Episode 91

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Published on:

1st Oct 2024

Ep 91. How to Build a Business System: 6 Key Questions to Ask When Creating Processes

Are you a mom entrepreneur wondering how to streamline business processes?

In this episode, I simplify building business systems for busy mompreneurs. I focus on 6 key questions that provide a structured approach to creating efficient, streamlined processes.

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Transcript
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You are now tuned in to the mom CEO suite podcast.

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I'm your host, Felicia, wife, mom, and

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entrepreneur. In this podcast, I'll be sharing my mompreneur

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journey along with strategies that will help you build your online

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business operations in a sustainable way. The goal is

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to help you build a business that fits into your lifestyle as a mom who

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values putting family first. We will also hear the

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experiences and expertise of other moms with service

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based businesses. You'll get a peek into our journeys, so you'll

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know that you aren't alone. Motherhood gets hard.

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Entrepreneurship gets hard. But together, we can

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do hard things. Welcome to the suite.

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Hey friend, welcome to another episode. Thank you so much for being

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here. So today I want to get into how to build a

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business system. Six questions to X when creating your

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systems and processes. And when I was thinking about this

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episode, I really wanted to give you the

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simplest way to think about this. And so. I'm going to give you six

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questions. It's really more than six, but some of the. Questions

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half. Multiple parts. But. This is going to be the

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simplest way for you to think about your business systems. I think a lot of

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times, uh, It's thought that

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business systems have to be complicated. And that they need to be

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intricate and all of these other things. But simpler is

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really going to be the way to go simpler as better

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simpler, as easier to track. And so we're definitely keeping it simple

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today. Now. I don't know if you remember back in

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grade school, they gave you these five questions. I don't even know

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the context around them, but. There were these five

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questions, the five w questions. Who, what, when, where, why.

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And then later when they added, how, so this is what we're

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going to go through today. Literally, when you think about your business systems and how

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to build them, and you're creating your systems and your processes. I want you to

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think about those questions. Who, what, when, where, why and

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how? Okay. So this episode, you might want to take

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some notes. Go grab a notebook because I'm going to actually be going through

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these questions that you need to ask yourself as you are building out your

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business systems. Okay. So number one,

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who. Who should be completing this

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process, or you could think of it who should be overseeing

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this process depending on how your business is structured. All right.

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And when you're thinking about who is completing or overseeing this

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process, You want to make sure you have the right person in place?

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Because this person, they need to have the skill

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to do it, or, or they need to be able to be taught to do

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it. And they also have to have the capacity to handle the task or

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to oversee it. Okay, so who should be completing or overseeing

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this process? The second part of that is who is going

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to be on the receiving end of this process. Who was going

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to be on the receiving end of this process. So, is this a process that

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is internal if you have a team, is it an internal process

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for your team members? Or is this an external

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process for your clients? Something like your client

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onboarding or your lead capture or lead nurturing?

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This is important because you want to allow the

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needs. Of the person. Whoever the

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process is for you wants to allow their needs to influence the

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design of the system. So in a past episode, I

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don't remember which one, but I mentioned how I was talking about

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automation and I mentioned how yes, automation, um, was

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good to help us save time, but automation also needed to

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be. Friendly to the user. Okay. And so when you are building your

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business systems, yes, they are for you to allow things to go

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smoothly and to streamline them. But you also want to keep in mind.

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The end user and how it's going to affect them and how they

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are going to. Interact with the system that you are

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creating. All right, so that's number one. Is who.

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Who should be completing or overseeing this process and who is going

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to be on the receiving end of this process? Number two is what.

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what are the chronological steps in this process from

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start to finish? What are the chronological steps in this process?

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From start to finish. So you want to just break

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down? Step-by-step. What it takes for this process

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to be completed. From start to finish.

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And it's important to do it in chronological order

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because. For example. Step

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five may not be able to be completed until

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step two is completed. So there may be some

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dependencies. So that's why you want to make sure you're doing it in chronological

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order and you don't have to get it perfect. The first time you are thinking

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through or writing out your, or your system or your process. But just make sure

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you're thinking through step-by-step from start to finish.

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What is the process. Okay. So that's number two.

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What are the chronological steps in this process from start to finish?

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Number three is when, so when does

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this process start? And when does

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this process. And so you want to have very clear

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starting. Points and ending points.

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And this is important just because. It really helps

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define your process. It will

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reduce confusion. So let's say, for example, we're

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talking about client onboarding.

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You want to have a clear starting point because does the client

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onboarding start when the person signs a contract?

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Or does your client onboarding start when the person pays their

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invoice? So just having that clear starting point

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reduces confusion. If you have a team. It will improve

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the accountability. So people know what they are specifically responsible

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for. And then I also will help you. Just with

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tracking the, The data related to

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this process. And so I'll talk about that. In a little

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bit. But if you're tracking the

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information and the process, the metrics from the process,

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then you want to have the same starting and ending point Every time, this process

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is run so you can have accurate data. All

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right. So that's the number. What number was that three?

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When does this process start? And when does this process in.

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Number four is where. Where will this

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process take place? And when I mentioned

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this, I'm more so thinking about the tools. So like what

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tools are you going to need? What platforms are you going to need?

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In order to execute this process. Do you need

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project management software or are you going to need email marketing

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software? Are you going to need a CRM? Where's

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this process going to be taking place. And so I talked about

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automation and tools in past episodes, but you just want to make sure

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that you are using tools. That. We'll help

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you actually execute your process. And they will

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help you to streamline your process. You don't want to pick tools.

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Just because everyone else is using the tool. You want to make

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sure that the tool works for you. And your business

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goals. So that's number four.

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Number five is why. Why does this

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process exist? What is the N. Goal.

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So you really want to know why you're even doing this process, because if

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there is no purpose, then there is no point in you doing it.

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And so how does this process really just align with your

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larger business goals?. Why does this process

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exist? Understanding the why also helps the people who

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are involved in executing the task. It just

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helps them to be able to do that with a

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high quality, if they're remembering in their understanding why it

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exists. And then finally, number six.

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How, how will you measure the success of this

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process? And so again, When you

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have a process that has a clear starting point and a clear

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ending point, you want to be able to track the

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performance of that process. And so

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how are you going to do that? What are you going to be measuring?

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Did this process save you time? Did it improve customer

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satisfaction? We're errors reduced.

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Just identify how you're going to measure the success of this

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process. And then you also want to think about how are

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you going to evaluate the effectiveness.

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Of the process is so are there some things in the

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process that needs to be. Tweaked, do you need to change some

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things? Do you need to reorder some steps? So think

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about those two things. How will you measure the success of the process and

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how will you. Evaluate effectiveness.

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Of the process. Okay. So I wanted to keep it

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really simple and short for you today, giving you these six questions

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that you can ask yourself. Going back to grade school, going

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back to the basics. Who, what, when, where,

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why and how. Okay. So I'm going to run through them really

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quickly again. So who. who. should be completing or

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overseeing this process? And who was going to be on the receiving end of the

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process. Number two is what, what are the chronological

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steps in this process from start to finish? Number

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three is when, when does this process start?

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And when does this process end? Number four is

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aware. Where will this process take place? Meaning

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in what tools will this process take, please? Number

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five is why, why does this process exist?

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And what is its angle? And number six is how,

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how will you measure the success of this process and how will. you measure the

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effectiveness? I have this process. So this should give you a

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great starting point to start building your business

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systems, start creating your systems and processes, documenting your

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SLPs, all of those things. Okay. And if you are still feeling

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like you need some additional support, you are looking for more.

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Done for you support. As it relates to your business systems,

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then I want to invite you to check out the harmony system sprint. This is

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a fast paced done in one week service. That's going to help you

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streamline your business process. Get the right tools in place and

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optimize your workflows with automation.

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One week intensive it's application based. So if

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you're interested in that. Click the link in the show description

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to apply, or if you have questions feel free to DM me on Instagram.

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I hope this was super simple and helpful for you. I would love to hear

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from you. how did these questions go for you? And I'll see you in the

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next episode. Thank you for listening to the MomCEO

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Suite Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, can you do us a

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favor? Leave a review on iTunes and share with other

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moms in business like you. Help us spread our message and empower

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others who are at this intersection of motherhood and

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entrepreneurship.

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About the Podcast

The Mom CEO Suite: Life & Business Systems for Mompreneurs Seeking Work Life Balance
Life and business systems strategy to help work from home mom entrepreneurs find work life harmony
Are you struggling to stay productive with constant interruptions from your kids while working from home? Does juggling it all leave you feeling overwhelmed and stretched too thin? Are you dreaming of work-life balance, but it feels out of reach?

You can have that reality where business and life integrate harmoniously, so you’re able to be a present, peaceful mom plus have an impactful business.

Hey Friend! This is The Mom CEO Suite and I’m Phylicia Pough, a Christian wife, mom of 2 and life and business systems strategist for moms.

I understand your daily juggling act, and I’ve discovered the secret to achieving the work-life balance you’re craving; so you can finally experience true harmony between your business and family life.

The Mom CEO Suite Podcast is your go-to resource for learning how to create and implement life and business systems that actually work for you as a busy, faith-driven mompreneur. You’ll get practical tips, easy-to-follow strategies for leveraging systems and automations to help you balance running a business while raising a family.

Plus, I’ll guide you through simple ways to build life and business systems that make sense for your unique situation. And because we’re all in this together, you’ll hear real stories from fellow moms, reminding you that you’re never alone on this journey.

After listening to the podcast, you will shift from feeling overwhelmed, disorganized, and stretched too thin to becoming more empowered, organized, and capable of running your business and household with more ease and a greater sense of harmony.

I can’t wait to help you create the life and business you’ve always dreamed of, full of balance and peace. Let’s make it happen together!

Motherhood gets hard. Entrepreneurship gets hard. But together, we can do hard things.

Connect with me on Threads at www.threads.net/@phyliciapough
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About your host

Profile picture for Phylicia Pough

Phylicia Pough

For over 10 years, Phylicia has been behind the scenes of businesses and ministries, keeping things organized. Her journey started in Administration and developed into Operations & Automation Consulting

Her latest venture is The Mom CEO Suite which is a community for the modern day mom in business. In addition to curating experiences and safe spaces for mompreneurs, we automate business & podcasting processes for mompreneur service providers.

In her spare time, Phylicia loves to travel, read and sip tea.