Ep 27. Finding Harmony in Life & Business as a Work From Home Mompreneur
In this episode, host Phylicia shares about real time messiness that occurs when working from home as a mompreneur. She shares why she prefers harmony over balance and gives 7 things that can be implemented to find harmony in life and business.
About Phylicia
Phylicia Pough, MBA is a wife, mom of 1 daughter and an entrepreneur. 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 Systems & Automation Consulting/Strategy.
Her latest venture is The Mom CEO Suite which is a community for the modern day mom in business that curates experiences and safe spaces for mompreneurs. The Mom CEO Suite also automates business and podcasting processes for mompreneur service providers.
Connect with Phylicia
Facebook: Phylicia Pough
Instagram: @PhyliciaPough
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/phyliciapough/
Connect with The Mom CEO Suite
Website: themomceosuite.com
Instagram: @themomceosuite
Join The Mom CEO Suite Facebook Group
Transcript
Hey friends. Welcome to another episode. Welcome to
Speaker:the suite. So today's episode is going to
Speaker:be a bit more. Personal a little less of business,
Speaker:but I think it's a relevant. As we are.
Speaker:All moms in business and. I just feel led
Speaker:to share on this topic. I literally had a totally
Speaker:different. Topic and notes that I was going to
Speaker:record for this week's episode. Uh, but decided
Speaker:against it. And I think this is the better direction to go for
Speaker:now. So today. Today's Tuesday.
Speaker:I typically release. The podcast episodes
Speaker:on Tuesdays and I shared over on Instagram.
Speaker:Earlier today, I was just giving some insight
Speaker:into the reality or.
Speaker:The day-to-day of working from home
Speaker:with a young child and trying to manage
Speaker:life in business and how sometimes it can get messy. And
Speaker:so I was sharing. And my stories on Instagram, by the way, if you're not
Speaker:following me on Instagram, just go ahead and make sure you follow me. My
Speaker:stories are where I spend most of my time when I'm over
Speaker:there. But. I was sharing how
Speaker:typically on Tuesdays I will be coming into the stories,
Speaker:sharing about the. Hi Cass episode, that
Speaker:was going to be released for the day, but I had not even
Speaker:recorded the episode. That was supposed to be released for the day.
Speaker:And I was sharing that. You know, last week was
Speaker:just a tough week for me. And so it really.
Speaker:Hindered my creativity, my productivity.
Speaker:And just all the plans that I had. Really didn't happen.
Speaker:Um, I had a plan. I wrote it down in my
Speaker:planner last week, I was supposed to
Speaker:record and edit and publish all of the
Speaker:episodes for August. But again, that just didn't
Speaker:happen. And today, Tuesday. I thought. Okay, well,
Speaker:maybe I can wake up early. Before baby girl wakes
Speaker:up and record the episode. But I overslept. So
Speaker:that in happened. And so I figured, okay.
Speaker:Maybe I can just sneak in my
Speaker:closet for a few minutes because the episode. Is it going to
Speaker:be there long? My solo episodes are only like 15 minutes.
Speaker:Maybe I can just go on my closet and record and she
Speaker:can just be out in the bedroom playing with her toys.
Speaker:That didn't work because she was screaming and
Speaker:hollering. Outside of the closet door because she wanted to come in
Speaker:the closet with me. Uh, so then I thought, okay, maybe
Speaker:I can put on a show for her and. She can
Speaker:sit there for 15 minutes while I record this podcast episode.
Speaker:And again, that didn't work. Either because she wanted to run back and
Speaker:forth from my desk to, to back to where the TV was.
Speaker:And so it was one of those things where. I
Speaker:just had to hold off on recording the episode.
Speaker:And. Realized that it was just going to get done
Speaker:whenever it was going to get done. And typically I would
Speaker:have scheduled to do it during her nap. But I literally just got
Speaker:finished recording a podcast interview.
Speaker:For a September episode. And I also have some other things
Speaker:scheduled, but I canceled them so that I could record today's
Speaker:episode. And so. Just giving you guys
Speaker:some insight into the day-to-day like, yes, we can have
Speaker:plans. Yes, we can be organized.
Speaker:But every day. Does not always
Speaker:look like a day where we are crushing our goals.
Speaker:Where we are checking things off of our to-do
Speaker:list. Where things are going according to plan.
Speaker:Um, some days are tough and some days we just have
Speaker:to put work aside. To tend to.
Speaker:The needs of the child. And so. I want to talk
Speaker:today. About. How even in these circumstances,
Speaker:you can still find harmony in life and in
Speaker:business. I have seven things that I want to share with you guys.
Speaker:I'll come back at the end. And I will, share
Speaker:my lessons learned from this past weeks
Speaker:and today's circumstances. I'll come back and share my lessons, but
Speaker:I want to get into these seven things that can kind of help you
Speaker:to. Find harmony in life and business
Speaker:as a work from home. Mompreneur now
Speaker:I'm specifically saying harmony and I'm intentionally not
Speaker:saying balance. Because for me. Again, this is just my
Speaker:personal opinion. You know, it's not that I don't believe in balance.
Speaker:But. When I think of balance, I think of those scales
Speaker:Where there's two sides. And you have. Items when the
Speaker:scale and you're trying to get them to even out.
Speaker:And when I think about balance, it makes me wonder and it makes me
Speaker:think, am I. Am I placing unrealistic
Speaker:expectations on myself. And then setting myself up.
Speaker:For disappointing. in the long run. And so for me, instead of
Speaker:saying balance, because balance makes me think that, All of these things in
Speaker:my life need to be even. Instead of saying balance. I
Speaker:like to think of harmony. And when you look up, what
Speaker:harmony really means, harmony is defined as the quality
Speaker:of forming a pleasing. And consistent
Speaker:whole. It means agreement. And so
Speaker:you can have harmony. Where. Some of your days
Speaker:are messy, right? You might have a plan. Some things
Speaker:might not go according to plan, but in the end you can
Speaker:still have a pleasing and consistent.
Speaker:Pole. And it's not like I'm just trying to balance
Speaker:life and business, but I can have all of these other pieces of my life.
Speaker:Right. Because. bears motherhood. There's
Speaker:being a wife, there's being a sister. There as being the
Speaker:business owner. So it's all of these things that can work together
Speaker:in a pleasing way. However, I define pleasing.
Speaker:And be a consistent whole, so that's why I like to use the term harmony
Speaker:instead of balance. So, let me just get into the seven things really
Speaker:quick. That I found helpful in my journey. And I know
Speaker:that this, this resonates because the podcast interview that I just
Speaker:got out of some of these themes.
Speaker:That I'm going to share with you all today. Some of these things
Speaker:came up in her interview today as well. So
Speaker:I know that these are things that people struggle
Speaker:with. And that. People will resonate with. so the first
Speaker:thing. There will be helpful for you in.
Speaker:Finding harmony in life and business is freedom framing. Now
Speaker:freedom framing is the first phase in our
Speaker:framework here at the mom CEO suite.
Speaker:Freedom framing is really defining what
Speaker:freedom means for you in your life and in your business.
Speaker:This really is. Another way of setting goals, but you're
Speaker:setting goals in terms of freedom, because our whole mission here is
Speaker:to allow you to have the freedom to put family first without the
Speaker:business suffering. Right. And so we're thinking about what the
Speaker:end game for all of this is. Why are you really
Speaker:doing all of this? And so setting clear goals.
Speaker:Around those things can help you in the journey,
Speaker:in the day-to-day as you are working towards that. So that's number
Speaker:one. Number two is to get
Speaker:organized. And to plan ahead.
Speaker:So getting organized can mean. Writing things down in a
Speaker:planner or using some type of digital calendar.
Speaker:Or whatever that looks like for you. For me. Clanners are
Speaker:more effective but getting organized, whatever that means for you is going
Speaker:to help you along in the journey. Uh, this summer I traveled.
Speaker:With baby girl. Um, to South Carolina
Speaker:and I traveled by myself. So I, you know, I got on a
Speaker:plane, took her with me. It was just her and I, and on the way
Speaker:back home. There was a lady sitting next to me on the
Speaker:airplane and. She started talking
Speaker:to me about. How good baby girl did on the flight. You
Speaker:know, a lot of times when you, you, you hear kids on the airplane,
Speaker:they're very fussy. They're noisy, but she did do. Do
Speaker:well, which I'm glad about. But she
Speaker:said, um, you know, I don't know if I will be able to do that.
Speaker:But one of the things that she said was you seem very
Speaker:organized though, and yes, when it comes
Speaker:to being able to have harmony in your life and business and just
Speaker:making all of this work together, there needs to be a level of
Speaker:organization. I had to plan ahead and I had to think about.
Speaker:Okay. All of the things that I was going to need for her while we
Speaker:were in the airport, all of the different snacks. The type of
Speaker:support and help that I would need once I got to, the arrivals
Speaker:gate, all the things like I had to plan ahead and be organized.
Speaker:So that along the journey, I would not be frustrated when
Speaker:things came up. Okay. So that's number two to get organized.
Speaker:And to plan ahead. Uh, number three is to manage your
Speaker:expectations. And managing your expectations
Speaker:really looks like. Understanding the season of life that
Speaker:you are in Understanding the season of motherhood that you are
Speaker:in and really managing.
Speaker:Your own expectations that you put on yourself.
Speaker:And that other people put on you and being realistic about what you can
Speaker:really get done. As a work from home mom, this is
Speaker:one of those things that came up in the interview that I had today. We
Speaker:were talking about honoring the season of motherhood that we were in and
Speaker:how sometimes it can be frustrating. When you
Speaker:are. Looking at other people.
Speaker:Doing a lot, or it feels like they're doing a lot
Speaker:more, but they're in a different season of life and we
Speaker:have to really just get to a place where we're okay. In
Speaker:understanding that. Things may be a little bit slower for me. It
Speaker:may take me a little bit longer to do X, Y, and Z.
Speaker:But I am just honoring that this is the season of motherhood that I
Speaker:am, and I'm cherishing the moments and the time that I'm able
Speaker:to spend with my children in this season.
Speaker:Number four is to communicate and communicating.
Speaker:Can look like communicating your needs. And also
Speaker:communicating your boundaries. And so if you have a
Speaker:spouse. Communicating what it is that you need, where it is
Speaker:that you need support. And also communicating those boundaries. These
Speaker:boundaries can be with family. These boundaries can be with clients.
Speaker:But communication is going to be essential. In,
Speaker:minimizing your level of frustration when
Speaker:things. May not go the way that you expected. If you
Speaker:communicate them clearly, it can minimize. Those
Speaker:frustrations. Number five is to get support.
Speaker:Get support wherever you can get support in life. Get
Speaker:support in business. Whatever that looks like for you. And
Speaker:however that can look like for you. Again,
Speaker:people. We'll be quick to tell you what you need to do, but only,
Speaker:you know, your circumstance and only, you know, your situation,
Speaker:Somebody. May say, oh, you need to hire
Speaker:a project manager. That may not be the best
Speaker:thing for you. Maybe you just need to Outsource. Certain
Speaker:tasks in your business, you may not need to hire a
Speaker:full-time employee. Find support
Speaker:for your home life as well. What is it in your home life that you
Speaker:can outsource? What are the things that you are doing consistently?
Speaker:On a repetitive basis that you can outsource
Speaker:think cooking or cleaning. Laundry, whatever
Speaker:it is that you can do. Try to outsource it or get support from
Speaker:family, friends, or a tribe. That can help you in those
Speaker:areas. Number six. Is to indulge
Speaker:in self care. And I think. This is very
Speaker:important because at the end of the day, if we
Speaker:are not taking care of ourselves, We are going to be no
Speaker:good and taking care of. Our children,
Speaker:our families and our business. And so we really
Speaker:set the standard for how other people are going to treat
Speaker:us. Right. And so we have to indulge in caring for ourselves.
Speaker:And that can look like. The manicures and
Speaker:the massages and all those things, but on a deeper
Speaker:level, what does caring for yourself? Look like? Does that look like
Speaker:Russ, does that look like enforcing the boundaries that you have
Speaker:communicated? What does that look like for
Speaker:you in your life? Understand and
Speaker:recognize what those things are and then indulge in them.
Speaker:So you can be your best self, not only for you, but for your
Speaker:family and also for your business. And then finally number
Speaker:seven is to celebrate. Celebrate
Speaker:your wins. Celebrate your successes.
Speaker:Celebrate the milestones celebrate getting through the
Speaker:day. We need to learn how to begin to celebrate ourselves
Speaker:as moms and as business owners. We are keeping little
Speaker:humans alive, right? Maybe you're a little humans aren't so little anymore,
Speaker:but at some point you did. And so we need to celebrate how
Speaker:far we have really come. I think a lot of times we.
Speaker:Are looking at how far we have to go. Not
Speaker:realizing and recognizing that we have really come.
Speaker:A long way are ready. And so celebrating the
Speaker:success that we already have. The
Speaker:growth that we have already seen as success, doesn't have to be
Speaker:a monetary number. Or anything like
Speaker:that, but the fact that maybe you grew as a person.
Speaker:You gained more patients, you became more loving.
Speaker:Right. It can be anything, but celebrate your successes
Speaker:and your wins along the journey. Okay. So
Speaker:those are just some things that have been helpful for me and finding harmony in
Speaker:life in business. Now I want to quickly
Speaker:share. Just one main lesson that I learned.
Speaker:From this past week and just the messiness
Speaker:of today. And for me. The lesson was that I
Speaker:needed to put more white space in my
Speaker:calendar I need to give myself more time to do the
Speaker:things that I plan to do. So that when things do come
Speaker:up, when things do arise, when I do have a bad week,
Speaker:It doesn't slow down the progress. Or it
Speaker:doesn't slow down my timeline. So I need to.
Speaker:Uh, plan further ahead or start things sooner, if
Speaker:that makes sense. And so I hope that me
Speaker:sharing this was helpful that you resonated with
Speaker:something, even if it's just one thing that you take away that you can
Speaker:implement. Please do that because managing
Speaker:motherhood and entrepreneurship. It can get hard.
Speaker:You know, we say here on the podcast, a lot, motherhood gets hard. Entrepreneurship
Speaker:gets hard, but together we can do hard things. And I
Speaker:truly believe that. And so. I hope that this gave you
Speaker:some encouragement. To keep one in the journey, because I know there might be
Speaker:some days where you're thinking, how can I do this?
Speaker:Can I continue to make this work? And I believe
Speaker:that. If this is the path that was destined
Speaker:for you, then yes, you can. Thank you
Speaker:guys for listening. Make sure you follow me on Instagram. I would love
Speaker:to chat with you guys over there. I check out your stories and chat
