The Boss Mom Podcast

There's a lot of pressure on moms to keep the house clean, do the daily chores, and take care of their children. Many mothers are alone in these responsibilities. How can you break the never-ending cycle of chores that need to be done? Why is it important for your children to share chores? And how can you use calendars and Trello boards to create a system in which each member of the family contributes something? In this episode, Yvonne Marcus, shares her journey as a mom and talks about how she ended up helping women gain back their free time by creating systems to delegate home chores. 3 Things We Learned From This Episode Teach the next generation about equally shared chores (09:00-13:10) Traditionally, women were supposed to do everything around the house. This approach leads to frustration and makes women feel overwhelmed. The best way to break the cycle is to teach your kids that chores need to be shared between men and women, and everyone should contribute. Organize chores around the house by using a calendar (14:00-19:40) When chores pile up, it can be discouraging. A calendar helps you both prioritize and delegate some of the tasks to your spouse and children. Trello can be used to create a system for delegating chores (21:00-22:00) Women aren't supposed to do everything by themselves or be expected to do so. A system created on Trello that delegates the work equally is one of the best ways to help yourself and teach your children responsibility. For a lot of moms, the feeling that we have do everything by ourselves is ingrained within us. To combat this, allow and encourage help from your spouse and kids when you need it. One of the best ways to do this is to create a system that delegates the work equally and keeps up with the changes that happen in your family's lives. For example, if something unexpected occurs and you can no longer do a chore tomorrow, you need a system that allows details to be changed and personalized to fit your day-to-day life. Guest Bio- Yvonne Marcus is the co-founder of Two Moms, One Podcast, a published writer, and the creative director of The Dahlia Scene, where she helps women live the life they want without feeling pressured to do it all by themselves. You can find more about Yvonne on her social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram.

Promotion is a touchy subject for many of us. We don't want to sound salesy, nor do we want to get rejected. Is it possible to be supportive while selling? How can we deliver more value and promote ourselves without sounding salesy? Is selling a skill that can be learned by anyone? In this episode, I talk about why it's so important to accept rejection and focus on promoting our businesses to the people who find value in what we do. 3 Things We Learned From This Episode Every business owner has to be a salesperson, unless you plan to hire someone to do it for you. This aspect of building a business makes many people uncomfortable because we sometimes doubt ourselves and our abilities. You aren't a snake oil salesman if you offer support and deliver on what you promised. Many moms have a hard time talking about their business. They don't want to sound like they are promoting their products and services. The truth is, we all exchange money and services. Part of being a salesperson is finding the right people, and understanding that not everyone can be helped. You also have to recognize that, like everything else, selling is a skill that can be learned. The more you know about it, the easier it is for you to communicate effectively, sound more genuine, and become better at supporting people throughout their journey.

Budgeting can be quite challenging. It has the tendency to make us feel deprived, especially when we work hard and we know we deserve a treat once in a while. How can we figure out what we should actually be spending our money on? What will our children learn from our budgeting efforts? And how can we make budgeting work for our unique situation? In this episode, Allison Baggerly talks about how she got out of debt and made saving money second nature. 3 Things We Learned From This Episode What to do when we feel we deserve something but we can't afford it (04:21-06:25) Cutting unnecessary costs can be tough. We feel like we deserve certain things when we work hard. We have to ask ourselves this question: Is the purchase necessary? There are many things we do deserve, but sometimes we need to make a compromise now to be financially secure later. Your children will learn the value of work and money from you (13:00-15:00) Your children will imitate everything you do, including your spending habits. Make your children save and work for their money. When they do end up making a purchase, they'll cherish it more because they actually worked for it. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to budgeting (18:20-19:00) Not everyone has the same journey when it comes to budgeting, so it's important to look at your current lifestyle and ask yourself what things you can live without and what you can't. For example, if you don't have an emergency fund, you might want to cut a portion of your budget to make one as soon as possible. Once you have one, you're less likely to have to make major budget cuts when something comes up. Guest Bio Allison Baggerly started learning about budgeting after she found herself in debt and with a child on the way. In the past few years, she paid off all of her debt but she made budgeting her second nature. Now she writes about how to save money and pay off debt on her blog, and she put together a course for families who want to achieve financial freedom.

Business is all people, and the more we understand people, the better. How can we learn to understand the process someone goes through when making a change? What is the process we should move our clients through? How can we provide our services to people at each stage in the process? On this episode, I talk about the 6 stages of making a change and how to leverage them in your service offering. 3 Things We Learned From This Episode Sales is a learned skill, not a personality trait. In the contemplation phase, we can provide content and resources to help our clients move to preparation mode. Someone can be in action in one part of their life, pre-contemplation in another, and contemplation in yet another. Our goal is to get people into maintenance mode. It means we've done our job and we can move on. The stages of making a change are pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance and termination/relapse. When we're familiar with these steps, we can help our clients progress through the stages, moving them into action and maintenance. Knowing how people feel at each stage means we're better equipped to sell to them, making us more impactful and effective.

When life hits us with difficulty, tragedy, or loss, it can be hard to run our business at the same time. When things feel out of control, how do we decide what we have control over? How can we keep momentum, even when we don't feel like putting in the effort? How can we do good work while still processing our emotions? On this episode, NJ and I talk about getting through the rough patches in life. At some point, you've got to recognize that sometimes it's a long road to recovery when things happen in your life-- and that's okay. -Dana Malstaff 3 Things We Learned From This Episode Some things are just hard because they are new (03:29 - 04:11) Be mindful of the challenges that seem difficult as a result of being something new. Just because you've never faced a certain problem doesn't mean you're not equipped to overcome it. We are emotional creatures, and that's not a bad thing (17:58 - 18:47) When we get really into our business, we sometimes forget that we are emotional creatures. This is not something to ignore or repress, but to recognize and embrace. This makes it easier to engage and cope with our emotions. Starting a business is like a modern day walk-about for women (24:13 - 25:04) Businesses are a self-discovery engine. They force us to confront what we really want and what we're willing to fight for. Sometimes this will change the lives around us as we shift and grow. Guest Bio NJ Rongner is a business strategist who helps female entrepreneurs clear the clutter and get laser focused on what matters most. Known by her signature phrase "I can't sign off on that," she's not afraid to tell her clients when they're going in the wrong direction. NJ is the founder of Working Christian Mom where she provides encouragement and support to women who love their family, love their job and love their faith. You can find out more about her podcast and services by visiting Working Christian Mom.

We often feel compelled to help everyone who seems interested in learning more, but we may end up spending time on people who don't plan to take action or can't do so at the moment. Why is it important that we separate the people who can take action from those who only take our advice? How can it impact our self-esteem? In this episode I talk about why it's important for us to focus on being impactful instead of just being helpful. Stop being helpful and start being impactful. -Dana Malstaff 3 Things We Learned From This Episode As women, we are inclined to help and fix things, but some people are not in the mental state or position to take action based on what they learn from us. We might want to help everyone, but we have to make a distinction between the people who can take what we give them and put it into action versus those who won't. This is the difference between helpful and impactful. We have to focus on the people who are in the right place. This is our audience: the people who will actually put everything into action and change their lives. We need to start recognizing who we can really have an impact on. It's hard to be productive and passionate about what you are doing when the people you are helping don't see any results. It can lower our self-esteem and lead us to question our value. Instead, we should focus on the people who we can make an impact on; the people who will make us proud by taking action.

Many parents don't know which route to take when it comes to teaching their children how to become more independent and responsible. Is there a way to teach this from an early age without putting too much pressure on the child? How can we teach kids to see work from a different point of view? And most importantly, what should be our expectations regarding what our children can do given their age? In this episode, Anne-Laure Schneider speaks about how she became a Montessori educator and how the Montessori method can help you raise independent-minded children. 3 Things We Learned From This Episode Takeaway 1 (05:18-06:40) If we don't like the context, why not change it? If the schools our children go to aren't providing the level or the type of education our children need to grow, we have to become more proactive about it. This sometimes translates to teaching ourselves how to help our children improve their learning processes and become more independent. Takeaway 2 (17:20-18:24) The biggest misconception about the Montessori method is that it doesn't let children live out their childhood. But many children love to help their parents out, and pretend they want to feel like adults too. For them, it's all a game, even when they do chores. There are so many things children can do at an early age, but as parents we are afraid of seeing our kids grow up too fast. Takeaway 3 (10:53-12:03) Children can be easily taught to do their own things, like work on their own projects while we work as well. Empowering children to do some things on their own not only helps them become more confident in their abilities, but it also prevents them from constantly trying to get our attention while we do our chores. Children are often underestimated. At times, the best way to teach them something is not to constantly nag them but to let them experience the consequences of their actions. And as parents this is tough because we have a tendency to be overprotective. The Montessori method does the exact opposite. It allows children to make mistakes and gives them bit of responsibility around the house. All of this helps them prepare for adulthood. Guest Bio- Anne-Laure Schneider initially started off as a scientist, with a degree in Logic from the University of Cambridge. But after she had her first child, she fell in love with the Montessori method, which was used at the preschool her child attended. This is how she started her journey to becoming a Montessori educator and getting certified. In the present, she helps moms by sharing her Montessori courses online so everyone can benefit from this teaching method without having to attend a school.

Podcasting is a great way to build a relationship with your audience by giving them something more than a blog post to connect with. How can you use podcasting as an authority builder, and why should you be more than just an interviewer? What kind of feedback can you expect? In this episode the CEO of Pursuing Results, Matt Johnson, speaks all about podcasting and why you should start one too! 3 Things We Learned From This Episode Putting out a podcast that gets ignored is not failure; it's feedback. When you know what your audience doesn't respond to, you avoid making even a more costly mistakes, such as putting together a course without having any feedback ahead of time. Podcasting is a great authority builder if you know how to use credibility by association. Don't just be the interviewer. When you have heavy hitters on your podcast, engage in conversations with them instead of just asking questions. Social proof is another credibility builder, so make sure you help the guests promote the podcast episode on their social media accounts as well. This will also help you receive more exposure and get invited to speaking events. You don't have to have a million downloads to have a six figure business. You can dominate a category in the minds of your audience. Focus your marketing efforts and build your business on that. Additionally, the relationships you build with your guests will serve as another opportunity to grow. Guest Bio: Matt Johnson is a marketer, entrepreneur, musician. As founder of Pursuing Results, a podcast PR & production agency based in San Diego, Matt runs a worldwide virtual team helping business coaches and agencies break in and dominate new markets through podcasting. Matt currently hosts and co-hosts niche business shows such as The YouX Podcast, Real Estate Uncensored, The Team Building Podcast, and Level Up. He also speaks to experts and entrepreneurs on how to turn a rockstar business into a YouX Machine. He is a featured podcast guest and speaks to audiences around the US, Canada and Australia.

Domestic violence leaves so many people suffering in silence. How can you identify if you're being abused? When you want to escape a relationship, what should you keep in mind? What are some of the biggest misconceptions that further isolate abuse victims? On this episode, domestic abuse survivor, speaker, and author Rosie Aiello shares how she survived and why she's empowering others. 3 Things We Learned From This Episode When you don't know what abuse looks like, you can think you're the problem (06:45 - 08:35) A lot of women don't realize that what they are actually experiencing is abuse. It's only when they know the signs that they can empower themselves. Until then they will think they are the problem and keep trying to make it better. Keep your escape private (17:29 - 17:46) When planning to leave an abusive partner, don't tell them. If you do, they will only tighten the reins. This can put you and your children in danger. Observe the patterns of behavior (25:26 - 27:46) When it comes to an abuser's behavior, there are patterns you have to watch out for. They tend to be narcissistic, they don't take responsibility, they aren't willing to change their behavior, and they are great to the outside world but awful to you. Abuse comes in many forms, and sometimes we don't even recognize it's happening to us. When we're not being heard or given the love and respect we deserve, that's a problem. The key to survival is being strong inside and learning what your value is. It's possible to escape and finally live a life outside of the prison walls. Rosie is an incredible example of this. Remember: real love is kind, respectful, and understanding. Guest Bio- After a 25 year marriage, Rosie Aiello engineered an international escape to save her daughter and herself from domestic violence. Nearly mentally destroyed, within four years of arriving back in the United States, she reinvented herself since started her own business, and became a speaker, best-selling author and an international awarding-winning entrepreneur. Visit www.11hourstofreedom.com to learn more about Rosie's empowerment program for women.

Flash sales are a good way to make some extra money without building big campaigns. But what price points work best with flash sales? Should you have an audience that you keep engaged via email? What happens when you give a discount on your signature program? In this episode, Dawn Marss shares how you can build a flash sales from scratch. 3 Things We Learned From This Episode Products and services that don't have a high price are best for flash sales. But if you do sell only high priced items, you can bundle up and give a discount to make them look cheaper. Before you start a flash sale, you have to make sure you have an engaged list of people who already like what you're doing. Also, you have to make sure the list isn't too short; otherwise, there won't be many people who see your flash sale. You can build a bigger list by investing in Facebook advertising and creating content for your business. When you offer a big discount on your signature program, the people who already paid full price for it will get angry at you. I don't flash sale to people I haven't done some nurturing. -Dawn Marrs Make sure your advertising and content marketing efforts are targeted at people who need your products or services, or the list is useless. When you do build a list, you need to start the nurturing process. It doesn't take much time to nurture for a flash sale, hence the "flash" term. But you still need to make yourself known get them to like & trust you before the sale.