Mompowerment – What we can learn from this book and why it’s powerful

Mompowerment – What we can learn from this book and why it’s powerful

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One of the ladies I’ve followed for a while now, Suzanne Brown, has finally published her book and man, is it good! The book is called Mompowerment and has tips for those of you who are not moms too. I want to take her wisdom and research information and break it down into a few things that are applicable to all business owners. The book has information from 110 moms who work in either corporate and self-employment. It was written for moms who are looking at moving out of corporate America and going into owning their own business.

Suzanne hits home for me on the areas of outsourcing, organizing, and recognizing how valuable your services actually are – areas I am passionate about.

1. Outsourcing and asking for help. Suzanne said that almost every woman she talked to said that they have help, whether it’s their business, their house or other things. When you ask for help and allow someone else to help carry the burden of business work, housework or kids, it’s powerful.

My kids go to daycare, something that I cherish. It gives me time to work on my business without distraction. Them being in daycare also allows me to have time “off” from being a mom. They love going to play with their friends and I can refresh and renew my energy so I can better love and take care of them.

I know it can be hard to ask for help, but it’s necessary if you want more time, sanity and less stress. I have seen this in my own life as my husband helps with laundry and dishes, and we have cleaners that come twice a month. Another way we have help in our family is by bringing on team members.

When I started looking for help in my business, I decided I needed to hire a few people who were awesome at doing what I am not good at or things that I can do, but take away too much time. I also needed someone to help with graphic designing and social media because I do not have a designer’s eye. I love my team and they have helped me go through the last few months with less stress and worry about things not getting done in my business.

2. Organizing is powerful. Again, something that most of the women Suzanne talked to had systems and organization in their home and work/business that were helpful to them. What I have found whenever I implement systems and organization, it is immensely beneficial in optimizing productivity and reducing stress. Some ways I’ve implemented systems in my own home and business are:

• Maintaining a planner/calendar. I love my Emily Ley Simplified Planner and have used it for 3 years. By writing down all our appointments, it saves me from having to remember what is happening and at what time. I also have a calendar that hangs on the wall and that is where I’ll put events that pertain to my family. My daughter can read now and she loves to know what’s going on. I also use Acuity scheduling which integrates with my Google calendar where I have client appointments. This one system alone makes a huge difference in how much craziness there is around the house and in my business.
• Using Trello has been amazing for keeping my business organized. Not only do I put things I’m working on in Trello, I also have Trello boards I share with my team. This way of communicating and collaborating with them gives us a central location for information and graphics. I have my editorial calendar for my YouTube show, Created for This, in Trello as a way to track what I’ve done and what needs to get done. There are many other uses for Trello so it’s a good tool to explore if you haven’t done so.
• Menu and meal planning. By scheduling what we’re going to eat the Sunday before the week, we can get our grocery shopping done and have everything in the house we need, cutting down on trips to Target or the grocery store for food. This saves me time and frustration.

3. The last thing I want to highlight is the knowledge of knowing how much your time and expertise in an area is worth. This has been a lesson I’ve learned in the last year or so as I’ve gotten more comfortable with the fact that what I did while in the Navy and even while working at the library in high school all have given me great experience for what I am doing now. While it’s not necessarily 100% applicable in online spaces, in most ways, the skills I’ve learned benefit and transfer over a lot.

One thing that I love that Suzanne pointed out was how women when they charge their worth, can work part-time and still make a decent living. Or if you want to make more, you can work more hours and still have the lifestyle you want. For me, realizing that I should be charging more came after a few people pointed out that I go above and beyond for my clients and that I’m an expert in what I’m doing. It’s empowering when you realize that you can be making more money because of the skills and the value you bring to the table. I encourage you, if this is something you need help with, go check out Tonya Rineer because she’s really helped change my money mindset through her coaching and podcasts.

I’ve given you a lot to ponder here and if something like hiring seems like the next step for you, I invite you to check out my Onboarding: Simplified course and toolbox where I help you take that next step and make the process super easy for you. You can buy it here.