like, I'm a city girl. I can't help it. So yeah. And it's kind of like just doing that, like on weekends, for goodness sakes, it's not saying I'm out an entire year, but you could work your way up.
If you start noticing that, wait a minute, when I got back home and I saw my kids, I was happier. I had stories to tell, what I mean? So there, there are benefits and it's not all one sided, but it takes courage because then, yeah, maybe, maybe you are not the mom who's doing the things with the other moms and you might feel a little bit like an outsider, but again, was it worth it?
And what I'm hearing from you, Alicia, is that it was worth it to actually take action in your life that might go against what. Other individuals may have done before with children that are Latina. And so I'm curious in terms of really what your, my, what if your experience showed your kids, like, why do you, what do you think is the difference?
Right? Cause we could tell our kids like, Hey, when you turn 40. I mean, granted it's very far ahead, but like 40, that's so old. I know. Right. So, okay, fine. So, Hey, when you go to college, you could do a gap year, for example. Right. Like that's something that I've heard people say, and, and that's one thing, right, you're saying it to them, but what if you actually like did it yourself?
And so for you, Alicia, like, I know they're still young, they're 12, but what do you think is the difference between showing versus telling? A. K. also how to write a good
book. I mean, I think, okay. So I remember like when my kids were, when they were babies, I was like, I'm never going to let them eat like junk food because I grew up only eating junk food, but if I eat junk food, my kids, turns out they also like some junk food.
Now we don't eat a lot of junk food, but. There's only a certain point that you can tell your kids, wouldn't you rather have this carrot stick than a pack of McDonald's French fries. If you're sitting there eating the McDonald's French fries, they're going to realize that maybe you're not being completely true and authentic to yourself.
So I do think that kids receive information so much better. From modeling and from you showing them how to do it. And the thing is that my kids went on this journey with me. They were, I was away for different parts of it, but even the times that I wasn't with them, we were talking on the phone every day and then I would come home and talk to them about what I was doing.
And subsequently they got to come on my book tour. They've heard, heard me talk about this book more than I'm sure they'd ever liked to in the world, but they. watched me decide to do something different. They watched me try my hand at these varied jobs, many of which I was very bad at, like very, very bad at.
And they watched me fail, and they watched me dust myself off and stand back up and go back the next day and do the thing. To me, that is the most important lesson that I hope they have taken from this and that I try to instill on them is that it is better to try something and fail at it than to not try anything at all.
That you are not going to be good at everything and that's okay. And that the most important thing in your life is not necessarily picking the job, doing it perfectly and sticking with it on that path, no matter what happens, then no matter how you feel and that they know that when they're adults and hopefully have families of their own, that they are important people, both my son and my daughter and their needs also matter.
And I just was in the U S last week. Doing a bunch of different work things and some fun book stuff and my son and I had, I had, I did a talk at the IFC, the International Finance Corporation for my what if year, it was amazing. And the day before my son was like, why can't you just tell them you're sick and cancel and come home early because I want you to come home so you can come and see my hockey match.
And I was like, okay, so not only would that be. Completely setting aside my responsibilities, but also I want to be here. This is important to me. I want to be able to share this experience with people. This is why I did it. Why I wrote the book. Not why I did the internships, but why I wrote the book. And so, no, I'm not going to tell them I'm sick and come home early because this is important to me.
And making sure that they are seeing me choose myself sometimes, I am hoping is going to give them that Permission or awareness that when they get to a point in their lives, when they are caring for other people, too, that they know they also can choose themselves sometimes. And that's okay.
Yeah, I love it.
I think, I think what you said as far as like the, they saw you maybe like, Either fail or, or have errors and stuff, but then like, decide to like, get back up again, like watching you do that. I don't think it, I don't think it could be replaced with words. I mean, that's like resilience in action. That's resilience while mommy ing.
Yeah, resilience while mommy ing, I love it.
Yeah. Yeah. And, and it's just like, it's beautiful. And, and I witnessed it with my own mom because she has a mental illness. And so every time she'd get into an episode, she had to like dust herself off in, in very dramatic ways. But then it gives you a sense as a kid, it's like, huh, I'm related to that.
Maybe I got a little bit of that in me too. Right.
100%. There's beauty. That's how I, I think, I think that a large part of the reason I have such resilience, and I do feel like I'm a very resilient person, so far so good, is because I came from a family that I, I grew up hearing all of the stories of my grandmother, my dad, and his siblings, and my, my grandfather, and how they, how they, you know, Left everything behind.
They left Cuba with a suitcase each and nothing else and moved to a country where they didn't speak the language and they had to just pick themselves up and they had, they had no other choice but to do that. And that, knowing that that's part of me, that's inside of me somewhere, has always made me feel A lot more capable of dealing with challenge, I think, because I know there's got to be something in there that came from them that is propelling me forward.
And I know that I have that, and I want my kids to know that's part of who you are. You come from a long line of people who have failed at things and had to move forward, and that is, I think, the best gift that I could give them, if that's a realization that they take from this whole thing. Definitely. I love it.
Alicia, where can people continue to follow your story and purchase the My What
If Year book? Well, you can get my book anywhere that you get books. You can get it at a bookstore. You can get it online at bookshop. org or Amazon if you want. You can listen to me on audiobook if you enjoy this. It's me reading it, so it's basically just like nine hours of this or however long the book goes for.
And you can find me on my website, which is aliciafmiranda. com or my Instagram at aliciafmiranda. And that's A L I S H A I'm named after a shoe store. It's not because that name has anything to do with anything else.
I love it. Fun facts. Appreciate it so much, Alicia. Have an awesome Scottish day.
Yeah, well, let's see if I can survive the wind and rain.
Thank you so much for having me. Oh, thank you.
You're awesome. That was great.
Here are the three things that really stood out for me in terms of this conversation. The first one is, it's true. I have seen a lot of non Latina moms who decide to actually go and live in Europe or press abort mission on their lives, like that we see in the media.
But there's not too many Latina moms who have been portrayed, not even in Hollywood, as making this idea okay to choose yourself every once in a while and not have to struggle with so much mom guilt and let it hold you back. Second point is there is this point where if you really think about it, When you weigh the risk of doing something for yourself versus not doing something for yourself, there's that, that point where the risk of not doing it might outweigh the risk of doing it and the inconvenience of doing it.
When I lived in Australia with my family, when we all went abroad, it was highly inconvenient to sell every single article of furniture that I had. It was highly inconvenient to find brand new schools, but The risk of not doing it would have meant that my kids would have never been exposed to a completely different culture or side of the world.
And for that, I'm grateful. Here's the third point. In terms of, you know, does it get easier, right, with mom guilt. So Alicia said it best in that it might not get easier, but you do appreciate the fact that things will be okay. Having more. evidence that things will be okay if you choose yourself and you're away from your kids just builds your confidence and gives you this sense that, okay, I might be feeling this emotion of mom guilt.
However, as in the past, things have been okay. So I hope you enjoyed this conversation. And I want to hear from you. Like, do you suffer from mom guilt? Is it particularly hard or when it's unrelated to doing something that you have to do, like building your business? Like, what if you wanted to all of a sudden take tennis lessons?
Like, is that the point where thickly? Let me know on Instagram at Melissa Llarena. I would love to hear from you. -
Welcome to episode 224. Tired of sounding like everyone else at networking events i.e. boring? Wish you could stand out and really put yourself and your business out there in a way that will make an impact? This episode equips you with the tools to transform your elevator pitch and turn those events into meaningful connections, even if finding and sharing the essence of who you are and why your business is unique has been harder in the past! This is a special episode especially for my fellow mom business owners who are making the trek to in-person networking events like Mom 2.o in Nashville or the like! You are spending time, money, and changing up your family's logistics so tune in to ensure you make these big networking moments worth your time! Elevator pitch prep here we go!!!!!!!!
In this podcast, you will learn:
The 3 Powerful Ideas to revolutionize your elevator pitch - the slides for this can be grabbed here for FREE: https://bit.ly/hypernetworking
Be Brief & Tailor Your Pitch: Consider the person, their company, and your goals for the interaction.
Differentiate Yourself: What makes you unique? Highlight your niche and competitive advantage.
Make it Memorable: Use clear, concise language, metaphors, or anecdotes to stand out.Plus, a Free Playbook Alert! Download my "From Contact to Connection" playbook for mompreneurs – go here to grab this book! https://bit.ly/hypernetworking
Get my exact follow-up timeline, proven email templates, and strategies to master the art of following up without feeling like a bother.
Stop feeling like you're missing out!
Listen to this episode and grab the free playbook to craft a magnetic elevator pitch and build connections that matter at your next networking event!
P.S. Don't miss the free playbook with valuable templates and follow-up strategies!
P.P.S. Attending Mom 2.0? Look for me in the beige wide-brim hat! I’d love to connect with you in person and yes I’d love to hear your elevator pitch! Below is mine….. but don’t forget to grab the template right here: https://bit.ly/hypernetworking
SAMPLE ELEVATOR PITCH – grab your template: https://bit.ly/hypernetworking
For 12 years, I've coached women leaders to rediscover and resell at a profit their skills. My signature approach has been to equip them with the art of initiating strategic networking, streamlining the process and accelerating their success.
Fueled by my #1 Amazon bestseller, Fertile Imagination, I pivoted my own journey to empower mom founders, entrepreneurs, and creators. Today I’m most psyched about bringing the same coaching to embolden unconventional leaders (i.e. the ones who struggle with impostor syndrome or feel more like introverts) to unlock their unique identities including that of a mom and reignite their creative thinking, transforming these into powerful competitive advantages.
What sets me apart? I skip gatekeepers and show you how to connect with high-level contacts, just like the CMO of GE I interviewed on my podcast Beth Comstock or GaryVee who has millions of people knocking at his digital door. Together, we equip you with the crowbars to shatter the padlocks guarding the right doors, unlocking the connections that can catapult your business.
Love this episode? Let's connect: https://www.instagram.com/melissallarena/
This episode is brought to you by "From Contact to Connection: A Step-by-Step Strategic Networking Playbook for Mom Founders and Entrepreneurs"
Not sure how to go first in networking, or perhaps what to say in a follow-up?
Answers to these strategic networking questions are addressed in a free resource that has helped me and my clients talk to the right people in way less time than it would take using traditional networking methods!
Download my FREE playbook, "From Contact to Connection," and learn:
• Easy steps to find the right contacts and reach out confidently.
• Unconventional follow-up tips to stand out and build relationships.
• Templates to personalize your outreach for maximum impact.Stop feeling lost and reignite your spark! Download your free playbook now and watch your business thrive.
Click here: https://www.melissallarena.com/fertileideas/
Limited time offer!
TRANSCRIPT
So I wanted to share this because this week in my nine week group coaching program, we were going through.
Picking the right stories to tell. And one way that you will want to share a story is by wrapping it around your elevator pitch. There are several for reasons. There are several reasons for that. But right now we're going to focus on a simple elevator pitch, and we're going to focus on the things that are critical to your success.
So there will be three key ideas. Grab a notebook, grab a pen, and let's get to it. Alrighty, so here's the baseline. When it comes to an elevator pitch, it is important for you to be brief. And to tailor the content of your pitch based on the person in front of you, based on the company that they work for, or that they own.
And also in light of what you want out of that conversation. Now This is just point one out of the three ideas that are critical to writing and then rehearsing and then articulating the right elevator pitch. Here's why these thin...after you grab the playbook. That is what I want you to really do. Cause I want to be sure that if I'm engaging with you at mom2. org, Oh, or a virtual summit, or I hear someone's pitch.
I want to be sure that I've done my best job to get the word out on the street, that there's a way to do it. And there's things that have to be considered. Okay. Alrighty. So. Grab the playbook. That is the biggest thing. And good luck on your elevator pitch. What I would say is really, really right before you tell your elevator pitch, just get yourself in that mindset, right?
Get ready. Make sure that you're warming up your imagination so that this way you can play with it a little bit. And trust me, if I see someone playing with new ideas or with the way that they express what they do, like that lights me up because I think. Think that they're more comfortable in, in their skin.
And who doesn't want to do business with someone that's more comfortable in their skin? Alrighty. Until next Tuesday.
-
Welcome to episode 223. Do you rush to fix your child's mistakes, shielding them from failure? Many moms do! Maybe it's a forgotten homework assignment or a missed deadline. This episode is your guide! New York Times bestselling author Jessica Lahey shares a relatable story of when she had to decide: intervene and save her daughter, or let her face the consequences of forgetting homework.
In this episode, you'll learn:
• How Jessica handled the homework situation (and the surprising lesson her daughter took away!)
• The #1 thing moms can do to avoid over-parenting or under-parenting
• How to create situations where your child feels empowered to solve their own problems
• Techniques to raise a confident, capable child who embraces challenges
• Empower your child, not enable them! Listen to this episode now!This podcast is perfect for you if:
• You want your child to learn from mistakes and build resilience.
• You're worried you might be preventing your child from developing independence.
• You crave tips on raising a strong, capable adult.
• Don't miss out on these valuable strategies! Tune in today!Love this episode? Let's connect: https://www.instagram.com/melissallarena/
This episode is brought to you by Fertile Imagination: A Guide for Stretching Every Mom’s Superpower for Maximum Impact
Feeling Lost and Uninspired as a Mom? Reignite Your Spark Today!
Do you long to rediscover the things that truly light you up as a mom?
Feeling stuck in the daily grind can leave even the most passionate moms feeling drained and uninspired.But what if you could recapture that spark, that creative energy that makes you, you?
Fertile Imagination is your guide to unlocking your inner powerhouse.
This #1 Amazon bestseller, written by a mom who's been there, will help you:
• Uncover your hidden passions and talents.
• Develop a clear vision for your future as a mom and an individual.
• Learn powerful strategies to overcome overwhelm and rediscover your joy.Stop feeling like you're just going through the motions. Light a fire under your dreams and become the best version of yourself for your family!
Visit Melissa Llarena: https://www.melissallarena.com/fertileideas/ right now and grab a FREE chapter of Fertile Imagination!
Don't wait!
Your most inspired and fulfilling life as a mom is waiting to be discovered.
On the same website, we also have a limited-time offer for mom entrepreneurs who want to speak to the right people and catapult their business success in 30 days or less!Not sure how to go first in networking, or perhaps what to say in a follow-up?
Answers to these strategic networking questions are addressed in a free resource that has helped me and my clients talk to the right people in way less time than it would take using traditional networking methods!
Download my FREE playbook, "From Contact to Connection," and learn:
• Easy steps to find the right contacts and reach out confidently.
• Unconventional follow-up tips to stand out and build relationships.
• Templates to personalize your outreach for maximum impact.Stop feeling lost and reignite your spark! Download your free playbook now and watch your business thrive.
Click here: https://www.melissallarena.com/fertileideas/
Limited time offer!
Official bio for Jessica Lahey
Jessica Lahey is the author of the New York Times bestselling book, The Gift of Failure: How the Best Parents Learn to Let Go So Their Children Can Succeed and The Addiction Inoculation: Raising Healthy Kids in a Culture of Dependence. Jess was awarded the Research Society on Alcohol’s Media Award for “outstanding journalistic efforts of writers who cover empirical research on alcohol” […] “for her book The Addiction Inoculation and advocacy for the recovery community.” Over twenty years, Jess has taught every grade from sixth to twelfth in both public and private schools, and spent five years teaching in a drug and alcohol rehab for adolescents in Vermont. She has written about education, parenting, and child welfare for The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and her biweekly column “The Parent Teacher Conference” ran for three years at the New York Times. She designed and wrote the educational curriculum for Amazon Kids’ award-winning animated series The Stinky and Dirty Show, and was a 2019 Pushcart Prize nominee. Jess holds the dubious honor of having written an article that was later adapted as a writing prompt for the 2018 SAT. She co-hosts the #AmWriting podcast from her empty nest in Vermont.
Links to connect with Jessica Lahey• https://jessicalahey.com
• https://www.instagram.com/teacherlahey/
• https://www.facebook.com/jessicapottslahey/
TRANSCRIPTEnjoy the conversation. Jessica Lahey. Thank you so much. And welcome to unimaginable wellness. I am thrilled to have you here. How are you?
I am great looking out on a snowy Vermont woods through my office windows.
Oh, New England. I remember, New Hampshire and I got a big, thick coat that was for the Arctic weather.
Sounds about right. Yeah, that's about right. And that started at the end of October. So that's, that was always interesting, but yeah. Thank you so much for being here. And why don't you share with listeners a little bit about you, your book, your wisdom, and then we will jump into something that listeners definitely need help with, which is our mental bandwidth.
So take it away, Jessica.
Thank you. So I was a teacher for 20 years. I've taught every grade from sixth to 12th grade, but my heart, I have to admit, lies in middle school. I love, love, love teaching middle school. I also taught for five years in a drug and alcohol rehab for adolescents. So I've sort of taught in hoity toity private schools and in public schools and all across the, the range.
And about the same time that I was teaching middle school, I had kids in middle school and I was Finding that a lot. And I was also at the, at the same time writing, I was a education journalist. So I, as a teacher and as a parent, I was really interested in how kids learn, how to create a situation, a home, a home life that sort of got kids excited about.
Inquiry and curiosity and all that sort of stuff. And at the same time, sort of battling my demons of how much do I step in and help with my kids? And how much do I step back and encourage them to be independent? And then saw my students, a lot of my students parents were doing things that were sort of doing an end run around a lot of learning opportunities.
And that was getting frustrating to me. And so I was on kind of a high horse about that and, and sort of, Just irritated with some of the parents of my students, which is really bad, like the better the homeschool relationship is the better kids learn. We know that. But then the journalist side of me, I was writing for the Atlantic and the New York Times and eventually started writing a column for the New York Times called the Parent Teacher Conference, which was a biweekly column sort of for the Parents wanting to ask questions about education and teachers wanting to ask questions about sort of the, it was at the intersection of education and parenting.
And so my brain was constantly thinking of what is the impact of this learning environment or this parenting thing. And, you know, what I was sort of seeing was that some aspects of over parenting, whether it's highly directive parenting or controlling parenting, were undermining. Learning in many respects, but I wasn't really clear on how that was happening or even if that was happening.
And so the journalist in me got to go out and research that for like two years, and then write a book about what I found in terms of how parenting styles affect learning, motivation, engagement, all that kind of stuff. And, and then I had to get real about my own parenting. Cause it turns out I was doing the same thing.
To my own kids that I was irritated for the parents of my students were doing. So it became something I had to look at both as a parent and a teacher. And it became personal for me, which was where I had to be quite humbled to take a deep breath and look at my own, my own, my own habits and what I was doing to my own kids.
I love how you brought both sides of the same coin together, just like being part of the experiment and then also like trying to figure out what's going on in this experiment, like, are we too involved? Are we not? Well, no, we are definitely not not involved. But it's it's just interesting how then you had to almost take your own medicine in a way.
Yeah, I appreciate it. Like I said, Humbling, especially since, well, so much of what I write about, I mean, the gift of failure was my first book and it was very much about the impact of parenting styles over parenting, directive parenting and autonomy, the alternate, the alternative autonomy, supportive parenting and what that does to kids ability to learn and their motivation and stuff like that.
And that's based on research that's out there in the field. And then my second book. Was about my coming to terms of the fact that I am an alcoholic and getting control of my own drinking, not really getting control of it, but not drinking anymore, and then having to think about, okay, well, what has the impact been on my children and what will the intact impact continue to be on my children in terms of their own risks?
So I have really what I consider to be one of the coolest jobs in the world, which is to get curious about a topic and then. Go in my hidey hole in the woods of Vermont and research the heck out of it for a couple of years and then translate that research for people who don't necessarily want to go around reading studies and, and having to learn the statistics and all that other stuff in order to translate it to real life and how that actually translates to parenting and education and what we do in the classroom and all of that sort of stuff.
It's, it's a really, it's perfect for me as a job. Yeah, I mean, it's so interesting, too, that you have this like, or had this fascination for middle school. May I ask, before we move on, why? Because I have kids in middle school and I'm like, who would be fascinated with middle school? Well, I actually, uh, my very first teaching gig was with kids, was at the Duke Talent Identification Program.
And it, there were, they were sort of gifted or really advanced middle school kids, but they weren't, they were so mature for their age in many ways that it, so I moved directly into teaching. And I thought that's where I would stay. And I had applied for a new teaching job in a high school that I really admired.
And I got a note from the head of a middle school saying, is there any way you would come and interview for this job? Would really love to talk to you about it. And I'm like, Middle school. I, I, I don't know. They, they freak me out. I didn't like middle school myself. I can't imagine that I would want to teach kids that young.
And she said, look, just come meet them, which was the kiss of death. I went and I met them and I fell in love with them immediately. And it was, there's something about the fact that they are still. Children, in the sense that their guard isn't completely up, they still need hugs, they still, there's, there's something really magical about this, this age, and I think the more you understand about the adolescent brain and cognitive development during adolescence, the more You can understand why middle school is so magical.
They, we give them far more than they can handle from the perspective of where their brain development is. And so the expectation is if you're a middle school teacher who absolutely loves this age group, and I don't know why you would teach middle school if you didn't, because it would be maddening. The expectation is, is that we will watch them screw up all day long over and over and over again, and find those learning moments because Kids aren't always teachable on our schedule.
Sometimes it requires us to sort of step back and say, okay, in the back of my mind, I know I'm going to have to talk to this kid about his total lack of organization, but I can't do it right now because he hasn't had lunch yet or his Guinea pig died last night or whatever is happening at home. His parents are getting divorced and now isn't the best time to be talking.
It's more than he can handle. So you wait for just that right moment. And over. I was really lucky. I got to teach sixth grade and seventh grade and eighth grade. So I had these kids for three full years, something that education is, is really starting to realize is important, which is sort of tracking teachers along with kids for more than one year.
You really get the opportunity to get to know them. And so if anyone's ever parented a middle school kid, sixth grade and eighth grade are like two different planets. So getting to watch them grow from sixth grade to the end of eighth grade and heading off to high school. It just, it's amazing. It's incredible.
I love it so much. I have a seventh grader, so I'm smack in the middle. I'm seeing a little metamorphosis. It's kind of like, oh my goodness, what's coming out on the other side. But, but I'll say this, I'll say this. I think as far as this idea of how much a kid can handle, depending on their age. Is it, oh, of course.
It's an idea that even it involves us moms too, and how much we can handle. And on that note, I thought we would totally talk about one of your viral videos. I'm going to say Instagram with regards to a topic that I think a lot of us. might not be able to handle. Like if we have kids and, and we're kind of focused on grades and we want to be sure that they get to like the right high school, the right college and all of that, the topic that you shared your perspective on was my kid left her homework at home.
Should I take it to school for her? And the reason why that topic resonated with me is because here's my theory. My theory is. The reason why a lot of moms are challenged in terms of their mental bandwidth, like, why does it feel so stretched? My hypothesis is because they're also taking ownership of our kids burdens and challenges and problems to solve.
And along the lines of how much they can handle and how much we can handle, I would love your thoughts. thoughts on this idea of, of homework. It's like, I feel like there's got to be a lot more to it than just a piece of like paper giving to school. There's got to be a lot behind that. So say more. Yeah.
So this story actually is in the book, the gift of failure and is It's a cool story because since gift to failure came out, there has been a long period of time in which I've seen how the choices I made that day have played out over a long period of time. So you have to understand the backstory, which I explained in gift to failure, which is that my daughter had real issues with organization.
I mean, again, this was for her, this was fourth grade, but this is something that could come up any, at any period in time. And what. We understood was that she just at first was that her homework just wasn't getting done. That's what I heard from the teacher like homework is not happening. Well, it turns out that wasn't exactly true.
What we did was we talked to her about the homework issue. And what we found out was that actually the homework was getting done. It was just that she was either not handing it in. It was getting lost. It was stuck in the bottom of her backpack. So what was fascinating about that to me is that my assumption was that she was just not doing it.
That's Turns out wasn't true. It was a whole different piece of this. So we had to lay out really clear expectations for homework and then really clear consequences for if she didn't hand it in. So our really clear expectations were you'll do it, you'll do it to the best of your ability. You'll put it in your backpack, you'll take it back out of your backpack and you will hand it in to your teacher so that your teacher can give you feedback because homework is all about feedback.
And So by the time this homework was left on this coffee table and my daughter was already out at the bus stop. And we knew that her major problem was putting the homework in the backpack, taking it out of the backpack, handing it to the teacher. And we'd had a whole conversation about this and we'd been working on this specific thing.
And so I went back and forth and back and forth. Do I take it? Do I not take it? In fact, I had to go to the school for something later that day anyway, so it would have been super easy for me to take it. And I actually even went to Facebook and put up on Facebook that this was a challenge for me. I was right in the middle of writing the gift of failure.
What I do, blah, blah, blah. And a friend of mine who helps run this website called Grown and Flown and wrote the book Grown and Flown about helping your older kids sort of out of, out of the nest, she said, Jess, I really respect you and I love your work, but I disagree if, if. If this were your husband and he forgot his, his charging cord at home, then you'd take it to him.
Right? Because family, if no one else has your back, right? We show each other, we have their backs and we love each other. And if no one else in the world supports us, our family supports us. And I'm like, Oh crud, what do I do now? Because my instinct is I can't take the homework and not just because my entire very small community knew I was writing a book called the gift of failure about this exact thing.
And so I didn't take the homework that day because I realized no, yes, I would take the, the charging cord to my husband, but my husband, always remembers his charging cord. Like that's not an issue we're working on with him. He's an incredibly careful and meticulous person. And so it would be an oddity, an outlier for him to forget something like that.
But with my daughter, this is a very specific thing we've been working on. So I didn't take it. I'm also, by the way, not raising my husband. I was raising my daughter with this very specific blind spot in her, in her executive function skills. And so I didn't take it. And what ended up happening was her teacher got fed up.
Wonderful Mr. Dano. I love him so much. I talk about him all the time. Mr. Dano kept her in from lunch, which plus a minus I'm not in agreement with that. We, Kids need exercise, but kept her in from recess and said, this is something that's been going on for too long. It's time that you just, you have to come up with a strategy, like how is tomorrow going to be different from today?
And that day, the day I didn't take the homework and did not rescue her, she was forced to sit down and come up with a strategy that would work for her. And that strategy won PS, I had been recommending for ages that she didn't. Listen to came up with her own strategy, which again was the one I had been recommending you forever, but it was the one that she thought she came up with all on her own, which is what matters, which was a checklist, like having a checklist at home so that she remembers everything.
And what was so cool about that was. She's very proud of herself when she told me all about this checklist thing. She had come up with clearly all on her own, but it's the, the tool she used, the strategy she used all the way through middle school, all the way through high school. I kept all of them. She would remake them from time to time, depending on what she needed.
And she's in college now, and it continues to be the way she thinks about it. What she needs to leave house with or the dorm room with or whatever And it stuck because it was her Strategy and if I had taken the homework that day She wouldn't have had this moment where she had to talk to an adult about how She needed to be supported in coming up with a solution to this ongoing problem that she wasn't hearing from me and I'm forever indebted to Mr.
Dano for, for being that person that really pushed her to come up with something. So it was really hard to stay home that day, especially since it was for a subject that. She was having trouble with, it was kids who were starting to tease her about being the kid that forgets everything. I could have saved her from that if I had just taken the homework that day, but, and it would have made me feel great, but I had to put off my own, Need to feel good about here's how much I love you.
Here's visible evidence of how much I love you for what would benefit her long term, not necessarily that day. And I would have stolen that learning opportunity from her. And to your point, it's not great at there's another story that I tell in the book, which is that former. Student of mine, we were working on some stuff together about her anxiety and her anxiety around homework and all that stuff.
And it was because her parents were so, so invested in helping her with homework every single day, like literally on top of her. And it was causing major chaos, not just chaos, but anxiety in the home. When it came time for her to go off to college and I asked her what she was excited about, she's like, Oh yeah, I'm so excited for this, that, and the other thing.
She said, but I'm really, really worried about my parents because I don't know what they're going to do with their time because she had never seen her parents have a life outside of her needs and wants and schedule. And that's bad for kids. Like we shouldn't. They need to see that we have a life outside of their needs and wants and lives and that we are full people outside of our children.
That's how we teach our children to be their own parents who can have a life outside of their own kids and think about things like their relationships and their career and their whatever those other things are outside of kids. So I think it's, we really, really have to balance that stuff and be thinking about what's important for our kids in the long term and what's important for us in the long term.
Absolutely. And as I think about what you're sharing, I'm thinking to myself, okay, so this was like a, a little moment that became a huge learning opportunity, lifelong benefits for your daughter. And I'm curious about for yourself and just like, is this now something that you never had to think about again?
Like, how did it like. Wouldn't that be nice? Wouldn't that be nice if I never had to think about it again? No, it was fourth grade and you know, this, she continued to be the kind of kid who needed more supports, especially for executive function stuff. And for those people who don't know, executive function stuff is frontal lobe stuff.
It's adulting stuff. So the brain develops from the bottom up. We start with like the ability to breathe and the ability and reflexes and the ability to see our heart. But the higher up in our brain, we go, the more we're thinking about like time management, resource allocation, how we segue from one thing to another, starting a task, finishing a task, all that kind of like adulting stuff.
That's all frontal lobe stuff. And that is the very last part of the brain to come online. And many, many. Kids, fourth grade, middle school, high school, that part of the brain is not fully online yet. It's not fully online until the early to mid twenties, which if you read my other book about substance use, it's the reason that using addictive substances is so much more harmful to the adolescent brain than it is to an adult brain that's done forming.
So for me, I constantly had to think, okay, where is my kid along this continuum of developing executive function? And she's 20 now. Is she fully cooked yet? No, she, her brain won't be fully cooked until the early to mid twenties. My older kid happened to get there a little bit sooner and my younger kid is getting there a little later and that's totally normal.
But how I react to one kid might be a little different from how I react to my other kids simply because. I know, I have a pretty good sense of where they are in terms of what they need, and it's when we start assuming that they need help all the time, when we start assuming that they're not competent enough to do stuff themselves, that's when we start sort of stepping in, doing too much, being overly directive, and possibly fostering what's called learned helplessness, which is teaching our kids Oh, no, I don't think you can do that thing.
And then they start to believe it too. And so their immediate reaction becomes, Oh, I need help with this. I can't do it myself. There's no way I could do this on my own. And I see it from the classroom side as a teacher. And I see it at home from my own kids, it still pops up, but it still rears its ugly head sometimes, because is it easier to pretend you can't do it?
So mom will do it. Absolutely. And that goes from laundry to loading the dishwasher to pretending that you didn't know that if the dishwasher is already clean, then you can unload it before you drop your stuff in the sink and just walk away. There's that learned helplessness thing is a really tempting thing to fall into for kids until they're done developing and sometimes beyond.
What's so what's so interesting, Jessica, in terms of just like my own experiences, is that. This dynamics of like an overly involved parent doing things for you is alien territory to me. I'm like, oh, that's so fascinating. I, I have a totally different life experience. So here's the challenge that I want to just share with you.
Like how, How would a listener who has the opposite experience where she had to grow up very quickly because she was raised by a mom with manic depression? Like, how does someone like me and you, Jessica, teach our kids without breaking them? Because I don't know what they're capable of, but I'm really trying to figure out what are the edges and like, how does one before?
For already, like what one kid could handle or not, how do you start like testing this just like, Oh, I think they got this or, Oh no, break them. If they do that. Yeah. So I love this question because I hardly ever get this question. I, I was raised in a home with an alcoholic parent. I was raised along with some other stuff that I choose to keep private that I had to grow up really fast and I was in charge of all my stuff.
But part of that was really wonderful because part of it was that my parents trusted me to make good decisions and they, and I, you know, Very much wanted to fulfill that expectation. And so from my perspective, some of that was really great. Like they trusted me to navigate the world and be able to speak up for myself.
And they expected that I would speak up for myself and that I would be able to navigate the world. But there is, as you mentioned, so there's, There's a really interesting divide between kids who have, there's this thing called self efficacy, which is the feeling that if you take action, that you can change things.
Like, let's say for example, I'm. I really don't like my college roommate. We're just not getting along and I really think we should switch roommates. And so I know that I could go speak to an advisor or go talk to the college or talk to the roommate and either resolve things or change things up. That's a feeling of self efficacy.
I know I can do that. So I tend to have a fairly high level of self efficacy, but there are two kinds of kids who have very low levels of self efficacy. And not only is that. which is terrible for them emotionally, but it's also a really big risk factor for substance use. Kids who grow up in the foster care system, group homes, homes where they're being neglected or abused, where you want to change the fact that you're getting hit or that you don't have anyone to turn to, but there isn't much you can do.
Do to change that situation, a kid in foster care may have no control whatsoever over where they're living next week. And that can cause some kids to have really low levels of self efficacy. Like no matter what I do, nothing will change kind of thing. But then there are also kids who grow up with every support and financial support and parents doing everything for them.
And even those kids can end up in a situation where they're like, well, I don't need to make decisions about things because all decisions are being made for me. Someone is going to figure that out for me. And that's also can foster a really low level of self efficacy. And these are the kids that I saw in my rehab classroom a lot, these two kinds of kids.
And so I think One of the best things we can do is really get to know the kid that we have really well. What are their needs? What are their wants? What are, what are the things they love? And let them know that we love them no matter what the outcome is That we're, that we're really interested in the process of becoming, learning, practicing that when we focus overly on the end product, the trophy, the score, the grade, the points, that what we're saying is we don't care how you get there.
We just want you to provide these results and. The way we react when they do or don't provide those results. Can make them can make a lot of kids feel like they are loved more when they get high grades and less when they Get low grades. And in fact, I poll kids on this when i'm in schools And it's really stunning how many kids say?
Yeah, I really do believe that i'm loved More when I get high grades and less when I get low grades so doing a lot of this sort of process talk will also get at the topic of Well, do you need support here? Do you want me to step back a lot of Parents don't think to ask those questions, especially when your come kids, your kid comes to you and they're really upset and like we go into that defensive mode and we just want to fix it for them because it's so horrible to hear about our kids being in distress.
But a lot of teens will tell you that they don't want the problem solved. They just want to talk about it. They just want to be heard. So. Making sure your kid feels heard is the number one thing that we can do to make sure that we're not under parenting or over parenting because they're going to tell us if they trust us and if they feel supported in the process of becoming and whoever it is, they're going to be, as opposed to just in the end product, then they hopefully will trust us enough to tell us when they need help and when they need support, and that's when you can get to know Are they asking for help because they're being helpless here, or are they asking for help because they really, really need help?
And it becomes fairly, it's different with each kid, but if I can learn it in a classroom of 30 students, I knew when my students needed real help or were just copping out for the day. And I knew when a student was in distress and not asking for help. That's a matter of looking and listening, listening, listening.
And paying attention to who the kid is. And there's one thing I say a lot when I'm talking in schools, talking to parents about gift to failure stuff, which is that we have to love the kid. We have not the kid we wish we had, because when we love the kid, we have not some imaginary version of our child.
We really do get a feel for their emotional state and their, their levers for what they want and need from us. And, and that's. Knowing the kid you have and, and not just the kid you wish you had is sort of the most important thing that I think we can do as a parent. Yeah, I would agree totally. I think some kids can handle more than other kids, which is an obvious point.
But I think as a parent, it's the onus is on us to really like understand, like maybe what are their limits and challenge them a little bit. I mean, I have several anecdotes, which I'll definitely share in the show notes a bit more, but. Yeah. Thank you, Jessica, for this. I think this is important. And so one final question before you share all your socials and where we could get your books and such, but here's the question.
So you personally, as a mom, as an author, a New York Times bestselling author, help us understand how you personally have bubble wrapped your sanity along your journey. Yeah, at the, my ability to say no to things has gotten better. When I first sold The Gift of Failure, I was working full time over more than full time as a middle school teacher.
I was teaching six, six class. So I was teaching six individual different classes out of seven periods a day. And I was also working part time as an education journalist. And then I sold my book and I did not want to stop teaching. But I also. I had to weigh sort of what I wanted from my career, and I had always wanted to be a writer, and this was my big chance to sort of do it or not do it right.
And I had to, I, the day I quit, I was just Weeping. It was awful. I luckily was able to find a part time job teaching so that I was able to juggle everything, but I couldn't do everything I wanted to do. And granted, this isn't from a perspective of, Oh my gosh, I have choice. That's a place of incredible privilege.
And I totally understand that. But being able to say no to some of the things that are shiny objects that I would love to like have on my CV, or that I think could sell a couple extra books, or that might give me, give me another opportunity. I've had to realize that I can't be all things to all people.
I can't do everything. In order to be the parent that my teenagers needed, I couldn't also. Teach full time. I just couldn't do it no matter how much I wanted to stay. And it was really sad, but it was a decision that was really, really good and allowed me, as I said, to find a part time job that did allow me to have a taste of this and a taste of that, and still be there for my kids when they needed me to be.
Thank you for that. I think that's helpful. I think saying no is ultimately saying yes to the thing that you really want. So it makes, it makes sense. And I know it's really, really hard, especially when those objects are extra super shiny. So Jessica, share with us where we can continue to follow along your journey and buy your books and support you and learn more about them.
Your gift of failure. So everything is at Jessica Lahey. com, including the daily videos. I was putting up for a while and I'm hoping to return to both on the addiction inoculation and the gift of failure. I do that on Instagram but they're all indexed in the little table of contents on there. You can find out about more about.
Possibly getting me to come to your kid's school or some nonprofit organization in your area to speak about either topic. But again, everything is at Jessica Lahey. com and I'm on all of the social places at, at Jess Lahey. Thank you so much. Or at Teacher Lahey, sorry, at Teacher Lahey. Someone over on Instagram took at Jess Lahey, so I couldn't have it.
So I'm at Teacher Lahey over on Instagram. Thank you so much, Jessica. I appreciate this. Thank you so much. This is such, such a fun conversation. Absolutely. Thanks again. What an amazing conversation with Jessica, and here's why I was so smitten to have a conversation with her. First of all, I think it's so interesting that the topic of over parenting is such a big deal these days because I see it, I'm a witness, I understand it visually.
But personally, and maybe you too, I wasn't over parented. I don't know if I would say I was under parented, but maybe right sized parented for my personality and my abilities. So, it's something for you to consider. I think there's two ends, two ways of approaching parenting, probably several. But ultimately, it's something important to understand as far as For each individual child.
So here's my quick recap. Number one, kids do need to see that we have lives outside of our kids. And I think that is even more important and possible with the internet, making it more accessible to us. Second point, we have to give kids more credit. We can't assume that they don't know how to do something.
I will even add this point. Not only can we not assume that they don't know how to do something. But dare I say, and I'm just saying this cause it's easier to say than to do. What if they actually can do something more simply and better? Right? So that's an opportunity that I think is really helpful.
Here's the third one, self efficacy. So for different kids, there's different quote unquote. Levels of abilities, right? And capabilities. So it's beyond just the age because you could have two 12 year olds that have totally different ways of handling the exact same stressful moment. And I think. You see that in one home where you have siblings who see certain situations favorably, potentially, and others, not as much.
So it's really important for us as moms, even at the helm of really growing businesses. To really pay attention to the different parenting style needs that our individual children have. And as someone with identical twins, that goes for me too, and maybe for you too. So hope you enjoyed the conversation.
I definitely want to invite you to learn more about Jessica. She shared how to reach out to her. And I also want to invite you to head on over to fertile ideas. com. When I say that I am beyond, beyond excited that I am sharing. You know, everything that I've learned over these four years on how to rediscover my own imagination so that this way I could actually have a business that thrives and something that I'm excited about and I feel fully aligned to, which is supporting mom entrepreneurs.
It is not an understatement. Your imagination is something that you might not even know has been paused for a decade. And once we hit that play button. And that is a little bit of a pun because that is part of my framework playing with your imagination. There's no telling at how many wonderful ideas you could activate and turn into reality and actually make an impact in the world and on your terms.
So head on over to www.fertileideas.com
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Ever think to yourself, "Sure, I can network with strangers confidently... as long as they go first?" Do you ever wish you had the chutzpah and perfect words to break the ice as a mompreneur, even if you're introverted? Want access to my frameworks and easy-to-use follow-up insights – the exact ones I've used to land big-name podcast interviews with people like Suzy Batiz or GaryVee?
Welcome to episode 222. Bookmark this episode to learn exactly how to go first to strike a conversation with a contact and find your most authentic way to turn them into a real connection!
Free Resource: From Contact to Connection: The Go First Networking & Follow-Up Playbook for Mom Entrepreneurs
SIGN-UP for playbook: https://bit.ly/hypernetworking
• Easy to follow steps to craft your networking outreach goal
• Research necessary to not ask silly questions or feel awkward
• Unconventional follow-up ideas and timing that will not come across as thirsty/ pushy
• Templates that you can tailor based on your business goals and personality
• Worksheet to uncover ways to add value to contacts and make everyone feel goodThe urgency stems from the fact that many of us, as I coach moms who are entrepreneurs, have been out of the market for a while. Some of us have taken a hiatus, perhaps due to a recent child or the pandemic keeping us home and away from others. But mompreneurs are back, and we need to catch up! This can naturally lead to a dip in confidence when re-entering the scene and engaging with people who haven't experienced a similar break. Right? That's why I wanted to equip you with some language that's practically copy-and-paste ready, like Mad Libs, allowing you to tailor it to your specific outreach goals.
So here is a real-life question that I got from a mom business owner. She said: I just got back into networking after a pause from having two kids. I don't have a problem talking to someone if they talk to me first? It's usually the opening, the conversation with a stranger, that isn't about the weather or something irrelevant. And then after the meeting, I want to know what to say afterwards to follow up with a give and not just "taking".
Tune in for my answer to her question, which I suspect is on your mind too, if you're reading this. And while you're here, grab this free resource I made specifically for my fellow mompreneurs, founders, and creators who need to be more strategic about their networking efforts. These skills can take your business to the next level, whether you're looking to find new partners, build corporate relationships with decision-makers, secure podcast guests, or find mentors who can open doors to the right rooms – where the real conversations happen and where, if mentioned, you could transform your vision.
TRANSCRIPT
Now before I answer that question, I just need to ask you, like, do you have outreach goals as a business owner? Because if you don't, I think we just need to like level set right there. Here's where I'm going with this right now in my nine week group coaching program, fertile imagination in access, which is what I'm going to rename it from action.
What we're going through is how to actually knock your business goals out of the ballpark, right? So let's just imagine that you want to bring in an extra 50 K and you're figuring out how to engage with the right stakeholders, be in the right rooms, have the right conversations. That is what needs to happen.
You need to really be specific. Like who do you want to talk to? And to be very honest, you could absolutely use AI and get some ideas, but coming from someone who tried that pertaining to just pitching podcasts, for example. AI wasn't as helpful as I had hoped. It really is something that requires your own personal touch because you're going to have the wisdom necessary to understand how can I look through LinkedIn, for example, for precisely the person I need on my team or I need to speak to.
So have an outreach goal. That's like step number one. And that is where I come in and I support mom entrepreneurs who may have never approached their business in this way, through the use of hyper networking, which I'll get into in this episode. Now let's go back to the language that this person might use in order to strike up a conversation with a complete and total stranger.
So let's imagine that you are, On LinkedIn, right? So that's one way that you're conducting this outreach efforts in order to build strategic partnerships or find mentors who are light years ahead of you, not individuals where you feel like you both are in the same boat. And just kind of feeding each other information that you've gotten online.
So here's one way that you might want to approach this. So as this person is sharing, she wants to get back out there. It's been some time. Step one is you need to know who you are. Like you need to realize and rebuild your confidence, right? Like, who are you to talk to person A, B, or C? So as an example, let's imagine that you wanted to get in touch with Sarah Blakely.
Now, I'm not saying you have to talk to someone that is a billionaire or someone that might feel so out of reach at first. There is a way to build up your confidence to get to that level, but here's the reality of it. Someone like Sarah is getting all these inbound LinkedIn messages that are totally ridiculous.
A lot of them are like copy and paste pitches, invest in my business, or, Oh, I admire you so much. Can I work for you for free? Like these are the sort of messages someone like Sarah is getting. So if you are genuine, sincere, and you honestly approach someone like Sarah, and then of course, there's other things that need to happen to get her attention.
Then you will stand out. That's just like the first step there, right? So step one, what's your intention? I think intention really matters. So before you put pen to paper or fingertip to keyboard, definitely, what is your intention, right? Are you looking for a relationship with someone like a Sarah or whoever, Whereby you really want to not just take from them, but you want to give them a sense of like either admiration, appreciation, or just like a real conversation.
I know this might sound like not of value, but do you know how valuable it is to have a real conversation with someone who gets pitched all the time and you're there being yourself and you're there being your mom self? Like. I tell my clients all the time, let's imagine you wanted to engage with Warren Buffett, right?
You're not a billionaire. Okay, fine. You're not Warren's cousin or nephew or son, but imagine that there was like a baby in a room. Tell me that that baby is not going to make someone like Warren Buffett giggle and tell me that just providing an opportunity for Warren to giggle is not a value. Like really, really take that in.
Like someone who is pitched all the time by disingenuous people. Is actually having a real chat with someone that's like a mom who gets the struggle, who gets how hard it is to pursue her outreach goals or her business goals. So really figuring out like who you are and the value that you bring to the table upfront before typing anything is step one.
And it's really hard for moms because a lot of the value that we might bring to a conversation with someone who has these financial markers of success, a lot of the value that we bring is not quantifiable. It really isn't. And so it's really on us to reimagine what actually matters in terms of like authentic human engagement.
So that's the first piece of the puzzle. The second one is the following. So if you're reaching out to someone, what's really, really important, and I'm thinking LinkedIn, because that is how I helped a client just yesterday. But if you're reaching out to someone, you need to understand, like, why exactly are you reaching out to them?
And we've got to cut through the bullshit, like for real, for real, for real. Why are you reaching out to that person? Okay, because if there's any sort of like hint or tint of I just want to reach out to you because I want you to give me money, like someone's going to smell that on you, even though you can't technically smell LinkedIn, but they're just going to tell like certain phrases that you might use will feel kind of like icky or weird or whatever.
So you got to be really like clear on what, like why are you reaching out to this person? So let me give you an example, let's imagine that like legit, you want someone to be on your board of advisors, like strategically, that is something that you can bring to the table. If you're having a conversation with one of these very amazing human beings.
It might not even be someone that's like billionaire light years ahead of you. It might be someone who just has visibility into a new sector that might help you achieve your outreach goals, i. e. your business goals. So in the case of my client just the other day, for her, she really wants to reach out to people that are in the health insurance space, right?
And what was really interesting is that she has a board of advisors. She has a board of advisors and she knows that she needs someone who is a medical professional. So what is it that she did or I guided her to do? I said, okay, great. So name a health insurance company, whatever it might have been in her case, it was Kaiser Permanente.
And now tell me the actual job title of the person who's a medical professional that you feel would be like the perfect bulls eye pick to serve on your board. Now, I didn't connect those dots up front, but after the fact, that's where I said we were going. Here's the thing. People like to feel special.
Everybody has an ego. And if you have an opportunity to really cater to someone's ego, like let's say you have a podcast, let's say you have a blog, let's say you have a vlog, a YouTube channel, or A board of advisors, or you could like literally make it up and say, and now I have a board of advisors and a spot that's enough of a reason for someone and you to engage.
Right? So that's what we did. We're like, okay, great. So let's be real specific here. So you want to have a relationship with someone at Kaiser Permanente and you want it to be a, and it's so hard for me to say this, a neonatologist person. Right? Right. So that's what we did. He was like, all right, let's find exactly the bullseye target that we would like to engage with.
And the invitation would be to serve on the board. That's not what you say out of the gate. Instead, what you might say out of the gate is the following. So you're looking at someone's LinkedIn profile and you're saying to yourself, okay, this person, I don't want them to ignore my connection requests, right?
So that means that you have to write an actual note. And that's probably obvious, but what do you put in that note? So you got to lead with something that is like about them. If you start with the, thank you for your time, happy to connect. Saw you the other day. That is so boring. I want you to connect with someone and say, Hey, I saw that you are a Neo blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Cause it's hard for me to say. And I noticed that you have spent some time in the ex care unit, right? So this is all based on. What someone writes in LinkedIn, or I noticed that you are a, and you could name the job function if you want to make it really easy on yourself. And I noticed that you went to Berkeley, which is definitely a place where women's rights was really like.
Top of mind, right? So you got to make it specific. It's like, no, this person isn't like making a mistake and reaching out to me. They actually want to talk to me because I very specifically have a certain experience or I wrote something in my LinkedIn profile that this person read. So if you up front in your LinkedIn outbound first connection, say that, that's going to automatically get someone's attention, right?
And then when you could say, as an example, so you're saying like, Hey, essentially you're saying I am reaching out because you are this based on your experiences in that it leads me to believe that you might be interested in a conversation pertaining to this other topic, whatever that topic is pertaining to your outreach goal.
And your company vision next sentence would be something like, I felt encouraged to reach out to you because that's another way that you might want to lead. Right? And again, you're saying exactly what you're reading on LinkedIn, right? Or maybe you heard a podcast where they were on, or maybe you saw them in the media.
So that's actual language you could use to strike up a conversation that has zilch to do with the weather. All right, great. So now you have this like first point of connection. And so someone accepts the connection. Then what? Here's the reality of it. Chances are, although you wrote that information in LinkedIn, that person didn't read it like with any sort of level of depth.
So they might not respond to that initial like three sentences outbound. But if they connected, what I suggest you do is go on to LinkedIn, go into their contact info and specifically email them. Okay. Here's why, why do people go on LinkedIn? They're looking for business relationships. They're looking for a job right now.
We're all mom entrepreneurs. So what's important is that you reach them somewhere that they're actually checking all the time, which is email. So you are going to email them. Follow up. So then the follow up might be as simple as, thank you for the connection, and you might wanna like say a little bit of what you said in that original note.
The reason why I reached out to you was A, B, or CI would love to have a conversation with you. Here's my calendar. And then of course, if you wanted to, you could say, having been at the helm of my business, we've been able to do this, whatever that is, bring millions of dollars in donation or sell all these different charge keys.
But what we're looking for right now is a thought leader who can add. Some sort of fresh insights in the medical community who would be interested in learning more about organization and potentially serving on our board, which has a minimal, minimal, minimal level of time requirements, right? So you might literally go ahead and start painting the picture, nothing about the weather there, right?
So that might be the next step. And here's the thing you're putting your link. To your calendar what I noticed if you're not confident in making the first step from a networking perspective you tend to put extra steps in front of you and that irritates me beyond belief like I would only put extra steps in front of me if I'm nervous like Sean was saying you're not going to Crazy, right?
So if I'm talking to someone and like, I don't really, really, really want them to email me back because I'm scared, then yeah, I won't put my calendar link. I'll be like, maybe you'd like to connect with me, let me know. But if I really, really, really, really am clear on. My outreach goals, my company vision and who I really am and how I could add value irrespective of the human being I'm talking to, then I'm just going to cut to the chase because that's what you really, really want.
And what I have noticed is the higher you go up in job titles and levels of seniority, the faster those individuals are to just jump on the phone and get to the point. Right? It's not about being too direct or being presumptuous. You could absolutely in that second note say, I understand you're busy and you are under no obligation to respond, but I wanted to just ask you because I felt like I had to.
My mission is that important and I know that There must be alignments or synergies. You could literally say this, like, it is okay to wear your heart on your sleeve. Again, all of this is assuming that you really want to talk to this person and you have a very specific ask in your mind. If you don't have a specific ask in your mind, this is what I suggested my client do the other day.
She brainstorms a bunch of reasons, a bunch of ways that. The person she connected with, this was her follow up strategy, could actually work with her, how she could help that person, how that person can help her, and how together they're better off, let's imagine, right? Not necessarily in those words, but she had to brainstorm this, so do yourself the favor of preparing, brainstorming.
On that note, I want to help you. With a great deal of specificity, I want to be sure that you have the actual language you need to have conversations with people that might intimidate you, right? And so what you will find, and you could absolutely see in the show notes, is Is a link, it is bit. ly, so bit.
ly forward slash hyper networking, you can actually go to that link and you can download for free a playbook in this playbook. What I have done. Is really tried to make this like plug and play pertaining to those like first outbound connections. It is called from contact to connection. It's the mompreneurs followup playbook.
And I give you my exact networking language in terms of the emails that you could send out the DMS that you could put in and even openers for cocktail parties. So you know how you're like in a cocktail party. And then people are like in these circles that seem Impenetrable. Well, you can absolutely like join in those circles.
Okay. Unless you're noticing that like people are like super, super tight and like blocking you from every direction. There are ways for you to insert yourself into existing conversations. And so I've included in my playbook, a couple of ideas as well, but I don't want to overwhelm a mom entrepreneur. I just want to be sure that you have some language.
That will get you from feeling intimidated to totally excited about talking to strangers because the generosity of strangers is a real thing. So go ahead and pick up the playbook. It is again called From Contact to Connection, The Mompreneur's Follow Up Playbook. You can pick it up on the link that is in the show notes, wherever it is that you're listening to this episode.
Bitly, so bit. ly forward slash hyper networking. It will be in the show notes and you can pick it up for free today and absolutely have some language that you can use and edit pertaining to your outreach goals, pertaining to your company vision for this very year so that this way you don't have to feel like people have to talk to you first.
Because here's what happens. If you're the one to initiate a conversation, it puts you in a position of power. It's been said the person that actually like creates the agenda in like a networking meeting or any meeting, that's the person that's controlling where this conversation gets to go. So if you have the chutzpah, the confidence to actually go first during networking, engagements, then it is a hundred percent better for you because then you get to lead where the conversation goes.
And notice, I didn't say anything here about the weather at all. Like, let's, let's go to this other topic. So let's say that you want a little bit of help pertaining to Having a conversation in a live setting, a live setting. Again, I will have some language for you, for a mom business owner specifically, because I'm a mom.
I'm an entrepreneur and I a hundred percent know what it is to be. What is, is, what is the word? I don't know why it's escaping me. Not undervalued, but like people just don't expect me. And I'm little too. People don't expect me to have the audacity to go up to like the people that are on panels or the speakers at the end of an event.
So people just don't assume that I'm going to go and just like go in for the, for, for the quote unquote kill. Right. In a very positive way. So that is why I wanted to have this playbook for, for us, for mom entrepreneurs, because I'm going to tell you If you have decided to nurture a human being, Through any method, be it adoption, birth, be it as this loving and doting like auntie, like you've got, you've got guts beyond, beyond other people, like to take in like another human being and to like help them grow is one of the most courageous things.
I mean, it's the most courageous things. I've ever done personally, and let me be honest, I've got to ask for that courage every single morning, right? So, for us to be held out of these right rooms, right conversations, and right contacts, I'm gonna call bullshit on that, and I want Us as mom entrepreneurs who have had to like start, stop, pause businesses to catch up and exceed outpace anyone who didn't have to step out, pause, or iterate based on growing or having a family.
So that's why I want you to pick up that playbook today. Go to bit. ly forward slash hyper networking. Okay. So then now you're in a live networking event. And here's the thing, I was having this conversation with a mom who has a product. And I asked her, I was like, right now you and I are on a 15 minute zoom conversation.
So you just said that you are not so into networking, which I don't know. I had to ask, I was like, well, what do we call this? Like I had reached out to her. I didn't know her. She didn't know me. And we're on zoom in my mind. I'm networking in her mind. It's connecting. And I don't see it as so different when you're in a happy hour setting or you're in a venue with a lot of people.
So let's just get to that place, right? One to many networking. You're at an event. I'm thinking to myself when I went to Podfest actually in Orlando, Florida. So. For me, I get off the plane, I'm a mom, I have three kids who are at home, I gotta make this count. Like, my husband is on call for childcare, I spent a lot of money to get to Florida, and it's time away from my kids.
So how can I make this count? The moment I stepped into Florida, or landed, I just started networking. I will be networking on a plane if that is okay. I have an opportunity for me and I have, I've actually gotten a podcast guest on a plane. So beyond that, let's imagine that now you're going to an event, you're there and it's like a bunch of people, it's buzzing and people have already established their like circles, right?
Impenetrable circles. So what is it that I did that has nothing to do with the weather? Well, I approached a group of individuals who I thought were part of a meetup for authors. That's just what was on the schedule, so I was like, oh, maybe they're the meetup for authors. Here's where the really big point of differentiation is.
I approached that group of total and complete strangers already having conversations. And I said, hi, my name is Melissa. You guys look like you're having a really interesting conversation. Is this the author meetup group? Now that was like an honest question, but thinking back, maybe I could have made that up as an excuse to start.
Engaging with these humans turns out this was not the author meetup group. I could have been like bright red tail between my legs. Oh my God. Oops. I'm sorry. Bye. But I said, you know what? No, there is value in conversations with every single human being. This happened to be the group of neurodivergent podcasters.
And so for me, I was like, Oh, this is really cool because I strongly believe that I can learn brand new things and apply them to my business from people who have done things differently, especially if you think differently than me, as an example. So I was like, Oh, I'm sticking around. And then of course, I started talking to the different individuals who bring a completely fresh way of looking at the operations of business, of making marketing simple.
And as I was having conversations, the group kind of like fizzled out and so it was just me and one other person who happens to be neurodivergent. And so I was just asking her questions. Be curious. It is okay. This person was also a mom. So that's a shared experience for us. But what was not shared was that she had an approach to marketing that was super, super linear.
And I was like, Oh my God, this is like mana from the heavens or mana from the heavens. So I just asked for more information around that. What's the point? Here's the point. The excuse that I had was not something that was inauthentic or a lie or anything that was like, Oh, I'm here to just take information from you.
The excuse was like legitimate. It was like, no, no, no. I'm literally here to talk to the author meetup group. And that's okay. And I want you to feel so confident and bold in who you are and the value you bring to the table by way of your personality, your life experiences, to have the audacity to be real.
I think that is how you build the confidence to go first in a networking conversation. Again, you will want this playbook. It is in the show notes. Absolutely. Grab it immediately. So you have a better sense of the openers that you can use, whether you are online or whether you are offline, right? In this universe, it is so important to gather as much power as humanly possible.
And one way is by actually Going first, you want to set the agenda. You want to establish who gets to go in your room. You want to establish where the conversation goes and how you would like to follow up. There's so much that's not within our control that as a mom entrepreneur, you have got, you have got, and I feel like repeating this a thousand times.
You have got to find ways to set up. This game in a way that you're going to win, right? And this is one way, this is one way. Has this ever gone wrong? Hell yeah, it's gone wrong. Let me give you an example. I was in Australia pre pandemic. We were living there for three and a half years. And I remember. I was at an event where there was this leader of an organization that is for authors, right?
I'm not going to name the organization because someone from Australia might be listening, but the CEO of this organization, I wanted to talk to her. And so I was part of the crowd and I went up to her, and I don't know if she was like on her way to the bathroom, but Who cares, right? Like as a mom, we have all held our pee.
So I went up to her and she was surrounded by some other people, but who cares? Because again, I know that I have value to contribute. As an example, I have a podcast. I could have her as a guest. That's an example. And so she was trying to escape, not just me, but like the whole crowd. But then I was like, Hey, my name is Melissa.
I really love what you do. And I would love to have a conversation with you. And what she went and attempted to do was pawn me off to her assistant. So, how is this going first gone wrong? Well, because if I were to say, oh, okay, I'll talk to your assistant, then that puts me at the same level as everyone else who's trying to reach out to her.
Like this person who's the actual decision maker and actual human bullseye target I wanted to talk to. To actually just suggest that I talk to her gatekeeper. You see how that takes me away from my outreach goal. Okay. So what did I do? I said, Oh no, no, that's okay. I wanted to speak to you. See, I know that takes guts.
That takes, that takes confidence. And like I said, I think she was off to the bathroom, but for me, it just establishes the idea that no, if you want to talk to some, some, some person that might feel out of reach, like be clear on why you want to talk to them and why you deserve to talk to them and how it can be a positive outcome for the two of you.
Okay. Be clear on those things so that you have the guts to just step through the BS that might be thrown at you. If you're trying to talk to a specific person. So, did it go wrong? It did! Like, the pandemic happened afterwards anyways, so we were all distracted, but ultimately, if I really wanted her on my podcast, I certainly would have made the ask, but once I noticed that she was also, like, more soundproofed, How can I say this?
An employee, as opposed to an entrepreneur or founder. I realized that her incentives and her, her motivations might not be in alignment with my own, right? So if someone's the employee of an organization, they might not be as open to being a podcast guest on someone that they don't know, right? Cause there's a lot at stake in terms of.
Stakeholders and blah, blah, blah. That's what I've noticed. But if they're a founder, if they're an entrepreneur, if they're someone that own the business, then they get the hustle. They get it. They get it and they're all for it. Okay, let me stop. Can you tell I'm like crazy excited about this? I really, really am.
But what I want more than anything else is for you, mom, entrepreneur, mom, founder, mom, creator to go to my link and get the actual playbook, right? It'll include, like I said, some language that you can use and also some followup strategies as well. B I T dot L Y forward slash hyper networking. Can I just say something to be super, super honest?
I suspect that some moms who have businesses already, I really suspect that, and it would be so amazing if you shared this with one mom friend who has a business, one mom friend who you believe in so much, who you think has so much to offer that might just not be comfortable making the first move in a networking conversation.
So please share this episode specifically with that mom. I would be so, so, so appreciative. And thank you for listening to Unimaginable Wellness. I really do appreciate you. And damn, I believe in you so, so, so, so, so, so much. So grab the playbook. It's my free gift for being a beautiful listener and for being a mom.
You're freaking courageous as heck. So absolutely enjoy the playbook.
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What if you don’t want to be a solopreneur forever? What if one day you want to exit from your business or you want to run a fully functioning business that can operate without you in it? Welcome to Episode 221. This conversation is perfect for you if these are the questions on your mind as a business owner, especially one who is a mom (or mum). Meet today’s guest Angela Middleton, MBE. Angela is the chairman of The Limitless Group, comprising several companies in the workforce and careers development space. A detailed bio is below.
This Episode Covers:
· Unexpected strategies for achieving peak business success: Learn unconventional approaches to reach your full potential as an entrepreneur. · The connection between health and business: Discover how prioritizing your well-being fuels your entrepreneurial journey. Delegation mastery: Explore effective strategies for delegating tasks and hiring the right people to support your business growth. Risk-averse hiring: Learn how to build a strong team even if you're cautious about taking on big risks. · The importance of a flexible vision: Gain insights into why adapting your business vision is crucial for long-term success in a dynamic market.Key Takeaways:
· Prioritizing your health is crucial for long-term business success. This episode emphasizes taking care of yourself as the foundation for building a sustainable and thriving business. · Delegation is essential for scaling your business. Even if your product or service directly stems from your unique skills, you can achieve greater success by strategically delegating tasks. · Adaptability is key. Your initial business vision may need to adjust over time due to market shifts or evolving client needs.Excited to hear about these topics? Start listening…as my personal thank you please grab any of the free resources below and of course learn more about today’s guest.
Resources:
Is your business stuck? Take this quiz for moms to maximize your potential - https://quiz.tryinteract.com/#/64fb50ebd9dce900148cdff8
Grab your seat for my free webinar focused on your 2024 ultimate business success Mom Mogul Makeover - https://witty-thinker-2643.ck.page/7e884a0f0a
Download the 3 questions every visionary mom entrepreneur, founder, or creator must answer for yourself before daring to build new relationships with the moguls, market makers, and/or powerful players who can take her business to the next level.
Grab the 3 questions sign-up HERE - https://witty-thinker-2643.ck.page/21e52edb87
This episode is brought to you by my 9-week group coaching course: Fertile Imagination in Action.
This is a high-touch coaching immersion program designed exclusively for visionary mom founders, entrepreneurs, and creators.
Do you crave a simple, straightforward, and laser-focused approach to expanding your professional network? This program equips you with the tools to connect with individuals who offer:
· Access to better opportunities: Gain exposure to ventures that can build your credibility, push your boundaries, and enable you to forge connections with influential figures (moguls, market makers, mentors) who can guide your professional journey.
This episode exemplifies my own successful networking strategy, saving me significant resources and yielding substantial benefits.
As a busy mom of three, I understand the value of time. This program eliminates the guesswork from your path to success. You won't waste time connecting solely with individuals at your current level.
Since launching my coaching practice, I've prioritized connecting and learning from accomplished individuals like Angela. I can teach you this same non-traditional networking approach too!
My book, this podcast, and the success of my own mom-life are testaments to the effectiveness of the principles I teach in my program.
Want to learn more? Email me Melissa [at] melissallarena.com and I’ll send you my calendar link. These spots are very limited. Email me your business website along with why you want to extend your networking community to express your interest in this opportunity and so I can send you free resources that can help you today.
Official Bio For Angela Middleton
Angela is chairman of The Limitless Group, comprising several companies in the workforce and careers development space.
She is host of the ‘IWant2BA’ podcast and the author of the 1st Job Book Series.
Dubbed ‘The Careers Queen’, and a regular commentator in national media, Angela teaches a holistic approach to careers for all ages, combined with physical fitness and mental health.
After completing her own fitness transformation at the age of 55, Angela created the ‘Your Body Means Business’ programme that reveals how you can start your career, optimise your health and grow a successful business.
In 2019, she was awarded an MBE for services to business, employment and apprenticeships, and regularly works with other leading entrepreneurs such as Richard Branson, Tony Robbins and Gary Vaynerchuck.
Angela is a sought after public speaker, regularly appearing at large scale careers and life strategy events.
She is currently the subject of the Limitless Weekly Vlog on Youtube – an online documentary series highlighting behind the scenes of running a business and also hosts #AskAng a business and life Q&A show on Instagram.
Links for more information
https://angelamiddleton.com/
https://www.instagram.com/angelamiddleton/
TRANSCRIPT
Okay, so today's guest is Angela Middleton. Angela is the chairman of the limitless group comprising of several companies in the workforce and careers development space.
She's the host of I want to be a podcast. You could check out the spelling in the show notes for her podcast, and she's the author of the first job book series. Dubbed the careers queen and a regular commentator in national media, Angela teaches a holistic approach to careers for all ages, combined with physical fitness and mental health.
After completing her own fitness transformation at the age of 55, Angela created the your body means business program that reveals how you can start your career. Optimize your health and grow a successful business. She has worked with other leading entrepreneurs, such as Richard Branson, Tony Robbins, and Gary Vaynerchuk, who was my 10th guest on this very podcast.
She is also the subject of the limitless weekly vlog on YouTube. You could check out all her information in the show notes, but for now, if you want to get the guts to talk to people like. Angela Middleton or Tony Robbins or Richard Branson for the, for that matter. I highly suggest that you reach out to me, Melissa at Melissa Llarena, and I will give to you my three questions.
So this way you get the guts to talk to anyone and you network effectively so that you can actually take your business to the next level as fast as humanly possible, because that's what we need as moms time matters for sure. Enjoy the conversation. Gillette Middleton, welcome to the podcast. I am delighted to have you all the way from London on this episode.
Hi, Melissa. And lovely to be here. Thanks for inviting me. It's been years. I think we met at the Tony Robbins Business Mastery in Florida. And so this is, I know it's been a long time. It's I feel like you've lived several lives since then.
Well, that I've been in 20. I went to a lot of Tony's things from about 2015 up till about 2018 or 19, the live things anyway.
About 2018 it was, I believe. Oh right, yeah, yeah. Although I started going to these events, I think the first one I ever went to was in about 2006. Wow. Yeah, I remember being, thinking it was a business event, having heard of Tony Robbins. turning up in a suit and high shoes and then being flabbergasted that everybody was standing on chairs.
He'd not even come on stage by then. So yeah, it was a whole new world for me, I must say.
Absolutely. It's high energy, high enthusiasm and all actions. So I mean very much so inspiring.
Very inspiring, very inspiring. And so Angela, let me, let me just ask you, Like a number of questions in terms of business, in terms of business growth and scaling.
And the reason why these questions I feel are so appropriate, given your experiences and everything that you've kind of accomplished is you bring so many different perspectives, right? Having worked in a corporate setting, also having had at minimum two businesses, maybe you have even more than two and I just don't know.
So I thought we could just get started in terms of a little bit about. The businesses that you currently have, and in terms of the sort of questions you get pertaining to business growth and starting a business, and then we could dig into delegation because that's top of mind for mom entrepreneurs. I did.
I worked in the corporate setting and I worked in lots of different departments, everything from HR to it, to sales. marketing. I was very much a sort of business hybrid. And then after that 20 years in two different companies, an oil company and a bank, I set up my first business, which was in recruitment.
And after that I had lots of different businesses, but I was always transitioning businesses, bringing them together in groups, selling businesses, acquiring businesses and, and bringing them into sort of the overall group. So I was very interested in building things as opposed to just being in the business.
And I guess I did learn that from going to events such as Tony's business mastery very much was it was in creation mode. And, and then, I think through, uh, the, the financial crisis, when we, we obviously were impacted by it, like many others. And my philosophy there was very much while we have some great clients, they really like us, but they're not hiring staff at the moment.
So what else do they want? And that took me in all sorts of different directions, training their existing staff, helping them restructure. I had finance company that I acquired to help them with their financial planning and events company. Which we started from scratch and was really successful. And it meant that we really created great networks of clients for when things improved.
So, and then I got very interested in the link between health and fitness and how that would actually influence business. Cause I sort of went through a bit of a fitness transition myself in 2018, actually, when we met. And I was really astounded that some of the things that I I'd found difficult in business to sort of get to that next level, because I think you get to a level in business where you're sort of comfortable and you plateau a bit. And I, I'd found it quite difficult to go beyond a plateau and it seemed like all of a sudden the fitness and the mindset work that I'd been doing really sort of, it wasn't a coincidence that at the same time that that was happening. We sort of exploded through that plateau and went on to achieve a lot more things.
And I was just so prolific as well. I was doing loads of other things. I felt like I was less busy at work. It was funny. And so then after that, I started to coach performance. I became qualified personal trainer. I was, uh, I became qualified as a life coach, a relationship coach. I then did some work in with neuroscience with Joe Dispenza and qualified as a consultant, teaching some of his staff.
So there's been many things that I've sort of brought together and now I do. Individuals business owners and do coaching with them but my main focus is going into corporates and working with their management team and approaching business from a way that there may be is very new to them so I coach their management teams in a body then mindset and then we go back to business and we introduce all sorts of other things as well like manifestation and energy and longevity and just basically try to help them create a team of super beings that's what they tend to want.
Sounds like it. And so it's interesting in terms of the body first and then mindset, was that intentional or is that something that I guess they asked for because they want to see visible results right away?
No, I think it really came from my own experience. Because I think there's a lot that we can do with our mind alone and we sort of can succeed and mum, mothers will obviously relate to this and we're really busy and we're sleep deprived and we're putting everybody else first.
And still we managed to do great things, especially in business and we sort of, but we end up because of the power of the mind. Even if we're not treating our bodies as well as we could and nutrition and everything, we still end up achieving, but it's almost despite our body, not because of. And once we add in the physical side and we start to feel, I always call the body a taxi.
Once we, a taxi for the brain. Once we start fueling it properly, looking after it properly, maintaining it, it's amazing because now we've got this taxi, which will ferry the brain about so much more effectively. And of course the brain is just as much as part of our body as a bicep. So you may be able to see the impact of training and so on in your body.
But you can feel it in your mind. So that's why I always approach body first. Excuse me. Although these days, sort of simultaneously, I try to do, do them hand in hand is a bit like chicken and egg. I'm not quite sure if you can do one without the other. But for me, yeah, the body, we get started on the body because people start to feel better.
And so then they're more inclined to want to start to think a different way naturally. Hmm.
I love that. That's kind of like the baseline. Just once, once the temple is tended to, then it's like, okay, now we could move up to the brain. I mean, it's, it requires so many calories, so much energy. So absolutely.
Yeah. And so of course, if we're feeling. I mean, I had many, many staff in about 2018 when that was a time when I had a big sort of bricks and 14 offices and about 130 staff. And I used to definitely see a pattern, a link between business performance and individuals that were interested in sport, wouldn't move their body, had like a clear routine.
And yeah. So I knew that there was something in it. I always used to, I started looking when I was interviewing people, I started particularly looking out for individuals, had those other dimensions to them and it wasn't all about just career credentials. That makes a lot of sense. Yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, we are, we are a machine.
I mean, why do we expect to perform using only one aspect of ourselves, the, our sort of academic capability or our skills? Why not use all the other pillars of performance?
I think, I think for a lot of people, it's almost like, It feels like it requires so much just to think clearly and I know that we're forcing it if we're not tending to our body.
I know that if you start lifting weights, like for me at least, there's a lot more clarity when I'm at the gym and I'm lifting weights. It's almost like the clouds in my head just kind of like clear up when I'm lifting weights, which is fascinating.
It really is. And there's all sorts of biological explanations for it.
I, because If we are constantly feeling that we're stressed, then we don't have the energy to do anything else. We do get brain fog. We do, we are switching off or about anything mentally about anything other than what we perceive is the threat. We're, we're not, our body isn't at rest, it's not renewing, it's not performing all the vital, all the non vital functions.
And ultimately Our health starts to deteriorate. So coming out of stress mode, and there's lots of ways to do that, but meditation is another way or going into a gym and just focusing on the present moment and just counting the reps or just sort of doing something on a treadmill or whatever it is, whatever the chosen modality is, will definitely take.
Increase our ability to sort of de stress. A hundred percent. And so I wanted to ask you this question from the perspective of someone that wants to add, for example, going to the gym, self care rituals, other ways of, of releasing that cortisol, right? Healthy ways of doing it. But her calendar is currently.
Packed for now, right? I know about prioritization, but I want listeners to just hear this and really make changes. But right now her calendar is packed. And as a lot of moms, she has all these to do's and for some reason, she wants to get it all done and she's operating or launching a services based business.
Like how would you approach that, that idea of getting it all done and adding a workout?
Yeah, I mean, well, I'd sort of start to question some of those philosophies in the first place, the whole concept of getting it all done. It is never all done. So I think we just have to be a bit, step back for a bit, encourage them to, and everyone's the same, we're all the same whether we're new mums or not, we have that tendency to, to, to, to want to be like this, but just questioning, do we have to get everything done? What's the priority? And then that whole concept of putting our own mask on first is very helpful. Because if we push ourselves to the brink and end up literally not being able to do anything one day through illness, or we just, we stop, then that's not going to be good for anybody around us.
It's not going to be good for our children or our partner or our colleagues or our clients or anybody. So it's almost like a responsibility to them that we have to do something about our timetable because we've all got examples of busy days. But if you look at the heads of state, they've still only got a certain number of hours.
So there has to be some form of discipline over when work stops. and creating some sort of boundaries around, well, I've done the priority task that I've had to do. But now I have to do some things for myself that doesn't have to be an hour to the gym, an hour in the gym and an hour back. We don't have to spend all of this time.
People think that they have to, but you can do very short workouts from home. During lockdown. I ended up training people all over the world over zoom and we would do it in half an hour slots and people would have their pajama bottoms on. They would be. The using, if they'd never, they didn't have any equipment, they'd be using two bottles of water as weights to start with, or a rucksack or something like that.
And eventually they would start to equip themselves as the months went by. But so many people got into weight training and they'd never, ever done it before. And they did that from home and I still do home workouts now. And we sell online courses where people can follow those workouts. But we used to do it face to face.
I used to train people even up until the end of last year. I still have some private clients that I trained online. You can, once you know the basics, you can work out from home. So you can basically start to look at the structure of your day and get up half an hour earlier and do this half an hour workout.
But obviously that that's going to require you to try to get to bed. Earlier in the evening, so consciously trying to shift your timetable, but just prioritizing it in the same way that we prioritize our children and we prioritize our clients. If we are not at our best, then we're not going to be able to look after them in this, in the way that we really want.
So ultimately we're not going to make ourselves happy either. So it can be done. It can be done at home. Also incorporating movement, sort of standing up when we, when we're on the phone, making sure we always walk wherever we can, taking the stairs whenever we can. That's a very underrated way of, of getting, utilising energy.
If we want to lose body fat, then using up calories. If we just want to feel better, just keeping the mind active. But yeah, so there are things that we can incorporate. And then of course there's the nutrition, there's the other side of the nutrition, that's We can time how frequently we eat, being strict with ourselves about we must eat a breakfast, we must eat lunch, and we must, must have something reasonable for dinner and make it high protein based and being organized about when we shop so that we've always got something there so we don't reach for the refined carbs and things that are going to fuel us just in the moment, but are not going to be long term fuel to make us feel good.
So there's, that's the things normally I would recommend to. to people who are just starting their fitness journey and are in this situation where they think they don't have time because they do, but there are clever ways of amalgamating it.
And there's always time for like that last minute report that's due to a client always somehow, right?
We make the time, don't we? We make the time and if you, if you really think about it, I mean, this is the only vehicle that we're ever going to have is like, I sort of turn up with a car on your doorstep and say, okay, there, there we go. That's yours for life. Now you need to look after it because you're not going to get another one.
And yet people, people won't. I mean, it is crazy, but until they start looking at it like this and think, actually, it is worth me spending a bit of time and money and effort on this vehicle, because this is what's going to carry me all the way through the whole journey. Every client. Every interaction with another person, every relationship, I need to have this vehicle working fit and strong.
And in terms of just getting to the next level in your business, as I think about a mom entrepreneur, so let's say year one, she was able to make some profit in her services based business. And now she has to make a decision like, okay, should I continue to outsource? Should I hire a new employee? All these things like.
What are some considerations a mom might want to think about or anyone that does want to get to the next level and maybe now she started incorporating some fitness so she has the endurance. Add this to her to do list of find the right hire. Like how do you think about what to what to delegate and what not to.
Well, there is that mindset piece to do, which is trying to think about the new version of her, the version that she's creating. And what does that person look like? And what's that life look like that she's creating? I mean, is it continuing as a, as a solo? Entrepreneur, or does she see herself ultimately running a business where she is actually, she's built the thing and she's running it in terms of she's leading it, but she's not actually in it doing it because that is a big transition to make, but it's a big difference.
And sometimes people end up with staff, but it's never really where they want it to be, or they end up doing everything because they've just, they Never thought about hiring others. So being clear at what you're trying to build is so important. And then if you are, if you've decided, yes, I do want to build a business that's scalable and that I'm leading and I'm the face of it and that sort of thing, well, then drawing out what that business ultimately is going to look like, what are the growth goals is things, a lot of the things that we picked up when we were on business mastery, if you think about it, it talks about growth goals and there's considerations there as well is the thing that she's doing. actually capable of achieving those growth goals that she has. So if she's doing something, are there enough clients? Is the, is the price per service or the price per product high enough? Is it going to, what volume is that going to dictate? So getting really clear on some of those metrics of what she's trying to achieve.
And then, like I say, if she decided that she wants to achieve something, which is an entity on its own, which has people, then she has got to start thinking about hiring. And so then what do you do? What do you hire? Who do you hire? Well, You've got the typical cornerstones of any business. You've got the sales and marketing, you've got the operations and you've got the finance.
So there's a combination of what's the thing that she really loves doing. She can keep that for a bit, but what's the thing that she really doesn't like doing or that she doesn't feel she's very good at, or that always gets left behind and deprioritized. Well, maybe hire someone to, to do that because it is, it may not be Quite so urgent, but it is important.
So maybe she outsources for that until it becomes a full time job. And then she can start to gradually transition to employing someone full time, but I would try to minimize overheads at the beginning and do things like outsource on a price per hour or a price per day or a price per job. And, or even on sales, you can do commission only base.
I don't know if you can in the U S but we can in the UK, we can do contracts like that. So I would sort of just. That's the steps I think. Be clear on what you're trying to build, then identify the area you need to help with right now, and then try to do it softly. Freelancing to start off with, minimum cost, testing the waters really, making sure it works, and then eventually moving to either a team of freelancers, Or one person who's like a full time employee and then on to the next one.
It's hard when you are the face of the business to start off with and all of your clients want you. I mean, I definitely was like that in my recruitment business where I went from a one man band to 130 staff and I used it. very, you know, sometimes turn around and think, how did this happen? How is it that I now have people working for me that I don't even know them?
They bump, I bump into them in the street and they work, they work for me. It's really very strange transition, but that took a good few years, but it does happen. But it being clear on where you want to get to makes it easier to get there. I think.
Yeah. And I could see where the mindset work is gigantic there.
I was having a conversation with someone that co founded a mom magazine that has like 40 million views every single month. And her vision of what she wants to do now with her lifestyle business is totally something I didn't even consider. Like she wants, she does not want to be the only coach in a group coaching experiencing community based sort of solution.
And for me. I just, I was like, wow, what an idea.
Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, you know, well, that's the other thing we have to leave room for ideas popping up as we go along because we can never really see the ultimate, the ultimate goal does change. I mean, for me in the end, it started off as a recruitment business, but.
When I exited, it was a very much more, there was a huge training arm to it, so much more. And that was never the intention, but you, you go with what you're interested in with the opportunities that come up, the skills that you start to acquire as you go along. And there are moments in business where you can often only see when you look back, where there was a moment where you went to a meeting or you met someone, or you took a, you won a contract, or you took a particular step.
That sends you in a different direction to the one you expected. So you have to have a little bit of an open mind. It can't all be, well, in my experience anyway, totally planned. You, you, you get to, there's many ways to get to where you want to get to, and it needn't be exactly the way you think. So you have to give a little bit of leeway there.
We don't know, do we? We had lockdown, we've had financial crisis, there's things looming now. So we can only make decisions based on the information available to us right now and then continue to go in the right direction. It is a marathon. Not a sprint.
That is, that is definitely true. And, and to add on to that, also, our kids are going to have completely different needs.
My kids are little kids. They're 10, 10 and 12, and you have two adults. So totally different life experiences right now.
But they were, when I started, they were something like eight and 10, I remember. And yeah, I mean, I remember thinking sometimes they were sick. And so then it's, We didn't do working from home then, because my children are 30 and 31 now.
So. Yeah, I mean, it was just trying to find child care and your weighing it. Is he sick enough that really he needs to stay home? Or can I sort of dose him up and bundle him off to school? Do I need to be there? Or can I get some child care for him? It's stressful because obviously we love our kids dearly and they are our priority.
But you've got that client who you're supposed to have a meeting with and you've really worked hard to get that meeting. So we just have to do our best. There's never going to be a perfect scenario, but I do think the mindset and the body stuff really helps because it keeps us clear. We don't waste energy.
We shouldn't waste energy on beating ourselves up that we're doing it all wrong, but equally feeling sorry for ourself as well that poor me, it's so difficult. I can't do it. But it is what it is. And you've got to have a little bit of that mentality of just getting on with it and dealing with the circumstances.
I always used to have a bit of an attitude that there was always going to be something going wrong in the day. And I didn't used to think like that in terms of being a pessimist, but it was almost like to help me manage my expectations so that if it did, I could sort of say, Oh, well, I thought I knew there'd be something and this is it today.
And sometimes nothing would go wrong. It'd all go right. And then I'd be really super happy. I mean, I was lucky. My, my husband has got his own business as well. So he had, there was a bit of flexibility with him. However, in the same way that I have my business, he had his, and so he also sometimes couldn't help out and was not there when I wanted him to be.
We just have to deal with things and, but it is worth it in the end, if you are that way inclined and you want to build something and create an impact and feel all the benefits that we, that we feel when we run businesses.
Absolutely. Yeah. Thank you so much, Angela. So where can listeners find you and follow your journey?
Yeah. Well, I'm at Angela Middleton on LinkedIn. If they're interested more on the business side and if they're interested in seeing my daily routines in, in the gym and hyperbaric all that stuff, more lifestyle stuff and Instagram, but both at Angela Middleton.
Thank you so much, Angela. This was amazing.
And this is going to help a lot of business owners.
Oh, well, so, so lovely to share and, uh, yeah, I hope it does any, any questions delighted to answer.
Here are the three things that really stood out for me from the conversation with Angela. Point number one, your body can absolutely play a huge role in your business strategy.
So I highly suggest you consider Angela's wisdom and really think through it. through how you might be potentially a better decision maker after a workout, or how you might feel a little bit more level headed and focus after a workout. So really think about how you might add a physical practice to your busy life.
The second point is this, when it comes to building out your business, going from a forever solopreneur to someone that has a fully functioning business, it is important to first be very clear. Is that what you want? If the answer is yes, proceed forward and really think through what you might need in the immediate time.
The third point is this. I want you to feel encouraged by this conversation between me and Angela. Angela is so amazing. She's had so much business success. And yet as a mom with three little children. Who has been in a 12 year entrepreneurial career. Yes, I have gotten the guts and the courage to speak to someone like Angela, who right now taught us both how to actually think about bringing our business and scaling it.
This wisdom is the kind of wisdom that I want you to have access to in your own sector. In your own business, in your own life. And I want to really teach you how to get the confidence, the guts, how to ask the right questions to people just like Angela Middleton. So go ahead and email me, Melissa at Melissa Llarena.
com. And I will give you a link to the three questions that. Every mom entrepreneur has to ask herself before approaching anyone that might feel a little intimidating. I don't want you to feel intimidated by conversations like this. And I want you to realize, think about the value that Angela gave in this conversation on this podcast.
Wouldn't you want access to people in your world just like that? Wouldn't you want to know how to confidently? Network with people that are in these circles that have better opportunities and just a lot more insights that you can take and act upon immediately. I want that for you. So what I'll do is I will email you the link to the three questions you need to build your confidence.
So here's the last point. I promise. So what Angela said pertaining to really putting the mask on first is something that we have heard so often. Um, But I want you to really, really consider this idea today, this very week, in the most actionable way humanly possible. I want you, when you're presented with an opportunity to not put on your own mask versus putting on your mask, I want you to choose yourself.
And those were actually the words of another podcast guest, someone else that I networked with, James Altucher. He was my guest number five, put the mask on yourself, put the mask on yourself. Reach out to me for the worksheet. Also in the actual show notes, I'll even put in a free link there. So you could just reach out and download the link yourself
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It's starts with a vision and if yours lacks any of these criterium then it will be HARD to stay up as a chronically exhausted mom or leader of any sort! It's also important that you articulate your vision in a way that generates goosebumps, inspired actions, or plants an audacious visual in the mind of someone else....THIS transaction of language is what will mobilize your network. It's WAY easier if your vision is true to you. It's impossible if you don't buy-into a vision....this stuff is hard to fake people....hence I love serving mom entrepreneurs. We are not out here pretending to love our businesses....there's more than meets the eyes behind every single mom LLC....way more!
Schedule a 15-minute chat to learn more about the program: https://go.oncehub.com/ClientSessionMelissaLlarena
Any who, so excited to bring to the world my Fertile Imagination in Action Group Coaching program! SO SO SO thrilled because now what I learned from you (my podcast guests, every boss I've ever had, my angels, clients, mom, Abuela) I'm teaching to my fellow moms in business. Let's talk if you want to learn more this program. My sons have spring break soon and that is why I will be taking only 4 mom visionary moms this round....will one be you?
The Fertile Imagination in Action criteria for a vision that will lift you out of bed when you do not feel like it as a mom in business. You know my bestseller Fertile Imagination? Well, it's time to activate its key principles....this is 1/9th of what I'll be teaching....want to learn more?Sign-up for a FREE 15-minute:
https://go.oncehub.com/ClientSessionMelissaLlarena -How mind-blowing is your vision?
-Does your vision convey urgency?
-Would your vision help you bounce back up?
-Is your vision more powerful than your fears?
-Is your vision energizing? -
Welcome to Episode 219. As a mom, have you ever asked yourself? Am I doing it right? Am I ruining them? Am I going to be responsible for them needing therapy when they grow up? As moms, especially in the early days, we need so much reassurance and being able to rely on our intuition is tough. Yet, that is exactly what today's guest shares with us and helps us to learn to trust! Meet Kanika Chadda Gupta. She is a seasoned CNN television journalist podcaster and mom of three. And in that three, they're twins. Her goal is to give credit where it's often overlooked which is the lasting impact of living your purpose and modeling that for the next generation. She hosts the popular podcast That’s Total Mom Sense.
This episode is brought to you by:
A Mental Health Break for Mom Business Leaders, a FREE 30-minute webinar, for mom business owners who want to be both present moms and focused business owners.
Sign-up today: https://bit.ly/mindmom
Key takeaways:
Listen to your intuition (it's not just for moms!)
Kids are your mirrors (their behavior reflects yours)
Taming toddler meltdowns (practical tips!)
The unique journey of raising twins
This episode covers:
Ditching the self-doubt: Stop asking "am I doing it right?" and start trusting your instincts!
The power of intuition: It's not just a "mom thing" - everyone has it!
Understanding your kids: Learn how their behavior is a reflection of you.
Conquering meltdowns: Practical tips to help your little one (and yourself!) through tough moments.
The joys (and challenges) of raising twins: Gain insights from a mom who's been there!
Head to the transcript for more information and resources!
This episode is brought to you by:
A Mental Health Break for Mom Business Leaders, a FREE 30-minute webinar, for mom business owners who want to be both present moms and focused business owners.
Sign-up today: https://bit.ly/mindmom
Learn the exact process that meditation practitioner, bestselling author, business coach, and mom to three young boys, Melissa Llarena, follows to have a consistent meditation practice despite no longer having privacy, time, nor a meditation closet. You will walk away with a step-by-step approach for designing your own ritual and you will get a mental break to THINK more strategically about your business and mom life too.
Live Webinar
March 1, 2024
10:00am Central Time
Includes:
Instantly receive upon sign-up Free meditation prompts (get centered in two minutes or fewer)
Mindfulness i.e. meditation ritual ideas to become a more present mom and business leader
30 minute Q&A with Melissa
Join LIVE to enter a drawing for a guest spot on Unimaginable Wellness the podcast for mom founders, entrepreneurs, and creators
Led by Melissa Llarena
Top ForbesWomen contributor with 4M+ views. Author of a the #1 Amazon Bestseller entitled: Fertile Imagination: A Guide for Stretching Every Mom’s Superpower for Maximum Impact. Mom to a singleton son who is 12 and a set of identical twin boys who are ten. A Psychology degree from NYU, and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, she holds a Transformational Coaching Academy certificate and is a student in the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program Class of 2025.
Sign-up today: https://bit.ly/mindmom
Connect with Melissa the host:
https://www.instagram.com/melissallarena/
Official bio for guest
There's no hood like parenthood! Kanika Chadda Gupta, a seasoned CNN television journalist, podcaster, and mother of three (including twins), aims to give credit where it's often overlooked - the lasting impact of living your purpose and modeling that for the next generation. She hosts the popular podcast That's Total Mom Sense, where she interviews public figures on their life lessons, parenting journey, and legacy. Guests include Chelsea Clinton, Kelly Rowland, Bobbi Brown, America Ferrera, Sarah Harden, Rebecca Minkoff, Reshma Saujani, Shannon Lee. She has worked in partnership with the March of Dimes, Mom 2.0, Mother Honestly, and the White House. Her show has been ranked #1 on Goodpods for Motherhood and Kanika has been featured in Forbes and on ABC, NBC, Fox, Cheddar, and CBS.
Guest links:
https://www.thatstotalmomsense.com
https://www.instagram.com/kanikachaddagupta/
https://twitter.com/kanikachadda
https://www.facebook.com/kanikachaddagupta
Transcript
Kanika, I am so thrilled to have a fellow mom of multiple who has three kids in total. And as a podcaster. Like me, on this episode, I'm so thrilled to have you here. Kanika. Thank you, Melissa. It's my pleasure. I was doing my homework, because that's what we do. And I was so curious about your thoughts on mom sense, as it relates to a lot of us that at one time felt like we were on top of the world, maybe we're in powerful positions, and then all of a sudden, we have this like, baby, and we're like,
Kanika 10:53
I don't know what to do, and what to do with them all day. And will I survive? And will they survive? So like, help us feel powerful? Help us feel like we could handle anything, even this child? Yes, yes, I would love to, I think we all need to recognize the strengths and gifts we have. And we all have the power of intuition. It's our North star. It's something that directs us in the right direction. And, and we should just listen to that inner voice because it just it can do no wrong. And I feel when we first become parents, we second guess ourselves because there's so much noise. There are in laws and your own parents and friends and teachers and child caregivers that are all like you have to do it this way, you got to do it this like, and I just I feel like if this is your child only you know how to raise it best, him or her best. So just trust that. And I say this from experience, because I had my three kids in one fell swoop, I had twins. And when they were just nine months old, like just think of baby boy, baby girl, nine months can't even sit up, still swaddled all of that, I got pregnant with my third. And so I was just thrown into the deep end, I was not expecting. And it was really by the grace of God that I had the kids. So I just thought, Okay, God gives you what you can handle. And I am up for this challenge. And as much as I tapped into my kind of skill set as a journalist, I would ask everybody I knew questions, including the Amazon rep. I would be like, Do you have kids? Which bottle did you use? Which one Dr. Brown Ma'am, you tell me. And so I just was like I'm doing all this data gathering, I read a ton of books. And then I started listening, listening to podcasts. And in the end, as much as I learned so much from everyone's stories and experiences. I knew that only I can chart my path for what I want to do for my family and I can glean from everyone else. But I know what's up, and I'm just gonna do it my way. And I want everyone to feel that. Agreed totally. And I think the novelty at least for me and my family of having twins almost made it like a requirement. It's like, hey, we don't know how to handle it. So you definitely need to figure this out on your own right? Like, is that something that maybe was common for you? Were there a lot of like, oh, I have twins too. And I have triplets too and or did you have to like chart your own path? Because he were like one of the first? Yeah, yeah. So I do have friends who had twins before me and I leaned on them. But even that I feel like we all had our very different journeys. And there's something so beautiful in that like there's certain things that I was I learned where I had boy girl twins and I didn't want to buy pink and blue of everything. And brides were telling me you don't need to buy two of everything. It's just as much as you can obviously double stroller, car seats and high chairs. But other than that the toys that they play with like their swaddles their whatever it was, it was like just make sure it's gender neutral and like everybody we got to share. So I was just like, Okay, we're gonna go gray, gray and yellow. That's fine. So that's something that I did learn. I did end up nursing the kids for a year and then my youngest also. And so that was something that I kind of figured out on my own and everyone has their own like journey there. But I wanted to do it I was able to produce so I did it and I had a twin Z pillow that I used where they get to just kind of fit in each nuk and in a football hold. You can feed them Sam
Kanika 15:00
I'll take it slowly for the first three months, and then they get a little big, and then you just feed them one by one. But I did that, and then I found a lactation consultant to support me. And so there's certain things that I was like, I'm going to do this differently. I don't have to just take a cue from everyone who's had twins or multiples before me. Yeah, I think yeah, tandem nursing, for me was definitely a unique adventure that distinguished my entire mommyhood experience, I will say, amongst others. And I would say, you're right, everyone out there that's listening right now you you get to choose, right, like how you nourish your babies. And that's a very viable use of your mom's sense, right? Your intuition. It's like, wait a minute, does this feel good for me? Like, is this possible, given my life goals and the realities of my support system, so there's so many uses for for mom sense. And your mom's sense, is starting to really remind me of a fertile imagination. So when I wrote my book, fertile imagination, it's being able to cast a vision for your life that you may have never seen ever before, in the history of time in the life of another mom. And so it's really interesting, because you have to, you need almost like an inner stillness, both in the case of accessing your imagination, and what I'm hearing from you, in the case of like listening to your intuition, your inner guide. So stillness, and mom have multiples or three kids like that seems like an oxymoron. Like, how do we do this? How do we achieve stillness in the most chaotic of homes and situations, especially those early days? So you can listen to your mom sense and be like, I know the answer. Right, right. Yeah, no, you're so right. I mean, there is so much action, entropy. Just know, it's everything. When you have multiples, and as a twin mom, you know, this. So I, I feel like it's in those moments, oftentimes, like, right before bed, when I am by myself, I keep a notebook by my bed. And it's like, a place where I can use as a gratitude journal and write what I'm grateful for, or things that I'm thinking about, or ideas that I have. And so that's like my brain dump. And that's what I do when I when I know I have the stillness, and that's like, literally, I'd say, around like, 838 30 to nine, the kids are fast asleep. And I have my time. And it's not like wee hours of the morning when you're still like groggy.
Kanika 17:44
Yeah, I get that. I mean, I personally have a really early bedtime. But I mean, priorities change. If we're up at dawn. You can't stay up late. It's just we need our sleep. And I rather actually get up at dawn, then stay up late. Like, I don't know, I feel weird that way. But like, that's just like my thing. So okay, so here we go. We figured out that we have this like inner guidance, this inner GPS, right. So mom's sense. And I know you've mentioned even dad sense, like, that's also a thing as well. Okay, we figured it out. But let's say we're like stubborn. And we're like, what? This one time I rather consult with an expert or this one time, I'm going to do the opposite. Have you ever found yourself in a situation like that? Is there like a story you could kind of share? Ooh, yeah. And I think it's still you're trusting your intuition to tell you to do that. So it's, it's stemming from somewhere. But yeah, I would say it's, I guess, something that I made a mistake on. And my mom's sense, tells me this, and that's why I changed things around for my third. So we did have childcare help with the twins. She was amazing. And so she taught me how to make pureed foods for for them. So we did pureed everything like it. And they started with rice cereal, and being from the same South Asian background, a lot of the foods were things that were kind of ancient and like, tried and tested for our cultural, like cultural background. So there was like a rice dish with turmeric and lentils like all that stuff. So my kids basically got used to that what Khichdi Khichdi, oatmeal pureed fruits and veggies for their from one to two and onwards. And when I saw other moms doing toddler led weaning where they're like giving their kids little pieces of carrots and cucumbers and snap peas and like everything to pick up on their own, it's like it's a straight up mess underneath
Kanika 20:00
That highchair I get and it just makes me shudder with because of my OCD. But the good side is that the children actually get a feel for different textures, different flavors, different, like fragrances to food, and they get to manipulate it. They love all things sensory. And they're actually using their fine motor skills, their pincers to be able to pick up like a small grain of rice or green B. So I didn't do that with the twins. I was like, No, we got up here everything. And with my third eye was like, No, we're flipping the script. I want him to be able to pick up his food. And even though not as much as gonna get in, we can supplement that with some spoon feeding after. But my mom said said to like, listen to the moms who are doing that, and the experts that I had on pediatricians and kind of culinary experts when it comes to toddlers and toddler led weaning, and I was like, I'm gonna do it this way. That's fascinating, because I'm thinking about it for me like, okay, so I'm Latina. And certainly I could have been like rice and beating up my kids when they were little, little little. Yeah, I did. Yeah, they'll do. nourishing, that's a no brainer. There's iron in there. Okay, I'll stop with that. I could do a whole episode on the value of lagoons. Anyway. Yeah, the whole point is like, culturally, it's really interesting. Because culturally, and I call it almost like a cultural glass ceiling, again, in my book and for imagination, but it's like a certain way of mothering, right, and a certain way of like translating tradition, heritage, culture, and all these things, and having the palate right for the different foods that exist in our cultures, I find is so fascinating. And like, these are like acts of bravery. When you opt to do something that is very different than then a culture like we're talking like DNA different. Did you get any commentary from anyone when you decided to change the script there? Of course, of course, I mean, I just I feel like everyone's so opinionated, and especially those from previous generations. So they're like, why would you do it this way? This, this doesn't seem right, you know, and like, I raised all my kids on this
Kanika 22:32
ad, so I know what's going on. But it's just again, it's like, you trusting your built in sixth sense to be like, yeah, I get that I see you. But I want to do it this different way. Because I see that there's a greater value in this. But yeah, you're gonna get the pushback, and you have to stand your ground, you know, because again, I always feel like, even though we're second guessing ourselves, and we're unsure, Am I doing it right? Am I ruining them?
Kanika 23:01
The fact that we care is like a testament in itself. Secondly, it's like, best you really, really do. Yeah, and there's this philosophy out there. And I don't know your thoughts on it. But like I was, I heard through the grapevine that our kids pick us to view their parents. I'm just wondering, like, I'm thinking to myself, Okay, my kids definitely are teaching me a lot of the things that I need to learn, right, like humility, patience, everything, keeping it in holding my tongue. All these things are being taught to me and I'm wondering, I'm like, did they pick me to like, teach me everything that I think get a chance to learn as a little girl? Like, right? What do you think about this? Because also, you said, God only gives you what he knows you can handle. And I've had questions. I'm like, God, like, are we serious? You really think a lot of me like, like, Please, please. Right? So you tell me, what's your philosophy? What's your thinking? Like? Are these like many teachers, many sages, like in our midst, or Paul, I really do think so. I think that they're, they're put on this earth. They are the personalities that they are to guide us and sometimes that's to challenge us. And they're, as much as they're so different. I don't feel like kids are supposed to be the extension of you and they're not supposed to live out your dreams or anything like that. But they are your mirror. And it's like when you see your five year old self in their face. You just come back to how would I have wanted to be parented and I find that a lot I find this most with my daughter because I have she's one of the one of the twins, and then my and then I have my two sons, but with her she is an empath to her core.
Kanika 25:00
are just like me, she really feels for people. And she can cry really easily. She's sensitive. And, and she's also a perfectionism. She doesn't get her way, she gets really frustrated about that. And this was me, this was always me. So when I think back to like, she's seven, now my seven year old self, I was exactly like that. And so if I don't validate where she's coming from, it's really disenfranchising, you know, and I just think, okay, if I were, what would I want to hear, and, and means for self regulation, when it comes to just social emotional, like something that we have learned, we did, we do two things. One is, name it, claim it, tame it. So name, kind of what the scenario is why you're upset, claim that you're feeling frustrated, disappointed, angry, and then tame it. Now let's find a way to let that anger out or let those tears out. But like, let it go, in the end, be able to let it go and not hold on to it. And so that's just really, really important. That's like an exercise that I do for myself now. And it's so important. And then another one is, the five senses, that's a that's a way to tame, if you will, so when she's like, in the middle of like, let's say she, she used to get so upset when she like messed up on artwork, she'd be like, Oh, my God, I made a mistake I was or over like, I was coloring this rabid art. And she, like, totally, just just get so emotional about it. So we'll talk about how that's frustrating all that. And then it's like, let's, let's bring it back. Let's bring it back to this present moment. So we'll do our five senses, tell me five things you see. And then she'll be like, my water bottle, the crayon, the paper, the Chair, I'm sitting on this room. And then it's for tell me four things that you hear three things that you can feel. So feel around you. Two things that you can smell, and one thing that you taste, and all of a sudden, it just diffuses everything. Because you're like, where am I right now? What's around me? What's going on, and your feelings don't get the best of you. Yeah, and I think it's funny because it's, it's like a body scan meditation, basically,
Kanika 27:37
I'm becoming like, this is where this is where it's gotten me being a mom of multiple, I'm literally literally becoming a meditation practitioner, like, needed, how needed it is in my life with three boys. So what you just described is exactly that which I teach, which is a body scan meditation. And it's so interesting, because oftentimes, we live our lives outside of our bodies, and we disassociate instead of really making some sort of peace with how we feel, and then bringing to our awareness, where these sensations are, and just being really, really present to it so that this way we could work through it. And so what I'm hearing kind of going, I don't know if this is on purpose, or it may be it's your mom's sense, leading the way. But it sounds to me like you're forming some sort of connection for your kids to their kids sense. Yes, 100% 100%, I want them to have this tool, it's in your back pocket. And it's something that like, I think of like how we talked about just being able to rise to this challenge. I knew I always wanted to be a mom, when I was a kid. But there were certain things that I saw my parents doing that I was like, Yeah, I wouldn't, I would do this differently. And I didn't get my needs met. And I think I had to learn how to deal with my emotions and my sensitivity and everything like much later in life like 30s. And now that I'm in my 40s, it's like this, like, just kind of reckoning and attitude where like, I see myself, I can call it out, I know how I feel when I feel it, and I'm going to just be able to like, deal with it. But I never really had that skill. And I think my kids brought that out in me, because I was like, I have to see some of the skill.
Kanika 29:32
I'm teaching myself and, and really breaking cycles, because it's not something that I could turn to as a kid and my parents were immigrant parents and just moved from India.
Kanika 29:46
They moved with me I was two years old. They were just trying to put food on the table and survive. So they weren't being like let's sit down and do a meditation session and everything's like Kumbaya. No, you know, and so I had to like raise myself and I had
Kanika 30:00
This history was seven years or younger. And I and my grandmother raised her. And so I think just a quick like, aside to that, I remember when she was born, because it was like having this little doll, I took care of how you would take the bottle and test it on your wrist to make sure I knew how to do that. When I was seven, I was like, give me the baby.
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Attend a mental health break for mom business leaders on March 1st. Sign-up today for free meditation prompts fit for mom business owners who want to be both present moms and focused business owners - Details (sign-up and get the prompts instantly): https://bit.ly/mindmom
Learn the exact process that meditation practitioner, bestselling author, business coach, and mom to three young boys, Melissa Llarena, follows to have a consistent meditation practice despite no longer having privacy, time, nor a meditation closet. You will walk away with a step-by-step approach for designing your own ritual and you will get a mental break to THINK more strategically about your business and mom life too.
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March 1, 2024 10:00am Central TimeIncludes:
Instantly receive upon sign-up Free meditation prompts (get centered in two minutes or fewer) Mindfulness i.e. meditation ritual ideas to become a more present mom and business leader 30 minute Q&A with Melissa Join LIVE to enter a drawing for a guest spot on Unimaginable Wellness the podcast for mom founders, entrepreneurs, and creatorsLed by Melissa Llarena
Top ForbesWomen contributor with 4M+ views. Author of a the #1 Amazon Bestseller entitled: Fertile Imagination: A Guide for Stretching Every Mom’s Superpower for Maximum Impact. Mom to a singleton son who is 12 and a set of identical twin boys who are ten. A Psychology degree from NYU, and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, she holds a Transformational Coaching Academy certificate and is a student in the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program Class of 2025.
https://bit.ly/mindmom
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In this episode you will uncover why this is an important change in perspective: The answer is not always about taking things off of your plate. It depends on what drives you. Ever wanted to gain self-awareness around what makes you go, stop, or bounce back up faster? Listen with an open mind to this episode.
Some moms with their own businesses rise to the occasion when a business challenge arises. Going after worthy goals clears up a busy life like no other thing has for me. You might be the same way? Have a think about it.
Other moms implode when a business challenge arises. Your anxiety hijacks your thinking brain and you go into a perpetual fight or flight. Dishes crash to the ground like a traditional Greek wedding except with little dancing. Is that your truth?
The key is in knowing who you are and what makes you do things that you may have never witnessed another mother do ever in your lifetime.This week I am seeking 5 visionary mom entrepreneurs who rise up when put in a position to accept a business challenge. You'll know this is you based on your most memorable business days last year --- have your best days been when you astounded yourself and met a challenge or declined to step up your game in business for your own reasons. Neither is wrong.
There are seasons in motherhood and in business. However, I bet you have a preference? Let's talk for 15-minutes if you are the riser. https://go.oncehub.com/ClientSessionMelissaLlarena
This is an official call for 4 fabulous women. I'm prepared to share the insights that have built my relationships with powerful and genuine humans over the last 12-years. On our Zoom call I can shed light on why 9-weeks is all it'll take with me as your guide.
If you are committed to doing what it really takes to change how you approach your business and mom life then you might qualify to be one of my fabulous 5 group coaching participants.
If you have a fight in you for YOU then you might be the right fit. If you have not yet given up on all the power and potential other people see in you then we should talk. It's time to rise up. Reclaiming your power is a daily choice. If this resonates be sure to choose the best time on my calendar. Rise up!
Book your time on my calendar today for the soonest slot you can snag.
Let's talk: https://go.oncehub.com/ClientSessionMelissaLlarena
Thank you,
Melissa Llarena
Bestselling Author of Fertile Imagination: A Guide for Stretching Every Mom's Superpower for Maximum Impact
Is your business stuck? Take this quiz for moms to maximize your potential - https://quiz.tryinteract.com/#/64fb50ebd9dce900148cdff8 Grab your seat for my free webinar focused on your 2024 ultimate business success Mom Mogul Makeover. - https://witty-thinker-2643.ck.page/7e884a0f0a -
Welcome to Episode 217. Did you know that February 17th is Random Acts of Kindness Day? My plea is to count yourself in! Moms can perform random acts of kindness and be the recipient of them too! Did you know that when you are kind or generous to others that you can feel a helper’s high? I bet you have oodles of ideas of things you can do with your kids and today’s guest shares her thoughts on those too. However, what I found fascinating is that, despite being a busy mom of two, Jennifer Klein a seasoned philanthropist and author on the topic of giving, has cracked the code on how to be an everyday philanthropist and reap the rewards of exuding a generous spirit! She’s getting that boost in her mental health every week and as a mom I’m know you can use this unstoppable feeling on any given day to change your energy for the maximum! In today’s episode, there are also a ton of practical insights and giving ideas fit for a mom with her own business. You’ll hear about your options – should you go all in on cause marketing, strategically partnering with a nonprofit, or donate company funds to support a cause that's on your heart? Listen for fresh ways to consider these options.
This episode is brought to you by my #1 Amazon bestselling book, Fertile Imagination, A Guide for Stretching Every Mom's Superpower for Maximum Impact.
· You can find a link to the Amazon website here: https://www.melissallarena.com/fertileideas/
Ask me anything about this episode, my book, or mom in business life on Instagram
· Follow me: https://www.instagram.com/melissallarena/
Free resources for mom entrepreneurs!
· Are you a mom entrepreneur with a big vision? Sign-up for a free 30-minute Business Goal Progress Analysis & Course Correct session https://www.melissallarena.com/sessions/
· Is your business stuck? Take this quiz for moms to maximize your potential - https://quiz.tryinteract.com/#/64fb50ebd9dce900148cdff8
· Grab your seat for my free webinar focused on your 2024 ultimate business success Mom Mogul Makeover - https://witty-thinker-2643.ck.page/7e884a0f0a
Jennifer Klein Official Bio and Links
Jenn Klein, CFRE, CHC, is a world-class and highly respected nonprofit fundraiser, speaker, coach, and one of the most brilliant minds on philanthropy. She is the founder and CEO of You Are A Philanthropist merchandise shop and podcast, a major gift officer for a Catholic school, an independent consultant with Arbonne International, and a proud mother of two boys. For more than 18 years, Jenn has helped nonprofits grow through best fundraising practices and strategies. Jenn also coaches individuals to make healthy lifestyle choices, which, at their core, include giving to charity. Jenn is on a mission to share the benefits of generosity, not just for others but also for yourself and our world. She just published her first book "Giving is Selfish", which can be found on Amazon.
· https://www.youareaphilanthropist.com
· https://www.instagram.com/_jennklein/
· Giving Is Selfish: https://www.amazon.com/Giving-Selfish-Change-World-Yourself/dp/B0CLK2STJT
· Type unimaginablewellness for a 20% off coupon code for any merchandise on youareaphilanthropist.com
TRANSCRIPT
Jen Klein, welcome to unimaginable wellness. I am so excited. You won the drawing from my Mom Mogul Makeover webinar!
Congratulations.
Thank you, Melissa.
I'm so excited to be here. I'm so excited to win this opportunity. I am excited to have you here just for anyone that's listening and catching this in January, I had the opportunity to deliver a talk for mom moguls and Jennifer won the drawing of appearing as a guest on today's podcast. And so I am so excited to have Jen here.
I'm also really excited for this very, like. Secret sneaky reason so not only does Jen Klein have an amazing like business, but it's also in the art of generosity, the spirit of giving, and I was like, holy cow, how perfect is that right to like. Have a lucky winner. Be like a giver and generous human and nonprofit expert.
So Jen share with listeners a bit about your background. Certainly share a bit about your book and, and we could just like get into this conversation. I'm excited. You are so kind. Thank you for saying that. I've been a fundraiser for 20 years in nonprofits and it's my passion. And when I became a full time mom about eight years ago, I wanted to continue to stay in my field of fundraising, but found myself a fundraiser without a nonprofit since I became a full time mom.
And I decided to start blogging and I blogged about, like you said, the general, the, the good feelings. Of generosity and it was really inspired by a quote that I heard from Denzel Washington and he said giving is selfish and I was shocked. I had to replay it. I thought he said giving is selfless. And that is always what I internalized and believed giving was about was being selfless and he turned it on a dime and made me realize that giving feels good.
And so I wrote my book called Giving is Selfish that recently I published on Amazon and it highlights how good it feels to give. I love that. And I think what's, what's really, really compelling and something that I want to just grab onto that you just said, you said that you're a nonprofit professional, but you didn't find yourself having a nonprofit.
And I was thinking to myself, well, I will say this. Having three children of my own, there is no profit making in my family. So that's really nonprofit in terms of just the family structure. But, but I get what you're saying. I get what you're saying. And so it, it does flip the thinking on his head as far as giving is.
Selfless to selfish. And so I'm sure your book garnered a lot of attention because of its title. I'm wondering, as someone who wrote her own book, myself having written a book, was there something that you learned about yourself as a mom through the actual process of having written this book? I think that's such a great question and something I do discuss in my book about how much I learned about being a mother when I became a mother.
As many new moms, I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know what I was in for. And I found myself struggling to work on myself and, and be a good mom. By taking care of myself and so when we practice self care, we are giving to our Children when we are taking care of ourselves, we are inspiring and giving to our Children and I think that was such an important life lesson that I learned from being a full time mom and I to this day and for the rest of my life will balance my giving scale, which is what I mean by that is taking care of myself so that I can take care of others.
That sounds like a really important thing to become more self aware of. I know that a lot of mom founders, creators, and entrepreneurs, they have it in their heart to give and having created a business that might be one avenue through which they give. And, and this balance that you mentioned, I'm sure it plays a role also, even in the world of commerce, where someone might want to do some cause marketing, or someone might want to strategically partner with a nonprofit organization.
So here's the question that I have and the context that I provide is that I actually started a nonprofit and this was several years ago. But I also had my coaching practice. And so the thinking was, well, let me create a nonprofit so that this way I have full ownership of who gets a scholarship or not, because that was part of what I was going to be contributing.
And then of course I spoke to an expert who said, well, Melissa. That's a lot of extra work. It's like having an entire other business. So my balance would have been totally like topsy turvy. I would have been so lopsided. It's not even funny. Jennifer, Jen, as an expert in this space, a mom that wants to have, wants to be mentor and like exhibit to her child, what giving looks like and the benefits, how can someone that's a founder think about doing good through the avenue of their business, but in a way that.
They don't end up being so lopsided. I think that was really wise of you to seek counsel and to realize that you don't have the time to commitment that is required to start a non profit. Starting a non profit is something that I also realized. I wasn't able to create, even though it's a wonderful thing to put into the world and that the world needs more of, but I think that there is, especially for mothers who are in business, there are other avenues to pursue in order to give back one could be giving in your example, through a nonprofit for scholarship, or could be giving back in their business.
To, to charity. So for me, for example, I give back some proceeds of mine to charity so that I feel connected to my mission, connected to my community and, and I reap the benefits because that feels good. That makes a lot of sense. So then in terms of making that decision, right. And in terms of really having not just a business, but then also a family, like for me, and I'm sure for other listeners, it's like, you feel like you just are giving 24 seven and now we want to add on our long list of to do's another act of.
Help us see the social rate of return, right? Or the nonprofit rate of return. I think it's the SROI. I don't know why I'm not getting the exact acronym correctly. You correct me when you answer the question, but how can we get the benefit and not out? Like just drain ourselves to no avail. Like I want to add giving, but at the same time as a parent and a business owner, you give a lot when you're marketing your business.
Like you don't get paid for the marketing necessarily. You give a lot as a mom, like for me, three meals a day, I'm giving those out. And now we want to add giving. So why is it that that would make good sense from like an energy perspective, even like Biological perspective. What are some benefits? What's the SROI on giving for a mom entrepreneur who gives all the time?
I think it's, I think you're so spot on to recognize the unrecognized work that mothers do giving back to our children is crucial to making the world a better place. So I think starting with the mindset that. What I'm doing at home is really important and feeling successful in that area of your life is, is really an important component to ensuring that you feel good about what you're doing.
And really, my message is I want people to feel good about what they're doing at home in their business and in their community. And. If they feel like they have the time to, to donate in some area of their life to a, in their community, they will reap the benefits of better social connection, better mental health, better physical health.
It's been proven science that giving back. lowers your blood pressure. So there are physical benefits that we know from science that giving back feels good. So it's not just as Denzel Washington said, something that is. It's intangible that we can't quantify. It's also something that we have quantified through science.
Is there like a story, maybe it could be a personal story or someone that's included in your book that you can share with listeners that might be thought provoking or just kind of helpful as far as giving us some sort of next steps, like choosing the best way for us to give, not just so that it bubble wraps our sanity, but that it aligns with even like the business that we might have.
Yeah, so I think first of all, I have a podcast called you are a philanthropist where I interviewed 30 philanthropists who I have deemed philanthropists, even though perhaps by society standards, they aren't the millionaires. Giving lots of money to, to charity, but in their everyday lives, they're committing some sort of their time commitment to a charity of their choice.
So for me personally, I like to be a soccer coach, which is what I'm doing later in the day today. And I also like to give to my local food pantry, which is about two hours. Every other month I go around my neighborhood, pick up bags from people's porches and deliver it to my food pantry. So that's something that I'm really excited about and something that my children actually do with me now.
So I love teaching them about how we have so much and how we can give back. Some of the guests that I interviewed really are inspiring. I encourage your listeners to check it out wherever they find a podcast. For me, I was really inspired by a friend of mine who has a child who is severely disabled and he needs a full time ventilator, full time nurse at home, and yet she has found a way to give back to the Ronald McDonald house.
She does a run with him in his wheelchair every year and raises money through, through that run. And she also It gives back through stocking the pantries at the Ronald McDonald house. And her name's Daphne bird singer. If anybody wanted to listen to that episode of the you are philanthropist podcast. So she, she really inspires me in her everyday life.
She's giving back to her, her children. She has three children and I'm privileged to know what a great woman she is, how committed she is to her community, her family, and her business. So let me ask you this question as far as personally. So when you actually go through your day and you insert an act of giving, however that might take shape for you, explain to listeners.
How you feel after doing that act or during the act, like really get vivid into it, because I want to understand just like what it feels like to give, even as a mom that already has her own like podcast and practice, wrote a book, has kids, like, how does it feel to give for you personally? Yeah, that's a great question.
I think for me, I do feel really good about. Doing work in my community and feeling inspired by those who are also doing work in my community and feeling like together we're making a bigger difference. I think sometimes we overlook little acts of charity, little acts of kindness, and, but these little things add up and do make a difference.
For example, just holding the door at the Dunkin Donuts for the person behind you, that's an act of kindness. Being kinder to the cashier when maybe someone was not kinder before you. So these everyday acts that I do are, are something that I say to myself, you put some good into the world. You made the world a better place for at least one person.
So it sounds to me that anyone can be a philanthropist. That's what I believe. Yeah, that's what it sounds like. And then here's the other thing. So back to someone that has a business, back to someone that has to make a decision, like strategically partner with a nonprofit, donate money in some sort of other way, I don't even know, I can't even imagine right now, maybe like participating in someone's Kickstarter, for example.
Or creating their own nonprofit. Is there any sort of wisdom that you can share with us, with listeners who have a business, we want to do good and we want to make a decision, the right decision for us, like choosing path a B or C, like any sort of question that we can hold on to and really just ask ourselves before moving forward in any given direction.
So I think finding what you're most passionate about is the key to. Your success with giving back for me, that's my local food pantry and for others that might be a mental health organization or a cancer research organization, whatever it is that you find yourself that you want to commit your time to, you should pursue that.
Because if you're not passionate about giving back, it is going to be draining and it's not going to be fulfilling and where your passion leads you is where you should go. Got it. That makes, so that makes sense because it's the same in terms of a business, right? Like if you're not passionate about it, even if the market opportunity is gigantic, it's going to feel more draining because it's like you need a lift.
Like as a mom entrepreneur, like we need every lift that we could possibly imagine. And this is so not about plastic surgery, even though the thought just popped in my mind, but maybe I could use a lift there too, but I choose not to at this stage of my life. But I think. Any opportunity that a mom has to go in the direction that excites her beyond belief, like we're talking like giddy, like, Oh my gosh, I cannot believe I had the opportunity to do this today with them.
Like, if you feel that, then I would say that could be like the next step, right? So you have this like for profit entity, let's imagine, let's say you're a coach or whatever. And it makes sense for you to somehow be involved with dress for success as an example. Well, maybe the way that you participate does depend on what you can give.
Like you might have old suits, right? And right now we're like Zoom culture, cozy culture. So do you really need like that suit? I know. Don't so that's like one way, but then the other side of it is having tried it myself, just as like heads up sort of thing for anyone that's listening and Jen Klein, like your own sort of experiences, like the option is there to create like your own nonprofit, but be mindful that it actually does feel like a whole other business.
Yes. So. I would say personally, as my own guidance, I know that organizations I've worked with, they've been successful with cause marketing. And for them, the tie in is that there's some sort of connection between the brand promise of the for profit product and the actual organization with which you partner.
So like Dawn is a great example, the dishwashing detergent and like cleaning ducts in some oil water way. And so that makes sense. But I think Additionally, you know what Jen said as far as the passion side of the house, I think that's absolutely important because specifically as a mom, you need that lift.
And so Jen, this has been really helpful. I think your perspective as anyone can be a philanthropist is like the big takeaway that I'm getting. And I also think that If we think about motherhood, not so much as like straight up philanthropy, but it kind of is in its own way. I really do think it kind of is in its own way, but it's a way that is legacy building, right?
Like your DNA gets passed on. So you, you certainly reap the rewards. So Jen Klein, where can people continue to learn about you and your book and what you do? You should go to my website. You are a philanthropist. com. They can find more information about me on there, as well as look at my book, giving a selfish on Amazon.
And I did give a discount to your listeners. If they type in coupon code unimaginable wellness, they can get a discount, a 20 percent discount on my merchandise, which celebrates philanthropy. I'm also on Instagram and I love to connect there as well. Underscore Jen Klein. Beautiful. Thank you, Jen. So as far as bubble wrapping your own sanity, your own sanity, like you've got soccer going on, you've got work within your local community, like.
What's like one tangible thing that you do in order to stay sane? That's such a great question. And I am excited to say I'm getting a massage later today. So I have a monthly subscription to my local massage and I am very excited about that. I'm excited for you. I am like, like now I'm inspired. I'm like, okay, yeah, I should, I should do the same.
And I think it's. The funny thing about a massage is that it is self care for sure. And it does feel good, but there's like these benefits that somehow are additive, even to like business owners in a super tangible way, as far as like the stress levels that we have, I was reading the five o'clock 5 AM club.
I don't know if you know that book by Robin, I think it's Sharma or something. And that's part of his protocol. It's like two massages every week, and that can help make you like tip top performer. And so I think what you're doing is, is self care. It's self it's giving to yourself and it makes you a happier giver to everyone else.
So thank you for that tip. You're welcome. And if you don't schedule it monthly, it'll never happen. Amen to that. I totally know I have zero massages in the whole 2024 right now. So now you've got me going on that. Thank you, Jen, so much. Thank you, Melissa. Thanks for having me. Here are the three things that really captured my attention with regards to the conversation with Jen.
The first point is that you can be a philanthropist. You do not require an inordinate amount of time, nor millions or billions of dollars. And I think that is refreshing because even a Random act of kindness today, again, in light of February 17th is something that is going to give you those giving benefits that Jen spoke of.
The second point is that Jen did say that giving has biological benefits. And I think if you want to really think about ways to bubble wrap your sanity as a mom, entrepreneur, founder, or creator. This offers a very productive solution. So if you actually intend to give in any sort of way, whether it's your time or even your skills, please be aware it might be selfish and that is okay.
The third point is that Jen and I really talked about this idea that should you start your own nonprofit? Let's say that you have a for profit organization or business or consultancy practice, and you're thinking about a nonprofit. Is this a path that makes sense for you? Is this going to make business sense?
Is this going to be in alignment with the amount of time you have to give on a weekly basis to your business? Well, from my perspective and Jen's, it's really important to understand that creating a nonprofit is an entire business in and of itself. And if you feel like you can be at the helm of leadership in both entities at the same time and be a mom, then God bless you.
And I definitely support you. So let me know how I can help you really make that true. Otherwise, there are options such as cause marketing and donating actual money from your business to an organization that makes sense, given what Jen said. So given your passion, which that is going to help give you the lift you need and be invigorated by your donations or your giving, or given in alignment with the services that you offer and your main value proposition.
Please be aware, this is really strategic and it's something that I could absolutely support you with. Reach out to me on Instagram at Melissa Lerina. This is in the show notes at M E L I S S A L L A R E N A. Let me know if you would like some guidance pertaining to the very next step with regards to your business.
Oftentimes we don't know what we don't know. So get on the phone with me. Let me know how I can be of service. What question is on your mind? So I could help answer it or point you in the best direction. I am someone who truly believes that through networking, we can each find our angels. And in that way, I want to support you this very week.
So go ahead. Do not be shy. Get on Instagram at Melissa Llarena. Hope you enjoyed this conversation. Be sure to share this with one mom entrepreneur in that very way you are actually giving. And again, February 17th is a random act of kindness day. So celebrate it as Jen suggested. And I hope you do get that massage just like Jen shall be doing.
Thank you again.
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Would you consider yourself to be a visionary mom entrepreneur? If you are then I'd love to talk to you to better understand your unique perspective on something I'm working on. You can pick the best 15-minute time ( https://go.oncehub.com/ClientSessionMelissaLlarena) that works for you if you currently have a vision that you are working towards this year. Or you can email me melissa (at) melissallarena.com
I'n 15-minutes, we'll go through this NEW offer based on 12-years of mothering while in business. Sign-up: https://go.oncehub.com/ClientSessionMelissaLlarena
Fertile Imagination In Practice – A 9-week group coaching program where I guide you, a visionary mom entrepreneur, on the use your Fertile Imagination ™ to establish, earn the trust and gain the support of the mentors, moguls or market movers in your space. The movers who can help you to take your business to the next level (without feeling awkward or pretending to be someone other than your playful self). A Fertile Imagination ™ has the ability to cast a big vision that they may not have seen done by a mom; the vision is energizing enough to fuel the mom as she executes on making it her reality.
How is this program different? The tools, coaching, and approach consider your business longevity which means endurance is key. Expect to learn how to ensure that your creative juices flow so you can be nimbler than others. My approach is also energy-centric so you can run sprints as needed. The big difference in this program is also that your personal /career narrative will be vetted so that it reconnects you to the ambitious woman you once were and to the greater world so that having a maximum impact with an income that makes you proud AF is inevitable. These insights helped me create incredible opportunities during my 12-year entrepreneurial career and motherhood journey. I took the long road but you can easily learn them and put them into action in only 9-weeks with my guidance. 9-weeks or 12-years? Your choice.
What is my method for results?
A Fertile Imagination has the ability to cast a vision that no other mother has ever turned into reality before; a vision that is so potent it fuels her. The Imagination to Impact to Income Method™ helps you rediscover your Fertile Imagination.
You will reawaken your imagination through various modalities including mindfulness, creative immersions, multi-sensorial visualizations, productivity tools, and self-reflection to bring fresh ideas to life.
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Your income potential will grow by using your fertile imagination to craft your value proposition, to enhance your storytelling skills, build resilience, and embody networking to establish powerful relationships.
Your turn
Schedule a 15-minute Zoom call using this LINK for details about the 9-week program. Alternatively, email me for more details melissa (at) melissallarena.com - this program will roll out with 5 visionary entrepreneurs. Will you be one in the first cohort? Seeking the first fabulous five.
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Welcome to episode 216. This is a story of a single mom who has been battling chronic illness, Crohn's, and has also been in the hospital for at least 13 kidney related surgeries. in spite of her doctor appointments and uncertain health status every single day, she continues to go all in on building a business that expresses this: we are all that we are all champions inside. Today's guest is Elva Treviño. Elva is an entrepreneur with a passion for fitness, leadership, entertainment, and making a positive impact as a celebrity trainer and public speaker. She captivates audiences with her motivational talks, drawing from personal experiences and providing actionable advice to empower individuals to overcome challenges and achieve their goals. Elva is living her mission. She's an example. An example for anyone that is finding themselves constantly in the hospital or constantly facing failures and challenges. And also an example for those of us who frankly are not. Yes, to be human is to struggle but some of us at least we have our health and this episode, I would really encourage you not just to hear Elva's words and see that she's super passionate, but I want you to feel, feel the sense of urgency that Elva has with the way that she is approaching her one life, despite being a single mom and having a chronic illness.
Let's connect: https://www.instagram.com/melissallarena/
Let's talk about your business: https://www.melissallarena.com/sessions/
Grab a free chapter of Fertile Imagination: https://www.melissallarena.com/fertileideas/
HIGHLIGHTED QUESTIONS
1) Share any stories you have of single parenting with a chronic illness (Crohn's) to help listeners with health concerns
2) What are your go-to self-care practices to combat business and/or single motherhood fatigue?
3) How have you navigated having a chronic illness to spread your message of building a community of champions? Any practical tips?
4) What single most important life lesson are you hoping your daughter takes away from seeing her mom move forward despite a chronic illness?
This episode is brought to you by Fertile Imagination, my book, a guide for stretching every mom's superpower for maximum impact. I share in this book also an example of a mom who was facing a major illness. Esther, who's a DJ in Amsterdam, big shout out to Esther. Serves as an example of what the mind is capable of when a mom is facing a really big health scare and is able to have so much confidence in herself to take the onus on herself to heal so that she can be the best mom she possibly can, and then also live out her dreams.
Totally no BS dreams, just like the ones that are on her heart, even if that includes playing Tupac at a former cathedral in a nightclub in Amsterdam, just like Esther. So that is in my book. And if you're inspired by Esther's story, I have other stories as well of humans who have thoroughly Used and express themselves by using a fertile imagination.
A fertile imagination is the ability to cast a vision that is so big that you may have never seen a mom accomplish it ever before. And Elva is also such an example of that. So take all her words to heart because they are, they have the potential to really set you on the path of deliberate action. Deliberate advocacy in your community and deliberate mommying to, to your kids. Enjoy the conversation. And if you're interested in the book, just go to ..
www.fertileideas.com.
About Elva
Elva Trevino is an entrepreneur with a passion for fitness, leadership, entertainment, and making a positive impact. As a celebrity trainer and public speaker, she captivates audiences with her motivational talks, drawing from personal experiences and providing actionable advice to empower individuals to overcome challenges and achieve their goals. Additionally, Elva serves as a charismatic spokesmodel, effectively representing and collaborating with brands/non profits while leveraging her engaging presence to connect with a diverse audience. Her multifaceted approach, encompassing fitness advocacy, entertainment, charity work, community engagement, mentoring emerging leaders, owning her own businesses, and being a sought-after celebrity trainer, positions her as an influential figure across various domains. She's also been recognized for her visionary contributions, having been nominated as one of the top 100 visionaries in healthcare globally in 2021.
Follow her journey
https://www.instagram.com/advo_elva/
TRANSCRIPT
Elva Treviño, I am so excited to have you on the podcast. Thanks. I'm excited to be here. So this is something that listeners might not know.
So I am actually, which is unexpected, interviewing someone that is also in the big state of Texas in the United States. And you're in Houston, right? Yeah. Growing more every day. Yeah, I think the only time I've been there was to Minute Maid Baseball Park. So that is my impression of Houston thus far. And my little boys really enjoyed it.
So it was a really good time. And I wanted to just learn about you, your experiences, a little bit of your background, a bit about your champion mindset. I'm very intrigued by that. And also just. Tell us a little bit about what, what it is that you're looking to accomplish in Houston and the greater and the greater world.
What is your vision?
I love it. I'm really excited to be here. And just a quick shout out to Sev when you hear this for connecting us. And it's always great to connect with like minds in so many different ways. So, but to kick off that question, my name is Elva Trevino. I'm 38. I'll be 39 in April this year.
And I'm just a woman who has had a lot of. Dreams and visions, but has persevered through a lot of challenges that most people feel like they really wouldn't be able to get through to me. It's just a way of life, but it's always been the driving force of why I started pursuing entrepreneurship, why I started pouring into community and why I always just looked at my story as a backbone of something that could unlock others.
So in 2019, I started a brand called Champions Club that was actually built from my garage. And at the time I was marketing two different brands, working for others, seeing a need here in Houston for just helping people to wake up with health, personal training and things of that nature. But growing up severely asthmatic and having so many challenges when it came to my asthma, even as an athlete, I didn't realize how much mindset training that that actually.
Created throughout my life to get to a certain point where, as I was helping people in those years, marketing those two other brands prior to champions club, I noticed that there was something in the mindset that there was a gap that was needing basically being needed to fill. So when I say that you take the person who wants to lose a 50 pounds or race in a marathon or iron man, like I did, you see the bodybuilders and the athletes from teenage up to professional sports.
But what drives those results was always. And when I started getting to the average people, the stay at home moms, which are really not average, but just the everyday type of goals, I noticed. Why do we, why can't everyone feel like a champion at some point in their life? So fitness really became the gateway for me to really pour into others in my community.
And I never would have imagined back then that the pathway that took me on. Being that I just stayed relentless in my pursuit of my own personal health challenges that it would turn into this massive brand that's been able to serve clients in 15 different countries online, where we were able to open our first brick and mortar here in Houston that we're currently franchising a concept for, that we were able to spin off dreams like music and entertainment and community work and leadership and mentorship all through the walls of my gym.
So since 2019, we've basically created an umbrella company to actually, and we're working on a couple of sister concepts that have really aligned to the community in terms of leadership and just helping people to pursue their dreams. Now, when we look at those commonalities, the mindset's at the root of all of it.
So before champions clump came into existence in 2019, I'd gone through years of having so many health issues with my asthma, but it was the need for 13 kidney surgeries and having two tubes out of my left kidney that really put the fire in my heart and just my mindset to use my voice in a larger platform to really help people to wake up before they found themselves in shoes like mine.
And I know that we won't always all be here, but When I say I want to leave everything out here before anything ever were to happen, being that I'm a single mom and my daughter's entering her high school years. I've done just that over the last five years. It's really just been about the pursuit of making sure that we're leaving our mark behind so that The future of my daughter's being raised in is going to look a lot better than the way it's been And I think there's there's so many people that you are impacting by demonstrating just how How anyone can, can continue to like go after their dreams, even if they have a chronic illness, even if they are a single parent.
And, and I thought it would be really, really helpful to just share with the listeners a little bit about maybe like a story about a time when having a chronic illness for you or any of those surgeries. got in your way, but then you use the power of mindset to not let it stay in your way. Oh, there's some like, as you were speaking, I had like a flash of pictures and it's interesting because when I first started doing podcasts, it was typically the testimonial of this very thing.
So I think it's actually pretty cool that I'm coming full circle to come back into that health story as I still battle health. Issues every single day, basically. So taking it back to when I first started to find my voice, they always say, if you want to give, give some, get something done, give it to a busy person.
But when it comes to business too, when you have a parent or just someone who is waking up, hitting the floor, running for, for a mini them or nieces and nephews or siblings, just something that's bigger than them. There is no stopping. There are people who are relying on your efforts every single day. So back to those days where I was finding that voice inside of me and having to quietly go to my doctor's visits.
I ended up having about 13 different doctors towards the end of the two years of my surgeries. And most people didn't know what was going on at the time. The people I worked for at that time, there were a handful of people like a dot of people outside of my parents and my daughter who knew what I was experiencing, but I, in those days, it was really a time where I knew that I needed to isolate.
Myself away from the noise to stay clear and stay focused. You can probably compare it to someone who was told, Hey, you made it to the Olympics. You have three months to train. Like what kind of mindset would that take from someone? So taking that picture of the Olympic mindset, that's how I felt back then I was standing on stages, dolled up with hair and makeup.
Wearing a beautiful dress, speaking to people in the thousands at times, training on fitness and health and business and leadership. And all the while, when I had my two nephrostomy tubes out of my left kidney, which at that point, the doctors in my hospital had never put two tubes, two incisions into one kidney before.
They had no clue that I had these bags. That were taped to my ribs under my dress. They had no idea that I couldn't see sometimes past the first couple of rows. In fact, actually, after the last surgery. My mom was in the stands on that one. And it was supposed to be a big weekend. I had just gotten the tubes out.
It had been a long 22 months, financially and all those things. And I remember almost blacking out on stage. And if I showed you the picture, you wouldn't be able to tell. I'm sitting up there, going on a panel for 22 minutes, and as soon as I walked off that stage, I looked at my mom in the eyes, and she came from the medical industry, so she knew something was up.
And I grabbed her by the hand and I said, Take me to the hospital right now. Post surgery, I had a blood clot the size of a golf ball, but what they don't know, before I spoke, was that I was violently ill in the bathroom, vomiting, and just dizzy. But it was my pursuit of the people who needed to hear my story that day that didn't let me say, I can't talk today.
And there were so many moments through my career where I pushed through. There's another where they were going to first put the tube in my back, but I was doing my first gala that I was organizing for 250 people at Univision Studios on behalf of the brand that I was representing. And I looked at the doctor and I said, you can't do that.
I have a gala that's my gala for 250 people tomorrow. This is revolutionizing health in Houston for Latinos. You can't, you can't put that tube in my back. I have a backless dress. I have to wear it tomorrow. And I left the ER. Before I should have. So it's so many moments like that where we can find ourselves maybe being a little bit on the brink of, Tim Grover always says, a little bit of insanity.
And sometimes you have to have just a hint of that for you to truly make things happen. And I firmly believe that if we, if we test our mindsets, far enough, our bodies will always follow. So no matter if it's a health issue or a bad day, if it's a business idea or a family challenge, we all have moments like that.
Maybe mine come with medical records that are through the roof, but I feel like everyone listening to this can relate to those pivotal moments in themselves where they found a fight. They couldn't always explain where it was coming from, but they knew that they had to listen to that. So, like I said, there's so many moments I could go over, but those are two that I can recall right now.
Yeah, I think it's, it's, it goes back to what you said earlier, which is just that people are relying on your efforts. And it reminds me of, you know, The book that I wrote, Fertile Imagination, I have a chapter there that's dedicated to a woman who decided to become a DJ in her fifties and like play every kind of song you could possibly imagine.
And at one point, her daughter was six and her daughter had cancer. And of course, being a mom, she completely let go of herself. And some years later, she contracted cancer. And Esther was able to, with the same inner resourcefulness that you exhibited over the course of three years, not even knowing what kind of issue was going on.
She was bedridden for three years, right? She was able to like stop her own medications and, and, and feel her tailbone again. And it's like. I mean, anybody that's going to be able to go through all of that is going to know that, you know what, I'm going to light the world on fire with my passion. And I'm going to, now that I get a second chance, third chance, 15th chance, however many chances you feel you've been given, it's kind of like, well, what are you going to do with it?
Pardon for the tiny little interruption, but I wanted to tell you something that's so important. I wanted to tell you that I have created a program to help visionary mom entrepreneurs through the use of their fertile imagination. You know, that book I was talking about a little bit earlier where I'm helping you cast this vision that maybe you've never seen a mom accomplished before a income generating impact making business that you can actually do while being a present mom.
Yeah, that I'm going to teach you how to use that capability, that superpower of your fertile imagination so that this way you could accomplish whatever vision you have more quickly. I'm going to help you establish, earn the trust and gain the support of the mentors, moguls, or market makers who can take your business idea to the next level, all without awkward, nor having to pretend to be anyone else than your playful self.
Actually, your playful self is going to distinguish you and become your competitive edge. I want to talk to you. If this sounds right up your alley, if you're committed to really, really. Seeing your business idea and making it come true. Then I want to talk to you on a free consultation, 30 minutes over zoom confidential, so that this way you can articulate your precise vision, which is.
Huge, a lot of us have a hard time doing that. And second, we could come up with a clearly defined road map. One that takes into account the stage of motherhood in which you find yourself. I did that the other day. I was actually speaking to someone who wants to build out an HR consultancy practice. And in that 30 minute free complimentary session.
Complimentary and free being repetitive, we were able to figure out that what she needed to do right now in light of her kids school schedule was build relationships on the East Coast, a whole different time zone than where she is in the Rocky Mountain area. And she had it to, she had to figure out who would be the centers of influence so that this way, once her schedule cleared up in 2025, she could run, just hit the ground running and build out her HR consultancy practice.
We went through other things as well, but I wanted to just give you the nutshell so that this will, you have a good appreciation for the fact that these free 30 minute consultations, they will be limited because I really want to understand the business challenge that you're facing in the moment in not seeing your vision through.
And I also want to take a really, really keen. I and see what you might not be able to see or what is right under your nose and doable at any stage in which you are in as a mom, I E, maybe you're at that stage where you don't want to hop on airplanes and meet all these strangers in order to network. So I'll meet you where you are.
Just go to the link, melissalarina. com forward slash. Sessions, there is an application because it is really important that you are committed to the process of building out your business. And the application is so easy. It's absolutely insane how easy it is, especially in relation to everything that needs to happen in order for you to see your vision through and be a mom.
So I invite you to join me. On a free breakthrough session, let's go through your vision, articulate it, and I will help you with a roadmap so that this way you have a really good idea of your best next step. Meanwhile, if you do want to hire me as your coach, so that this way you can actually leverage the support of mentors, moguls, Or market makers who can actually take your business to the next level, then absolutely we can do so and have a conversation about what that might look like for you during those free consultations.
No pressure. This is really in service to you, a podcast listener. And I want to make sure that everything that you heard today, you're able to put into action in your real life. Again, melissalarino. com forward slash sessions. Enjoy the rest of the conversation. And this will be in the show notes. Exactly.
And, and, and honestly, it takes some of those moments for ourselves for a lot of times for us to feel like our backs against the wall. There is nothing else to do, but fight and fight. When we say the word fight, people take it as a negative thing. We're fighting for what we have every single day. And whether you feel like that's you're on the offensive side or the defensive side of it.
People don't realize they're in a fight every single day for their families and themselves, their mental health and all these things. I mean, the world is changing every single day. So when I look back, all those challenges were absolutely necessary because for it to have grown me into the person it's grown me into and what it continues to do.
Had I not had all those dark, crazy internal Courageous moments and moments that could have passed me by all the people I've impacted that we've impacted together. It never would have happened. So we have to embrace those moments and we need to actually sometimes want a few more of them because it helps us level up a lot faster when our backs against the wall like that.
I completely agree. And I think as I think about my own history and I think about My mom, right? So she has manic depression. She's had it since forever. She was a single mom, but there's so many inside the psych units, outside the psych units. And she told me, she said, Melissa, I do it for you. Like, and it's like, holy cow, like little me, like when I was like five, six, seven.
And what that did for me, just to give you perspective, cause I'm going to ask you about your daughter. But what that did for me was kind of like, I was like resilience. I was like. I eat that for breakfast. It's like that, that's who I am now. It's like, there's no one to tell me who I can talk to. Cause I've spoken to everybody I've needed to talk to.
And as a kid to survive. So what do you think this witnessing of you and how mommy's handling all these adversities and challenges, what do you think this is doing for your daughter? What do you anticipate? When she was three years old, I made some conscious decisions to start doing things in a way that were not normal.
And what I mean by that is traditionally not always looking at working for someone else. And I knew then that these years that she's walking into, I had a full circle moment last week when we had parents night for her high school, which is in a great district here in Houston. I fought like hell to make sure that that that vision never stopped.
And for me, it's not about her living vicariously, me living vicariously through her to the way that I would enforce these, these responsibilities on her back. But as a first gen myself, as well as her because of her father, it's a responsibility where we've been able to embrace and empower our family lineage and say, how can we honor what's been done for us?
And how can we take that even further? So my daughter, when I see her spirit, her character, her work. willingness to learn both traditional education and to be open to the wisdom and the real talks and the very deep talks at such a young age. It's, it's being put into action every day. And now with her eyes set on being the first kid, uh, the first person in our family to hit Ivy league, whether or not that's going to happen for her is ultimately up to her.
But it's, it's already happening and I'm so proud of her more every day. And I know that her seeing me, mommy in the hospital up and down those early years where she was in elementary school, it just makes me appreciate the people who were around her in those days from teachers to counselors, to some of our family and just people that really created that support system, despite the term single mom.
Yes. I did a lot of this on my own, but for her to. Have seen that witness it that strength is already embedded in her at the same time I feel blessed that God gave her to me in this time frame because a lot of the things that came out of her mouth While those years were happening Well, she was sent to me for a reason and those words were a lot of affirmation and things I needed in those moments where it got tough and she's a little Champion.
So I'll let her continue to define that in her own identity. But until then she knows character over anything else. And I'm, I'm really happy to see how that continues to unravel in her life. Yeah. And I, and I'm wondering as a business owner and a parent and a leader and, and, and advocate for Latinos, I mean.
How do you, how do you incorporate this, this notion of, of self care so that every day you give yourself a chance to get back up and do it again and then do it again and then do it again because it can't be like a runaway train, you know what I mean? So like, what sort of practical tips can you give someone that.
Also has chronic illness, but, but the vision and the dream is, is, is so freaking big that they have to keep going, but you've, there's gotta be something in check, you know? Yeah. It's interesting because I spoke to a thousand, uh, teens this, this Saturday and the same question came up without the health part in there.
They didn't know all of that. And they're like, mystery, what can I do? And the same exact question. And so I broke it down to them. I said, give me three things. And I was like, well, there's not just three, but What's helped me is, oh, and we hear it, but we need to really live in it. We need to submerge ourselves in it.
Gratitude, whether you're in a high or a low in that day to everyone listening to this with respect to what they believe. For me, my faith has grounded me through all things, especially since those days of my illness took over. I mean, it threw me into that in a whole different level, and I'm grateful to be able to pass some of those things on psychologically, physically, this.
Having to stay in this constant state of alignment really does help. So we can have weeks and months where we're great. For me in this season, I experienced a lot of flare ups. Those flare ups can come in so many different ways. When I say they're debilitating, it can be debilitating at times. I remember waking up last year out of my bed and I couldn't even walk on my feet every morning just because of the inflammation and chronic disruption from head to toe.
It's not always easy to kick flare ups out like that, especially when you do your best to do things holistically. Every morning I would wake up and every night I would go to sleep with gratitude, whether it was in tears, whether it was a productive day, we have to set that intention and keep that intention first.
And we have to mean it. We can't just say these things or look at a couple words and affirmations and just run through that. If you are not in love with your processes, it's time for you to fall back in love with your processes. And those processes have to be a formula that works for you. Now, I also mentioned that having a great state of like a stress maintenance in your life is so important.
And take it from me, you, you juggle all these things, whether you run businesses or not. We have to make sure that the way that we are understanding ourselves in each new season, stress management needs to be in there because if not, it's going to continue to make us sick because it does. We have constant things that are distracting us.
We have tech, we have the air quality going to crap every day. We have food working against us. We have family stress, emotional distress, COVID stress, all these things. And if there's nowhere to put it. There's no outlet. Yes, working out is a good stress reliever, but I'm talking about what works for you.
Is it writing it? Is it talking about it? Is it breathing techniques? Is it yoga? Is it music? Music is a great healing process or maintenance thing for me. There's, there's certain frequencies to music that help heal the body naturally. So there's so many different things that we need to find in that formula.
But for me, having a state of gratitude, making sure that each season, whatever I choose to be my stress maintenance, that I'm attaching it to my every single day. And then making sure that I'm staying around great people in this season of my life. I'm just not willing to put up with the things that are toxicities.
I'm just not willing to put up with the people and things that could try to intentionally or subconsciously pull me down. I don't have the capacity for it. And if anything, it makes me sick. So I've removed a lot of things that it's probably taken a decade for me to really get to this point where there's no people pleasing.
Elva says no more. Elva preserves her energy more. She makes sure she gets her rest more. She's not going to take any invitation to a social, because guess what? Her body and her mind need rest. And if we don't do those things, all of it will catch up to you. I promise. What is it that, that you wish someone who's listening to this, who is completely healthy, completely healthy, completely resourced, they have a dream in their heart, and they're just Scared as hell to jump and take a leap.
What do you want them to hear? Right now, and I just got chills as I heard you say that, you know, there are so many things that you can look up on Google to see what Elva's involved in, and there's a reason for that. A lot of the mentors that I follow, um, they're in stages of duplication. And to me, true success isn't just about hitting a mark financially or career wise or with family.
I can always tell someone who's successful because they, they, they know it's their responsibility at a certain point to pass that knowledge and wisdom down, to duplicate that into others and to, to keep that success rolling. There are some people who are not. as open and selfless to helping their community up.
That's okay. Be who you want to be and do what you want to do. But for those who feel like fortunate and that they've got some of those things together and they're, they're trying to make a leap into something unknown. We don't have the luxury right now in our society for everyone to not step up to their full potential and to be in their A game.
And when you're in an a game, it doesn't mean rigidly working your days and hours in the calendar like you're maximizing what you could be doing in those hours that requires taking a step back and really looking at how am I serving my. community, and how am I leaving an imprint in our society?
Accumulatively, because to be honest, at 38 years old, some of the things that I've done, yeah, they've been pretty cool. They, yeah, they've gotten some attention. Okay, great. The top 100 visionary in healthcare globally. Cool. Okay, great. The mayor's Hispanic Heritage Awards for community activism. Great.
Honestly, I feel bad that there's a lot of room at the quote unquote top that people feel this inspiration towards some of the things I've done because in my head I'm just over here waving my hand saying, Hey guys, you see me over here? I really need some help because you have the knowledge of this and you have the wisdom of this.
And we are leaving behind a tainted future for our children. We are in this, I'm in this generation where it's parents, health and getting older and children and looking at what we're leaving behind for them. Um, if you care about what's been given to you, whether it was in a great way or in you did it in spite of what wasn't given to you, we have to keep coming together to pour in and to lift up our communities.
We have to, there is no, any person can sleep. We can't afford that right now. And I just really want to inspire you that whatever is on the other side of that fear, once you take a step into courage and you commit yourself to always having courage to pursue those things that are whispering at you every single day.
Whatever is on the other side of that there is something that you have been Limiting your potential with because you just won't answer that call. So answer that call and take a step of courage because everything else you'll eventually figure out what to do with and how to do it. Thank you, Elva. So Elva, where can people continue to follow your journey and, and help you out?
How can they reach out to you? Well, for one, stay tuned on to this podcast because we know that she's going to continue to bring great people on trailblazers and people all over the world. As far as communication in this season, there's so many things that we are driving very, very strongly in our community.
So I've been warning everybody that the best form of communication is just my email. If you have a testimony or some, some sort of organization or anything that we can walk arms with, whether it be in Houston or some of the outside communities we're working with, We have our hearts set on some really big activism coming up this year in DC.
We've got a lot of things happening down here in Texas, which is the eighth largest economy in the world right now. There are so many displaced leaders, quiet, silent warriors who are looking for communities and people who can just understand them to lock arms with. Just email me info at championsclub.
global. I love connecting with pioneers. I mean, we're living in a history book every single day right now. So if it's not a connection to something, it could just be a, Hey girl, I see you across the country keep going. And if everyone tells you, you can't. Text me in a month and I'm going to tell you the same.
Keep going. Besides that, my Instagram and LinkedIn, Elva Trevino, Elva underscore Elva. I've been a little less quiet there the last 90 days or so, but it's because we're working really hard behind the scenes on some big things. So that's, that's pretty, the easiest way to get ahold of me and for. Most of the things that we've done, you can Google and kind of research some of the work that we've done, but we're just getting started.
And let me tell you, mistakes and making mistakes is a lot of a large part of that process. So if you're in a season that you're still trying to get some clarity, it's okay. I've been there too. And I promise you, I've gone through more challenges than most of you guys had. So if I can do this, so can you.
Thank you, Elva. No problem. You could feel Elva's. Enormous sense of urgency. And I want to really express these three thoughts to you. And I would encourage you to immediately think about them for yourself. The first one is who's relying on your efforts. Really have that person in mind. Every single time you feel like quitting.
The second is about community. Elva doesn't have to be thinking about other people. As a single parent, she has enough to think about for her daughter and of her business. But she wants to leave the world better off than she found it. And she's finding it within her to also want to impact the Latino community.
What about you? Might you want to impact your own community? Third one, what dream are you deferring? And why do you assume that you're going to be around forever in order to see it through its fullest execution? What dream are you deferring? This one hits home because Elva is facing death every single day and so are we.
Except we might not physically feel it. We might not be going to hospitals every single day. We might not be in physical pain every single day. But at the same time, life is risky too. And so with that I really hope that you feel inspired to do something, even a little thing for yourself today or your community or your loved ones, and really just take to heart the fact that even if you have a chronic illness, even if you feel, feel ill, there's a value to your story.
There really is. And that might be enough. So I hope you enjoyed this conversation. And I urge you share this with someone who's a working mom. With her own business, her own vision, who is experiencing a chronic illness today. Elva has the potential to really turn her life around.
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Tune in to learn how to leverage the three pillars of positivity to build your success by Silicon valley entrepreneur and business strategy John Hagel III. Consider this THE change management guide for mom entrepreneurs. If you are exhausted by the fear, uncertainty, and emotional gunk of change then bookmark this conversation. My take is that John offers a fresh and much needed reframe (it's more than a reframe) to help us get more out of our business ideas.
Becoming an entrepreneur is an exciting venture. But when you're a mom juggling the demands of raising children while also launching a business, it can be a challenging journey fraught with fear and uncertainty. On an episode of Unimaginable Wellness, management consultant, author, and speaker, John Hagel, delves into his latest book, "The Journey Beyond Fear," and shares how mothers can harness their imagination to turn fear into an avenue for opportunity.
Hagel suggests that by unleashing the boundless potential of your imagination, you can navigate the psychology of change more efficiently. He points out that emotions, especially fear and excitement, have a profound impact on our actions. The trick, according to Hagel, is to shift our perspective of fear from being a threat to viewing it as an opening for growth.
This episode is brought to you by Fertile Imagination: A Guide For Stretching Every Mom’s Superpower For Maximum Impact – My book is now available on Amazon in its paperback version and Kindle format. Grab a free chapter on www.fertileideas.com.
DM me on Instagram @melissallarena just type the word FERTILE and I’ll share the link if that’s easier to get to fertileideas.com for all the details you need to celebrate your own Fertile Imagination! Here’s that link: https://www.instagram.com/melissallarena/
About John Hagel
John Hagel is a management consultant, author, and speaker with over 40 years of experience in his field. After retiring as a partner from Deloitte, he wrote his latest book "The Journey Beyond Fear," which addresses the psychology of change and how it can help people navigate through life changes. John is currently developing a series of programs to help people navigate change at various levels through his newly founded company, Beyond Our Edge.
By harnessing your imagination and drive, you can shape your own narrative, focus on the future, and tap into the limitless potential of excitement and opportunity. This conversation provides mom entrepreneurs with practical tools and lessons to embark on a fulfilling entrepreneurial journey.
In this episode, you will hear:
Exploring the power of imagination in overcoming fear and achieving success in entrepreneurship for mothers
John Hagel, shares insights from his book "The Journey Beyond Fear". The discussion revolves around the psychology of change and its impacts on mothers in entrepreneurship.
The relationship between fear and excitement is examined, highlighting how these emotions can either hinder or drive us towards success.
John shares practical tools on how to shift our perception of fear from being a threat to an opportunity for growth.
The power of personal narratives in shaping a more positive future and methods to optimize them
The importance of rebuilding self-trust and granting ourselves permission to play
Understanding how to stretch your imagination to achieve big goals and impact is explained.
The crucial role of sustainability in maintaining long-term influence in entrepreneurship.
Insights on the importance of curiosity, accountability, and shared excitement in achieving our ambitions are given.
Tips on using your imagination and drive to craft a fulfilling journey as a mom entrepreneur are shared.
Identifying common threads to guide personal narratives towards a more fulfilling future
How to turn fear into an opportunity and drive for more significant impact
The balance between passion and impact in entrepreneurship
The power of positivity and optimism in overcoming challenges and resistance in entrepreneurship
John’s personal journey of changing his narrative at the age of 54
The role of excitement in achieving limitless potential and a desire to connect with others
The importance of shaping our own narrative and focusing on the future for sustained success
Understanding the three stages of optimizing one's imagination for maximum impact, including rebuilding self-trust, granting permission to play, and stretching imagination to achieve goals
SHARE this episode with mothers who are entrepreneurs, aspiring to be, or anyone looking for strategies to shift their mindset from fear to opportunity.
Supporting Resources:
John’s Book: https://www.johnhagel.com/book-the-journey-beyond-fear-by-john-hagel-iii/
Subscribe and Review
Have you subscribed to my podcast for new moms who are entrepreneurs, founders, and creators? I’d love for you to subscribe if you haven’t yet.
I’d love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast for writer moms.
About Fertile Imagination – www.fertileideas.com
You can be a great mom without giving up, shrinking, or hiding your dreams. There’s
flexibility in how you pursue anything – your role, your lifestyle, and your personal and
professional goals. The limitations on your dreams are waiting to be shattered. It’s
time to see and seize what’s beyond your gaze. Let’s bridge your childhood daydreams
with your grown-up realities. Imagine skipping with your kids along any path – you,
surpassing your milestones while your kids are reaching theirs. There’s only one superpower versatile enough to stretch your thinking beyond what’s been done before: a
Fertile Imagination. It’s like kryptonite for impostor syndrome and feeling stuck when
it’s alert!
In Fertile Imagination, you will awaken your sleeping source of creative solutions. If you
can wake up a toddler or a groggy middle schooler, then together with the stories in
this book – featuring 25 guests from my podcast Unimaginable Wellness, proven tools,
and personal anecdotes – we will wake up your former playmate: your imagination!
Advance Praise
“You’ll find reality-based strategies for imagining your own imperfect, fulfilling
life in this book!” —MARTHA HENNESSEY, former NH State Senator
“Melissa invites the reader into a personal and deep journey about
topics that are crucially important to uncover what would make a mom
(and dad too) truly happy to work on...even after the kids are in bed.”
—KEN HONDA, best-selling author of Happy Money
“This book is a great purchase for moms in every stage of life. Melissa is like a
great friend, honest and wise and funny, telling you about her life and asking you to
reflect on yours.” —MAUREEN TURNER CAREY, librarian in Austin, TX
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