Mom Guilt: The Silent Battle of Mompreneurship

Mom Guilt: The Silent Battle of Mompreneurship

The flexibility of entrepreneurship is an undeniable perk of this lifestyle.

You have the freedom to be there for your kids, and feel like you’re making a difference doing what you love at the same time. You have the power to craft your lifestyle and live out your purpose on your terms. While it’s freeing, this lifestyle is not all “meetings by the pool”.

You have no idea how often I hear moms say “when I’m with my kids… I feel like I should be working. When I’m hustling… I feel like I should be with my kids”.

Do you feel guilty no matter what you’re doing?

This is a deadly cycle. Guilt is a powerful emotion. And it gets to a point where no matter what you’re doing… you can’t give it your full heart, soul, and attention. Trust me, I’ve been there. I get it. But I’ve also learned this:

You do not have to choose between your kids and success.

Create Healthy Boundaries With Family and Work

Step 1: Find a routine that works for you… and for your kids.

Parenthood is a balancing act. Determining a routine is paramount. This gets much easier when your kids start school, of course. But for toddler moms, the balancing act can feel like you’re walking on a tightrope. A solid weekday routine is a solution.

Many mompreneurs schedule their routines like this:

  • Work for an hour before their children wake up.
  • Work during the afternoon when their kids get screen time and a nap.
  • Work after the kids go to bed in the evenings.

This may not be the right answer for you. Maybe you can only find productivity in the mornings. In this case, maybe schedule some intentional playdates, camps, or mothers-day-out.

Step 2: Designate work time and mom time

After you’ve found your routine, establish “work time” and “mom time”. Stick to it. Establish boundaries for each. If you’re struggling with this, you can even use an app like stay focused to limit access to your Gmail and social media during “mom times”.

When you’re ready for some work time… we recommend investing seriously in this time. You can even designate a full week to it. Escape, recharge, and focus on boosting your business. Our yearly Biz Beach Retreat will help you do just that. We’ll help you automate your business, increase cash flow, and improve your quality of life. All while recharging on a tropical island (we are going to Bali this year!).

Step 3: Design a repeatable/ automatic process

Alright, I know we just threw a vocabulary term at you. But it’s pretty simple. A repeatable process is a set of actions that can be easily duplicated. It’s a productivity workflow. Here are the main takeaways:

  • Understand the main goals and objectives of your work
  • Document this process
  • Identify any factors that slow down this process
  • Focus on fixing these factors to close your productivity gaps
  • Apply this knowledge to any future processes.

This is a big concept in high-level project management positions. Apply it to your business, of course. But why not apply it to your family life too?

Step 4: Invest in resources to help you

Buy that accounting software so you don’t have to spend hours with a spreadsheet. Invest in that CRM to speed up your marketing.

It’s just as important to invest in resources to support YOU! Invest your time in a like-minded community that can help you sort through the chaos, and boost your morale when you have an off week.

 Figuring this out won’t be easy. It can be emotional.

Storytime!

A client recently shared a struggle with me.

She had taken her daughter to the playground. She played with her for a while, monkeying around on the jungle gym before her daughter found a group of kids to play with. So she sat down on a shady bench and decided to take the opportunity to check her email. She was surprised to see her inbox held 3 new client inquiries! She excitedly began to read the messages when her daughter ran up to her and said “Mommy! I want to play with you again.” How could she resist that adorable face?

We’d been working togather for a few months, so she knew the value of distinguishing family time and work time. So she put her phone down and joined her daughter on the playground.

She was filled with anxious excitement about having scored 3 new clients. But she pushed those feelings aside until her daughter’s scheduled hour of Paw Patrol later that afternoon.

Usually, her daughter could independently enjoy her screen time.  But for some reason, today was different. As she headed off into her office, her daughter asked,

“Mommy, where are you going? I want you to watch Paw Patrol with me!” She paused the show. She sat down and patiently explained to her 3-year-old that she needed to work.

“Why?” she asked in that toddler way.

“Because Mommy needs to work to pay for this nice place to live and for the delicious food we eat”

“But I don’t like it when you work”

“I know honey, but I work hard because I love you. And after your show is over we can play togather again”

This was a tough moment for my client. But I was so proud of her. I could certainly empathize with how hard it was to walk away from her daughter at that moment. But she successfully established boundaries. It was the only way she could be fully present during their playtime. It also turned into a teachable moment for her daughter! And she was able to show her toddler the results of hard work.

My client was successful at this moment, but it was still pretty emotional. I was glad she had a supportive community to turn to.

You’re not meant to figure this out alone.

Of course, we’re biased, but our Facebook community is brimming with incredible women.

5k Sales Slay Mindset

5k Sales Slay Mindset

Let’s talk about your mindset – Helping you to understand that… I’ve been having conversations with other academy folks and others that are professionals in the area who are probably at say 0-5 years, maybe 1-5 years away from retirement, they’re near that stage. What I was explaining to them is the mindset of how we were taught to go to school, get our education, and to go work for people. Using all of our intellectual property  to hit 5k! We have to refrain from what it was that we were taught and the environment that we were given where when we show up or when we do things for other companies or other places that are not our own… we’re able to create that 5k days, we just don’t see it. We don’t see how many hundreds and thousands and millions of dollars that they bring in based on our own work. So when we hear 5ks we’re like “Oh my God, that’s a lot, it feels overwhelming, it feels like I got to do a lot”. Not realising that the places we’ve been working for or the companies we’ve given our time to, or organisations that we’ve done, they’ve been bringing in that amplitude of ridiculous amounts. 

I want you first to understand that you, as your own brand – you’re creating, developing, and growing your own company.  You need to wake up with that number everyday because that helps you get activated, get you moving, that makes you feel like 5k. In my tribe, some of their mindsets are 5k for the month, 5k a day, 5k weekly, or 5k for a quarter. What’s important is you get to decide. Not me, not your husband, or your mama, but YOU. 

The goal of major companies, rather successful companies, is that they know what their numbers are. They know their KPIs, they know the things they have to do to get there, and we were trained to know how to get into jobs and make sure we do their work. When I was young and I started working at McDonalds, I knew if I wanted to get my paycheck at the end of the week, I had to go in. I had to make sure I understood the menu, I had to make sure I’m engaging well with the people, I had to make sure that I’m showing up on time. All of the routines and rituals that I learn in their brand, I had to make sure that I did that too. 

So why shouldn’t we have that same acumen with our own brand? What are we creating for ourselves?

It’s because of how we were taught, how we were structured coming up. Our parents who didn’t know better before told us to go in, do well, get that degree, move towards where you need to work, and then go work for others! And it’s not a bad thing, it’s just that they didn’t know better, we didn’t know better. So we’re out here putting all of our time and energy to create the flow of money for all these other people. Meanwhile, our intellectual property works between our years of experience. So the things and time we put into things wherein we’re gaining knowledge is for us now to go out there and do it for ourselves. 

I’m being super intentional about sales because “Sales” is a dignified conversation. So if you’ve been running away from sales, or if it is just something that makes you feel icky – it’s okay because I’ve been there. And there’s no judgement, this is just owning. If you have an unhealthy relationship with money and sales, then we’re going to start working on that this month. Why?  Because I want to see your business on and popping like the people and the companies we’ve worked for before. I want to know that I’m coming in celebrating your opening, I want to celebrate your million-dollar mark. I want to celebrate you activating your intellectual property, activating your experience, your genius so you can have your 5k-day slays or 5k minute slays (like you know hour slays). All the things that we have, the capacity to do. I want to celebrate you doing it. 

These are also one of the reasons why I’m going to be focusing on teaching my tribe how to do smaller events. Helping them understand the event system for their business: how everything doesn’t have to be super big. Like, you need this big conference but you don’t need to have millions of people on your list. And also, you do need to know how to activate, the strategy, and the systems. I will help you to know how to make it easy for yourself. 

Join me and my tribe as we want to do it with more feminine attraction, we want to do it in our space of abundance, our happy space — Click the link here to join.

How to handle “No Shows”

How to handle “No Shows”

Today, I scheduled an interview with one of my fellow mompreneur at the academy. In case you don’t know, our tribe focuses on a certain amount of public relations touches each month. It’s part of our strategic plan (Hence, the reason why I want you in there). 

So how do you handle no-shows? When you have things scheduled – whether they’re clients, whether they’re interviews, whether they’re people who you’re supposed to meet up with. How do you deal with the moment of rejection? Because honestly, that’s what it feels like. I remember when I first got into this game of being an entrepreneur, being out there increasing my visibility that initially when I would get the no-shows. And you know what? I would take that as a shot to my heart, like a shot to my heart literally which left questioning myself “Oh my God! What’s wrong with me? Is there something wrong with me? Did my breath smell?” It’s like I’lI be ready and then when no one shows up I begin to question myself (let me know if this has happened to you too). 

It’s also the reason why I posted it on all of my social media and here on my website. (I’ll be real, I never posted it because I didn’t think it was a teaching lesson.)  And I also realised today that you all need to know that I get “no-shows” too. That I would schedule things, I’d clear my calendar, I’d shift things around (skipping my morning bike-ride), and shifting my whole life aside for this interview that did not show. So I’m going to keep it real with you, I was salty. I was like: “I ain’t rescheduling, this is unprofessional, they should’ve at least let me know in an email.” But I’ve also learned that things happen and that we have to have a forgiving spirit to a space where we don’t take everything so personally. So how do we handle it when it happens? Here’s some 3 tips on how you can handle it:

 First, don’t take it personal. It’s not anything directed towards you, it doesn’t mean you’re a horrible person, it doesn’t mean that there’s something wrong with you. It’s just on the other end, unexpected things happen. 

Second, have grace. Have grace in space because sometimes it’s you. I literally have grace in space because sometimes it could be me.  Like I remember from my show “Dr Ali Griffith’s Mindset Meditation and Motivation” when I am revamping it this summer, (somebody holds me accountable) I want to record 20 recordings over the summer (21 if I’m feeling froggy). Aside from revamping, I also want to theme-launch Legacy Brand Academy because our Anthology is coming out! So I say all that to have grace with the space because I remembered when I was a host and unexpected things happened. I’d have to cancel those things I planned in advance and sometimes I may not even be near a space where I can send an email. I really feel horrible at those times… 

This happens also for my clients when I had my sessions. I mean, I would like to say my hit rate in terms of making my sessions for my clients is about 90%. So when the person who was on the other end didn’t show up, I followed up with them and try to make adjustments to make up for our lost session. I don’t play with their sessions unless something has happened in my life, I shifted some sessions during our family — going through the process with my papa Roy. But other than that, I honor time. I think I honor time so much that if I tell you I’m going to be someplace, I’m going to be someplace. I’m not that person you have to double check to see if I’m coming. Once I say I’m coming, once I put it into my calendar I will be there. But life happens and when life happens I want people to have grace with me. So if I want them to have grace with me, then I have to have grace with them. 

Lastly, redirect the time. Once your face is beat, once you’re feeling ready for it then record your own stuff. Now is the time for you to turn on the camera, create those reels, create that landing page video, create that thank you page video, there’s a whole list of videos that we all should have a standard video. Go to that list and start creating, because you’re already ready, and now you can’t use the excuse that you don’t have time, because you had a whole half an hour blocked out in your schedule for that interview, so now get to it! “Get to it!” that’s what I tell myself, “Get to it, get to it Ali!” So y’all go see a tiktok with this dress on, you’re going to see a video with this dress and earrings — look at it now. Because we’re going to repurpose the time. So a no-show is not necessarily a no-go, it is time for you to focus on you, and focus on your brand, and what can you do with that at the same time. 

The Secret to Consistency with my clients and Predictable Growth Revenue

The Secret to Consistency with my clients and Predictable Growth Revenue

I just got off a call and it was actually an accountability pod call with some of my clients in my academy. They were sharing some of the things that they’re working on next. I began to think about some of the growth I’ve seen, some are consistent growth across the pattern. I’m saying “pattern” because sometimes it has to be a pattern for you to notice what is the system in the process. 

Now, on a scale of 1-10. Tell me, are you being consistent with your business? Everything’s running smoothly? I want you to keep it REAL. It’s okay if you’re not consistent, not everything’s going according to your plan and this is a very common pattern I noticed as a coach of CEOs. Not having strength, consistent progress, and growth for their business is one of the common struggles as a business owner.

And thanks for keeping it real! To be honest, being consistent is one of the things that is super challenging. Especially for moms, busy moms, and moms that have special needs children. This is also applicable for professionals out there who are trying to juggle everything!

When we’re trying to juggle everything, one of the balls are always dropping. And when it happens, it makes it harder for us to have that consistency in our life and in our business. (Real recognizes real, right?)

If you’ve been following me for months, either on facebook or instagram, emails, blogs, You know that I am consistent. 

You know that you’ll see something from me almost every single day. You’ll see me showing up in my business or just sharing my life. And if you want to see the books I published, you’ll see the backend of my system. The growth and revenue on my business are consistent as well as my client’s business too. 

Some of the things we notice are the biggest & most common challenge: it is when things happen that derail us. Those Unpredictable moments.

When something unpredictable happens, a lot of us tend to fall by the wayside and we have to be okay with that, sis! We got to be okay with the fact that everything can’t be 100% okay. 

So here’s the number one secret for consistency… Are you ready?? Ready for consistent revenue & growth?

This is something I had to find out. It was a hard lesson for me to find out. The number one lesson is making sure that I celebrate my baby wins. (And y’all expecting something gigantic, right? lol) BUT baby wins matter! It matters because sometimes we forget to celebrate the little steps, the little things we get to accomplish. The little course that we’ve made between where we were a few years ago compared to where we are now. You should always break it down from work -to family – to business. Remember, there’s no such thing as balance. What’s important is you make it work!

I gave up balance a long time ago when my coach, Lisa Nichols, said “There’s no such thing as balance but there’s something we call harmony.” – that clears up everything.

I stopped trying to get the same amount of time spent with my family, work, and business because it’s not true. What I focused on is having the concentrated effort to make sure that you’re touching in the specific areas that are super important to you and to your future. 

In case you didn’t know, I’m a legacy-driven coach and I speak a lot of pop-up shops BUT I also believe in taking time. 

I don’t believe that we need to do everything in a rush but I do believe that we should take the time to instil one step at a time to avoid being overwhelmed.

We’ll feel overwhelmed when we keep on trying to do so much that we can do in a day. My son, Zachary, is my best teacher. He’s the one that has helped me to slow things down and to create consistent steps. Meaning: I’m going to take a step today and maybe another step tomorrow. But by the next 2 or 3 days, there’ll be another step. Some days, when we have the energy and momentum then we can take a few steps on those days. 

But we should always be okay on those days when we’re not floating high or on the days that a lot is going on. We should know our body and know when we are operating in higher vibrations and when we are not. If we’re not, those are not the times to focus on those specific things.