Are you a mom-preneur struggling to balance work and family life? Discover the secrets to maximizing your productivity and joy with our special guest, Penny Cook, a high-performance coach who specializes in helping mom-preneurs like you manage time and take control of their to-do lists. Penny shares her inspiring journey from working a nine to five job to launching her own business, and how emotional intelligence played a vital role in her success.
Together, we explore the unique challenges faced by mom-preneurs and how Penny's expertise can help you identify your core values, set boundaries, and confidently communicate your needs for a more successful and fulfilling life. We also discuss the double standard women face when it comes to careers and families, the importance of role-modeling for our kids, and the exciting opportunities that have opened up in the online world due to the pandemic.
Don't miss out on this valuable conversation about the connection between emotional well-being and effective systems and processes. Penny reveals her top strategies for successful productivity, time management, self-care, and goal prioritization – all designed to help you maximize joy in your day. Plus, learn how finding the right coach or mentor can keep you on track to achieving your goals and dreams. So, tune in and get ready to conquer the mom-preneur world like never before!
Now that you've listened to my Maximize Your Day Podcast, it's time to grab some of my client's favorite tools to crush their goals and maximize their results. Start here --> DOWNLOAD MY GUIDE today!
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Jessica Rosario
Certified Executive Coach & Business Consultant
P.S. Want to be a guest on the Maximize Your Day Podcast? Apply here!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jessica Rosario (00:19):
Hello and welcome to the Maximize Your Day
podcast, a place forentrepreneurs who are building
their business in pursuit offreedom and flexibility to do
the things they love.
I'm your host, jessica Rosario.
I'm a New Yorker turnedFloridian Who knows a thing or
two I'm how to effectivelymanage your time while juggling
multiple priorities.
I'm an ex-corporate leader whowalked away from my 9-5-ish to
(00:41):
launch and grow my business.
In this podcast, i shareinsights on mindset, business
productivity, habits andstrategies to help you take
control of your to-do list andmaximize your day, which will
help you feel more confident andless overwhelmed and getting
more done in less time.
I'm so excited you're here.
Go ahead, listen in.
(01:06):
Welcome back to the MaximizeYour Day podcast.
I'm Jessica Rosario, your host,and I'm so excited to be able
to share with you an amazing,high-performance coach that
really focuses on systems,processes, strategy, which you
guys all know that is very nearand dear to my heart.
I can't wait to be able toshare her story and for you guys
(01:29):
to be able to take sometakeaways that you can apply
easily into your day-to-daylives.
Penny Cook, high-performancecoach, you are an incredible,
incredible, skilled coach thathelps not only mom-preneurs but
entrepreneurs as a whole.
I just can't wait to share yourstory.
Why don't you tell us a littlebit about you and who you serve?
Penny Cook (01:53):
Thank you very much for having me.
It's super exciting and so niceto be part of your podcast.
Yeah, so my name's Penny.
Like you said, i work withhigh-performance entrepreneurs.
I work with those go-getters,the people that just want to get
more out of everything all thetime.
Mom-preneurs, therefore, is agreat dynamic to work with.
They have kids.
They're balancing work and homelife.
There's lots going on in thereAnd what I do is I help them
(02:16):
achieve more by using thosesystems and structures and
setting boundaries that comefrom your core values and the
kind of deeper kind of work tomake sure that those boundaries
are consistent and that you cancommunicate them confidently
with yourself, with other people, and you can just feel better
about your work-life balance,and it's a work-life balance
(02:36):
that you can be proud of.
Effectively, maybe you achievethe same thing but with less
chaos, or you achieve more withless chaos.
Jessica Rosario (02:44):
I love that And what led you to making that
your focus in your business?
Penny Cook (02:51):
I think personal experience.
For one, my education isactually in psychology and
criminology.
I study the behavior analysisand facial expressions etc.
But I really realized that whenI went from working the nine to
five and when I went from a jobI would say rather than a
career, i had a job because Ineeded one I really realized
(03:13):
that with the emotionalintelligence that I had gained
through my education, i couldreally use that to harness all
those negative emotions that youhave when you're unfulfilled in
your life.
And if you can harness that andunderstand where they come from
and why they're there, they'reactually there to get you out of
the situation that you're in.
If you can use your emotionalintelligence to say, okay, why
(03:34):
do I feel this way?
I want to move on, i want toget out of this.
And I was able to harness thatpower And I followed my passion
And this is where I'm supposedto be.
It's good fun.
I really enjoy it.
Jessica Rosario (03:48):
I love that, and one of the things that you
talk about and it's your taglineis making sense out of your
emotions.
So I love how you were able tokind of combine your experience
with psychology and criminologyand tailor it to what you're
doing now.
So why focus on mompreneurs?
Penny Cook (04:06):
Well, i really believe that mompreneurs are
nearly a different species.
We have to manage differentthings.
It's not the same, if you know,or female entrepreneurs
actually but it's females thatare given more, take more.
We have a differentrelationship to pain and
suffering and getting thingsdone, you know and this isn't to
(04:29):
say that men have it easy andwe have it difficult, it's
nothing like that It's just thatit's different when we have
kids and when we start focusingon our family life, we will find
a way to make it all work.
Men don't tend to do that.
They tend to say, okay, i haveone problem, how can I fix this,
and then they'll move on to thenext one.
So I was really interested.
I found myself thriving whenthere was a bigger challenge.
(04:51):
There's a challenge to say,okay, it's not just problem
solving, this is problem solvingin four or five different
elements of one person's life.
Their identity changes whenthey're at home to when they're
doing their own business ontheir laptop.
When they're doing, i'mdifferent now on this podcast
than I am when my kids come home.
How can you solve problems intwo such different environments
(05:12):
simultaneously?
So for me, it was just workingwith those high achievers, and
you know the people that reallywant.
You know, as a mompreneur, wedon't have a choice.
You know your kids need feedingand bathing and putting to bed
and they need routine and theyneed structure.
So you don't have a choice, youhave to fit it in.
So how can you fit that withthat?
It was just a challenge to mewhich I really found satisfying
(05:36):
to solve.
Jessica Rosario (05:37):
Awesome, awesome.
And you know, completely agreewith you about the way men focus
on things.
They tend to compartmentalize,right.
And us, as women, we justmanage things differently.
We're moms, we're running abusiness, we are focusing on our
own person, on professionaldevelopment.
So all of those things combinedis what helps us be authentic,
(05:59):
right?
It's all part of our DNA andour ecosystem.
What are your thoughts onmulti-passionate entrepreneurs
and how they balance all of thethings?
How can you support someone atthat level?
Penny Cook (06:12):
Easily.
I think when women are at thatlevel, they are often looking
for some accountability and somesome consistent points.
In the beautiful chaos thatbecomes what their life is,
Women only need maybe one or twoconsistent ties to be happy and
to be fulfilled.
So if you are a multipassionate entrepreneur and you
(06:35):
have lots of your fingers andlots of different pies, as we
say, and you have the kids andyou want to run the household
and you like it to be clean andtidy and all of these things,
then typically they only needone place where they can go back
and say hang on, something'snot quite right.
I need to organize my thoughtsand organize my feelings, And
once they understand that andthey put that into some sort of
structure, things kind of flowagain.
(06:57):
So for a lot of people likethat I mean, I work one to one
with clients in different ways,But for those kinds of people it
tends to work better when youhave kind of not a weekly
session.
They don't need that, They'retoo busy for that, There's too
much going on.
What they need is somebody tobe a bit more on demand, to say
I need a goal, when can you fitme in?
Great, And then you just sitand organize everything, bring
(07:21):
down, fix it and then you cancarry on again.
And those people are very funto work with because it's a very
dynamic concept and their corevalues remain relatively stable
while everything around themkind of evolve and adapts to
their situation.
It's fascinating.
Jessica Rosario (07:37):
Yeah, you hit it right on the nose As women,
we need one to two consistentthings in order for us to feel
like we're in control, like weown it.
we're successful.
So, on that same token, whatdoes success mean to you?
Penny Cook (07:51):
It's a very interesting question, i think,
and it changes depending on thearea of my life that I'm looking
in.
It's easy to say that successis happiness or fulfillment, or
it's a feeling and not adestination, if you like.
Success comes and goes, and I'man ex-international athlete and
have stood on the podium andhad a national anthem played for
(08:14):
me And you could argue thatthat is more successful than
anything else I've done.
But success comes from struggle.
If you are given something, ifI just give you a load of money
and you don't have to work forit, that's not being successful.
So if you receive it or if youachieve it, there's two
different things and achievingsomething is success.
(08:36):
So success to me is starting myown business in a foreign
country.
I live in Norway, away from myfamily, while I'm raising a
young family.
That is successful, whether ornot it works or not, crying and
going for it, that is success.
Jessica Rosario (08:52):
I love that and I agree.
success means different thingsto different people and in
different stages in life, Andwhether you're a mom, whether
you're not, whether you're aprofessional, in your career or
in business, right there's,success is defined by the person
.
So I love that story.
Penny Cook (09:09):
Now I think if you have listeners that are
struggling in areas, maybe ifthey're, they get the mom guilt
or they get that feeling.
the most common feeling that Ihave with my clients is when
they're at work they kind offeel like they need to be at
home, and when they're at homethey kind of feel like they have
to be at work and there's thisconstant inner conflict about
where you're going to be.
If you're listening to this andyou think that is me a lot of
the time, that doesn't mean tosay that you're not successful
(09:32):
at that point, because you needthese moments to become
successful.
You need that downtime toachieve the success.
If it was easy all the time, itwouldn't really constitute
success.
Jessica Rosario (09:44):
Absolutely.
And it's funny because you wentstraight into my next question,
which was going to be how doyou think that someone who's
feeling the mom guilt kind ofpushed that aside.
So I really loved thatdefinition and you demonstrated
that.
because we can be multiplethings right, we don't have to
be this or that.
I can tell you for me, growingup while raising my kids right
(10:08):
As a single parent for someyears, i always felt like I
needed to do more, because I wasconstantly at work, i was
constantly busy keeping them inafter school programs and
daycares and getting ababysitter and whatnot, because
that's what my career requiredof me at that time.
(10:29):
And fast forward 10 years later,i actually just interviewed my
daughters, actually for apodcast and to be able to hear
how that helped shape them andmold them into who they are
today, even with the teenagetrials and even with the teenage
attitudes right.
It was really refreshing to seehow they're watching while we're
(10:53):
striving, and one of thebiggest things that my daughters
said was that I did a great jobin not showing them, i guess,
deep down inside, what I wasgoing through, even though I
felt like they probably thoughtat times that I was absolutely
insane, right, but the fact thatthey said I hit it so well and
(11:17):
they didn't realize how much Iwas up against, not only as a
woman in business, right, and asa single parent, it just it was
harder.
It was harder for me to raisethem, but on the other hand,
they were able to see thatdifferent side.
So, and some advice for a momthat's feeling guilty at this
(11:39):
time of raising a family andhaving to do all the things with
me just keep going, becauseit's worth it in the end, would
you agree?
Penny Cook (11:49):
Absolutely, and I think you've touched on some
really key points here that alot of entrepreneurs, female
entrepreneurs and entrepreneursthat are mothers all feel.
And let's go back to the factthat moms and females in
particular we set ourselves upwith the double standard.
You know we always talk aboutthese double standards.
Men can have kids and itdoesn't really affect what's
(12:09):
going on.
That's how it is.
There is a double standard.
It's not the same.
It is different for women, butwe as women have a different
makeup in our brain.
If men had this double standardwith their brains, they would
deal with it very differently,because they would be able to
compartmentalize and say this ismy boundary, this is it set,
and they're very confident.
(12:30):
In that case, Women tend to sayokay, now I have four different
things to do.
I'm going to just get them alldone without being able to set
the boundaries and withoutunderstanding that with those
boundaries, you could do itbetter.
Arguably So, for yourself aswell.
I mean.
The other point that you touchedon was how your kids felt about
you leaving them withbabysitters and things like that
(12:50):
, And ultimately, what youshowed them is that they could
be anything they wanna be, Andthis is part of why I do what I
do as well, because when I hadchildren and I was in my nine to
five job and I wasn't happy, Ididn't want them to see that
that was normal.
I didn't want them tounderstand that mommy goes to
work because she has to.
That's not something I wantedthem to learn or to mimic as
(13:13):
they grew up.
So now when they say, oh, mommy, I don't wanna go to the
kindergarten, or can I stay homewith you, I say no, mommy's
really excited about work today.
This is what mommy's gonna do,So I'll pick you up later and
I'll tell you all about it.
And that's what I want them tounderstand that I enjoy working
and I enjoy my time with themand I enjoy working.
And I encourage my husband tosay the same thing about his
work as well.
So it's about mimicking thebehavior that you want your kids
(13:36):
to have.
If you have that, mom, good, Ineed to be with them all the
time.
It's completely understandableAnd that's where your boundaries
come from, your core values,And that's where you have to
really go back a little bitdeeper and say what do I need?
What do I need to feel that I'mdoing right by my business and
my family and my career andwhatever else is your goals.
(13:56):
And if you can focus on thosecore values, then those
boundaries become much easierand much more confident in your
delivery.
Jessica Rosario (14:05):
I love that.
I love that.
Would you say that there's someimportance of sharing with your
children the difference betweena job and a career?
Penny Cook (14:14):
I think so, but I think there's important to share
all of these things with kids.
Obviously it depends when andwhat age and how mature they are
and what their level ofunderstanding is.
But having a job, there'snothing wrong with having just a
job, there's nothing wrong withthat.
And if you're happy doing thenine to five and you enjoy the
structure and the fact that youcan finish your job and go home
(14:34):
and there's nothing still onyour mind and things like that,
that can work very well for somemothers.
And that's again where it comesback to your core values And
your core values really, if youcan set boundaries based on your
core values, then that reallydoes protect who you are as your
authentic self.
And this goes back again towomen experiencing pressure and
double standards from thesociety and the culture that we
(14:55):
live in.
We're expected to do this andexpected to do this.
If you can take all of yourboundaries and take them right
back to your core values, thatinner conflict disappears
because you understand wherethey come from.
So that mom guilt is basicallyinner conflict of you saying I
think this is important to meand I think this is important to
me, but I haven't quite figuredout if it's society telling me
(15:16):
that or me telling me that.
So I'm just gonna try and doeverything and see if it works
and it doesn't.
So it's really important to goback and think okay, if you're
having that mom guilt especiallyif you have it a lot, if you
feel this constant tug and pullwherever you are and it's
stressful and it's chaotic it'sreally important just to think,
okay, where are my boundariesand are they coming from the
(15:37):
right place, which is your corevalues?
Jessica Rosario (15:41):
Wow, wow, that's so good.
And one of the things that I'vebeen finding lately and I don't
know if you've experienced thistoo is that with some of my
clients, they're looking morefor purpose and passion-driven
work, the days of getting a jobjust because they need the money
.
Yes, you all need the moneyright, let's be real but it's
(16:02):
more.
They're looking for morealignment with their core values
, with their mission and passionin life and what helps them
serve.
It's not just to go in, toclock in and clock out, but more
to serve the people thatthey've been called to serve.
Have you seen that shift latelyon what people are looking for,
(16:23):
especially after the pandemic?
Penny Cook (16:25):
I think a lot of people.
now the online world has kindof grown into this huge
opportunity and arena foropportunities.
Of course, there are definitelymore people saying you know
what, i might be able to havesomething else, and, of course,
the ones that are able to justleave their full time jobs and
start Our lucky, you know,because we do need the finances
and living in a society.
(16:46):
it costs money and that's whatour society values and we have
to do that.
But I have seen a shift and Ithink it's a good one, and I
think what happens with thatshift is the people that are
serving from a Passionate,authentic and foundational place
where they really understandwho they are themselves.
You know, they might not beable to serve everybody.
(17:07):
I'm definitely not right forevery single person out there.
the way I coach or mentor, mystrategies, things like that
won't work for everybody, butbecause I understand that that's
who I am, it's very easy for meto say you know what?
I don't think we're right towork together, but here's
someone that you might be betterwith, and what happens is you
end up with this premium serviceall the time.
(17:28):
so now it's possible to findcoaches, especially for
Emotional intelligence andmentorship and accountability
and productivity.
Now it's actually possible tofind coaches on that really
premium level that you just jailwith, you just have chemistry
with, because your coach isbeing their authentic self And
you're learning how to be yourauthentic self.
so it's.
(17:49):
there's nothing hidden in thedetails.
you know it all used to beabout Did you show enough eye
contact?
did you shake your hand withthe right amount of force?
did you do this?
and meetings when you walked in, did you look like a power
woman or did you?
So far not about that anymore.
now it's about I wanted to getto know you first and then I'll
decide whether I want to workwith you.
(18:10):
and I think it's fantastic andI think a lot of people are
finding Passion as the fuel forlife now.
Jessica Rosario (18:16):
Wow, i love that example because I remember
about 10 years ago probably more, i was walking into a
networking event.
Where I was I don't think I wasin a in an executive role or
anything at the time And agentleman came up to me.
He said you know, when you walkin the room you display
strength and power, but when youintroduce yourself we could
(18:39):
barely hear what you were saying.
He said you need to speak withmore authority And I was like,
wow, like for someone to seethat in me right and kind of
help, help me get to that nextlevel.
So if somebody told me that nowI probably I don't know maybe I
would be offended by it, butback then it was like, oh, ok,
well, i need to.
When I walk into a room, i needto own the room, i need to own
(19:03):
my space and who I am.
And I love the relationshipbuilding side of networking that
you just mentioned as well.
For me to go in It's not justabout meeting someone to offer
them my product of services, toget to know who they are, what
they offer, because I have anamazing coach and she always
says that everyone that comesinto your space is a client, a
(19:23):
collaborator or a connector Andif you treat every conversation
in that way, even if they're nota client, they might
collaborate with you in somesense.
But even if they don'tcollaborate with you, they'll do
exactly what you just mentionedconnect you with someone else
that maybe To be of value tohelp you grow your business or
(19:45):
your professional development,or be a good connection strategy
for you as you continue to growpersonally and professionally.
So I love everything you'resaying, especially about
relationship building, so Ithink that's fantastic.
Penny Cook (19:56):
Well, the difference is as well nowadays.
If you were to walk in thatroom and somebody was to say to
you hey, you know, when you walkin, you know you're really
strong.
When you get on stage, it kindof disappears.
Now, if you have the rightfoundation set up and you know
what your values are and youknow what your belief systems
are, you can say to yourself, ok, is this a skill that I would
like to improve because I wantto be a public speaker, for
(20:17):
example?
You know you set goals that arein line with your core values
And if your goal is to be apublic speaker, you can say, ok,
i think I need some help in howto be better at public speaking
.
But nowadays you get to choose.
If you don't want to do that,you could say, ok, public
speaking not my thing.
Let's see how I can help people, not on stage, but on a Zoom
call, one to one or in littlesmall groups in your local area.
(20:40):
Or there's so many optionsbecause of the Internet and
because of marketing and salesand how we as coaches can get
our message out there That now,as long as you have that basic
foundational knowledge, you cankind of pick and choose where
you go, and you can excelbecause your authentic self is
better in that area.
Jessica Rosario (21:00):
Yeah, so good, so good.
So let me ask you this, pennywhat was the pivotal moment for
you when you realized that youwanted to focus on structures
and systems as part of someone'slifestyle not just their
business or their life, but moreof like a lifestyle change?
Penny Cook (21:18):
I was good at it.
The pivotal moment for me iswhen I realized that people are
coming to me asking me how I'mdoing this And I didn't know
that it was something that otherpeople struggle with quite so
much, and when I started tothink about okay, why do I have
this set up in my life?
You know I have systems foreverything.
It drives my husband crazy.
(21:39):
I have a system for the laundryand the kitchen And I like
things put in the right way Andit's okay when it doesn't work
all the time, and that's part ofbeing adaptable.
But I have systems andstructures everywhere And I
really realized that havingthose was more efficient.
But that came very naturally tome.
It wasn't something that I hadto actively think about.
It was just hmm, this isn'tworking.
I could save some time andenergy here, and if I can save
(22:00):
time and energy here, i can putmore into my kids or more into
my business.
So, hmm, this just happens.
And then people would come tome and say, how are you managing
to do this and this?
And I'd say, well, it's asystem, that's how it works.
I can drop it at any point.
Somebody else can pick it upbecause it works.
So that pivotal moment, i guess,was when I realized that my
(22:22):
education in forensic psychologywas not going to be completely
accessible to me living I liveabove the Arctic Circle in a
tiny little town.
There's not much crime.
It's not going to work, and Irealized where else can I go?
What else do people want?
What is?
what is something I'm just goodat already that I can teach
people, and I really enjoyed theconversations I had with people
(22:43):
that asked me for help, and itwasn't necessarily one thing all
the time that people would askme for.
People knew that I had abackground in emotional
intelligence and they would askme about, you know, disciplining
their children and how tomanage emotions with their
children, how to organize theirclothes drawers, because this
mom is going insane becausethere's laundry everywhere, all
(23:05):
the place, all the time.
How do I fix that?
How do I structure my work weekthat's in line with my
authentic self, because thingskeep coming in that I don't even
want to do and I have to dothem And I always feel like I
have to do everything.
So it just kind of happened And, yeah, i guess the people that
I did work with had a lot ofnice things to say and they
would tell other people and morepeople kind of came to me.
(23:27):
So that's how it snowboardreally.
Jessica Rosario (23:29):
Awesome, awesome.
So what would you say?
the connection be betweensomeone's emotional well-being
and having effective systems andprocesses in place?
Penny Cook (23:41):
Oh, i think that's a deep question And I think it
has many, many answers, and itmight be different for every
person as well, but thestructures and systems that you
put in place, they all soundvery formal, and when I say
structures and systems, itsounds so like strict, and
that's not what it is, andthat's where your emotional
well-being comes in.
Structures and systems are justa way for you to get to know
(24:04):
what you want in your life,whether that's big picture.
What career do I want to do?
Who do I want to be?
Or tiny, do I like a tiny houseor do I not mind if it's messy?
You know it's tiny things tomassive things, and your
emotional well-being reallydepends on yourself awareness.
And if you don't know why youbehave the way that you behave,
(24:25):
why you make the decisions youmake, why you react to different
triggers in the world, why doesit upset you so much when
somebody does something specificand somebody else doesn't care
at all?
Getting to know that aboutyourself and understanding
yourself is the key to unlockingall of that.
So structures and systems arejust a way to find that.
(24:47):
That's all it is.
It's just a tool that isavailable to each and every one
of us to make sure that we havea level of self-awareness that
we can use to our advantagewithin our business and our
family life.
Jessica Rosario (25:00):
Yeah, yeah, for sure, i love that.
So, someone that's listeningright now, what advice can you
give them on, maybe, what arethe top three things that you
help your clients with?
What are those strategies thatyou would recommend to that
person that's listening, basedon the trends and the themes
(25:20):
that you've seen with your ownclients?
Penny Cook (25:23):
I think the first one is understanding what
boundaries are truthfully, wherethey come from and how they can
help you.
I think boundaries is step one.
I mean, if you are unable tounderstand the boundaries that
you already have or set new onesor communicate them to yourself
or the people that need to knowand the people that need to
(25:44):
know the list is endless.
Anybody you come in contactwith you know your partner, your
kids, your colleagues, whoeveris looking after your kids,
whoever is on your backup listfor babysitters everybody needs
to know these things.
And if you don't understandwhat a boundary really truly is
and how it can protect you andyour family and your business,
(26:05):
then I really think that that'sstep one.
That's where I would start withmost of my clients, i think.
After that, it's time management.
I think everybody has thecapability to have a schedule
and a work-life balance thatthey're proud of.
I really believe that All it isis about prioritizing your
goals and your wants and needsin your life.
(26:26):
It's about finding a structurethat you can list them down and
visualize them and see okay, ican't have this and this, or I
can't have this and this at thesame time.
Which one do I want to do firstthis one.
Okay, this goes here, this goeshere, and it's like a little
puzzle.
So I think once you've learnedhow to set boundaries and manage
your time, then I think the skyis the limit.
(26:46):
Then you start adding in someself-care and a little bit of
social awareness about how toget more out of your
interactions, and the sky is thelimit.
Jessica Rosario (26:55):
Love that, Love that.
So tell me something, Penny.
You know our podcast is allabout productivity and tips and
tricks, but, most importantly,to highlight other women in
business, because there issomeone listening right now
that's thinking you know that Ican't do this, I can't do all
the things you know, but thereality is that we've all felt
(27:17):
that way.
So What is a way that youmaximize your day to help you
feel successful?
Penny Cook (27:27):
I love this question .
I really do, And I think for me, to get more out of your day is
to get more joy out of it.
Whatever you can do to get morehappiness out of your day
maximizes your day.
I could sit here and tell you,you know, you can get more if
you.
you know, automate this orbatch create this or you know
whatever it is, delegate thisand all these fancy terms on how
(27:48):
to run your business.
But ultimately it doesn'tmatter, as long as you maximize
the joy in your day.
So for me if I'm having a toughtime and I'm really finding it
difficult, or I'm exhausted, orthe kids have been up all night
being sick or something and Ihave to put on my brave face and
carry on in the morning.
For me, it's about listing theminimalistic things in my next
(28:09):
day Before I go to bed thatnight.
I might make a list of there'snever more than three, maybe
three to five.
But if you really think aboutit, what is the absolute minimum
that if you do tomorrow itwould still be successful?
Write those things down, getthem done and then enjoy
something.
Get more joy out of something.
Do one of the things in your jobthat you love.
(28:30):
Find someone just to coach forfree, because that's why you
started in the first place.
You know, Nothing has to be sostrict all the time.
There's a lot of rules and alot of guidelines and a lot of
do this, don't do this.
Just get more joy.
Find something that makes youhappy.
Get your minimalist on whateverneeds to make that day
successful.
Get it done and then findsomething that brings you more
(28:52):
joy every day.
And I get much more out of myday if I think of my days as
joyful than not.
Jessica Rosario (28:59):
Wow, that's awesome.
That's awesome.
I love that.
I agree It's different fordifferent people whether it's
maximizing their joy or spendingsome quiet time in the morning,
self-care, meditating, whateverit is.
it's different for differentpeople.
And I love to ask that questionto you know, when I'm doing a
podcast interview, because it'sagain, it's to be able to share
(29:20):
the diversity in the way that wethink and the way that we
process in our daily lives.
So, so cool.
Penny Cook (29:27):
More personally speaking, for me it would be
finding help and support.
Yeah, so for me, i don't liketo work alone.
I am a people person.
I like to talk to people andthe world of on, solopreneur and
things like that can be verylong, and for me, finding
someone that has the same goalsand objectives and ideals as you
(29:49):
, just to be able to send them amessage and say, oh, this is
tough sometimes.
Yeah, find somebody, even ifyou pay them.
Find a coach, find a mentor,find somebody that is aligned
with what you agree with and usethem.
I always have a coach and neverdon't have somebody that I'm
paying to help me with my goalsand my objectives.
(30:10):
Because, yeah, to think, if youare sitting there thinking I
just want to give up, don't giveup.
Just understand that you're notdesigned to be able to do every
aspect of your business all ofthe time all by yourself.
You have a specialty for areason.
Jessica Rosario (30:24):
Yeah.
Penny Cook (30:25):
You know, focus on that specialty, focus on the bit
that makes you happy and findsomeone else to just talk you
through the other bits.
It doesn't have to be quite sooverwhelming.
Jessica Rosario (30:34):
Yeah, I love that.
Surrounding yourself withlike-minded individuals is so
powerful.
I always talk about the closestfive.
So who are the closest five inyour circle?
Who's in your tribe?
I was at a conference last weekand one of the things they said
was if your closest five areadding and multiplying to you in
your life, then it's time tolook for another five.
So, definitely, love.
(30:55):
I completely agree.
As a coach and as someone whohas mentored multiple women,
whether it's in my church or inbusiness, I think it's
definitely a powerful way tomake new connections and to stay
focused and thriving.
So I love that, Yeah.
Penny Cook (31:09):
I really like that.
I like the top five as well, orthe closest five, and also
remember to do that energyanalysis for each, each friend.
That's a little tall goldennugget for anybody listening.
Absolutely, i do know you're atop five.
have a little think about theenergy exchange for each one.
So do you get or receive energyfrom this relationship?
Some people are great for yourbusiness and they have great
(31:30):
ideals and great goals, but it'sso draining to talk to them
because they're always on a high, for example, and for you to
match that energy is quiteexhausting.
Yeah, so okay, i get a lot, butthey also take a lot of energy.
Okay, my next one.
I get so much energy out ofthis person.
They let me vent their greatsupport network.
they do this, they do this.
okay, i get a lot of energy outof this one.
and make sure that you're notspending one day with three
(31:54):
people that are sucking energyout of you.
It might be great, it might begood for your goal setting, but
it's not going to be good foryour overall mindset or your
ability to do anything thisevening when you get home and
you have to do some work.
Jessica Rosario (32:06):
Absolutely.
Penny Cook (32:07):
So just be, aware of energy shift as well.
Jessica Rosario (32:09):
Awesome, Penny.
what's something new that'scoming your way?
Do you have any new excitingoffers?
Penny Cook (32:17):
Absolutely I do.
Actually I am for those of youwho don't know, i'm sitting here
with five weeks left of mypregnancy to go, so my third
little baby is due in June andtherefore I am launching a
product, an online product, justbefore that so I can help
people, not in a one-to-onecapacity, but I will be online
(32:37):
and helping people get throughthat course, and that course
really is actually based onsetting boundaries, time
management and self-care.
So those three elements that Italked about earlier.
It consists of an audio it'slike listening to a podcast, but
it's an audio instruction andinformation with summary
coursebook and a workbook, andthe workbook is extensive.
It's a decent amount ofinformation in the course, but
(32:59):
it should be a lot of fun.
It should make it feel lessoverwhelming and everything is
written down and in a way thatis easy to visualize.
So if you're a visual person aswell, it's a great workbook and
I'm getting some really goodfeedback from some beta testers
and things like that.
So look out for that in JuneAnd if you are interested in
doing that course, then maybe wecan put my email somewhere.
(33:20):
Send me an email and I'll makesure.
As soon as it becomes available, you're one of the first to
know and then you can get accessto it.
I do have the freebie version,which is less intense, maybe
something just to get youthinking, get you started on
some of this emotionalwell-being and this journey to
understanding yourself andself-awareness.
So that freebie is availablenow.
So that's there.
Let me know if you want that,and easiest way to contact me is
(33:44):
Instagram Instagram or email.
Yeah, so we can put my handlesomewhere so that people can
find me.
Jessica Rosario (33:48):
Yes, of course, and for those of you that are
listening, her contactinformation will be in the show
notes, so you'll definitely beable to connect with her and if
you love what you heard on thisepisode, definitely take a
screenshot and tag us on socialmedia, because we love to see
the shout outs and to be able togive you any feedback if you
have any questions also.
So congratulations, penny, youlook beautiful.
(34:09):
Do you know what's going to be?
It's another girl, so we mustsay Congrats.
I have two daughters, so that'sso fun.
Girls are fun.
Girls are fun.
I'm proud they start to showyou your own attitudes when they
get older.
Penny Cook (34:24):
My oldest is five and she's already doing that, So
I look in the mirror sometimes.
but I'm really looking forwardto it And it's given me some
really great insights in, youknow, managing another kid and
my business and who I love to beand what I love to do.
So it's been great all around.
Jessica Rosario (34:41):
Love that.
Love that.
Well, penny, thank you so muchfor being on the show.
I've always said that if itinspired one person that's
listening, we did our job.
We've been called to serveother women and I know that
everybody has a story, so I lookforward to be able to share
your story and how you cansupport your clients to be who
(35:03):
they want to be and just makethe most sense of what they have
going on in their lives,whether it's business or
personal.
So love that.
Penny Cook (35:11):
It was great having you, thank you so much, and I
really do encourage yourlisteners to reach out.
Like I say, i'm having a baby,so I'm going to need all the all
the distraction I can get.
So if you want to send me anemail and you have questions,
please do.
I answer all my emails anddirect messages on Instagram by
myself, so you will get apersonal response from me if
there is something that's onyour mind.
Don't suffer in silence.
(35:32):
Just reach out.
Jessica Rosario (35:34):
So good.
Don't suffer in silence.
I love that.
Thank you so much, penny, forbeing on the show, as always.
thank you so much for listeningin.
Don't forget to subscribe tothe show to be notified the
second a new episode is releasedand share with your friends who
you believe could benefit fromlistening.
Contact me at JessRosariocomforward slash podcast to share
(35:57):
your feedback, ask question,make topic suggestions or even
be a guest on my show.
You never know if your topicwill be next until next time.
maximize your day and own it.
Hello and welcome to the Maximize Your Day
podcast, a place forentrepreneurs who are building
their business in pursuit offreedom and flexibility to do
the things they love.
I'm your host, jessica Rosario.
I'm a New Yorker turnedFloridian Who knows a thing or
two I'm how to effectivelymanage your time while juggling
multiple priorities.
I'm an ex-corporate leader whowalked away from my 9-5-ish to
(00:41):
launch and grow my business.
In this podcast, i shareinsights on mindset, business
productivity, habits andstrategies to help you take
control of your to-do list andmaximize your day, which will
help you feel more confident andless overwhelmed and getting
more done in less time.
I'm so excited you're here.
Go ahead, listen in.
(01:06):
Welcome back to the MaximizeYour Day podcast.
I'm Jessica Rosario, your host,and I'm so excited to be able
to share with you an amazing,high-performance coach that
really focuses on systems,processes, strategy, which you
guys all know that is very nearand dear to my heart.
I can't wait to be able toshare her story and for you guys
(01:29):
to be able to take sometakeaways that you can apply
easily into your day-to-daylives.
Penny Cook, high-performancecoach, you are an incredible,
incredible, skilled coach thathelps not only mom-preneurs but
entrepreneurs as a whole.
I just can't wait to share yourstory.
Why don't you tell us a littlebit about you and who you serve?
Penny Cook (01:53):
Thank you very much for having me.
It's super exciting and so niceto be part of your podcast.
Yeah, so my name's Penny.
Like you said, i work withhigh-performance entrepreneurs.
I work with those go-getters,the people that just want to get
more out of everything all thetime.
Mom-preneurs, therefore, is agreat dynamic to work with.
They have kids.
They're balancing work and homelife.
There's lots going on in thereAnd what I do is I help them
(02:16):
achieve more by using thosesystems and structures and
setting boundaries that comefrom your core values and the
kind of deeper kind of work tomake sure that those boundaries
are consistent and that you cancommunicate them confidently
with yourself, with other people, and you can just feel better
about your work-life balance,and it's a work-life balance
(02:36):
that you can be proud of.
Effectively, maybe you achievethe same thing but with less
chaos, or you achieve more withless chaos.
Jessica Rosario (02:44):
I love that And what led you to making that
your focus in your business?
Penny Cook (02:51):
I think personal experience.
For one, my education isactually in psychology and
criminology.
I study the behavior analysisand facial expressions etc.
But I really realized that whenI went from working the nine to
five and when I went from a jobI would say rather than a
career, i had a job because Ineeded one I really realized
(03:13):
that with the emotionalintelligence that I had gained
through my education, i couldreally use that to harness all
those negative emotions that youhave when you're unfulfilled in
your life.
And if you can harness that andunderstand where they come from
and why they're there, they'reactually there to get you out of
the situation that you're in.
If you can use your emotionalintelligence to say, okay, why
(03:34):
do I feel this way?
I want to move on, i want toget out of this.
And I was able to harness thatpower And I followed my passion
And this is where I'm supposedto be.
It's good fun.
I really enjoy it.
Jessica Rosario (03:48):
I love that, and one of the things that you
talk about and it's your taglineis making sense out of your
emotions.
So I love how you were able tokind of combine your experience
with psychology and criminologyand tailor it to what you're
doing now.
So why focus on mompreneurs?
Penny Cook (04:06):
Well, i really believe that mompreneurs are
nearly a different species.
We have to manage differentthings.
It's not the same, if you know,or female entrepreneurs
actually but it's females thatare given more, take more.
We have a differentrelationship to pain and
suffering and getting thingsdone, you know and this isn't to
(04:29):
say that men have it easy andwe have it difficult, it's
nothing like that It's just thatit's different when we have
kids and when we start focusingon our family life, we will find
a way to make it all work.
Men don't tend to do that.
They tend to say, okay, i haveone problem, how can I fix this,
and then they'll move on to thenext one.
So I was really interested.
I found myself thriving whenthere was a bigger challenge.
(04:51):
There's a challenge to say,okay, it's not just problem
solving, this is problem solvingin four or five different
elements of one person's life.
Their identity changes whenthey're at home to when they're
doing their own business ontheir laptop.
When they're doing, i'mdifferent now on this podcast
than I am when my kids come home.
How can you solve problems intwo such different environments
(05:12):
simultaneously?
So for me, it was just workingwith those high achievers, and
you know the people that reallywant.
You know, as a mompreneur, wedon't have a choice.
You know your kids need feedingand bathing and putting to bed
and they need routine and theyneed structure.
So you don't have a choice, youhave to fit it in.
So how can you fit that withthat?
It was just a challenge to mewhich I really found satisfying
(05:36):
to solve.
Jessica Rosario (05:37):
Awesome, awesome.
And you know, completely agreewith you about the way men focus
on things.
They tend to compartmentalize,right.
And us, as women, we justmanage things differently.
We're moms, we're running abusiness, we are focusing on our
own person, on professionaldevelopment.
So all of those things combinedis what helps us be authentic,
(05:59):
right?
It's all part of our DNA andour ecosystem.
What are your thoughts onmulti-passionate entrepreneurs
and how they balance all of thethings?
How can you support someone atthat level?
Penny Cook (06:12):
Easily.
I think when women are at thatlevel, they are often looking
for some accountability and somesome consistent points.
In the beautiful chaos thatbecomes what their life is,
Women only need maybe one or twoconsistent ties to be happy and
to be fulfilled.
So if you are a multipassionate entrepreneur and you
(06:35):
have lots of your fingers andlots of different pies, as we
say, and you have the kids andyou want to run the household
and you like it to be clean andtidy and all of these things,
then typically they only needone place where they can go back
and say hang on, something'snot quite right.
I need to organize my thoughtsand organize my feelings, And
once they understand that andthey put that into some sort of
structure, things kind of flowagain.
(06:57):
So for a lot of people likethat I mean, I work one to one
with clients in different ways,But for those kinds of people it
tends to work better when youhave kind of not a weekly
session.
They don't need that, They'retoo busy for that, There's too
much going on.
What they need is somebody tobe a bit more on demand, to say
I need a goal, when can you fitme in?
Great, And then you just sitand organize everything, bring
(07:21):
down, fix it and then you cancarry on again.
And those people are very funto work with because it's a very
dynamic concept and their corevalues remain relatively stable
while everything around themkind of evolve and adapts to
their situation.
It's fascinating.
Jessica Rosario (07:37):
Yeah, you hit it right on the nose As women,
we need one to two consistentthings in order for us to feel
like we're in control, like weown it.
we're successful.
So, on that same token, whatdoes success mean to you?
Penny Cook (07:51):
It's a very interesting question, i think,
and it changes depending on thearea of my life that I'm looking
in.
It's easy to say that successis happiness or fulfillment, or
it's a feeling and not adestination, if you like.
Success comes and goes, and I'man ex-international athlete and
have stood on the podium andhad a national anthem played for
(08:14):
me And you could argue thatthat is more successful than
anything else I've done.
But success comes from struggle.
If you are given something, ifI just give you a load of money
and you don't have to work forit, that's not being successful.
So if you receive it or if youachieve it, there's two
different things and achievingsomething is success.
(08:36):
So success to me is starting myown business in a foreign
country.
I live in Norway, away from myfamily, while I'm raising a
young family.
That is successful, whether ornot it works or not, crying and
going for it, that is success.
Jessica Rosario (08:52):
I love that and I agree.
success means different thingsto different people and in
different stages in life, Andwhether you're a mom, whether
you're not, whether you're aprofessional, in your career or
in business, right there's,success is defined by the person
.
So I love that story.
Penny Cook (09:09):
Now I think if you have listeners that are
struggling in areas, maybe ifthey're, they get the mom guilt
or they get that feeling.
the most common feeling that Ihave with my clients is when
they're at work they kind offeel like they need to be at
home, and when they're at homethey kind of feel like they have
to be at work and there's thisconstant inner conflict about
where you're going to be.
If you're listening to this andyou think that is me a lot of
the time, that doesn't mean tosay that you're not successful
(09:32):
at that point, because you needthese moments to become
successful.
You need that downtime toachieve the success.
If it was easy all the time, itwouldn't really constitute
success.
Jessica Rosario (09:44):
Absolutely.
And it's funny because you wentstraight into my next question,
which was going to be how doyou think that someone who's
feeling the mom guilt kind ofpushed that aside.
So I really loved thatdefinition and you demonstrated
that.
because we can be multiplethings right, we don't have to
be this or that.
I can tell you for me, growingup while raising my kids right
(10:08):
As a single parent for someyears, i always felt like I
needed to do more, because I wasconstantly at work, i was
constantly busy keeping them inafter school programs and
daycares and getting ababysitter and whatnot, because
that's what my career requiredof me at that time.
(10:29):
And fast forward 10 years later,i actually just interviewed my
daughters, actually for apodcast and to be able to hear
how that helped shape them andmold them into who they are
today, even with the teenagetrials and even with the teenage
attitudes right.
It was really refreshing to seehow they're watching while we're
(10:53):
striving, and one of thebiggest things that my daughters
said was that I did a great jobin not showing them, i guess,
deep down inside, what I wasgoing through, even though I
felt like they probably thoughtat times that I was absolutely
insane, right, but the fact thatthey said I hit it so well and
(11:17):
they didn't realize how much Iwas up against, not only as a
woman in business, right, and asa single parent, it just it was
harder.
It was harder for me to raisethem, but on the other hand,
they were able to see thatdifferent side.
So, and some advice for a momthat's feeling guilty at this
(11:39):
time of raising a family andhaving to do all the things with
me just keep going, becauseit's worth it in the end, would
you agree?
Penny Cook (11:49):
Absolutely, and I think you've touched on some
really key points here that alot of entrepreneurs, female
entrepreneurs and entrepreneursthat are mothers all feel.
And let's go back to the factthat moms and females in
particular we set ourselves upwith the double standard.
You know we always talk aboutthese double standards.
Men can have kids and itdoesn't really affect what's
(12:09):
going on.
That's how it is.
There is a double standard.
It's not the same.
It is different for women, butwe as women have a different
makeup in our brain.
If men had this double standardwith their brains, they would
deal with it very differently,because they would be able to
compartmentalize and say this ismy boundary, this is it set,
and they're very confident.
(12:30):
In that case, Women tend to sayokay, now I have four different
things to do.
I'm going to just get them alldone without being able to set
the boundaries and withoutunderstanding that with those
boundaries, you could do itbetter.
Arguably So, for yourself aswell.
I mean.
The other point that you touchedon was how your kids felt about
you leaving them withbabysitters and things like that
(12:50):
, And ultimately, what youshowed them is that they could
be anything they wanna be, Andthis is part of why I do what I
do as well, because when I hadchildren and I was in my nine to
five job and I wasn't happy, Ididn't want them to see that
that was normal.
I didn't want them tounderstand that mommy goes to
work because she has to.
That's not something I wantedthem to learn or to mimic as
(13:13):
they grew up.
So now when they say, oh, mommy, I don't wanna go to the
kindergarten, or can I stay homewith you, I say no, mommy's
really excited about work today.
This is what mommy's gonna do,So I'll pick you up later and
I'll tell you all about it.
And that's what I want them tounderstand that I enjoy working
and I enjoy my time with themand I enjoy working.
And I encourage my husband tosay the same thing about his
work as well.
So it's about mimicking thebehavior that you want your kids
(13:36):
to have.
If you have that, mom, good, Ineed to be with them all the
time.
It's completely understandableAnd that's where your boundaries
come from, your core values,And that's where you have to
really go back a little bitdeeper and say what do I need?
What do I need to feel that I'mdoing right by my business and
my family and my career andwhatever else is your goals.
(13:56):
And if you can focus on thosecore values, then those
boundaries become much easierand much more confident in your
delivery.
Jessica Rosario (14:05):
I love that.
I love that.
Would you say that there's someimportance of sharing with your
children the difference betweena job and a career?
Penny Cook (14:14):
I think so, but I think there's important to share
all of these things with kids.
Obviously it depends when andwhat age and how mature they are
and what their level ofunderstanding is.
But having a job, there'snothing wrong with having just a
job, there's nothing wrong withthat.
And if you're happy doing thenine to five and you enjoy the
structure and the fact that youcan finish your job and go home
(14:34):
and there's nothing still onyour mind and things like that,
that can work very well for somemothers.
And that's again where it comesback to your core values And
your core values really, if youcan set boundaries based on your
core values, then that reallydoes protect who you are as your
authentic self.
And this goes back again towomen experiencing pressure and
double standards from thesociety and the culture that we
(14:55):
live in.
We're expected to do this andexpected to do this.
If you can take all of yourboundaries and take them right
back to your core values, thatinner conflict disappears
because you understand wherethey come from.
So that mom guilt is basicallyinner conflict of you saying I
think this is important to meand I think this is important to
me, but I haven't quite figuredout if it's society telling me
(15:16):
that or me telling me that.
So I'm just gonna try and doeverything and see if it works
and it doesn't.
So it's really important to goback and think okay, if you're
having that mom guilt especiallyif you have it a lot, if you
feel this constant tug and pullwherever you are and it's
stressful and it's chaotic it'sreally important just to think,
okay, where are my boundariesand are they coming from the
(15:37):
right place, which is your corevalues?
Jessica Rosario (15:41):
Wow, wow, that's so good.
And one of the things that I'vebeen finding lately and I don't
know if you've experienced thistoo is that with some of my
clients, they're looking morefor purpose and passion-driven
work, the days of getting a jobjust because they need the money
.
Yes, you all need the moneyright, let's be real but it's
(16:02):
more.
They're looking for morealignment with their core values
, with their mission and passionin life and what helps them
serve.
It's not just to go in, toclock in and clock out, but more
to serve the people thatthey've been called to serve.
Have you seen that shift latelyon what people are looking for,
(16:23):
especially after the pandemic?
Penny Cook (16:25):
I think a lot of people.
now the online world has kindof grown into this huge
opportunity and arena foropportunities.
Of course, there are definitelymore people saying you know
what, i might be able to havesomething else, and, of course,
the ones that are able to justleave their full time jobs and
start Our lucky, you know,because we do need the finances
and living in a society.
(16:46):
it costs money and that's whatour society values and we have
to do that.
But I have seen a shift and Ithink it's a good one, and I
think what happens with thatshift is the people that are
serving from a Passionate,authentic and foundational place
where they really understandwho they are themselves.
You know, they might not beable to serve everybody.
(17:07):
I'm definitely not right forevery single person out there.
the way I coach or mentor, mystrategies, things like that
won't work for everybody, butbecause I understand that that's
who I am, it's very easy for meto say you know what?
I don't think we're right towork together, but here's
someone that you might be betterwith, and what happens is you
end up with this premium serviceall the time.
(17:28):
so now it's possible to findcoaches, especially for
Emotional intelligence andmentorship and accountability
and productivity.
Now it's actually possible tofind coaches on that really
premium level that you just jailwith, you just have chemistry
with, because your coach isbeing their authentic self And
you're learning how to be yourauthentic self.
so it's.
(17:49):
there's nothing hidden in thedetails.
you know it all used to beabout Did you show enough eye
contact?
did you shake your hand withthe right amount of force?
did you do this?
and meetings when you walked in, did you look like a power
woman or did you?
So far not about that anymore.
now it's about I wanted to getto know you first and then I'll
decide whether I want to workwith you.
(18:10):
and I think it's fantastic andI think a lot of people are
finding Passion as the fuel forlife now.
Jessica Rosario (18:16):
Wow, i love that example because I remember
about 10 years ago probably more, i was walking into a
networking event.
Where I was I don't think I wasin a in an executive role or
anything at the time And agentleman came up to me.
He said you know, when you walkin the room you display
strength and power, but when youintroduce yourself we could
(18:39):
barely hear what you were saying.
He said you need to speak withmore authority And I was like,
wow, like for someone to seethat in me right and kind of
help, help me get to that nextlevel.
So if somebody told me that nowI probably I don't know maybe I
would be offended by it, butback then it was like, oh, ok,
well, i need to.
When I walk into a room, i needto own the room, i need to own
(19:03):
my space and who I am.
And I love the relationshipbuilding side of networking that
you just mentioned as well.
For me to go in It's not justabout meeting someone to offer
them my product of services, toget to know who they are, what
they offer, because I have anamazing coach and she always
says that everyone that comesinto your space is a client, a
(19:23):
collaborator or a connector Andif you treat every conversation
in that way, even if they're nota client, they might
collaborate with you in somesense.
But even if they don'tcollaborate with you, they'll do
exactly what you just mentionedconnect you with someone else
that maybe To be of value tohelp you grow your business or
(19:45):
your professional development,or be a good connection strategy
for you as you continue to growpersonally and professionally.
So I love everything you'resaying, especially about
relationship building, so Ithink that's fantastic.
Penny Cook (19:56):
Well, the difference is as well nowadays.
If you were to walk in thatroom and somebody was to say to
you hey, you know, when you walkin, you know you're really
strong.
When you get on stage, it kindof disappears.
Now, if you have the rightfoundation set up and you know
what your values are and youknow what your belief systems
are, you can say to yourself, ok, is this a skill that I would
like to improve because I wantto be a public speaker, for
(20:17):
example?
You know you set goals that arein line with your core values
And if your goal is to be apublic speaker, you can say, ok,
i think I need some help in howto be better at public speaking
.
But nowadays you get to choose.
If you don't want to do that,you could say, ok, public
speaking not my thing.
Let's see how I can help people, not on stage, but on a Zoom
call, one to one or in littlesmall groups in your local area.
(20:40):
Or there's so many optionsbecause of the Internet and
because of marketing and salesand how we as coaches can get
our message out there That now,as long as you have that basic
foundational knowledge, you cankind of pick and choose where
you go, and you can excelbecause your authentic self is
better in that area.
Jessica Rosario (21:00):
Yeah, so good, so good.
So let me ask you this, pennywhat was the pivotal moment for
you when you realized that youwanted to focus on structures
and systems as part of someone'slifestyle not just their
business or their life, but moreof like a lifestyle change?
Penny Cook (21:18):
I was good at it.
The pivotal moment for me iswhen I realized that people are
coming to me asking me how I'mdoing this And I didn't know
that it was something that otherpeople struggle with quite so
much, and when I started tothink about okay, why do I have
this set up in my life?
You know I have systems foreverything.
It drives my husband crazy.
(21:39):
I have a system for the laundryand the kitchen And I like
things put in the right way Andit's okay when it doesn't work
all the time, and that's part ofbeing adaptable.
But I have systems andstructures everywhere And I
really realized that havingthose was more efficient.
But that came very naturally tome.
It wasn't something that I hadto actively think about.
It was just hmm, this isn'tworking.
I could save some time andenergy here, and if I can save
(22:00):
time and energy here, i can putmore into my kids or more into
my business.
So, hmm, this just happens.
And then people would come tome and say, how are you managing
to do this and this?
And I'd say, well, it's asystem, that's how it works.
I can drop it at any point.
Somebody else can pick it upbecause it works.
So that pivotal moment, i guess,was when I realized that my
(22:22):
education in forensic psychologywas not going to be completely
accessible to me living I liveabove the Arctic Circle in a
tiny little town.
There's not much crime.
It's not going to work, and Irealized where else can I go?
What else do people want?
What is?
what is something I'm just goodat already that I can teach
people, and I really enjoyed theconversations I had with people
(22:43):
that asked me for help, and itwasn't necessarily one thing all
the time that people would askme for.
People knew that I had abackground in emotional
intelligence and they would askme about, you know, disciplining
their children and how tomanage emotions with their
children, how to organize theirclothes drawers, because this
mom is going insane becausethere's laundry everywhere, all
(23:05):
the place, all the time.
How do I fix that?
How do I structure my work weekthat's in line with my
authentic self, because thingskeep coming in that I don't even
want to do and I have to dothem And I always feel like I
have to do everything.
So it just kind of happened And, yeah, i guess the people that
I did work with had a lot ofnice things to say and they
would tell other people and morepeople kind of came to me.
(23:27):
So that's how it snowboardreally.
Jessica Rosario (23:29):
Awesome, awesome.
So what would you say?
the connection be betweensomeone's emotional well-being
and having effective systems andprocesses in place?
Penny Cook (23:41):
Oh, i think that's a deep question And I think it
has many, many answers, and itmight be different for every
person as well, but thestructures and systems that you
put in place, they all soundvery formal, and when I say
structures and systems, itsounds so like strict, and
that's not what it is, andthat's where your emotional
well-being comes in.
Structures and systems are justa way for you to get to know
(24:04):
what you want in your life,whether that's big picture.
What career do I want to do?
Who do I want to be?
Or tiny, do I like a tiny houseor do I not mind if it's messy?
You know it's tiny things tomassive things, and your
emotional well-being reallydepends on yourself awareness.
And if you don't know why youbehave the way that you behave,
(24:25):
why you make the decisions youmake, why you react to different
triggers in the world, why doesit upset you so much when
somebody does something specificand somebody else doesn't care
at all?
Getting to know that aboutyourself and understanding
yourself is the key to unlockingall of that.
So structures and systems arejust a way to find that.
(24:47):
That's all it is.
It's just a tool that isavailable to each and every one
of us to make sure that we havea level of self-awareness that
we can use to our advantagewithin our business and our
family life.
Jessica Rosario (25:00):
Yeah, yeah, for sure, i love that.
So, someone that's listeningright now, what advice can you
give them on, maybe, what arethe top three things that you
help your clients with?
What are those strategies thatyou would recommend to that
person that's listening, basedon the trends and the themes
(25:20):
that you've seen with your ownclients?
Penny Cook (25:23):
I think the first one is understanding what
boundaries are truthfully, wherethey come from and how they can
help you.
I think boundaries is step one.
I mean, if you are unable tounderstand the boundaries that
you already have or set new onesor communicate them to yourself
or the people that need to knowand the people that need to
(25:44):
know the list is endless.
Anybody you come in contactwith you know your partner, your
kids, your colleagues, whoeveris looking after your kids,
whoever is on your backup listfor babysitters everybody needs
to know these things.
And if you don't understandwhat a boundary really truly is
and how it can protect you andyour family and your business,
(26:05):
then I really think that that'sstep one.
That's where I would start withmost of my clients, i think.
After that, it's time management.
I think everybody has thecapability to have a schedule
and a work-life balance thatthey're proud of.
I really believe that All it isis about prioritizing your
goals and your wants and needsin your life.
(26:26):
It's about finding a structurethat you can list them down and
visualize them and see okay, ican't have this and this, or I
can't have this and this at thesame time.
Which one do I want to do firstthis one.
Okay, this goes here, this goeshere, and it's like a little
puzzle.
So I think once you've learnedhow to set boundaries and manage
your time, then I think the skyis the limit.
(26:46):
Then you start adding in someself-care and a little bit of
social awareness about how toget more out of your
interactions, and the sky is thelimit.
Jessica Rosario (26:55):
Love that, Love that.
So tell me something, Penny.
You know our podcast is allabout productivity and tips and
tricks, but, most importantly,to highlight other women in
business, because there issomeone listening right now
that's thinking you know that Ican't do this, I can't do all
the things you know, but thereality is that we've all felt
(27:17):
that way.
So What is a way that youmaximize your day to help you
feel successful?
Penny Cook (27:27):
I love this question .
I really do, And I think for me, to get more out of your day is
to get more joy out of it.
Whatever you can do to get morehappiness out of your day
maximizes your day.
I could sit here and tell you,you know, you can get more if
you.
you know, automate this orbatch create this or you know
whatever it is, delegate thisand all these fancy terms on how
(27:48):
to run your business.
But ultimately it doesn'tmatter, as long as you maximize
the joy in your day.
So for me if I'm having a toughtime and I'm really finding it
difficult, or I'm exhausted, orthe kids have been up all night
being sick or something and Ihave to put on my brave face and
carry on in the morning.
For me, it's about listing theminimalistic things in my next
(28:09):
day Before I go to bed thatnight.
I might make a list of there'snever more than three, maybe
three to five.
But if you really think aboutit, what is the absolute minimum
that if you do tomorrow itwould still be successful?
Write those things down, getthem done and then enjoy
something.
Get more joy out of something.
Do one of the things in your jobthat you love.
(28:30):
Find someone just to coach forfree, because that's why you
started in the first place.
You know, Nothing has to be sostrict all the time.
There's a lot of rules and alot of guidelines and a lot of
do this, don't do this.
Just get more joy.
Find something that makes youhappy.
Get your minimalist on whateverneeds to make that day
successful.
Get it done and then findsomething that brings you more
(28:52):
joy every day.
And I get much more out of myday if I think of my days as
joyful than not.
Jessica Rosario (28:59):
Wow, that's awesome.
That's awesome.
I love that.
I agree It's different fordifferent people whether it's
maximizing their joy or spendingsome quiet time in the morning,
self-care, meditating, whateverit is.
it's different for differentpeople.
And I love to ask that questionto you know, when I'm doing a
podcast interview, because it'sagain, it's to be able to share
(29:20):
the diversity in the way that wethink and the way that we
process in our daily lives.
So, so cool.
Penny Cook (29:27):
More personally speaking, for me it would be
finding help and support.
Yeah, so for me, i don't liketo work alone.
I am a people person.
I like to talk to people andthe world of on, solopreneur and
things like that can be verylong, and for me, finding
someone that has the same goalsand objectives and ideals as you
(29:49):
, just to be able to send them amessage and say, oh, this is
tough sometimes.
Yeah, find somebody, even ifyou pay them.
Find a coach, find a mentor,find somebody that is aligned
with what you agree with and usethem.
I always have a coach and neverdon't have somebody that I'm
paying to help me with my goalsand my objectives.
(30:10):
Because, yeah, to think, if youare sitting there thinking I
just want to give up, don't giveup.
Just understand that you're notdesigned to be able to do every
aspect of your business all ofthe time all by yourself.
You have a specialty for areason.
Jessica Rosario (30:24):
Yeah.
Penny Cook (30:25):
You know, focus on that specialty, focus on the bit
that makes you happy and findsomeone else to just talk you
through the other bits.
It doesn't have to be quite sooverwhelming.
Jessica Rosario (30:34):
Yeah, I love that.
Surrounding yourself withlike-minded individuals is so
powerful.
I always talk about the closestfive.
So who are the closest five inyour circle?
Who's in your tribe?
I was at a conference last weekand one of the things they said
was if your closest five areadding and multiplying to you in
your life, then it's time tolook for another five.
So, definitely, love.
(30:55):
I completely agree.
As a coach and as someone whohas mentored multiple women,
whether it's in my church or inbusiness, I think it's
definitely a powerful way tomake new connections and to stay
focused and thriving.
So I love that, Yeah.
Penny Cook (31:09):
I really like that.
I like the top five as well, orthe closest five, and also
remember to do that energyanalysis for each, each friend.
That's a little tall goldennugget for anybody listening.
Absolutely, i do know you're atop five.
have a little think about theenergy exchange for each one.
So do you get or receive energyfrom this relationship?
Some people are great for yourbusiness and they have great
(31:30):
ideals and great goals, but it'sso draining to talk to them
because they're always on a high, for example, and for you to
match that energy is quiteexhausting.
Yeah, so okay, i get a lot, butthey also take a lot of energy.
Okay, my next one.
I get so much energy out ofthis person.
They let me vent their greatsupport network.
they do this, they do this.
okay, i get a lot of energy outof this one.
and make sure that you're notspending one day with three
(31:54):
people that are sucking energyout of you.
It might be great, it might begood for your goal setting, but
it's not going to be good foryour overall mindset or your
ability to do anything thisevening when you get home and
you have to do some work.
Jessica Rosario (32:06):
Absolutely.
Penny Cook (32:07):
So just be, aware of energy shift as well.
Jessica Rosario (32:09):
Awesome, Penny.
what's something new that'scoming your way?
Do you have any new excitingoffers?
Penny Cook (32:17):
Absolutely I do.
Actually I am for those of youwho don't know, i'm sitting here
with five weeks left of mypregnancy to go, so my third
little baby is due in June andtherefore I am launching a
product, an online product, justbefore that so I can help
people, not in a one-to-onecapacity, but I will be online
(32:37):
and helping people get throughthat course, and that course
really is actually based onsetting boundaries, time
management and self-care.
So those three elements that Italked about earlier.
It consists of an audio it'slike listening to a podcast, but
it's an audio instruction andinformation with summary
coursebook and a workbook, andthe workbook is extensive.
It's a decent amount ofinformation in the course, but
(32:59):
it should be a lot of fun.
It should make it feel lessoverwhelming and everything is
written down and in a way thatis easy to visualize.
So if you're a visual person aswell, it's a great workbook and
I'm getting some really goodfeedback from some beta testers
and things like that.
So look out for that in JuneAnd if you are interested in
doing that course, then maybe wecan put my email somewhere.
(33:20):
Send me an email and I'll makesure.
As soon as it becomes available, you're one of the first to
know and then you can get accessto it.
I do have the freebie version,which is less intense, maybe
something just to get youthinking, get you started on
some of this emotionalwell-being and this journey to
understanding yourself andself-awareness.
So that freebie is availablenow.
So that's there.
Let me know if you want that,and easiest way to contact me is
(33:44):
Instagram Instagram or email.
Yeah, so we can put my handlesomewhere so that people can
find me.
Jessica Rosario (33:48):
Yes, of course, and for those of you that are
listening, her contactinformation will be in the show
notes, so you'll definitely beable to connect with her and if
you love what you heard on thisepisode, definitely take a
screenshot and tag us on socialmedia, because we love to see
the shout outs and to be able togive you any feedback if you
have any questions also.
So congratulations, penny, youlook beautiful.
(34:09):
Do you know what's going to be?
It's another girl, so we mustsay Congrats.
I have two daughters, so that'sso fun.
Girls are fun.
Girls are fun.
I'm proud they start to showyou your own attitudes when they
get older.
Penny Cook (34:24):
My oldest is five and she's already doing that, So
I look in the mirror sometimes.
but I'm really looking forwardto it And it's given me some
really great insights in, youknow, managing another kid and
my business and who I love to beand what I love to do.
So it's been great all around.
Jessica Rosario (34:41):
Love that.
Love that.
Well, penny, thank you so muchfor being on the show.
I've always said that if itinspired one person that's
listening, we did our job.
We've been called to serveother women and I know that
everybody has a story, so I lookforward to be able to share
your story and how you cansupport your clients to be who
(35:03):
they want to be and just makethe most sense of what they have
going on in their lives,whether it's business or
personal.
So love that.
Penny Cook (35:11):
It was great having you, thank you so much, and I
really do encourage yourlisteners to reach out.
Like I say, i'm having a baby,so I'm going to need all the all
the distraction I can get.
So if you want to send me anemail and you have questions,
please do.
I answer all my emails anddirect messages on Instagram by
myself, so you will get apersonal response from me if
there is something that's onyour mind.
Don't suffer in silence.
(35:32):
Just reach out.
Jessica Rosario (35:34):
So good.
Don't suffer in silence.
I love that.
Thank you so much, penny, forbeing on the show, as always.
thank you so much for listeningin.
Don't forget to subscribe tothe show to be notified the
second a new episode is releasedand share with your friends who
you believe could benefit fromlistening.
Contact me at JessRosariocomforward slash podcast to share
(35:57):
your feedback, ask question,make topic suggestions or even
be a guest on my show.
You never know if your topicwill be next until next time.
maximize your day and own it.
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