Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi, this is Mom Owned
and Operated.
I'm Rita, suzanne, and today Ihave my guest Rebecca with me.
Rebecca, please tell everyoneall about you, your business and
your family.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Yes, hi Rita, thank
you so much for having me on the
podcast.
I'm so excited to meet you andchat with you today.
So I am a wife and a mama to analmost two-year-old boy.
He'll be two in September.
I've been a business owner forthe past 13 years.
I started out in the photographyindustry.
(00:33):
I was a full-time weddingphotographer for seven years and
then I still do some weddings,but after I had my son in 2022,
I cut back big time on theweddings just because I was
doing like up to 20 weddings ayear and I didn't want to be
(00:53):
away from my son that often.
I also started coaching in 2021.
So the year before my son wasborn and I started out just
coaching other photographers inmy industry that I knew and
really fell in love with helpingother business owners, but I
(01:15):
didn't know exactly like thespecific niche, the specific
like person that I wanted tohelp.
I kind of felt like it wasn'texactly photographers.
And then, after my son was born,I had kind of a rough
transition into motherhood andjust figuring out like how to
balance motherhood and being abusiness owner and that was what
(01:39):
really kind of grew or ignitedmy passion, I should say, for
coaching and I knew that Iwanted to help other mama
business owners because I feltlike there wasn't really a ton
of support out there, especiallyfor new moms.
So that was where the idea formy business, mama and Biz, was
(02:03):
born and I decided at thebeginning of this year to go all
in on that, so just launchedour new website a couple months
ago.
And Mama and Biz is essentiallya community one on one,
coaching and education, helpingmamas and expecting mama
(02:24):
business owners.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Nice, and what do you
guys?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
what do you do for
the mom business owner?
Yeah, so the one-on-onecoaching.
That is my goal, for that is tohelp moms identify exactly
where they're wasting their timein their business.
Because when I became a mom, Irealized like there was a lot of
tasks that I thought wereurgent that actually were not,
that I was actually like wastingmy time on.
So I actually went through andkind of streamlined things and
(02:58):
deleted a lot of things that Iwas doing in my business.
So essentially, my goal is tohelp moms do the same thing so
that they're not spending somuch time in my business.
So, essentially, my goal is tohelp moms do the same thing so
that they're not spending somuch time in their business and
they have more time to spendwith their babies.
That's the goal.
I also started a monthly, a freevirtual social hour for mama
(03:20):
business owners.
That's just where we cometogether to support each other,
ask each other questions.
We come together to supporteach other, ask each other
questions, bounce ideas off ofeach other, whether it be about
business or motherhood, becauseas business owners, we have a
unique set of challenges on topof, like, the challenges that
come with motherhood.
(03:40):
So that's why I wanted tocreate just a community where we
can come together and supporteach other for that and I
actually started on top of so.
We have a social hour for moms,and then I decided to start one
for expecting moms.
So because they have a whole,nother unique set of challenges.
(04:05):
That was something I learnedwhen I was pregnant.
I had no idea, like, how to setmy business up for maternity
leave and everyone was asking me, like when is your maternity
leave going to start, when is itgoing to end?
And I was like I don't know, amI supposed to be like doing
that?
And I was like I don't know, amI supposed to be like doing
(04:27):
that?
And let me tell you, I had arude awakening when my son was
born and I can get into thatmore if you want, if you want me
to.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
I think that any time
like whether you work for
corporate or even like, haveyour own business I think
maternity leave is really astruggle for everyone, right?
Because you're in the midst ofall these emotions and you don't
even know what's going on.
So I was working in corporatewhen I had my sons.
(04:56):
But tell us, like, what is itlike to try to run a business
and try to figure out maternityleave at the same time?
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Yeah.
So basically the differencebetween having a maternity leave
as a business owner and as likea corporate employee is you
don't really have to worry aboutthat.
As a corporate employee, it'sall kind of set up for you.
You can just you know and walkout of the office and say I'll
(05:26):
see you back in three months orhowever long.
But as a business owner, all ofthe responsibility and
everything leading up to thebirth of your child and just
setting your business up to makesure it can run on autopilot,
all of that is up to you.
So there's a lot that goes intoactually going through your
(05:51):
business, whether it be if youhave a team, being able to
delegate all of the tasks thatyou do in your business to your
team, or if you're a solopreneuras I was at the time a
full-time wedding photographerwhen I had my son looking into
hiring, help and being able todelegate tasks or outsourcing
(06:13):
tasks and really, just like Isaid, going through streamlining
, optimizing, setting upautomations where you can for
everything in your business,because that's the last thing
that you should be worryingabout.
When you're a new mom, you'rebringing home your newborn baby,
(06:34):
you know, you're learning.
It's a major, major life change, if not the biggest life change
that you'll ever go through,and you're learning how to do a
million different things.
You're recovering from birthand having to worry about
answering emails or clients orwhatever else it may be, should
(06:57):
be the last thing that you haveto worry about.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Yeah, so what type of
things do you help them figure
out, like how long they can takeoff, or like how to streamline
things and kind of optimize it,like what level of support are
you providing?
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Yeah.
So, starting out, I would havethem go through everything in
your entire business.
Just make a list, maybe make abrain dump, of just all the
tasks that you do, because a lotof times we do things in our
business without without eventhinking about it.
Thinking about it, our brainsjust kind of go on autopilot,
(07:35):
right?
So really getting specific,looking at every little thing
that you do, because you can'tfigure out, like if you're going
to streamline, if you're goingto pass it off to someone else.
You can't really figure thatout until you get the full
picture of exactly what it isyou do in your business.
(07:57):
The next step I would say wouldbe thinking about finances.
You know that's somethingthat's important, that a lot of
people definitely worry aboutwhen it comes to maternity leave
and as a business owner, again,that's all on you to make sure
(08:18):
you won't necessarily get a paidmaternity leave.
So that's up to you to makesure that, whether it be just
figuring out, if there's waysyou can save up to take however
many weeks or months off thatyou plan, if there's ways to
(08:40):
maybe set up a stream of passiveincome in your business so that
you still have some moneycoming in while you're snuggling
with your baby and not havingto worry about that.
Another thing I alwaysrecommend is picking a start
date and an end date.
Now, this was something I wasguilty with.
(09:04):
I was bad with when it came tomy maternity leave.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
And.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
I say that with
quotation marks, because I
didn't actually set up amaternity leave for myself, but
I did write a date down in mycalendar and I said like this is
when my maternity leave wasgoing to start.
But the mistake I made waswriting it down in pencil.
Okay, so make sure you write itdown in pen or Sharpie and
(09:33):
highlight it, underline it,because I normally write
everything down in pencil,because I normally write
everything down in pencil.
I'm still a paper old schoolpaper planner kind of person.
But the problem was I kepterasing it and pushing it back
and I was like, oh, I can fit acouple more projects in, a
(09:56):
couple more things in.
And turns out my son actuallycame a month early and I had, I
actually had several weddingsplanned that I thought I was
going to photograph after hecame and that was a whole nother
mess to have to deal with.
So, as far as the start date, Iwould recommend planning at
(10:20):
least a month, if not two months, before your actual due date,
just to plan for the unexpected.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
I mean, you could
have like a backup or some
backup person to cover for you,probably in your situation.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Yeah, Luckily, I did
have the foresight to actually
get a backup person.
That was one thing I did planfor and I was very thankful for
that, because I was literally inthe waiting room of labor and
delivery like texting my clientslike I'm not going to be able
to do the wedding.
But yeah, luckily I did have abackup person that was able to
(10:55):
step in.
So thinking about that as wellis important.
So thinking about that as wellis important.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
It's really hard, I
think, to think these things
through when you're in the midstof pregnancy and, like I said,
the hormones and all of the dayto day aspects of your business.
So I feel like having someoneelse come in and kind of work
through some of these thingswith you would definitely be
helpful, and so I love that youoffer this and offer the support
to other moms for your supportgroup, for the moms what are the
(11:36):
normal kid ages for the um, thebabies and mothers in there?
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Um, yeah, the ages
range all the way from newborn
up to teenage to sometimes youngadults, which is cool, because
it's nice to be able to talkwith moms at all stages of you
know, children with at alldifferent ages, and that's why I
(12:04):
wanted to start doing one forexpecting mamas too, and
expecting moms are alsoencouraged to come to the one
that's just for all moms,because it gives them an
opportunity to speak with othermoms that have been in their
shoes, you know, ask for adviceon whatever they might need.
It's just a really cool way toconnect.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Yeah, I think that
anytime you can kind of network
and support one another,especially moms, it's very
important.
And being pregnant, I justremember when I had my second
son, I was able to stay homefrom work for about 18 months
and one of the things that I didis I created a meetup group and
(12:50):
I was living in California atthe time, so I was able to go on
walks a lot, and so I createdthis meetup group where we would
it was me and moms and we wouldjust go for stroller walks with
our kids and then we would walkand talk and we would end up at
the park so our kids could play.
And I had relationships withthose moms for years after the
(13:15):
fact, and I'm still in touchwith a couple of them, even you
know my oldest is 15 now.
So you know, I think that it'sreally important to have that
support because if I wouldn'thave created that meetup group,
I wouldn't have had anybody atthat time to relate to, because
all of my support systemeverybody I knew was at work.
(13:37):
You know they were all workingtheir own jobs or you know they
just weren't able to like be athome like I was.
So I love that you're able todo that, even if it's, you know,
virtual or whatever.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Yeah, community is so
important because being a
business owner can be isolating.
You know a lot of times we'reworking by ourselves in our
office, we don't have likecoworkers to converse with, and
motherhood can be very isolatingtoo.
You know just a lot of thetimes you're at home with your
baby and by the end of the day,or with your toddler, and at the
(14:16):
end of the day it's like can Ispeak to an adult please?
So that's why, yeah, I totallybelieve in community 100%.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
So one of the things
that I've started talking about
is just pivoting away from thatis talking about one of the I
like to kind of focus in on whattools or software are you using
in your business that's kind ofhelping you maintain your
sanity while working.
(14:49):
You know, as a mom businessowner, you know this could be
like a project management toolor anything else that maybe it's
helping you organize some ofyour things.
Whatever the case is, like whatis one of your favorite tools?
It could be an app, whateverthe case is.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
I would say probably
my favorite tool is Toggle.
It's T-O-G-G-L and that is atime tracking software platform,
whatever you want to call it,and that has been a game changer
for me.
I started using that after Ibecame a mom and basically it
(15:27):
doesn't take any extra time,just when, when I sit down to
work, I start the timer.
You can type in like whatyou're working on.
You can add clients if it'sclient work, and then you just
end it when you're done.
And I have been tracking thatand it just made me realize that
(15:49):
was how I realized I waswasting a lot of time at my
business.
It also just keeps me moreaccountable because I'm like,
and more focused because I'mlike okay, the timer's running,
I should not be scrollingInstagram right now.
That's not what I said I wasworking on, so let me get back
to what I was working on.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
But, yeah, I wish I
would have tracked more time
when I first started so that Icould have realized, especially
with client projects, what I wasspending time on back then,
because back then I did likelong drawn out projects versus
like now I do daily projects.
But yeah, I wish I would haveknown.
(16:30):
Then I would have been able tosee like how much time I was
actually wasting or even puttingin on these these long projects
.
It would have been a gamechanger for me.
It was just really hard for meat the time to do it, and so now
I love hearing that they havethese other resources that are
maybe probably much easier touse than some of the stuff that
(16:52):
was out there back then use thansome of the stuff that was out
there back then.
So, are you listening to orreading anything amazing that
you'd love to share?
It doesn't have to be businessrelated, but do you have any
good books that you're listeningto?
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Yes, I am actually
reading a book.
It's called the 4-8 Principleby Tommy Newberry, I believe.
It's a book that I've had on myshelf for years.
You can see, like all the booksbehind me, I'm an avid book
collector but I can't say Ialways finish them.
So it's a book that I've hadfor years and I just decided to
(17:31):
grab a book off the shelf tostart something new and started
getting into it.
I'm about halfway in now and ithas been actually really
amazing.
It is based on the Biblescripture Philippians 4.8.
And basically the premise ofthat is all about just thinking
(17:54):
positively, like always seeingthe glass as half full.
And yeah, it's really.
It's just been very positiveand I'm excited to keep reading
that.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
I love it.
Okay, so, as I mentioned to youbefore starting, like, one
thing that I love to focus in onis self-care, and the reason
why is just because I wasn'table to take care of myself for
a short period of time, and, asmoms, you know, we sometimes
will neglect ourselves, and so Iwould love to know, rebecca,
(18:28):
what are you doing for you?
That's only for you.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
I would say, setting
aside even if it's just 10
minutes a day to take time formyself, take time to just
breathe and reset.
I really started getting intoyoga Actually fun side note I
recently became a certified yogainstructor as well as if I'm
(18:57):
not like busy enough already,but that has always been another
passion of mine and somethingthat just really helps with
stress relief, something Ireally leaned on while I was
pregnant and after becoming amom.
So, yeah, I love to do yoga forself-care and the stress relief
(19:20):
.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
I love it.
So where can everyone find youonline?
Where are you at?
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Yeah, so my website
is Mama and Biz and it's spelled
B-I-Z dot co.
You can find me on Instagram atMama and Biz, and, yeah, those
are the two main places.
I am in the process of creatinga Facebook community, so if you
(19:50):
want to follow me on Instagram,I'll be sharing the details to
the community as well prettysoon.
That's something that I wantedto create because after our
social hours, we have that oncea month, but I just thought it
would be nice to actually have aplace to go, so we're not just
speaking once a month and, if wehave questions or just want to
(20:11):
chat, a place to be able to dothat all the time.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
So Love it, and so
the link for that will also be
on your website.
But everything will be in theshow notes and I'm sure by the
time this episode airs you willbe live with that.
So I'll have the link for itand we'll include it.
And I just want to thank you somuch.
It's been such a pleasure,Thank you so much, rita, this
(20:36):
has been great.