152. Having Babies While Running a Business

Yael Bendahan is a business and marketing mentor for mom entrepreneurs who want to create consistently growing income and hit 6-figures PLUS with simple, scalable offer suites and “mom-viable” marketing. She specializes in helping her clients unblock the mindsets that are holding them back and create businesses that are aligned with their lives and families with her proven CEO MOMS Method! Rebbetzin Bat-Chen Grossman is a marriage coach for women in business. In her LIVE show and the "Connected For Real" Podcast, she interviews amazing women to enhance all the parts of our life: Specifically the four pillars: G-d, Marriage, Business, & You. Join them in talking all about birth and business.

 

 Welcome to the Connected For Real podcast. I'm Rebbetzin Bat-Chen Grossman, a marriage coach for women in business. And my mission is to bring God's presence into your life, into your marriage and into your business. Let's get started. 

 And we are  live. Welcome everyone to the connected for real podcast. I'm Rebbetzin Bat-Chen Grossman. I'm a marriage coach for women in business. And today with me is Yael Bendahan. And we're talking about birth and business because there's so much to say about it. And because Yael is the owner.

Ultimate person to be talking about this. So yeah, I'll introduce yourself to everyone. Why you're so awesome. And then we'll get right into it. Oh so I pretty much, I always joke that like I kind of birthed the business in between two of my kids cause I started my business. It's gosh, seven years ago, what year is it?

Yeah. Like seven, I think like 2016, 2017, something like that. Yeah. Like that, I think about like summer 2017 ish being a virtual assistant because I had a one year old basically.   And  my oldest was six. We had four kids. So my oldest was, was seven or something. And we realized at that point that like we'd gotten to the place where  one income was no longer going to.

Was no one gonna cover things and I was like, well, I didn't even graduate high school So what do you want me to do? like and I and the idea of sending my baby out full time to get a job that would  maybe like cover that and Maybe a little bit more  it just felt like not an option for me. And so  I was like, you know, obviously Googling, you know, things you can do, you can do from home, you know, and I tried a whole bunch of different stuff, but I kind of started doing virtual assisting for bloggers after I tried blogging myself and learned all the skills and then realized it's gonna take a long time to really get my blog to the place where I was making like a decent income.

And my friend who was also a blogger was like, well, why don't you just be a virtual assistant for bloggers? You know how to do all the things anyways, just like do their stuff for them. And I was like, Oh, like you can do that. And that's kind of how I started like in 20,  17 is 2016. Oh my God.  Yeah, 2017, 2017. my baby was about one and a half at the time.  And that was kind of like how I got started down this, down this path of  being into  online business and online marketing. And I just couldn't really geek out over it. And I started doing it as, you know, doing Facebook ads for people and then building sales funnels and running their launches and things like that until I got pregnant with my, my baby. 

for and then I realized that actually the way I'd been building my business was not a very sustainable way to build a business because it was all really dependent on me. I was offering  so many different services and I was like hiring like as needed. , it was not conducive to, to having a baby.

Like I was doing discovery calls all evening and I was like, well, I have a baby, like, I don't know what I'm going to put the baby to bed. Like every night,  I can't do this anymore, you know? And so I shifted into doing like teaching service providers,  how to grow their businesses,  how to get more visible.

And during that time during my pregnancy, I actually productized my service based business to the point where I probably could have continued doing it after I had the baby, but then I realized that I just really enjoyed the coaching much more. So once she was born, she was born July, 2020, I basically just shut down the service side of my business and I went all in on coaching and courses and things like that.

And that's what I've been doing. And I just had  my sixth baby, another little boy I have. Five boys and that one girl. So my baby's three months old now. And and yeah, that's, that's what I've been doing. I've been basically teaching moms how to build their businesses alongside their babies in a way, like basically the way that I didn't do it, like the lessons I learned from that and how I was able to rebuild it when I was pregnant, that's kind of what I teach them now is how to productize their services enough so that it can streamline and And really just then, then use that as their base to expand their offer suite and be able to make more, I don't want to say passive income, cause never really passive, but I guess more leveraged income from other offers.

So that's what I do. And yeah, here I am. That's super fun. So just to give you guys context, this is a perfect time to be doing this podcast because just like you said, she has a baby. I also had my baby almost six months ago. And when we were both pregnant, we scheduled this thing. It's like we need to get around to it.

We should do that when we were going to record when we were both pregnant so that we could batch and not have to think about it. But  I think this is way better because now we can tell them how it actually worked out and what we learned from the experience. Both of us really prepared our businesses for our births and then for having a baby and running our business.

So that's really a fun part of it. Conversation to be having especially since it's perfect timing for both of us  100 percent and I'm actually really glad because I had a lot of plans before And then I realized then I and I had a baby during my you know I had a baby during my business and and so I was like, oh, I know how it's gonna go Like I know how it's gonna go.

I know how I'm gonna feel like after I had my daughter I went back to coaching I feel like six weeks cuz I was  so excited to get back into Calls with my clients and for some reason I cannot I'm casting my mind back I cannot remember how I was doing coaching coaching calls in the evening when I had a very unpredictable newborn.

I don't even know. I don't remember, but this time it was very, very different. And because obviously, because of everything's been going on in the past year and the pregnancy and everything. And we had, we just had a bar mitzvah as well. Like it's been a very, very, very crazy year. And I, I just really needed to take a beat and rest a lot more than I realized I would before I had the baby.

And so I'm actually glad we're doing this now because I had like a lot of  ideas, like how things were going to go. And then they didn't necessarily go that way. And like, I'm like, okay, that's good. But that, that's the whole point. Like, that's why I built my business the way it did. So  it can handle that.

Right. Because you don't know how things are going to go, especially when you're a mom, you never know anything's going to go. Really. Like, anything can happen at any time. You know, your kid can come down with mono and then be out of school for a month. Like, you don't know. Like, anything can happen.  So I'm really glad that we're, we're  kind of like looking back rather than like, trying to like, this is what we're doing to plan, but who knows, you know?

Right, right. And and also I didn't tell you guys who are listening, but yeah, I'll said, this is her sixth. So for my, for me, it's my eighth and my oldest is turning 18. I know  everybody like hold yourself back from crying. I love her and she's just like growing up and I'm like,  you really want her. 

Hold on and and just grab these little moments though. You really do it. I think  yeah And I think I appreciate like I enjoyed the baby stage so much more with each one because like I know what's coming  It's just very very different You know having big kids and but I also I'm like having a baby with it with big kid I can my first four very very close together like all about two years apart And so having a baby with older kids is so much more fun than, you know, I'm like, I mean, the first few, like few weeks I was, I had like  Try to get him back from people.

I'm like, please let me just feed him. You know,  they were like, no, you want to hold him, you know? And so, and now, I mean, obviously the newness has worn off a little bit, but, it's amazing. It's amazing. And everyone's like, oh, you know, I don't have big girls. I was, I was the oldest girl in my family and we had like a few girls first.

And then, so my mom had a lot of help when she had my youngest brother, but  you know, even with the boys, the boys are  Obsessed with him and it's so sweet to see  you know, these big teenage, you know, macho kind of like like grunty sort of boys  turn into like these like melting like marshmallows  as soon as they  look at the baby and  it's actually It really helps me see them Like see that that side of them more, which really helps me as a mom.

I don't feeling very frustrated with them because I'm like they have, they do have a very loving kind side. Sometimes I don't necessarily see it, but it exists and they will show it to the right people. So that is very reassuring. Yes. Yes. You know, my mother, when I was growing, my mother always said, they always told me that it gets easier after the third.

But, and I tried having  my third first, but it didn't work,  you know, so I, I always thought this like, okay, so it must be true, you know,  and  it really is. It really is so much easier because as soon as you have a 12 year old that is responsible enough in the house. It is a life changing experience.

Yeah. First of all, for me, it's having someone to talk to on an adult level. You know, if a teenager is already like having real questions and real things, and they want to know about real life and we're talking about things that aren't just like what color is this? And you know, how many are there? And you know, like, what do you want for dinner? 

Yeah. Regular baby stuff. And I think once I had that experience, like you said it, you're enjoying the baby stage a lot more. So for me, I think it's also my, my inner work. Like I wasn't as patient with just being, I was always trying to do, do, do, and you know, and  be something. And now it's just like, I just am.

And I'm holding a baby, and I don't need to do anything. It's so fun to just be, you know, because of all the work I've gone through. Yeah, 100%. And also same, and same with like just the baby stages as well. Like with my older ones, I was so desperate for them to like, just until they can do this, until they can do that, until they're gonna sleep through the night, until they're gonna, you know, I'm like always trying to like look to the next milestone.

Like when are they gonna, when are they gonna, when are they gonna, right? And like, And I, I never, I'm very, very type a person. So I found the newborn stage so, so difficult because I was like, there's no rhyme or reason to it and you can ever like, you can try to make your routine, but the babies don't want to listen, you know, and like, it was very, very stressful for me.

And like with my last two, especially, I'm like,  I just enjoyed the stage so much, and I'm like, Yeah, I'm like, okay, so they're taking a nap, and whatever, it's 45 minutes, or like, Okay, so they're, you know, they're waking up, and I'm like, I don't even care! Like, I don't care, it's just, it's such a short, short, short time.

Like, I'm like, I feel like he was just born, he's already three months old, and he's like, smiling, and trying to roll over, and interacting with everybody, and everything, and I'm like,  This passes so quickly. And like with each, and we said, I found, I sound like such an old fogey. Cause you're like, Oh, I'm dreaming a little, you know?

And I can't even say that to people because people said it to me and I wanted to punch them in the nose. Right. But like,  I really, really do. Like I'm able to like, enjoy the process instead of looking ahead towards like, what's, what's coming next, what's coming next, what's coming next, because like, because I'm very like a chiever kind of like. 

mentality. But like with babies, like the fact that I can just enjoy, like just enjoy the journey is so much nicer. And I'm just enjoying, I'm like, I'm like, when I had my daughter, I felt the same way. Like I was just, I would just sit there with her at night, you know, normally by six months, I would like sleep train them.

Like I'd say you have to sleep through the night. And I was like, okay, we'll give her a little more time. And like, you know, it's going to be okay.  And I was just like, I was never like this. I'm like, I want to Five more kids like this because now I know what it's like  to just be and to just enjoy them the way it is, you know, my husband's maybe not so on board with five more kids like this, but like,  but I'm like, this is so much fun.

This is so, this is such a better way to do it, but like, I didn't even know because I needed that perspective. As a mom of more kids, in order to be able to understand this, like, I wish you could understand it with your first view, but you really can't. And  even if people tell you, it doesn't help because you're still not going to feel it. 

I think it's, it's like, you know, you can't skip any part of the journey. You can't bypass it. the growth, right? So, it's like, we wish we weren't first time moms with all the anxiety and all the things, whatever. But, like, you have to go through it in order to figure out what works for you and what doesn't and what you like and what you don't like and how you like to do things and giving yourself permission to just be yourself and be your, your type of mom and whatever, right?

Like, You have to go through it. You can't skip it. So that's something that I think is is just really fun to notice, you know,  let's get into how does your,  how did you prepare your business for having a baby?

And what advice can you give other people who are in that situation?  So, well, there's, I mean, there's like low, there's so many ways, right. And I, again, like I was planning on batching a lot more before I had him. And then I just, I just couldn't because. Because it wasn't like my life just slowed down, you know, it was like we're coming down to the end of the year It was like towards the end of the school year because he was born in June He's actually born on my birthday on June 20th  I was due two days before my birthday and I was like wouldn't that be funny if I had a baby on my birthday and Then I did so that was really funny So we're coming towards the year There's a lot of stuff going on like with the kids with everything  and I was getting a bunch of stuff from ready.

 It was just not enough time to do as many things as I wanted to do. And I'm like, okay, it's fine. Because there's a certain level of, because I don't do as many interviews and stuff like on my podcast, for example,  I've done like occasional ones with my clients, but I don't do like a ton.

And so I very much like to have my podcast be like in real time and like very, like very, up to like, like what's going on right now. Right.  I don't want it to be like stuff that I batched like three months ago. That is not relevant anymore. You know, to like what I'm doing  at the moment. And so what I did do was I just, I did like a decent amount of repurposing.

 And that's the thing when you're not pregnant, right. When you're not in crisis mode, right. Or when you're not like in a time where you want to take off. Like to me, it's very, very important to be able to stay as consistent as possible. Because when you do that, then you can just take stuff and reuse it again.

Right? Like you don't need to be creating new stuff all the time. So when I did want to send out emails, I did repurpose some stuff. I sent out my newsletter. I sent out, like I did a roundup of like old podcast episodes that I think people would really enjoy, right. And things like that. I also, because I really wanted to grow my audience throughout the summer.

I didn't want to deal with like ads and like having to deal with like turning eyes on and off. Like, were they working or they're not working?  I knew I was not going to have the mental capacity to even deal with that. And so I organized ahead of time to grow my email list, like a lot of collaborations.

I was part of a big summit with Gemma Bonham Carter, who was,  So it's called the AI Unlocked Summit. And I talk about how I use AI to produce my podcast.  And so I got, I don't know, like a few hundred subscribers, like just from that. And, and then a bunch of different bundles and giveaways and things where, you know,  this wasn't hard for me to do.

I did not have a VA at the time. I,  Some stuff happened and I just didn't have any support at the time. Like when I, when I had my baby, cause I, and I didn't have the, because it was too close to having a baby. I did not have the, again, the mental energy to like, try to find someone new and try to train them in.

It just didn't,  it wasn't, it wasn't there. And so I was like, Hey, what can I do with like minimal. To no support. I borrowed my friend's VA to send out like call reminders for my clients. Cause they were doing coworking calls with my co coach and things like that. So I was like, can I just pay you just to like, do that, like, just to make sure that those are going out, like, look at my calendar, see when they are.

I send them ahead of time and the links. So I don't have to even deal with that. Right. So that was really, really important. And then once that was taken care of I did not put a lot of pressure on myself to continue putting out Like proper content on my feed. I did do a lot of stories.

I did like stories kind of behind the scenes. Here's what's going on. Here's what's happening. Cause that was like more  Keeping people in touch with what was going on for me I sent out at least one email a week because I was part of the different collaborations Plus i'd probably send out another one with like previous content that I already created, right?

so it was very much like taking And leveraging what I already had because i'm like i've put in so much work into creating content for so many years  There's no reason why I should have to, like, pressure myself into creating new stuff when I have a baby,, it makes no sense. And so that was really, like, you know, looking back, I have, I have Google Docs and Google Docs and Google Docs of content that I've already written and created.

And yeah, this is exactly what I'm doing right now. No, I can change it. I can change the little details of what's going on in my life. and resend it. So that's like probably my biggest tip is like when you're not pregnant or if you're thinking about doing it or you're thinking about taking time off or having kids, like that's when you should be showing up consistently because that's the stuff that you can then reuse if you don't have the time to create extra new stuff for when you are going off.

So that's, that's one thing that I was like, I was like, Oh, I'm planning to batch my podcast for like a week. For two months and I didn't I didn't do it because I was like forget it  I recorded a couple in real time with my baby like in my lap basically after he was born and now i'm back to recording my podcast and it's like a thing now like I will do it Around his mid morning his mid morning nap in the baby carrier and i'll you know Put him through the baby carrier and then I sit down here and I record my podcast and that's how i'm doing it because that's like my My time that I know I will have available with a quiet baby who can be like jiggled back to sleep real quick.

You know, if I see that he's waking up. And so that was like, the first thing is, is, is being able to show up   at your full capacity, whatever that capacity is, right. Whatever, if you have up to, if you're up at 60 percent and then showing up at 60 percent is like you're a hundred percent, right?

So it's not like, it's like showing up at like double, it's just showing up at the best you can when you're not  in this, Place you're not postpartum. You're not like, you know, first trimester pregnancy. You're not on vacation so that you can then take your stuff and use it again. And that, that I think is really, is really important.

And we kind of forget like, like, it's not just like showing up now and, and, and, you know, Getting visible now and marketing now and making sales now, but you're actually, you're showing up now isn't actually investing in the times when you're not going to be able to do that and to be able to reuse it again.

So that's like, I think really, really, really important. And people don't really think about it that way. And I think it's an important thing to keep in mind, not as a pressure, but just as a reminder, how important it is to be able to keep showing up as best as you can. Right. So for me, for my podcast, I sat down, I think it was January and maybe it was December planning the year   I printed out the entire year and, you know,  12 pages and I put a post it note on every single Monday and then I created a system of how my podcasts are going to be. 

So my entire program, by the way, is four pillars. There's God, marriage, business, and you.  And then I decided every topic is going to have a different angle. So we're talking about business. And birth, but we also have  marriage and birth, how birth affects your marriage. We have birth and God, like how you find God in birth and why God created birth and all these different things.

And then how birth affects you and you know, what you can do for yourself. So every single topic, we had money, we have food, we had,  renewal. That was like a really cool one. So any topic just from a different angle, that was really fun.

And then it also gave me a really easy structure for all of my podcasts. So anytime I spoke to a guest, I'd say, what speaks to you, and I just filled up the entire year within three months. Because  every topic was just so perfectly, you know, like every person fit in so perfectly into the little plan. 

I love that. It was so cool. It was so cool. So I already had, I have so many. People who wanted to be on the podcast and topics that worked really well, that we already have planned all the way until March of next year. It's like really crazy. That's amazing. And no, I love that. And that's to me, when I teach people how to do it, like.

 One of my best selling kind of topics sort of thing is I do a challenge called stand out and sell and I teach people how to create your signature framework. Right. Like how to, how to create a signature framework. I'm not just like for fun. So it's like, it's a cute thing to say.

Right. Cause I have like my CEO mom's method, which is M O M S. Right. And like, it's not, it's not that just that it's cute and it fits in with my brand. Right. But also it does, it makes planning what you want to talk about so much easier because all you need to do is just let, like, figure out like, like, Just like  take those, those big, big, big topics and then just break out like sub, like little mini subtopics  and like, that's all you, like, that's all you need is like, and the cool thing about that is if, if, if you're, if you're a signature offer, your signature service is, uses your signature framework, then everything that you talk about ties back to What you do and what you sell, right?

Whereas, and I'm not saying you can't just talk about things you feel like talking about, right? Like, you know, like I, for me, like mindset is a big part, right? So it's my, it's mom. So it's mindset offer marketing and systems, right? And so my, you know, a lot of the stuff that like, you know, I talk about CEO mindset and stuff like that.

And so a lot of things I'll talk about is, you know, what is the kind of mindset you need to have going into things, right? Like I have, I have a post on my Instagram right now. It was like, you know,  I was trying to send out an email about this  sale that I was doing and the tech completely failed me.

Like my email, like I wouldn't even load my email thing. And I was like, great, I'm gonna have to do this wholesale and social media. And that's not, that's not great numbers, you know, because of the algorithm, like you don't know how many people are going to see your stuff. Right. And like, here's what I did.

Here's what I didn't do. You know, like I did not, you know, totally panic and like be like, okay, that's it. My business is over and nothing's ever going to work again. You know, here's what I did.  I refreshed it a few times. I posted some like mini, like, you know, what I would have put in my email on my Instagram stories.

Had a glass of wine with my husband, pumped and went to bed. I was like, okay, I'll figure it out in the morning. Like that was it.  And so like the cool thing is like all that ties back  to my pillars and that's what makes it so much simpler. Like when I say, having a signature framework makes everything simpler. It does. Like when I plan out my content for the year and I have like my it's funny, I just, just finished creating my mini course called my mom, Bible marketing method. And it literally teaches how to  take your signature framework and break out, your topics that you can really sell anything that you create, but anything that you talk about can tie back to your signature offer.

And it makes it like, it just really, really, really simplifies it. So, so, so much. And, and it's, and it's great. Cause like you said, you can plan this. in advance, like way ahead of time. And I, and I love that. Like it's so, it's, it makes it, it makes it very, very  simple, like not, I hate, simple does not mean easy, but simple in a way  To know what you're going to be talking about and how you're going to be bringing things back to, to what you're doing.

Because anything I talk about on my, on my podcast, like when I have an idea, odds are it's going to fall into one of my pillars and I'll be like, okay, how do I tie it back? You know? And like, that's what I'm going to talk about. Right. So.  It's, it's amazing.  I actually have a, I have an episode coming up.

Like I plan to have an episode coming up, I think, I think in November  about entrepreneurship and marriage. Cause that's like a huge thing that's been coming up for my clients. It came up like a lot of stuff for me. You know like it's not, it's not easy to be an entrepreneur and to be married to someone who's not an entrepreneur because there's, there's like definitely like a disconnect, like.

You know, mental, like, mindset about this kind of thing, right? And how do you work through it?  How do you figure it out? And sometimes people don't figure it out, right? And so like, there's, and again, that's a big part of the mindset piece as well. You know, it's like, what's, how are you going into this?

How are you discussing it? How are you, you know,  so I love that and it's, it's really fun because, it really is all just connected. Like it's connected. Like, like it is connected. And if you want to come on your podcast and tell all your people about the call method, because that's really what I talk about.

My specialty is the marriage in the business. So how do you balance the marriage and the business for God's sake, right? It's all, it's all for God anyway. So let's make it all work. I would love that. That's actually, it's funny because I was actually like looking, I've been, I've been Totally forgot about you, which is a horrible thing to say, but I was like, I really need to get some, like, I can talk about it, like, from my perspective.

I'm like, here's what I think is going on. But  I'm not a marriage expert. Like I've been married for almost 16 years, which is bananas. Yeah.  I'm like, you know, like every time I think about it, I'm like, I was 18 and I got married. My husband was 19 and we were so close to being married for longer than we were not.

You know, and it's kind of nuts like when I actually think about it, but thank God. Yeah.  It is. It's very cool. It's very, very cool. So that is my expertise. And actually when I niched down to do marriage and business and that intersection, I realized Very quickly that I'm the expert, just the fact that nobody else is talking about it and it really, it gave me so much. 

Well, you know, obviously it was like, Oh my gosh, what am I doing here? And then it was like, wait, I can actually show up and I got courage and started talking about it. And  I became the expert very, very quickly, I think because of the experience I had, you know, because I was.  Noticing that a lot of people around me and myself also were creating more and more distance because they were succeeding and their husbands were not.

Or they were making it and their husbands were still frustrated with whatever they were, you know, dealing with. You know, in the old fashioned marriages, the guy was on top and the woman was on bottom and the advice was empower the women so they could be equal. But the empowerment movement really sort of Pushed us ahead,  and now the woman's on top, the guys are at the bottom, and the more empowered you are, the more distant you get. 

And so empowering isn't the answer necessarily, but disempowering isn't the answer either. Right. Because that's not going to get you anywhere, you know? So how do we create a situation where you can? Improve your marriage and really create more connection and have more intimacy and just feel really good being married and not feel bad being successful, not having to turn the volume on yourself off or lower because you are afraid to step on his toes or hurt his feelings or, you know,  you know, poke his ego or whatever.

Like we don't want that elephant in the room. We just want to be happy together, you know? Yeah. And that, that feeling of like,  I'm building the business so I can have the freedom to be with my family and  the people I love. And then realizing that the thing you built in order to have that is actually creating the distance is so frustrating that it self-sabotage is the business.

And then you're even more frustrated because now you're not successful at anything, you know? Right. Yes, I was thinking, I was thinking that because it's, it's, I think that also like in order to grow a business, you also have to grow a lot personal. I can do a lot of personal growth, right. As a person.

Right. And, and I think that when one person is doing a lot of personal growth and the other person is, is not, they're not getting worse. They're just staying where they were. Right. Because that was fine. That was fine before. They're just staying where they were. Right. But then like, there's like this sort of level of like,  I mean, I outgrew the other person, you know, and, and so, and so really like what really ended up having to happen, like with me and my husband for sure is like,  We realized this was happening and we were like,  well, we have two choices, right?

We can either just accept that we're just growing apart. And then at some point, you know, the kids all grow all grown up and then we have nothing to do with each other. And then we just,  you know, or we can just make an, a concerted effort  to come back together because if, if, because if we were not, if we didn't make any effort, it was just going to keep going. 

Like an escalator kind of going in two directions, you know, like where it's like, and so, there's been a lot of  active work in communicating with each other better.  and then explaining the reasons behind why we feel certain things instead of just like saying, well, I just think this and, you know, like.

You know, and, and really, really listening to the other and as like a very like control freak, you know, type a sort of person, right. And I'm like, it has to be like this and that's it, you know, like, like not wanting to listen to his side, because obviously I'm right. Okay. I'm also oldest daughter. So  I feel like I must be right.

Like, otherwise. Otherwise, like, everything's gonna fall apart, right? And so, and I had to learn to like, listen and to like, respect his point of view, you know, as well, even though like, I felt like I'd done more research about this, or I must know better than this, right? And then, I was like, oh, actually like, he actually has a really good point of view, and he's actually right, just from his instinct, he didn't have to do all the research to get to that point, he just knew what was the right thing to do.

And like, there was so, you know, and thank God, it's been, you know,  You know, amazing how even over the past year or so, like even like as, you know, while I was pregnant and after having this baby, like you were able to really come closer together in a really beautiful way, which was  better than I ever even hoped for, you know?

 And it was just, it's, it's so amazing. I think that, you know, very much like if you're able to stop and listen to the other person here, why they're feeling certain ways and, and, and, you know, make, make a point to, you know, even actively change things on your side. You know, and not be like, Oh,  you can't make me, you can't make me do anything.

You know? Cause like, that's the tendency. Like, that's my tendency to be like, well, don't tell me like how to, you know, like, I'm the way I am and you can't like change me,  you know, and I'll decide if I want to change, if I want to change, you know, but but being able to  really listen and respect and I hate, like, and there's always like, oh, you know, you have to respect your husband and you know, I'm like, obviously I respect my husband, right.

But I'm like, yeah, but maybe I wasn't really, maybe I wasn't respecting, maybe I was respecting him like in theory, but, in practice, like he would give his opinion. I'd be like, oh no, but no, and I would, I'd be like, okay, I'm listening, but I'm not really listening. And  it was not easy thing to see that about myself.

And I was like,  Wow, you know, like you thought you were right all the time and obviously you're not, right?  But being able to realize that and accept that about myself and and  make an active effort to Slow down and like listen even like that. That was my one thing this year was to stop having knee jerk reactions  And  it's become like comical almost.

So that'll just say things to see, like, to get me to, you know, like I was thinking we should build a chicken coop in the garden and I was like,  that sounds like a really interesting idea. What are you thinking about building?  Why, why do you think we need a chicken coop in the garden? And, and can we talk about that?

Because I really don't want our garden to look like a chicken coop. Yard sale. So how can we maybe not make that happen? You know? And like, and it's so funny cause he, you know, he, he thinks it's really funny cause like, he'll just say things  to see me like open my mouth and then like, be like, 

tell me more about that.  And like, to me like that, I really just like, if that was the one thing I could change about myself this year, like that would, that would be enough for me. I think that just like, just that one thing was just changing my initial,  shut down and be like, no,  and usually because of fear, cause I'm afraid of, you know.

Things changing. I'm a very, like, I like things to be like organized and systemized. And that's, that's how I am. And that's why I'm good at  teaching things like this for business. But if I'm worried that someone's gonna come in and like, you know, put a spoke in the wheels, I'm like, I, I, I like, I have to like defend.

The, the system, because if the system isn't working, then it must mean that I'm not working. And he means all kinds of stuff about you.  And that has like changed  everything, everything, like his attitude towards the business and my attitude towards him  and our parenting together as a team.

And it's been  really, really amazing.  If there's like one thing,  I would say, like, that would probably be the one, the one thing is like,  just stop the knee jerk reaction and like take a beat and that one thing  that that changed like everything for me as as a wife and as a mom also because with my kids come to me and say ridiculous things  I Have to also be like,  you know, mommy  I want to build a car and I'm like, okay, you're 10. 

All right. Wow. That's a great idea. Building a car. Like,  how do you think you can build a car? Like what are you planning on using to build the car? You know,  it's like, and, and no, and, and I really see that the kids really appreciate it because like, then they can like tell me all their ideas and I'm like, wow, that's like, that is so cool. 

So interesting, like, wow, it's really creative idea. Like I never thought about building a car. It's amazing that you think you can build a car, that you can visualize that, you know? And so like, that literally all it took for me was  to like stop my knee jerk reaction  and just pause. 

I think like that pause has changed my entire parenting and my entire like marriage  this past year. And, you know, which is really. It's really amazing. And I think the same thing happens when it comes to business ideas or business decisions or business stuff, right? Like, cause you can get like, either like, someone's like, Oh, you must have this new funnel.

You know? And you're like, I do. I need this new funnel. You know? And you're like, wait,  do I really need this new funnel? Like, just stop for a second and think about it. Like, do I really, really need this? Or does this just look really, really shiny and cool? You know? Right. And this is where having a coach is so helpful because you can just throw it back.

Be like, do I need this thing or do I stay on the path and just keep going where I was going until I heard about this thing?  A hundred percent. A hundred percent. So. Yeah, half my coaching is literally just saying, I want to do this, this, this, this, like, okay, I hear that.

All right. But  do you really need to do this, this, this, this, and this? But if you just started with this and this, and that probably would make a very, very big difference in your business. I'm like, yeah, that probably would make the biggest difference in my business. Right. And I can see that so clearly for my clients as well, but it's harder when it comes to your own stuff.

Cause you're so close to your own stuff. That's very hard to make  unbiased decisions about your own, about your own business. You know? Yes. Yes. I love that you're saying about how you like to protect the system and not have anything throw, anything in the wheels and then suddenly you're like, and then I had a baby, you know, which is like, we're talking about birth here and, you know, it's like, it's  like, you would think that this would be 

the biggest challenge to a business is having a baby because not only do you not know what to expect, you don't know how you're going to react. You don't know how you're going to be. You really can plan from here until tomorrow based on all the past experiences and blah, blah, blah. But at the end of the day, it really is the most unknown thing that you can, even if you've had kids before, because every baby is different and every birth is different and every postpartum is different,  a hundred   I feel like I re I'm rebirthing my business in a way. 

Yes. Like both times I had a baby. I also like re rebirth my business in a way, , because  I started my business with four kids. So like, I'm not, I don't count that necessarily. Right. But when I had my daughter, right, four years ago. I pivoted my whole business into coaching.

Cause like, that's what I really want to be doing. And it was great. And it was an amazing business model for me because of, because, because of the baby and because of the way it worked. I worked maybe two hours a day and that was like my biggest year to date. Like almost double, but I'd made the year before, you know?

And so I was like, okay, this is how I have to do things now with this baby.   Like when I was preparing for maternity leave and when I was preparing for my business, I actually like really, Help me see all the holes that had because my business model, my, my, we had a completely different business model now as it did before.

Right. And my kids had all been in school for a couple of years already. So I'd had like time to  kind of mess around and maybe not make the best use of my time necessarily. Like, and so that wasn't actually so like how many holes actually were in my business that I now realize I need to fill.

And I now have like a plan for my business that looks a little bit different than the plan I had before, because I'm like,  You know, I have so much like I've created  So many courses and so many trainings and so many things that I like sold once or twice and then like absolutely nothing with afterwards And I'm like that is just so silly and like now that I have my baby i'm like all I want to do all I want to do is just Sit on the floor with him and play with him.

That's all I want, you know and and then like get on calls my clients and  coach and  I really, really enjoy it and create some content and then just go off again and just play it on for my baby. Like, that's all I want to do. Right. So obviously like business is a little bit more than that. And I'm like, I don't want to have to have to show up live in order to make money anymore.

Like I want to be able to like show up live.  Part of the time, but also be able to just  not if I don't feel like it and still be able to make money. And I'm like, here you are with all these courses that you've created and all these trainings that you've created and all this stuff. And I'm like,  I'm now more than ever.

I'm like, okay, now I really, I've been pushing this off for years, but now I really can put these things into some, you know, some actual sales funnels that will actually make me money. You know, and I've been, I've been pushing it off because it's just easier to just show up and sell something new because it's more exciting and it's more, you know, and, and, and, and it's more like instantly gratifying because you show up, you make sales.

It's very, it's relatively quick, whereas building a funnel, you know, or building, you know,  writing email sequences to sell something or whatever, making a webinar, it takes more time and it's not as instantly gratifying. gratifying, right? But it does in the long, it is in the long run going to bring me closer to the business  that I want.

Right. So so that like, for me, it was like a big wake up call. Like when I had my baby, I was like, Oh, like, or before I had my baby, even I was like, wow,  here's where I probably could be making so much money that I haven't even been prioritizing because I've been so busy showing up live because I could.

And now I'm like, what if I can't? Like, what if I can't? You know, what if I just didn't, what if I didn't want to go back to work for six months? Right? Which is not the case. I really, like, I miss my clients a lot. You know, I came back after like about two  and a half months. No, not even. Like, about eight.

Yeah, maybe, like, maybe eight weeks when you have eight weeks ten weeks old. Yeah, two and a half months. And I started doing calls again, and it was amazing. You know, and I love it and I, and I, and I love showing up and coaching. But I didn't want my ability to make money to only be tied to my ability to show up and coach it.

Cause I needed to be able to take time off. I needed to. And and so I was just like, okay, like this is, this is good information. And now I know what I need to do with it. Because. I, you know, the baby, the baby is a baby like that happens, but other stuff happens in life. It's not just babies. Right.

 And so we need, I needed to have like that, you know, so now I'm like, wow, like  It just really opened, opened my eyes to like where I can plug those holes and where I can be  building in more Leveraged income on the side that I already had some but like not enough to my mind and I have like a certain goal I want to reach where I like I want to come into every month with the X amount coming in On autopilot without me having to do anything like if I did not show up and tell a single thing That's my goal, right?

And so now I'm like, okay now I know what the goal I'm working towards And it might take more time because I am, I have a baby at home and I'm very busy and I, you know, don't have a lot of time to sit uninterrupted and work, but like, it's okay. Cause  I have my goal now. Right. And so I think being open as well to things in your life happening and that showing you where you might need a pivot or change and like that being okay.

Like, I'm not saying you should be pivot every five minutes. Cause that's not pivoting. That's just like shiny object syndrome, but like being open to  the fact that the stuff that you maybe wanted before may not be the exact thing that you want afterwards. And that's okay.  You change as a person every time you have a baby. 

You really, really do. And like I said,  I want to just enjoy this time. I just want to revel in it because like they're, they're, they're little for such a short period of time,  you know? Yeah. It's like,  no, I mean,  I didn't want to get into it. I'm going to start crying. I'm like, I was looking at him last night and like he had turned around in his bed.

Like. 45 degrees  on his back. And I'm like, he's moving in his crib. Like,  like that's already like a step towards moving in general. And I'm like,  I'm like, he's getting so big. Why is he getting so big? And I was like,  he's only three months old. I calmed down. Like, I know. Every single day you open your eyes and you look at them and they've grown and it's like, how did that happen?

How do you grow so fast? You know, it's crazy. It's amazing.

   Hey, before we continue the episode, I want to ask you something. Are you ready to get answers from God directly? Feel more in love with your husband and more supported than ever? Run the business of your dreams without having to sacrifice any other part of your life? That is exactly what my one on one private coaching is for and I want to invite you, just you and me, For a free deep dive discovery call.

This is a 60 minute free call where I ask you lots of questions And we extract the three main things that are holding you back I then put together a personalized plan for you where I create a roadmap of recommendations With practical steps  the call is free and so valuable in itself. So go book yours today Now back to the show 

  

I've found one of the coolest things that I could do  thanks to my business is like in the middle of a session.  I'm just nursing a baby, you know, and I did that. I did that a couple, a couple of weeks ago. Yeah. And everything's fine.

Like I did it so many times  throughout the summer, my kids were at home, I had sessions, but you know, it was fine. My oldest daughter would bring, you know, my, actually my second one really liked doing this. She would change the baby and, you know, make her all, cute and whatever.

And then just hand her her, hand her over to me as I'm in the middle of talking. I'm just like, okay, Plug the baby and keep talking with one hand, you know, and it's so powerful for me, just that freedom to be able to continue doing the thing I'm doing. Now I have to pause everything because I have to nurse or not have to pause everything because I have to change a diaper, be able to just do it.

Oh, there was one time, oh my gosh,  there was a podcast episode that I went live with someone.  No, it wasn't a podcast episode. It was a webinar. Oh god, oh my gosh, this was crazy. There was a webinar I had planned it all out and I ended up having nobody to watch the baby that day So I was like, okay, she's sleeping here.

Anyway, you said mid morning nap was the best nap So I was like, it's gonna be fine. Baby is sleeping right behind me. Suddenly we hear like You know, big poop explosion in the thriller behind me. And I was like live with people there and everything and I'm like Okay, guys  This is the you know this is the point where I have to decide if i'm going to ignore my baby or put you guys on hold and i've decided to be in integrity with my you know with my life and with everything else I stand for And I'd like you to please wait one second while I go change the baby and like left the video on because I didn't mind, you know, I'm like showing them the cute baby and going and washing her tushy in the sink and then coming back and change, you know, putting the new diaper on.

And then I just started, like, I went right into it because I was in the middle of talking about something I really love to talk about. That's what we do. Nothing bad, you know, nothing bad happens when you are authentically yourself and standing up for your values. Yeah. A hundred percent. And I think it's really good.

It was a really good it was a really good like I, I, I felt like I was really modeling my values and stuff like for my clients as well, because I'm like, this is my thing. And this is like, this is like, I talk about being a CEO mom. This is what it is. Right. Right. Like I record my podcast with my baby and my, the baby carrier, because that's my life now.

Right. And, and, and I, and I, and I'll nurse the baby on a call and like, that is okay. And that's just, and everyone was like celebrating and that's the thing. Right. Like.  I have the best clients, right? And the reason why I track the clients that I do is because I'm aligned with the stuff that I teach, right?

And I'm aligned with the, with what I talk about all the time. And they were like, Oh my gosh, like, this is the most awesome thing. Our coach is nursing her baby on a call. Like just to show that you don't have to stop your life and stop your business just because you have a baby. Right. And like,  And like it was and it is it's it's so and I can feel so blessed to be able to do that Like I don't know if I able to do that if I was doing like what I was doing before like I I mean I've had like things  I was on a sales call once with  This guy and my two year old ran in like stark staring naked like straight out of the bath Just like just streaked by behind me, you know And and I didn't actually close that sale then but I ended up working with like a year later, you know And every once in a while, he would still bring it up.

He's like, oh is everyone dressed? I'm like, I hope so You know, but like, that was just, that was just how it was. And that's when people used to ask me, like when I taught a LinkedIn class, I remember a very, very long time ago. And, and and it became like my LinkedIn mini course.  And someone asked me like,  why do you put in your LinkedIn bio that you're a mom of four?

And I was like, because that is a very, very big part of who I am. And I need people to know that. And if someone has a problem with me pausing to talk to my kid in the middle of a call or dealing with something or having a child in my lap, then they're probably not the right client for me. And they should know that.

And  that's okay. Right. Even though LinkedIn is so professional and so like, I'm like, fine. Yeah, fine. But like, this is, this is what I do. This is how I run my business. And if, and it's okay. If you don't, you're not okay with that. Like, it's fine.  I'm not judging you for that, but if you can't handle that, then. 

Then that's great to know before we even have to waste our time having a conversation. And so that to me, like, to me, it's like, that's exactly like, this is what, when I was nursing him, I was like, this is, this is what I do. This is, this is the whole reason for it.  So I can do this and be, and it's okay. You know?

So like, I just think like, people are always like, Oh, you know, when's the best time to have a baby? I'm like,  Never and always. There's never a best time to have a baby, because there's always going to be something that's happening,  you know? Right.  There's never the perfect, perfect, perfect, you know, all the stars aligned, sort of I mean, I found out, I found out I was, I was pregnant the day before a war broke out, you know?

And  I was so happy, and I was a little freaked out, because like, a baby, because, you know, wow, you know, baby, you know, and like, I was so excited, and then like, the next day, like, there was, there was such a rollercoaster of emotions, in  48 hours, like, I cannot even describe, and  you would think, like, this is a very bad time to have a baby, because there's a lot of, like, Very traumatic stuff happening and like in a way number one actually really comforted me, right?

It made me feel like , you know Here we are just going on with life and growing our family  no matter what happens around us, you know And also he was such a  gift, you know, he was such a gift for us  he's just such a happy little cheerful cutie pie and he makes everyone around him so happy   and we're all just completely obsessed and, and I'm like, and I cannot think of a, I cannot think of a better time it would have been to have him, you know, because he brought so much joy into our life.

You know, before and after he was born. And so, you know, my kids were so, so excited. Like, Oh my gosh, like it was finally, you  know, like there was a pretty big gap between him and my daughter, you know, and they're like, we're waiting. You know, my oldest son was like, Oh my gosh, this is so embarrassing.

Like you guys just, you know, but like, it was just so, it was so cute.  To see, like, and  so I really think that  when it comes down to like, you can plan all you want ahead of time, things are probably going to be different than what you imagined. And that's okay. Right. But like you can, You can plan to, and I'm actually creating an entire course on how to plan for your maternity leave and how to like build out a profitable maternity leave.

And I started creating it before I had him,  and now I'm so glad I waited to finish it till after. So I can look back and see the stuff that I, I was like, all you need to do is this, this, this. I'm like, that's not easy to do. I'm like, don't say all you need to do, like, like take that out, you know, like, it's not, you know, like, let's, let's make it a little more realistic.

And like, you know, and like, not through like the lens  of a type a, you know, overachiever, any of them three, you know, like, let's, let's try to do this like normally. So it was just very, yeah.  Yeah. So how did you, how did you prepare? Cause I can tell you what worked for me, but I'd love to hear how, how did you make sure that you pay yourself for a maternity leave? 

So first of all, I feel like there's, and I speak about this at the beginning of my maternity leave thing, so you get  a little sort of  peek into the, the actual, the actual course. So there's a few things you need to think about, when you're, when you're considering,  what you have to prepare for, okay?

And you have to figure out, like, kind of, what, what are your, what are your priorities? During maternity leave, right? Like  what are your biggest priorities? So to me, my biggest priorities  were serving my clients. Okay. So in that case, I was like, well, I'm not going to get beyond calls for a few, like for at least a month or two after I have the baby, like, let's be realistic here.

So what I did was number one, anyone who joined any of my programs right before I had my baby. Gotten automatic, two months added to their, to whatever they were part of. And I literally said, like, whatever time I take off and I'm not available to you, I'm adding on to whatever, whatever package you have. 

Okay, so like, that was like, they're gonna get what they paid for no matter what. It may not be at the exact, exact time, like uninterrupted, but you're getting, if you paid for twelve months of coaching, you're getting twelve months of coaching, if you paid for six, you're getting six, like, whatever that is, you're getting it.

Okay. So that was the first thing.  And I also set up again, like co working calls and mastermind sessions and a couple of guest experts and stuff to come in and serve my clients when I, when I couldn't. So that was, that was the first part, which was really important to me that they continue to be somewhat supported during that time, even if I'm not showing up the same way I normally would. 

Not, not postpartum. So that was the first thing. The second part was nurturing my audience. And the cool thing is that when you have a podcast, like when you have that sort of when you have that sort of content where it's kind of like bingeable,  like even when I wasn't promoting my podcast, I would just still, I still see people listening to it, right?

Because. It was, it's linked in on my Instagram and it's in all of my emails, you know, and it's, and it, and it can just be found like in general. Right. So like people were still listening to the podcast and again, I would send you know, roundups, Hey, just, you know, listen to this. I did this one last summer and it's still very relevant, like stuff like that.

So that was like nurturing my audience with consistent content either to, to email. Right. I also sent them those collabs. So it was a lot of like giveaways and really basically free gifts. I was like, basically saying, here's like a summer full of free gifts for you. Like, you're welcome. Right. Very few of those things were, were actual paid. 

Promotions like the ones I did they were very much like here's I'm part of a whole bunch of really amazing bundles and giveaways And here's this amazing summit like take this and learn from it So that was like the nurturing part  and I wanted people to still remember that I existed like after I had the baby and then growing my audience as well So that was also like a priority for me and that's what I did with those collabs But it was a double it was actually did double duty because it both nurtured my audience gave them something to you know To to use and value but also So grew my audience enough from other people's audiences, which is amazing.

And selling to my audience, which basically off the back of a lot of those bundles and summits and freebies and stuff like that, I made a whole bunch of sales because I had, I did have some funnels set up, not all the ones I want to, right. I really, I really want to be able to connect my bigger programs to my smaller things.

Like I have a lot of smaller funnels, but I really want to have like a,  a really nice through line for my smaller things, my bigger stuff. And that's what I'm working on right now. But I was getting random, like, just like, Ooh, just sail here, sail there. You know? Like, Oh, someone. Bought the order bump of this.

Someone bought the upsell of that. Right. Which is really, really, really fun  because again, I was not like fully promoting it. So I wanted to have, I didn't want to have to have to actively sell to my audience at all, but I'm like, well, how can I bring them in and as many places as possible that can create sales.

On the back end, right? And obviously there's customer service for anything that's needed. And that's what I had, you know, the help of my friends VA for. Which is basically like just making sure it's taking care of anything. You know, sending me any updates of like any questions that my clients had. Or just making sure that they, they were getting their reminders and things like that.

So you have to kind of do, I do like an order of priority. My first priority obviously was my, my existing clients. Cause they already paid me. Like they, you know, that's who I like. And then the grow, nurture, sell is something that really should always be happening, but obviously it was a much more laid back way than, than I was doing it before.

Right. And you also have to think about as well, before you're going off, you know, before you're going offline what you the most bang for your buck when it comes to the work, the work that you're putting in. Right. So just creating like podcast episodes.  Like for me wasn't it ended up not being worth the time.

I'm like, I will come back. I'm like this is let's just say It's like a season like a Netflix, you know, it was it was a season now There's a season break, you know, and now I'll come back and I like the fall season. I'm back I'm you know, so I'm like I'm taking a break for the summer Like  that's how it's gonna be It actually worked out really well because he was born like right before q3 started.

So like, it was like a very nice, it was like, I basically took a quarterly break from like creating a podcast, but there was like, there was like almost 50 podcast episodes that already were there. People could have listened to for one for every, every week for a year without having to have me create any more.

So I'm like, I felt really good about that because I already created that for them. And also like thinking about, and I have a really great priority matrix that I give my clients. Kind of think about  what projects they actually want to implement based on like what they actually have at hand.

Right. And like, how much is it going to take? Is it gonna take a lot of extra work? It's gonna take a lot of extra money. It's gonna take a lot of extra time. Right. It's gonna take a lot of extra team or hiring things. Right. And like seeing like what they already have. that can be leveraged. This could be again, repurposing content you already have.

You know, adding updated lead magnets to your existing content as well. You know, maybe looking back at your podcast episodes and saying, Oh, this, well, this call to action  is no longer relevant. So why don't I just take that out of the description and put a new one that will work, right? Instead of having to record a new podcast episode with a new call to action, just put a new call to action description.

 It's fine. People are still going to find it, you know, like it's okay. You know, optimizing, breaking out smaller pieces. Like that's what I'm doing right now with my minimum, my mom, viable marketing method. I teach that  in my biggest, my, my signature program, CEO mom Academy. And I was like, but  the content module, like my clients agree about that module, that one, and the branding and messaging, those are two that were like the real, like, Oh my God, like this is  life changing, mind blowing, amazing.

I'm like, I could pull those out and use those as like, Smaller things that I sell and like kind of use it as bait to be like, if you want the rest of it, you know, join the program. Like I'm just,  putting this out there. Like it's fine. Like, and I have no problem with anyone knowing this. Like if this is good, the rest of it is amazing because it puts all the pieces together.

So, you know, considering taking, instead of saying, Oh, I want to create something new to sell. How about you pull a smaller piece out of your bigger offer and pre sell that and add a coupon code in the backend to get people to. You know, like say like, Hey, if you want the rest of this, use a special coupon code or maybe whatever they paid for it.

So let's say it was like 200. Be like, okay, so 200, you get 200 off the main course. Right? So again, looking at what you already have. And the best thing to do is just take an inventory  and even have like, I even have, I even created like a template, like an air table template of like, just like creating an inventory of what you actually have inside what you've already created.

 And if you're a service provider, have you already created tools for your clients? Right? Like when I was a service provider, I had my entire content system, which I. which I teach, right? I had  my launch content planner, right? And like how, like literally like broken out, like what can you take for, from the stuff you already have and that you've already created and use that to put in front of people to bring them into your world, right?

Because it's going to be very hard to  be like, Oh, I want to launch my big, expensive group program. Like right when I come back from maternity leave or right before, like, I mean, you might want to, but  maybe you don't want to. So, Very very easy ways to kind of get people in the door without having to create anything new I think was my biggest priority  and that really has worked for me  now I have so many things that I can like to work with that, like, I don't, I don't need to create anything. You're like, probably like, I mean, update things. Yeah, maybe, but not actually from scratch because like, it's all, it's all there. It all exists. I've already taught it. I've already talked about it.

I just have to bring it, you know, bring it forward and show it to people. So I think that's where people get really, cause we're entrepreneurs, we're like creating new things. We have shiny object. We're like, Oh, what about this? I'm bored with that. I don't talk about that. Like five times before, two times before, right?

Like, we're like, I sold it once and it worked great. Now I want to, I want to sell something else.  But I really had to  be able to lean back and be like, well,  , it doesn't make any sense for me. So how can I leverage what I've already created, what I already have in so many different ways.

And that's probably my biggest tip that I would give as far as preparing for maternity leave is not being like, Oh, what are all the new things I can create? It's like, what do I have now? And what can I leverage? Now to serve me later. And that like, and that's like the biggest, you know, and if you have, again, if you have a coach, they can look at your stuff and be like, well, I, what if you pulled it?

I can very, very, very often. It's much easier for someone else to see. Cause you're like, wow, what about this? What about that? Right. Whereas you're like, Oh, that's just something I made one time. And they're like, but that looks amazing. Like, why can't you use that? Right. So so that's where it really, really helps having an outside pair of eyes, look at it and be able to, to help you like, Pull those things out because they can see other people can see things in you that you don't necessarily see, which is the power of coaching.

Other people can see what you can't see on yourself. Oh, it's amazing. So I want to tell you something really interesting. My goal for my maternity leave was modeling for my clients that it's also totally okay to just take time off and  I completely sold out. I had 12 spots for when I come back from maternity leave.

And I said, anybody who joins right now gets three months of access to all of my stuff, plus another three whole months with me one on one when I come back. So   I was blown away when all of the spots were taken.  And  I went into maternity leave knowing that I have 12 people waiting for me when I come back. 

So I basically had to do nothing but relax. And I had no anxiety about, I have to get back and start to sell. , There was no action to jump into. There was just the thing I love to do. The thing I love showing up for, like, it is not hard for me to coach is not work for me to help someone it's work for me to set up, you know, the sales funnels on the, the, and the talk about it, whatever, like that's hard work.

So I was. So  at peace with the intentionality of being fully myself and fully  present. And my clients felt it, my clients felt it, you know, there was. And now once I went back, my baby is now six months old. So my original clients are now graduating in like a couple of days. One of the ladies yesterday said I helped her break the four mile thing, you know, like the, the four mile, the four minute mile minute mile.

Yeah. Four minute mile. That's what it was called. She completely doubled her income or like 40 percent  just by working with me. And it was from the first session. You know how like they get a bunch of sessions. The first session was the breakthrough and then the rest were just fun.  It's mind blowing but you don't see it on yourself when you take a break and you're just present You think you're not doing anything, but you have to realize you're doing so much  Yeah, 100 percent and I think that's that's why I told my clients I'm like this and I know I'm taking at least two months off probably up to three maybe up to three I don't know.

It depends how I feel. That's the thing The only thing I know is I don't know how I'm gonna feel because when my daughter I was Like six weeks after I'm like, Oh my God, I cannot wait to get back, you know, and I was like, I, I, but because I wanted to, cause I, I was just, I was just like in the mood, you know, and this time I was like, I really don't want to get back yet.

Like, it's okay. And like, that's okay. And like, they were fine with it, you know? And so what I did was I was, I told him about two to three months and about like halfway through. The third month I was like,  you know, I feel good about coming back in and answering them in slack, right? So like I'm not gonna do any live calls yet But I feel like I want to be able to Have them ask questions and answer them with voice notes Like I feel I feel like my mind is back to where it is.

I feel like really good about that, right? So then I just let them know hey,   now I'm back in the community If you guys to ask me questions and I'll get back to you in 48 hours, like as usual. Cause  I just want to be able to coach you guys again. I just, I'm, I'm really, I really feel like I want to be there for you.

I can't do live calls yet because again, life and baby and whatever, but I just really miss, and so I think also, we also like think it doesn't have to be like either or, right? Like if you're like, okay, I want to come back to work, but I can't do live calls because I can't commit to that right now. Okay, fine.

You can do asynchronous coaching and that works almost. As well, really. Oh my gosh. My,  when I, when I think of asynchronous coaching, I, you do it on Slack. I do it on WhatsApp. It just works really well for my clients. Cause they already have WhatsApp on their phone.  It is crazy. Crazy how in one voice note you can completely change someone's day. 

Crazy.  You know, I have people responding like I'm going to listen to this at least four times until it seeps in and I can actually do what you said and it's, it's instant. It's instance like they said the question they could be in the other side of the world as soon as I see it. I answer back and boom, she's on her way to doing something that she didn't think she was going to do or, you know, it's, it's, and, you know, especially since I'm working with the balance of marriage and parenting and, you know, like  there's, there's questions that are very   fuzzy, you know, in the business world, we don't like these because they're like, there's no actual thing.  It's not tangible, but somebody could call me and say, I'm having a really hard day, or I'm really not sure what to do next. Or I just can't get my act together and I'll give her exact.

Information that she needs to hear an exact like mindset shift because I know her and because we've worked together and it's just, you know, it's exact to what she needs to hear and it's always different for every person, which is also one of the coolest things that I find is how unique, how unique the coaching could be.

So, yeah, that's a really, that's a really. Mom friendly sort of like thing to offer both on the side of the coach and also the side of the of the client Because I always joke i'll be like, oh I just ran to the bathroom I'm hiding in the bathroom right now and my kids, you know, and like so if there's an echo, that's why like, you know So like i'll just hop into the bathroom and ask that quick question and again, like and I I always say i'm like just Send me a voice note, if you guys send me a voice note, just send me a little note underneath, tell me what it's about, so I know, like, what, you know, I usually, if I do, like, asynchronous, either on Slack or on Telegram, where I can, I can I can transcribe it, so I can see quickly, I read much faster than I listen, so I can see quickly what they're talking about, and then I'm like, can I answer this quickly, or can I answer this quickly, whereas, Again,  if you can't, like, commit to showing up at specific times, which is very possible, depending, I know for, for, for me, it's very, very hard because because it's my time zone, right?

So, like, I can only show up between certain hours for my clients, and if those hours don't happen to work that day or that week, then, that's it. So, I can still help them in between because I can wake up in the morning and just sit there while I'm nursing my baby and just answer questions. You know, I'm not doing anything else anyway.

I'm just sitting there. Right. So I may as well you know, do some coaching and  it makes you feel very, very close to them. Like my clients who've gotten one to one telegram coaching have been like, Oh my God, such like, they're like, this is so addictive.

It's like the best thing ever.  And I love it. I love doing it. I love, I love receiving it as, as a client as well. Yeah. So I love that you have to meet either or,  you know? Yeah, I love that you said that you don't have to do everything or nothing. There's always somewhere in between that feels really good to you.

Yes.  I love it. Okay. We could continue talking forever, I'm sure. 'cause we're just so fun. Let's wrap it up and tell everyone how they can find you, how they can give you money and you know, where they can work with you. Okay, well you can find me on Instagram. Pretty much mostly mostly Instagram at this point.

Yeah, I'll bend and those are instagram. com slash DL But then th e and my name I'm the only one who's a business coach on there with my name So it's very easy to find me  And and and you can work with me in a bunch of different ways I have my CEO mom mastermind, which is like the closest way you can pretty much work with me right now I'm pretty much Aside for one to one where  you get a copy reviews, you get strategy, you get, we have at least two calls a month, plus you get access to all my other programs.

So you get up to like three or four calls a month. And obviously you'll get asynchronous coaching on the daily inside of Slack. But I also have  my mini mastermind and my CEO, mom Academy, which is more for people who want to really book out the signature offers, like really at the one to three K mark in their business.

And they really want to just.  Like start creating a signature offer and booking it out. Consistently.  So you can check out all that on my website. It's like all there. Yeah. I'll bend in. com. And if you have any questions about anything or any other way to work with me, I have a, I have a little fun free offer.

I'll drop into box and she could drop in the description as well. Like, I can't remember if I, if I gave you a freebie or not, but I'll, I'll give you something fun. So. Let me know if you have any questions, just shoot me a DM. I love having conversations in the DMS on Instagram, because again, that's the best way for me to connect with people is to chat on messenger and voice notes, because that's my life right now.

So thank you so much  for having me here. And I really appreciate this. It was amazing. This is so much fun. Thank you for coming.  You know, when I was looking at my little plan of the year, Your name came up. Like  I didn't even have to ask you. It was like, of course, yeah, Elle is doing this one.

You know, it's like birth and business. Who else is whole business is based on birth, you know? It literally is. I mean, my first program was called baby proof your business. So like that was, that was it. So. I know I remember that name. I loved it. So very cool. You guys can look, look out for my episode with Yael  on her podcast,  which is going to go soon.

So that's exciting. And we can actually record it during the day, you know. Yeah, there you go. That's exciting. If you have any questions, make sure to contact either of us. We are both really available and here for you. Thank you so much for listening. Don't forget to come back next week  and don't forget to be connected for real.

 And that's it! Thank you for listening to the very end. I would love if you can leave a review and subscribe to the podcast. Those are things that tell the algorithm this is a good podcast and make sure to suggest it to others. Wouldn't it be amazing if more people became more connected for real?  And now take a moment and think of someone who might benefit from this episode. 

Can you share it with them?  I am Robinson Bat chen Grossman from  connectedforreal. com. Thank you so much for listening and don't forget you can be connected for real.