March 7, 2025 • 45 mins
Life in a dual entrepreneurial home is an intricate dance of responsibilities, creativity, and the occasional chaos that comes with raising a family. In this episode, we navigate the joys and challenges of our unique journey as we run two separate businesses while caring for our six children. Our conversation dives into the realities we face, strategies we've adopted, and how we've turned challenges into shared successes.
• Discussing the concept of a double entrepreneurial household
• Sharing our first steps into entrepreneurship
• Balancing our distinct business schedules
• The roles of help and outsourcing in our home
• Understanding the challenges of traditional gender roles
• Embracing the chaos and messiness of family life
• Discussing the biblical perspective on entrepreneurship
• Learning to communicate effectively as partners
• Practical tips for creating a work-life balance
Mentioned in this Episode:
- The E-Myth Revisited (affiliate link)
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Your Listening to our 1 blessed mess, with ben and liz
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Episode Transcript
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Liz (00:06):
Welcome to our One Blessed Mess.
This is Ben and Liz, and we arehere telling you our story of
raising six kids that we had ineight years, managing our
entrepreneurial home with twobusinesses, homeschooling, and
currently navigating life withfour teenagers, plus seven
chickens and two dogs, just tokeep life interesting.
Ben (00:27):
Today's conversation topic is about it is about a double
entrepreneurial home.
Liz (00:36):
That's funny to say.
Say it again, okay, double.
Ben (00:39):
Double entrepreneurial home .
Liz (00:45):
We cannot confirm or deny that we did not have to speak it
into our phones to be able tospell entrepreneurial.
Ben (00:53):
You know, both of us.
Oh, Ben, don't say that Notgreat.
No, we're not out of this.
Liz (00:58):
It's a miracle that our kids can spell like they're
really good spellers.
We survive on spell check.
Ben (01:05):
Yes, this is true, this is true, spellcheck was not a thing
, we would have a big problem.
Liz (01:09):
Yes, yes, you would be texting me all kinds of terrible
things, I'm sure.
Oh boy, so talk about it.
What are we talking about?
Ben (01:18):
Well, we're going to talk about just what we've done and
our journey of a doubleentrepreneurial home.
And what that means isbasically we just have two
businesses, two separatebusinesses.
We don't work in each other'sbusiness.
Liz (01:30):
No Two separate businesses.
Ben (01:32):
We've tried a little bit of that.
It doesn't work too wellactually.
Liz (01:34):
Oh yeah, Turns out.
Ben (01:36):
I'm a little bit of a control freak, ooh, so yeah.
Liz (01:39):
Well, so am I.
Ben (01:50):
I can be too.
That's true.
Yeah, that's true, it's fine,but you didn't really want me
selling skincare, though, no, ormakeup, no no, no, I'm not
really a good salesman.
Liz (01:57):
You're much better.
You're much better sales womanthan I am.
Okay, but you don't want meprogramming your websites.
There's been some times I'mgoing to this is, this is on
topic, I'm not getting off topic, but there's been some times
I've come into your office andyou're just sitting there
looking at your screen sointense, so intense, and I'm
like what if I did this?
What if I did this?
Ben (02:14):
Wouldn't, I wouldn't be happy.
Liz (02:15):
No, that's true.
Ben (02:16):
Start punching things?
Yeah, that's true.
So why don't we just start upwith this question, liz?
Okay, this question, liz?
Okay.
Why in the world would you notgo the traditional route of
Susie Homemaker?
Oh, you're asking me thisquestion, okay, but instead, why
(02:36):
did you feel the need to jumpinto business when I was already
doing business stuff?
Liz (02:41):
So, here you had your business, you were already
working.
Ben (02:44):
Yeah.
Liz (02:44):
Well, well, actually you're kind of do stuff on the side
you were working that's true.
Ben (02:48):
I yeah, I hadn't gone full time into my own gig yet.
Liz (02:51):
That's right, that's right, so so basically just to tell
you how it began, I guess, iswhen we were when I was pregnant
with number four.
There there we go, everything'saround pregnancy.
But when I was pregnant we justI mean we had more month than
money and it was I mean we weremaking money, but it was like
(03:12):
there was nothing ever for extra.
I should say.
And very little extra.
I would scrimp and save all mybirthday money that I got.
I was, you know, selling colosat these like little clothes
boutiques and things from thekids, that they outgrew them.
You know all these kinds ofthings and you know we weren't
going in debt.
But we, we just could not doanything if we did anything
(03:33):
extra you know, right, right, Imean yeah, and and.
date nights consisted of uh, wewould get a babysitter, all of
our money went towards thebabysitter, but we would go and
do like coffee dates.
Ben (03:44):
And like, maybe split a coffee even.
Liz (03:46):
Yes, that did happen.
We went to Barnes and Noblesand because we always I babysat
so much growing up that I wantedto make sure that whoever our
babysitter was, that we werepaying that individual really,
really well.
So anyway, that was always afirst priority.
But we would have like dinnerdates at home.
I mean, there was so much goingon.
We did what we could.
(04:09):
We did what we could.
We sometimes switched off withother families where they took
our kids and we took their kids,but sometimes that was really
stressful.
People, those of you who canconquer that and are really good
at it, we're for you.
Yeah, I know, because noteverybody's kids are the same.
Ben (04:18):
Let's just say, it's true.
Liz (04:20):
Anyway.
So when I was pregnant withnumber four, I began to pray and
ask the Lord if he would giveme an opportunity to make some
money, because there was just noway that I could go get a part
time job.
Ben (04:31):
Right.
Liz (04:32):
Weekends were very special to us because you worked all
week long.
You were working long hours,putting in a lot of hours, and
so it was just, it was tough,and that's when I started
Blazy's Bows, which we talkedabout in our first episode.
Um, and I started blazey's bows, that's when we were putting
what was it I put on her head?
Okay, rose syrup yeah, and ittook her a few hairs and then to
(04:53):
try to get it off.
I was like licking her head andlike a what a mother cat.
It was terrible to try to getthe bow off and then those bows
became candy and you could neverreuse them.
But anyway, they startedbecoming popular.
So I started making this littlebow company called Lazy's Bows.
Ben (05:08):
But again it was me pregnant of course, I think you
hired a graphic designer, didn't?
Liz (05:12):
you, I did A really cute one.
Yeah, his name is Ben Shouldhire him Anywho.
So then I had an opportunitythat came across my doorstep
basically, and it was a businessopportunity with a beauty
company and I said yes, and itwas direct sales and so network
(05:35):
marketing, and it was somethingthat I was like, okay, I can
learn this, I know I can do this, and so it really just started
out just to make a couple extrahundred dollars a month.
And it ended up growing andgrowing and growing, because
there was a part of me that wascoming alive, and so your
question is about why was I notSusie Homemaker?
What?
Ben (05:55):
did you say yeah, like what got you to that place where we
ended up having two businessesborn out of the house?
Liz (06:02):
Well, we needed money.
Ben (06:04):
True, I mean, we needed money, but I think you touched
on the part I was trying to getat.
There was something in you thatcame alive when you started
venturing out into thatentrepreneurial journey, you
were taking little steps right,right you were testing the
waters with Blazy's bows.
Then this other thing came andit felt good you were holding
(06:26):
appointments.
Liz (06:27):
You were doing stuff you were getting out of the house.
Ben (06:30):
There was a part of you that had kind of died in some
ways.
Liz (06:34):
Yeah, and there's nothing wrong with being a stay-at-home
mom.
I became a work-from-home momand that looks different.
I was going out of the housesome, not a ton but I was
finding that I had been puttingmyself last which is what most
women do, and it wasn'tnecessarily that this was
putting me first, but it wasgiving me a outlet.
Ben (06:56):
You were enjoying it.
Liz (06:57):
I was enjoying it and I'm a leader, I mean I can't
apologize for that I'mdefinitely a leader.
Ben (07:03):
In fact, you were my youth leader.
Liz (07:04):
Yes, a long time ago.
This is not an episode aboutthat.
Keep moving.
Ben (07:10):
I just want to say there's five years difference between us
.
Liz (07:13):
Oh, we're going there Now everybody knows, yes, but it
wasn't, and you might've been myyouth leader.
Ben (07:18):
But there was no romance until you were like after I
lived overseas and I had beensomewhere else, I was of age.
I was of age.
Don't get too excited people, Iwas of age.
Liz (07:26):
Yes, you were in college and there was no romantic
anything ever.
In fact, I thought you were sogreat.
I tried to set you up with atleast three of my friends, and
one of them with my.
I also tried to set you up withmy sister, encouraging you to
date my sister, but anyway, thathas nothing to do with being an
entrepreneur.
Ben (07:43):
That's yes, okay, you're right.
You're right, we got to getback on track here.
Okay, so sorry, but I think thepoint is is you were a leader.
Liz (07:50):
Yes, you've always been a leader, yeah.
Ben (07:52):
And there was a part of you that just wasn't being
fulfilled, in a sense.
Yeah, I'm not saying that itwasn't your.
Liz (07:59):
you know you know, being a mom.
Ben (08:01):
Yeah, Like that was, that was fulfilling a longing in your
heart but, there was more inyour heart Right and you started
to realize that when youstarted stepping out little by
little into that entrepreneurialjourney.
Liz (08:13):
Yeah, and it was.
It took me a while to evenaccept.
Like I'm an entrepreneur, Ihave a business, you know and
and I started building a reallylarge team and I mean just very
large team.
Ben (08:24):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it became a really large team, yeah.
Liz (08:25):
And I mean just Very large team.
Ben (08:26):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it became a very large team and we were
yeah, we were meeting new peopleand there was a lot of fun
involved and all that too.
Liz (08:32):
Traveling.
Ben (08:33):
So there was a social aspect, there was an achieving
aspect that you were fulfilling.
Liz (08:38):
There was a lot that was kind of coming along, yeah, and
a lot of finances.
Ben (08:41):
Yeah, even rewards.
There's like different rewardswith just you doing your
business and all the things thathappened, yeah, and it was
great.
And so then we started to hitjust some challenges running two
businesses.
I had my schedule, you had yourschedule, and oftentimes we
would forget to just even talkabout each other's businesses.
Liz (09:03):
Each other's schedules yeah , each other's schedules.
Well, that schedule, yeah, theschedule, and I'm just thinking
too like in the process of mestarting my business, it was
like within a month or two, thatyou know that you had that
wonderful miracle, that I hadthe opportunity to go out on my
own.
Yeah, you were able to go onyour own.
Ben (09:17):
That's very true.
You know it's funny how closelythose timeframes were together.
You're right, it was that yearthat we both started out on our
double entrepreneurial home.
Liz (09:27):
It was amazing.
Yes, it was amazing.
It was amazing.
It was like a transitionalseason.
Ben (09:31):
Honestly, and we both felt it, we both did it and we didn't
really know what we were justsaying yes to.
We also didn't really know thechallenges that we would face.
No we didn't.
So some of those challenges, Ithink we could go through them
real quick.
Okay, but like the timemanagement piece.
Yes, right, the schedulingpiece.
Liz (09:46):
Yes.
Ben (09:47):
That was a difficult thing for us to figure out.
Liz (09:49):
Yep.
Ben (09:50):
Another thing was the concept of our traditional
gender roles in the marriage andhow those got stretched when we
started on our own schedule,started with our own businesses,
and then it was like, well,shoot, what normally happens now
, when there wasn't that.
(10:11):
Now we've got to figure out.
What do we do?
Liz (10:13):
Right, that was fun.
Those are some goodconversations.
Ben (10:18):
Those were some good conversations.
We had some good conversationswhen we were dating and getting
married too.
Liz (10:23):
Yes, we did no.
Okay, stay on topic.
That's another episode, so okay.
Ben (10:29):
So we got stretched in our traditional roles, and what I
mean by that is like who's goingto cook, who's going to clean,
who's going to do this?
Do that, you know, like all ofthis stuff Because there was
demands.
Liz (10:39):
There was demands.
Ben (10:40):
Or even For our businesses Watching the kids Like who's
going to be with the kids when Iwas doing this or when you were
doing that?
How?
Are we going to switch out.
So we had to figure out thetime management piece, we had to
figure out the traditionalroles, and then we also had to
try to keep our family timesacred, yeah, sacred, which we,
which was a lot tougher right,yeah, yeah.
Because it not only was like oh,we had to move things around
(11:00):
for my schedule, but we also hadto move things around for your
schedule too.
Yes, so that was a challenge.
And then there, ultimately, Ithink, was like kind of this
pressure to just do it all well,yeah, right, to do family well,
to do business well, to do ourrelationship well, yeah, and all
of the things that you thinkare on your shoulder because-.
Liz (11:20):
Run the house well.
Run the house well.
I think that's the.
I know that for me, was where Iwas feeling most guilt, because
it's like laundry or the meals,or yeah.
Ben (11:32):
That makes sense.
So one might ask why would youever do any of that?
Is that biblical to?
Liz (11:40):
have two businesses in the home.
Yes, it is.
Ben (11:43):
You may be thinking that.
Liz (11:45):
And we might have an answer .
Ben (11:48):
Let's see, let's jump in.
How about we go to Proverbs 31?
Liz (11:51):
Yes, that's such a good chapter.
Ben (11:55):
It is a good chapter.
It is a good chapter P-31.
P-31.
I think I'm married to P-31because you're doing business
and the woman in Psalms 31definitely did business.
Yes, she did.
What did she do she?
Liz (12:06):
was above rubies, she was trading and she was also
purchasing land.
She was in real estate.
Yeah, yep.
Ben (12:13):
So there was that aspect of the Proverbs 31, woman being in
business doing entrepreneurialtype things, and if her husband
was known at the gate then whatdoes that mean?
Liz (12:25):
He was trading, or he was a man of business as well,
because that's where all thetransactions happened was in the
gate, and he back in those days, yeah, and so he was known at
the gate and so he had a goodreputation.
Ben (12:37):
He was known in business, and so here we have a couple we
think they were bothentrepreneurial in some aspects
and it's in P31.
That's like the typical or notthe typical.
That's like the standard thatwe think of when we think of a
woman, especially in marriage.
So it's like, hey, right there,the standard that we kind of
(12:58):
all want to live up to as godlywomen or I guess not all,
because I'm not a godly woman,but I'm a godly man who hopes
that my woman lives up to thesestandards.
Liz (13:08):
Have you memorized the chapter yet?
No, oh, come on.
Ben (13:10):
Ben Come on.
I don't have to.
Liz (13:11):
I can just look at it Every morning when I wake up, I just
see it right there, okay.
Ben (13:16):
Is that too?
Liz (13:16):
much.
No, tell me more, tell me more.
Ben (13:20):
So I think, right there, right, there's an example of a
wife Right?
Liz (13:24):
No, it's true.
It's true, conducting business,doing entrepreneurial things.
Well, it's so interesting thatthe example that's given of an
entrepreneur is in Proverbs 31.
Ben (13:33):
I just think that's amazing that.
Liz (13:34):
that's the example, yeah.
Ben (13:35):
Yeah, and then another New Testament example is Aquila and
Priscilla in Acts right.
So they're tent makers and theyhook up with Paul and then
their ministry together withPaul, but they're both in the
tent making trade and it's notjust the husband, it's also the
(13:56):
wife, so that's pretty cool.
And then also Paul is a tentmaker, so they shared a lot in
common with him and I think theywere together for a little over
a year I don't remember theexact number of months, but so
that's.
That's really fascinating rightYou've got, and they were in the
same business together, so alittle different than us, right.
Liz (14:10):
There are husband and wife teams out there.
We know that.
I mean, there's amazing husbandand wife teams, yeah.
Ben (14:17):
Yeah, we haven't.
We haven't cracked the code onthat one yet.
Maybe we will, maybe we will,we'll see.
So there's definitely abiblical foundation for doing
entrepreneurship in the contextof family, in the context of
marriage yes and just going forit.
And so, like tell us a littlebit about maybe I don't know,
like from when you got into moreof your skincare business and
(14:43):
your beauty business, like whatwere some of the challenges of
like having to go through thetraditional roles and maybe
letting go of some of thosethings, or trying to get
creative and how you kind ofprocess that.
Liz (14:59):
So I'm a big believer that you buy help like you pay for
help, because being an achiever,which is what I am, and Clifton
Strength Finders achievers inmy top five, and then I have
also activators, so I like toget things done and make them- I
like that about you.
Ben (15:19):
Quick yes, in fact, we just cleaned my office and I was
frozen in the details and youcame along and activated me.
Liz (15:27):
Yes, this is actually very true.
His office was intense and I'vebeen saying for a while now I'm
like, hey, why don't you, letme get in there with you and we
can get this done?
And so we had a break I guessit was a Saturday afternoon, I
don't even remember and we gotin there and we knocked it out
in like what two hours?
Ben (15:46):
or something.
Yeah, we did so.
Anyway, that's taking me a lotlonger, yeah.
Liz (15:50):
Yeah.
So for me, um, being, you know,an achiever and and having a
home and having a family andhaving a husband and also having
a business, something has togive, because I only have so
many hours in a day, I only haveso many hours in a week, you
know, and on top of that, justwith the demands of what my
(16:11):
business was growing in, and itwas a financial blessing to our
family and I mean it was a lotof monetary, amazing things and
also to, you know, the kidsbeing raised in in a dual
entrepreneurial home.
There was just things that werenot important.
They were not the ones thatwere going to care if mom
cleaned the toilets or not, theydo not care.
(16:31):
They do not care if I'm the onefolding their laundry and
putting it away.
They really do not care.
So the things that were moreimportant, obviously, was, you
know, face-to-face time withthem, and I would much rather
pay someone else to do thethings that are on my to-do list
or my bug list and spend thetime with you.
Date nights were non-negotiable.
You and I would go on datesweekly.
Ben (16:53):
We had to learn that.
We had to learn that it wasnon-negotiable, non-negotiable.
Liz (16:58):
And then also to taking time out individually for the
children and family time,everybody together.
And we were adding more kids inthe midst of it, because number
four was born after I startedmy business.
Okay, number five was born,number six was born, and so you
know, we doubled in kids whileI'm building a very successful
(17:20):
business.
So some of those things neededto go off my plate and I was
making good money and there werepeople around me who wanted to
have extra jobs.
They weren't willing to do whatI was doing, which is fine, and
so I hired out help for housecleaning.
I hired laundry fairies that'swhat I called them, laundry
fairies.
They would come over becauseyou guys, can you imagine eight
(17:43):
people and the laundry?
Like, just think about that,eight people in the laundry and
it's a lot.
Oh, the mounds of just a week,you know, and I would try to do,
you know, a load a day and youknow, trying to do all that.
But it was just like ridiculoustrying to match all the socks
and you know, especially in yourpotty training.
(18:03):
I mean, there's just so muchthat is going on.
So I hired somebody.
You know I hired whether it wassomebody who was older, who
just wanted to get in a homewith kids, and they would just
sit there and talk to me asthey're folding socks and even
if I'm on the floor and I'mplaying with my kids, it's
better than me folding socks.
You know, and you know, I lovedit when I had laundry fairies,
because all the drawers werealways so organized.
(18:25):
It was just so nice, you know,and some of the things I
reserved only for myself, like Ididn't really have them, you
know, always doing all of ourlaundry, but but okay, then, um,
I had a house cleaner.
Um, I, I had I'm just thinkingin the house um, homework helper
.
Um, so when the kids got olderand they were all in school and
(18:47):
this is before we were like fullon homeschooling um, they would
come home and kind of called itthe witching hour, because it
was like everybody has to gettheir homework done.
I'm trying to get it donebefore dinner.
And there's just I would makesure I didn't book any calls or
meetings or anything in that youknow, three to five time but
five kids all needing help forhomework on all different levels
(19:10):
, and you're, you're helping oneand somebody gets up from the
table and they're gone, right,and where are they?
Up a tree, like you know, therewas those things.
So I hired a homework helper andtypically it was just somebody
who was in college or highschool.
I think I had some in highschool like seniors and stuff
that they just got off schoolearly and they came in and they
(19:32):
did homework, and so it was justlike knocking it out, and
sometimes I would be presentdoing the homework too, with
them, you know, but it just, youknow, a couple of days a week,
I mean it just it took thestress right off of me so that I
could put my mind at easeinstead of trying to be
everything.
I feel like there's some otherthings that I did.
(19:56):
Oh, I did what I call $10 jobs,and so whomever was there,
whether it was the laundry fairy, my house cleaner.
Sometimes the homework helperdid it, but like you know
anybody that was there or I justwould hire people who wanted to
just make some extra money.
You know, girls from our churchor something like that were in
college and I would pay them 10.
Now you probably would need topay 20.
I mean, I got more, but itwould just be the things that
were on my bug list, likecleaning out underneath the
(20:18):
kitchen sink, organizing thiscloset going through this toy
bin and throwing away all thethings I just couldn't get to,
and it was more beneficial forme to spend that time with
family or with my business.
Ben (20:34):
Right, and so anyway, no, that's great.
I remember having a realizationbecause you were doing a lot of
your business in the evenings.
Yeah, Right, and so I would getoff work around five or six and
then we would transition.
I would start watching the kidsand start doing more of the
house stuff.
You would go into kind offull-time business mode and I
remember, you know, trying tothink, okay, what am I going to
(20:54):
do for dinner Because Liz is ontonight.
Liz (20:57):
So now you know what am I going to do.
Ben (20:58):
So I would start thinking like well shoot, if I'm going to
cook, I need to, like, quitwork a little earlier and then
get everything prepped and readyto go so we can have a meal.
And get everything prepped andready to go so we can have a
meal and then it just dawned onme one evening.
It's like you know what, whydon't I just keep?
working that hour, or maybe eventwo, that I would have gotten
off earlier to prep and to getall the stuff ready.
(21:21):
Why don't I just keep workingand order food?
And at that point it made morefinancial sense to just keep
working order takeout.
Let's just have a meal andlet's focus on having the meal
together instead of me trying toquit work early so that I could
make this?
Meal and then eat together.
Liz (21:42):
It actually saved us money by ordering out, which is crazy
to think about.
Yeah, it's kind of, and that'sa different mindset.
Ben (21:49):
It is.
That's a growth mindset RightInstead of a fixed mindset Right
, and that actually kind of goesa little bit to the book
reference that we're pullingsome of this from, which is the
E-Myth Revisited.
Liz (22:01):
Right, which we didn't know this book before we were living
it.
We were, yeah, we were.
So this book is basicallysaying what we already did.
Ben (22:07):
Yeah, it's like jumping into that growth mindset.
Stop thinking like an employeeand think about an entrepreneur,
think about systems, thinkabout business systems that
allow you to grow instead of capyou where you're at, and so
that's like a mindset right.
We had to break free of some ofthe things that we thought we
should do and just focus on thethings that we needed to do in
(22:30):
order to get past, like some ofthe limitations we were running
into.
Liz (22:33):
Well, and also too, I mean, with the meal thing.
You know everybody hasdifferent weeks.
All kinds of stuff happens,like kids are sick, and then,
you know, somebody comes fromvisiting you know from out of
town, or there's just all thesethings.
And so sometimes in that area,you know, I'd be like you're on
for dinner tonight, like there'sI am.
(22:54):
I've been, you know, unable todo what I need to do for the
last three days, you know, andor I couldn't get a crock pot
meal in early enough.
Ben (22:58):
I mean it's just like because it's life.
Yeah, and so you know, okay,what's the what's a good
decision, and we yeah exactly weboth was working, we can afford
it, yeah, so it's got to makesense financially.
But yeah, yeah, we just had tokind of rethink and reshape some
(23:18):
of the way we did things inorder to make it work a little
bit more holistically.
We weren't so concerned aboutsome of the feelings of, hey, I
have to do this because I'm theman, or hey, you have to do that
because you're the woman.
Instead, we looked at it as apartnership.
How do we do this together tobe successful, Both of us
covering?
Obviously we've got to takecare of our family, but we also
have to take care of ourbusinesses.
(23:39):
And how do we thinkholistically, in a way that I
support you, you support me, andwe're not going around saying,
hey, you didn't do this becausethat was your job?
Liz (23:48):
Right.
Ben (23:49):
Instead, I'm here to help you.
How can we best fit together,how can we dialogue about it so
that we both end up what we wantand what we need.
Liz (23:56):
That's true, yeah, it's a little different, a little
different, yeah, and we I meanalso too, and being both
entrepreneurs, the differencebetween an entrepreneurial
mindset and a fixed mindset oran employee mindset is income,
is it can be whatever you wantit to be Like, if you're willing
to put in the time.
Ben (24:15):
In some ways it's limitless , almost, I mean there's natural
limits with things, but whenyou start thinking in that
entrepreneurial mindset the onlylimitation is more of yourself
at that point.
Liz (24:25):
Right, exactly, and also too.
I'm just thinking like whenyou're clocking in at eight and
clocking out at five.
You know you may get a raiseevery year you know those kinds
of things, but for us the raisecould be any day like it was
daily, and so it it it.
We had to change our mindset onhow we're doing all of these
things, right, yeah?
(24:45):
And and we saw it as a gift youknow, to be able to employ
people or, you know, support thelocal restaurant down the
street.
Ben (24:54):
I mean it's almost an investment.
I think, yeah, like, yeah,almost an investment, yeah Right
, because you're not only you'resupporting them, but you're
supporting yourself.
Liz (25:01):
Right.
Ben (25:01):
Being able to do the things that you only could do.
Liz (25:04):
Right.
Ben (25:04):
Right, someone couldn't run your business for you, but they
could surefold your laundry.
Liz (25:08):
Oh my gosh.
And you know those people.
They love being in our homes.
I mean, still to this day.
Some of them have startedlistening to the podcast.
So if you're watching this, youknow who you are, but you know
it's so fun because it's beenneat to see how you know people
come and go in and out of yourlife for all kinds of reasons.
I've always heard it say somepeople are in your life for a
(25:29):
moment, some people are in yourlife for a season or a lifetime,
and we've had very seasonedpeople, you know our moment
people, and I love that we wereable to have them and invite
them in because, hello, let's beclear, it's chaotic, it's a
little bit of a circus.
It's a little bit of a circus,and even today, with teenagers,
I mean, before we started thisepisode today, it's like, okay,
(25:52):
you guys, okay, I mean we werejust trying to dialogue.
Okay, what are we going to talkabout in this episode?
And I mean it was like arevolving door in our bedroom.
It's like one kid, then anotherkid, then another kid, then
another kid, and I mean they'rejust opening up the door and
jumping on the bed and I waslike hi, mom and dad.
I mean they want to talkbecause they're teenagers.
And it's like, okay, we need torecord, but we're going to take
(26:19):
time out still, and they'refirst, you know.
I mean, well, we're first foreach other, but they are, you
know, next.
And so, anyway, it was reallycute.
I know I'm like it's chaotic,they're a lot of fun, it's
chaotic.
Ben (26:27):
They're a lot of fun, so okay.
So why don't we?
Unless you had something else,why don't we just jump into some
like practical takeaways?
Liz (26:36):
Okay.
Ben (26:36):
What do you think Sure Like , just run through them.
Sure Go ahead we talked about alot of things, but let's just
kind of go through some of thetakeaways.
So one of the things that werealized was like intentional
scheduling, right.
So this is just a practical.
If you ever think about doing adual entrepreneurial home,
getting on the same page,schedule wise.
Liz (26:56):
Yes, super important.
And how I did that is I likepen to paper.
Ben (27:01):
So, he you said a bad word, I know, yeah, ben doesn't.
Liz (27:06):
Yeah, he doesn't like that, he likes everything digital.
Yeah, ben doesn't.
Yeah, he doesn't like that, helikes everything digital.
I'm getting better.
I'm still getting better,getting better at it, but I like
, I mean I still have my log.
Let's just say you like analogI mean I still have, I have my
calendar right here and it's, itgoes in my purse.
It's ancient, it's long in themuseum I love it, um, but ben
misses those things because he'snot in my purse.
(27:28):
He calls, he calls my purse theblack hole.
So what I did, especially backin the day when we were first
starting out, is I put like aweekly view, you know Sunday
through Saturday, or I put uplike the whole month.
Mom has this, mom is here, youput that in the kitchen.
Ben (27:46):
I did.
Liz (27:46):
I put it in the kitchen and we also hired help or I you
know, we had somebody in thehome always helping me with the
kids, you know so that somebody,whomever it was, so I could get
out and go to the grocery store, even you know, or that's the
next thing, is outsourcingstrategically.
Yeah, oh, okay, I'm ahead of us, yeah.
Ben (28:16):
No, you're good, You're right on time.
Liz (28:17):
So yeah, thinking about how you can outsource and delegate
the things that strategicallyneed to be done that you don't
have to do.
Well, and back then, when I'mtalking about in the beginning,
they didn't have like DoorDash,there was no grocery store
pickup.
Like those things I dreamedabout.
There was nothing where youdrive through a drive-thru and
you can get your bread, milk andeggs Like those things I
dreamed about.
There was nothing where youdrive through a drive-thru and
you can get your bread, milk andeggs Like there was none of
that.
I had to schlep to the storewith all of my children hanging
all over me to be able to go tothe back of the grocery store to
(28:39):
get that one gallon of milk,you know.
And so anyway, with hiring,help and outsourcing that, I
would even like sometimes give awhole list to go to the grocery
store for me and they would gorun that errand and I had
assistants in my office.
I had virtual assistants.
I had all those kind of things.
(28:59):
I was outsourcing the thingsthat someone I didn't
necessarily have to put my handto it.
I could hire someone else toput their hand to it and they
would do it much better half thetime You're thinking like an
entrepreneur.
Yes.
Ben (29:11):
And by doing that this is the next point you let go of the
shoulds.
So you should do this.
You don't really.
I mean who says that you shoulddo this?
Who says that you have to dothose things?
We have it in our minds.
Liz (29:23):
It was me in my head.
Ben (29:24):
Yeah, and same thing for me , I got to get off work early so
I can go start the dinner andspend an hour and a half prep
and do all the things and it'slike, well, do I have to?
Liz (29:33):
No, Can I just go take out?
Well, actually, what would befun is you would make an
adventure for the kids and belike who wants to go with daddy
to go run and get whatever itwas, pick up pizza or-.
Ben (29:43):
Yeah, it still took me about 20 minutes, but shoot,
sometimes it's a lot less.
Liz (29:46):
Well, and you got alone time with the kids.
Ben (29:47):
Oh yeah, that's true.
I mean, that's huge, you know.
Liz (29:51):
And in your business a lot of what you're doing.
Mine was different.
Ben (29:55):
True.
Liz (29:56):
Because I was in sales and really out there interfacing
with the public.
Ben (30:01):
Right.
Liz (30:01):
But you, I mean you're behind a screen and so you know
you're talking to people fromall over.
Ben (30:08):
Yeah, programmers and yeah, sometimes internationally, yeah
, mostly national, but yeah,well, and the thing is too, is
like, even with the should right, let's just say, for instance,
cooking dinner Because we hadsix kids the scale of that is
significant.
Liz (30:22):
Right.
Ben (30:22):
We're talking about just cooking for yourself.
That's a little different.
But we're talking about cookingfor eight people and then
trying to prep for that Likethat's how much hamburger meat
we need now for taco.
Yeah.
Liz (30:40):
Holy moly people.
The other night I made we stillwe really prioritize sitting
down as a family at the table.
I mean it's you know, and thesekids are hilarious right now
because they're just giants andI mean they'll always be giants.
I'm not going anywhere.
They're all growing up Likethey're all today.
Somebody was not going to grow.
Well, our youngest daughtertoday.
She was measuring today and I'mstill half an inch taller than
her.
She is determined, in the nextweek, couple of weeks, to
(31:01):
surpass me, but anyway.
But my point is is like theother night I made a chicken and
rice dish.
There was nothing left.
You guys, and when I saynothing left, I mean the pan
that everything was cooked inwas gone.
We had kids licking their plate.
I'm glad you're laughingbecause it was like really.
So the point we're trying tomake is when you're making food
(31:24):
for an army.
Ben (31:25):
Yeah, it's a significant time investment.
Liz (31:27):
It is.
Ben (31:27):
So the next one, focusing on partnership versus
traditional roles.
At the end of the day, what'sgoing to matter, the thing
that's going to matter, is thatI supported you.
You supported me.
How that looks like doesn'thave to be conformed to anybody
else's image but us and the Lord.
Right, we shouldn't just letthe traditional part of it?
(31:49):
overweigh the practical piecethat we might need in that
season.
So partnership over tradition,in the sense of what the roles
should look like, and again,these kind of all come from that
idea of the E-Myth Revisited,which is a book that is by
Michael Gerber and it's just gotsome great concepts about how
(32:10):
to think beyond yourself as anemployee and more of an owner or
more of an entrepreneur.
Liz (32:16):
And it's a full mindset, because if you just have one
entrepreneur in the home andthat I would think would be
probably more challenging insome ways, yeah, but in having
two, we're both kind of thinkingthe same thing.
We're kind of like, okay, we'reheading in that direction and so
when we were coming up to someof these things that we had to
(32:38):
figure it out, I mean itrequired, and I just want to say
also, it required a lot.
But I also just want to say, ifyou're a stay-at home mom and
you're not working outside thehome, you work hard, you work
hard.
I was at work from home mom, soI was running a business out of
our home, you know, and had avery thriving business.
But doing all the things thatwe're talking about delegating,
(33:02):
it is hard work.
It is.
And you hear these people whotalk about, like you know, if I
was going to go out and hire awife, I mean there's no way you
could even afford it because yougot to be up throughout the
night.
You got to, you know, yeah it'spriceless.
Ben (33:18):
It's absolutely priceless.
Couldn't pay for that, yeah, soyeah, that's true.
Liz (33:22):
Yeah, well, and I do want to say something also too,
because I know we're going tojump into some scriptures here
in a minute, but I'm justthinking about, like you know,
one of the things when you're anentrepreneur and we can maybe
do another episode on like themindset that you have and all
that but when I was maybe fouror five years into my business,
(33:43):
you know, I was really seekingthe Lord and I'm like, you know,
how do you want me to do this?
Because by that time it was likemy business was growing and we
were growing as a family, andyou know, he was just so
faithful.
He was so faithful to answer,you know, any questions I had
and to direct me.
But I'm actually thinking of astory when we first moved into
this house and, uh, there was,we were sitting down for dinner
(34:10):
and it was time to to bathe kids, and so I was walking across
the home and and I feltsomething in my hair and I was
like what in the world is that?
And I thought it was my bangsor something like coming down,
and I fell up there andsomething moved on my head, and
so I I grabbed it and and I'mlike screaming screaming and I
(34:35):
threw it and it scurried underour bed and I'm standing in our
room screaming, with the bathtubrunning and of course,
everybody comes running in likewhat's wrong, what's wrong.
I'm like I just had a lizard inmy head, on my head, and they're
like how?
I'm like I don't know andyou're like did you go outside?
I'm like no, I literally wassitting at the dinner table
(34:56):
having dinner, got up, walkedacross the house and there's a
lizard on my head, and soeverybody you know, and when you
scream like that, it likeshakes your innards right so
then all the kids were liketrying to look under our bed
with flashlights, trying to findthis lizard.
Do you remember that?
Ben (35:08):
I do.
Liz (35:08):
Okay, good.
Then I went into the kitchenafter a while because I told the
kids they could have Italiansoda.
Isn't that funny?
I remember that detail.
I told them they could haveItalian soda for dinner after
dinner, and they had all beenbathed, and so the first kid was
there, which was our oldest,Elisha, and I was pouring it and
I felt something move on myhead.
Ben (35:30):
Again.
Liz (35:31):
Again.
Now this is after I bathed theyounger kids, so you have to
understand when you're bathinglike bending over the tub.
So if anything was on my headit would have never stayed there
.
So I'm there and I feelsomething move in the kitchen on
my head again and I'm like andI reach up and grab my head,
another lizard, it's anotherlizard, I forgot about that.
(35:56):
And I took it and I threw itacross the kitchen, scream
bloody murder and our son'sstanding there and he's like
whoa, mom.
And he was like growing.
So he's like at eye.
Now he's like almost six feettall, but he was like eye level.
Then he's like what happened?
I go who put that on my head?
And he's like what?
And I was convinced that achild was pranking me by putting
(36:16):
lizards on my head.
That's funny.
Ben (36:18):
I wouldn't put it past him.
I wouldn't put it past me.
Liz (36:21):
Yeah, well, we never found either lizard.
Okay, I don't know if it wasthe same lizard, I don't know
what was going on.
So shortly after that, I had myteam come to a beach house and
we, um, what I would do is Iwould do these weekends where
women would come that were on myteam and we would spend time,
you know, um training, goalsetting.
Um, you know, it was real, theywere really rich and good,
(36:44):
girlfriend time.
And so, anyway, I like to get upearly, early in the morning,
and go to the beach and watchthe sunrise.
It's just something that I love, yeah, and especially since
where we live, I never see thesun.
It's so wooded so I never seethe sun and I miss sunsets and
sunrises.
So, anyway, I'm out there andI'm having quiet time with the
Lord and I just, you know, I'mlistening, I'm listening to some
(37:05):
worship music, um, and I justfelt like the Lord, you know,
impressed upon my heart.
He and he said you didn't askme about the lizards, and I'm
like what?
what say what?
And I, I just whispered back inmy heart.
I was like I didn't know.
I was supposed to and, and, andI just felt like the Lord
(37:29):
whispered in my heart.
Just well, that was me, and I'mthinking what, what?
And so it sent me on thisjourney to begin to look through
the scriptures about lizards,and lizards are in the Bible.
Ben (37:43):
Did you know that?
What'd you find?
Liz (37:44):
Well, it's in Proverbs and it talks about although the
lizards are small and you cangrab them with your hand, you
find them in the courts of kings.
It's out of Proverbs and it wasso, so precious, because I was
having this inferior mindset,Like it was just, like I don't
(38:06):
know if I can do this.
We had just moved to a newstate.
Like I'm building yeah, I'mbuilding a new location.
I left another location thatwas thriving with a great team.
Ben (38:18):
How am I going to do this?
Liz (38:19):
You know we have, we have six kids, you know all these
kinds of things, and, and it waslike the Lord was just
reminding me, because when I wasgrowing up, um, my nickname in
high school was Lizzie theLizard.
Anyway, did you know that?
Ben (38:33):
No.
Liz (38:34):
OK, I didn't think so.
So it was Lizzie the Lizard,and so I've always like do you
remember slam books?
Ben (38:39):
Yes, ok, so I always signed way back.
Liz (38:42):
I know I always signed in the slam books as Lizard, so
that was Lizard.
Lizzie as Lizard, so that was.
Ben (38:47):
Lizard.
Yes, not Lizzie the Lizard,just Lizard.
Liz (38:49):
Well, people weren't supposed to know it was you?
Ben (38:52):
Oh, okay, because on that certain page it was like do you
think?
Liz (38:55):
so-and-so is cute.
Ben (38:56):
That was your pseudonym.
Liz (38:57):
Yeah, and who do you like, like on page 79, you go through
this whole notebook to get towho liked who and then you look
back and say who is number 12?
They think so-and-so is hot andyou don't know who 12 is.
Lizard thinks they're hot, butanyway.
So it was just very somethingspecial to me and just like,
(39:19):
even though I'm small, you findme in the courts of kings, and
not that it has to be applied tome, but it was just like a
little nudge from the Lord andthat same morning and one of the
reasons why I want to bringthis up because we are talking
about being entrepreneurs is Iwas sitting there at the water
and I'm dialoguing andjournaling about well, how am I
(39:41):
going to build my business?
And I just felt the Lord say inmy heart look to your left, what
do you see?
And I looked down the coast andI felt like he said you know,
what do you see?
Can you see far?
And I said, yes, I can seereally far.
Now look to your right, what doyou see?
I see very far.
It was very vast and very openand looked out in front of me.
(40:02):
What do you see?
You know, it's so much space.
I mean, it's just beautiful.
Where our beach was, there wasno high rises or anything, so
it's just gorgeous.
And then I felt like the lordwas whispering to me in my heart
you know, do you?
You know?
Do you want a fish?
Because this whole ocean isfilled with fish.
(40:24):
And what kind of fish do youwant?
Do you want small fish?
Do?
What kind of fish do you want?
Do you want small fish?
Do you want large fish?
Do you want a school of fish?
Do you want fish that stay atthe surface?
Do you want fish that go downdeep?
And then, how are you going tofish?
Are you going to stand on theedge of the shore and cast a
line with a fishing pole?
Are you going to take a net andcast it and catch a couple of
(40:48):
them.
Would you love to go?
Ben (40:49):
I'm the net guy.
Yeah, he's the net guy speakingto me right now.
Liz (40:51):
Yeah, he loves the water.
You get out there in the waterand he's got a cast net and he's
out there for hours, hours,hours.
Um, and I love that because youcome alive in nature.
It's God's beautiful creationand I get it.
So, anyway.
But then it was like are yougoing to get in a boat?
Are you going to wait out inthe water with your reel or with
your you know, your net?
Are you going to get in a boat?
(41:12):
Are you going to stay closer toshore?
Are you going to go out?
Are you going to get on a pier?
Like it was all these questionsand I just felt like the Lord
was saying there's a lot of fishin the sea, and so why I'm
saying that?
Is because if you're anentrepreneur, you have to get in
and fish.
You can't just stand there andwell, you can't just stand there
(41:34):
and just gaze and expect thesefish to jump into your lap.
Ben (41:38):
Right.
Liz (41:38):
I mean, I guess if they're salmon they will.
I don't know, I've never beenaround salmon, but but the point
is, is that how do you want todo this and how do you want to
build your business?
And it's available, especiallyif you have a desire in your
heart to do something.
You know, and so to me that wasa really big encouragement in
building my business.
(41:58):
You know, to not just stay onthe shoreline but to get in
there and do it, and I knowwe're talking about all the
practical things and howintentional yeah, meal plans and
all this kind of stuff, but thetruth is is that you know the
fish are there right, this isbound to fall.
Ben (42:14):
To go get them.
Liz (42:15):
It's up to us.
And how are you going to do it?
I know how you're going to doit.
Ben (42:18):
You're going to cast net, he's ours Cast net.
Yeah, man, that's good.
That's a really encouragingstory.
I think it helps us kind ofkeep that in mind that like
God's our partner in this and hewas encouraging you to think
about like how you know you weregoing to actually go about and
do it, and that's awesome.
(42:38):
Yeah, it's really cool.
We've got some scripturetakeaways.
Let's look at Ecclesiastes 4, 9through 10.
Two are better than one becausethey have a good return for
their labor.
If either of them falls down,one can help the other up.
So I feel like we kind of dothat in this crazy
entrepreneurial doubleentrepreneurial home that we
have Dual entrepreneurial homeRight.
(42:59):
Like we've had ebbs and flowswhere, like you, know my
business maybe not going well,but yours is and you're able to
encourage me, and then I can,you know, reciprocate when the
time comes where things aren'tgoing well for you and they are
for me, or you know, I thinkwe're just we're able to kind of
help each other out.
Liz (43:15):
And it's unique too, because a lot of times when you
hear entrepreneurial homes, it'sa lot of times it's a husband
and wife doing the same onetogether.
Ben (43:22):
Ours was not the same, not the same, very different,
distinctly different, differentschedules, different schedules,
all of it, and especially when2020 came.
Liz (43:30):
I mean that yours was already online, but mine went
fully online and that thatchanged a lot.
Um, you know, I had to fish adifferent way.
Ben (43:40):
I don't learn how to do that.
Liz (43:42):
Um and and build my you know my business, and especially
when the world was in such acrazy place.
But yeah, but it still survived.
Actually, it was my highestyear, but anyway.
Ben (43:52):
Yeah, good time.
Liz (43:53):
Two is better than one.
Ben (43:54):
Two is better than one Boom boom.
Let's wrap it up withColossians 3, 23 to 24.
Whatever you do, work at itwith all of your heart as
working for the Lord.
Liz (44:04):
Yeah.
Not for human masters, so good.
Ben (44:06):
That's a huge mindset shift , right.
Liz (44:10):
It is yeah.
Ben (44:11):
Like even when you do work for human masters, knowing that
really in the long run, you'reworking for the Lord, yeah.
You know and think about itlike that.
Liz (44:19):
We are always bringing that up with our kids.
Ben (44:21):
Oh yeah.
Liz (44:21):
Especially as we're cleaning the house.
Ben (44:23):
And especially as they start getting jobs and
especially as they start gettingjobs.
Liz (44:30):
Yes, they are oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah, it's, it's been an
interesting journey hasn't itraising these teenagers, oh
teenagers, oh teenagers,teenagers yeah, we had a family
devotions yesterday and we weretalking about, you know, happy
hearts.
Have a happy heart oh man, it'salways challenging yeah, but
good, I mean, we wouldn't tradeit for anything.
Ben (44:48):
No, it's a good mess.
Liz (44:49):
We love it.
Ben (44:50):
We loved our blessed mess.
Liz (44:51):
Yeah, that's why we named this our blessed mess right.
Ben (44:53):
It's true, our 1BM.
Liz (44:54):
Our 1BM.
I love that.
Well, thanks for being a partof our one blessed mess today.
Don't forget to subscribe andshare with a friend who needs
encouragement.
Uh, we hope this encouraged youtoday.
I mean, we're just talkingabout some practicals by having
a dual entrepreneurial home andwhat that's like raising kids
and homeschooling.
But, um, you know, follow us oninstagram, follow us on
(45:16):
facebook, uh, like, share, doall the things that you have to
do.
Don't forget to subscribe, ofcourse, and we are so thankful
that you were here today.
Thank you to everybody who'sbeen sending us messages.
It's so encouraging.
I got another one today.
I was like, wow, this isamazing, and so we are just so
grateful and, honestly, untilnext time, embrace your
(45:37):
beautiful mess, because if ourmess can be blessed, what Ben?
Ben (45:41):
So can yours.
Liz (45:43):
So can yours have a blessed day.
Welcome to our One Blessed Mess.
This is Ben and Liz, and we arehere telling you our story of
raising six kids that we had ineight years, managing our
entrepreneurial home with twobusinesses, homeschooling, and
currently navigating life withfour teenagers, plus seven
chickens and two dogs, just tokeep life interesting.
Ben (00:27):
Today's conversation topic is about it is about a double
entrepreneurial home.
Liz (00:36):
That's funny to say.
Say it again, okay, double.
Ben (00:39):
Double entrepreneurial home .
Liz (00:45):
We cannot confirm or deny that we did not have to speak it
into our phones to be able tospell entrepreneurial.
Ben (00:53):
You know, both of us.
Oh, Ben, don't say that Notgreat.
No, we're not out of this.
Liz (00:58):
It's a miracle that our kids can spell like they're
really good spellers.
We survive on spell check.
Ben (01:05):
Yes, this is true, this is true, spellcheck was not a thing
, we would have a big problem.
Liz (01:09):
Yes, yes, you would be texting me all kinds of terrible
things, I'm sure.
Oh boy, so talk about it.
What are we talking about?
Ben (01:18):
Well, we're going to talk about just what we've done and
our journey of a doubleentrepreneurial home.
And what that means isbasically we just have two
businesses, two separatebusinesses.
We don't work in each other'sbusiness.
Liz (01:30):
No Two separate businesses.
Ben (01:32):
We've tried a little bit of that.
It doesn't work too wellactually.
Liz (01:34):
Oh yeah, Turns out.
Ben (01:36):
I'm a little bit of a control freak, ooh, so yeah.
Liz (01:39):
Well, so am I.
Ben (01:50):
I can be too.
That's true.
Yeah, that's true, it's fine,but you didn't really want me
selling skincare, though, no, ormakeup, no no, no, I'm not
really a good salesman.
Liz (01:57):
You're much better.
You're much better sales womanthan I am.
Okay, but you don't want meprogramming your websites.
There's been some times I'mgoing to this is, this is on
topic, I'm not getting off topic, but there's been some times
I've come into your office andyou're just sitting there
looking at your screen sointense, so intense, and I'm
like what if I did this?
What if I did this?
Ben (02:14):
Wouldn't, I wouldn't be happy.
Liz (02:15):
No, that's true.
Ben (02:16):
Start punching things?
Yeah, that's true.
So why don't we just start upwith this question, liz?
Okay, this question, liz?
Okay.
Why in the world would you notgo the traditional route of
Susie Homemaker?
Oh, you're asking me thisquestion, okay, but instead, why
(02:36):
did you feel the need to jumpinto business when I was already
doing business stuff?
Liz (02:41):
So, here you had your business, you were already
working.
Ben (02:44):
Yeah.
Liz (02:44):
Well, well, actually you're kind of do stuff on the side
you were working that's true.
Ben (02:48):
I yeah, I hadn't gone full time into my own gig yet.
Liz (02:51):
That's right, that's right, so so basically just to tell
you how it began, I guess, iswhen we were when I was pregnant
with number four.
There there we go, everything'saround pregnancy.
But when I was pregnant we justI mean we had more month than
money and it was I mean we weremaking money, but it was like
(03:12):
there was nothing ever for extra.
I should say.
And very little extra.
I would scrimp and save all mybirthday money that I got.
I was, you know, selling colosat these like little clothes
boutiques and things from thekids, that they outgrew them.
You know all these kinds ofthings and you know we weren't
going in debt.
But we, we just could not doanything if we did anything
(03:33):
extra you know, right, right, Imean yeah, and and.
date nights consisted of uh, wewould get a babysitter, all of
our money went towards thebabysitter, but we would go and
do like coffee dates.
Ben (03:44):
And like, maybe split a coffee even.
Liz (03:46):
Yes, that did happen.
We went to Barnes and Noblesand because we always I babysat
so much growing up that I wantedto make sure that whoever our
babysitter was, that we werepaying that individual really,
really well.
So anyway, that was always afirst priority.
But we would have like dinnerdates at home.
I mean, there was so much goingon.
We did what we could.
(04:09):
We did what we could.
We sometimes switched off withother families where they took
our kids and we took their kids,but sometimes that was really
stressful.
People, those of you who canconquer that and are really good
at it, we're for you.
Yeah, I know, because noteverybody's kids are the same.
Ben (04:18):
Let's just say, it's true.
Liz (04:20):
Anyway.
So when I was pregnant withnumber four, I began to pray and
ask the Lord if he would giveme an opportunity to make some
money, because there was just noway that I could go get a part
time job.
Ben (04:31):
Right.
Liz (04:32):
Weekends were very special to us because you worked all
week long.
You were working long hours,putting in a lot of hours, and
so it was just, it was tough,and that's when I started
Blazy's Bows, which we talkedabout in our first episode.
Um, and I started blazey's bows, that's when we were putting
what was it I put on her head?
Okay, rose syrup yeah, and ittook her a few hairs and then to
(04:53):
try to get it off.
I was like licking her head andlike a what a mother cat.
It was terrible to try to getthe bow off and then those bows
became candy and you could neverreuse them.
But anyway, they startedbecoming popular.
So I started making this littlebow company called Lazy's Bows.
Ben (05:08):
But again it was me pregnant of course, I think you
hired a graphic designer, didn't?
Liz (05:12):
you, I did A really cute one.
Yeah, his name is Ben Shouldhire him Anywho.
So then I had an opportunitythat came across my doorstep
basically, and it was a businessopportunity with a beauty
company and I said yes, and itwas direct sales and so network
(05:35):
marketing, and it was somethingthat I was like, okay, I can
learn this, I know I can do this, and so it really just started
out just to make a couple extrahundred dollars a month.
And it ended up growing andgrowing and growing, because
there was a part of me that wascoming alive, and so your
question is about why was I notSusie Homemaker?
What?
Ben (05:55):
did you say yeah, like what got you to that place where we
ended up having two businessesborn out of the house?
Liz (06:02):
Well, we needed money.
Ben (06:04):
True, I mean, we needed money, but I think you touched
on the part I was trying to getat.
There was something in you thatcame alive when you started
venturing out into thatentrepreneurial journey, you
were taking little steps right,right you were testing the
waters with Blazy's bows.
Then this other thing came andit felt good you were holding
(06:26):
appointments.
Liz (06:27):
You were doing stuff you were getting out of the house.
Ben (06:30):
There was a part of you that had kind of died in some
ways.
Liz (06:34):
Yeah, and there's nothing wrong with being a stay-at-home
mom.
I became a work-from-home momand that looks different.
I was going out of the housesome, not a ton but I was
finding that I had been puttingmyself last which is what most
women do, and it wasn'tnecessarily that this was
putting me first, but it wasgiving me a outlet.
Ben (06:56):
You were enjoying it.
Liz (06:57):
I was enjoying it and I'm a leader, I mean I can't
apologize for that I'mdefinitely a leader.
Ben (07:03):
In fact, you were my youth leader.
Liz (07:04):
Yes, a long time ago.
This is not an episode aboutthat.
Keep moving.
Ben (07:10):
I just want to say there's five years difference between us
.
Liz (07:13):
Oh, we're going there Now everybody knows, yes, but it
wasn't, and you might've been myyouth leader.
Ben (07:18):
But there was no romance until you were like after I
lived overseas and I had beensomewhere else, I was of age.
I was of age.
Don't get too excited people, Iwas of age.
Liz (07:26):
Yes, you were in college and there was no romantic
anything ever.
In fact, I thought you were sogreat.
I tried to set you up with atleast three of my friends, and
one of them with my.
I also tried to set you up withmy sister, encouraging you to
date my sister, but anyway, thathas nothing to do with being an
entrepreneur.
Ben (07:43):
That's yes, okay, you're right.
You're right, we got to getback on track here.
Okay, so sorry, but I think thepoint is is you were a leader.
Liz (07:50):
Yes, you've always been a leader, yeah.
Ben (07:52):
And there was a part of you that just wasn't being
fulfilled, in a sense.
Yeah, I'm not saying that itwasn't your.
Liz (07:59):
you know you know, being a mom.
Ben (08:01):
Yeah, Like that was, that was fulfilling a longing in your
heart but, there was more inyour heart Right and you started
to realize that when youstarted stepping out little by
little into that entrepreneurialjourney.
Liz (08:13):
Yeah, and it was.
It took me a while to evenaccept.
Like I'm an entrepreneur, Ihave a business, you know and
and I started building a reallylarge team and I mean just very
large team.
Ben (08:24):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it became a really large team, yeah.
Liz (08:25):
And I mean just Very large team.
Ben (08:26):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it became a very large team and we were
yeah, we were meeting new peopleand there was a lot of fun
involved and all that too.
Liz (08:32):
Traveling.
Ben (08:33):
So there was a social aspect, there was an achieving
aspect that you were fulfilling.
Liz (08:38):
There was a lot that was kind of coming along, yeah, and
a lot of finances.
Ben (08:41):
Yeah, even rewards.
There's like different rewardswith just you doing your
business and all the things thathappened, yeah, and it was
great.
And so then we started to hitjust some challenges running two
businesses.
I had my schedule, you had yourschedule, and oftentimes we
would forget to just even talkabout each other's businesses.
Liz (09:03):
Each other's schedules yeah , each other's schedules.
Well, that schedule, yeah, theschedule, and I'm just thinking
too like in the process of mestarting my business, it was
like within a month or two, thatyou know that you had that
wonderful miracle, that I hadthe opportunity to go out on my
own.
Yeah, you were able to go onyour own.
Ben (09:17):
That's very true.
You know it's funny how closelythose timeframes were together.
You're right, it was that yearthat we both started out on our
double entrepreneurial home.
Liz (09:27):
It was amazing.
Yes, it was amazing.
It was amazing.
It was like a transitionalseason.
Ben (09:31):
Honestly, and we both felt it, we both did it and we didn't
really know what we were justsaying yes to.
We also didn't really know thechallenges that we would face.
No we didn't.
So some of those challenges, Ithink we could go through them
real quick.
Okay, but like the timemanagement piece.
Yes, right, the schedulingpiece.
Liz (09:46):
Yes.
Ben (09:47):
That was a difficult thing for us to figure out.
Liz (09:49):
Yep.
Ben (09:50):
Another thing was the concept of our traditional
gender roles in the marriage andhow those got stretched when we
started on our own schedule,started with our own businesses,
and then it was like, well,shoot, what normally happens now
, when there wasn't that.
(10:11):
Now we've got to figure out.
What do we do?
Liz (10:13):
Right, that was fun.
Those are some goodconversations.
Ben (10:18):
Those were some good conversations.
We had some good conversationswhen we were dating and getting
married too.
Liz (10:23):
Yes, we did no.
Okay, stay on topic.
That's another episode, so okay.
Ben (10:29):
So we got stretched in our traditional roles, and what I
mean by that is like who's goingto cook, who's going to clean,
who's going to do this?
Do that, you know, like all ofthis stuff Because there was
demands.
Liz (10:39):
There was demands.
Ben (10:40):
Or even For our businesses Watching the kids Like who's
going to be with the kids when Iwas doing this or when you were
doing that?
How?
Are we going to switch out.
So we had to figure out thetime management piece, we had to
figure out the traditionalroles, and then we also had to
try to keep our family timesacred, yeah, sacred, which we,
which was a lot tougher right,yeah, yeah.
Because it not only was like oh,we had to move things around
(11:00):
for my schedule, but we also hadto move things around for your
schedule too.
Yes, so that was a challenge.
And then there, ultimately, Ithink, was like kind of this
pressure to just do it all well,yeah, right, to do family well,
to do business well, to do ourrelationship well, yeah, and all
of the things that you thinkare on your shoulder because-.
Liz (11:20):
Run the house well.
Run the house well.
I think that's the.
I know that for me, was where Iwas feeling most guilt, because
it's like laundry or the meals,or yeah.
Ben (11:32):
That makes sense.
So one might ask why would youever do any of that?
Is that biblical to?
Liz (11:40):
have two businesses in the home.
Yes, it is.
Ben (11:43):
You may be thinking that.
Liz (11:45):
And we might have an answer .
Ben (11:48):
Let's see, let's jump in.
How about we go to Proverbs 31?
Liz (11:51):
Yes, that's such a good chapter.
Ben (11:55):
It is a good chapter.
It is a good chapter P-31.
P-31.
I think I'm married to P-31because you're doing business
and the woman in Psalms 31definitely did business.
Yes, she did.
What did she do she?
Liz (12:06):
was above rubies, she was trading and she was also
purchasing land.
She was in real estate.
Yeah, yep.
Ben (12:13):
So there was that aspect of the Proverbs 31, woman being in
business doing entrepreneurialtype things, and if her husband
was known at the gate then whatdoes that mean?
Liz (12:25):
He was trading, or he was a man of business as well,
because that's where all thetransactions happened was in the
gate, and he back in those days, yeah, and so he was known at
the gate and so he had a goodreputation.
Ben (12:37):
He was known in business, and so here we have a couple we
think they were bothentrepreneurial in some aspects
and it's in P31.
That's like the typical or notthe typical.
That's like the standard thatwe think of when we think of a
woman, especially in marriage.
So it's like, hey, right there,the standard that we kind of
(12:58):
all want to live up to as godlywomen or I guess not all,
because I'm not a godly woman,but I'm a godly man who hopes
that my woman lives up to thesestandards.
Liz (13:08):
Have you memorized the chapter yet?
No, oh, come on.
Ben (13:10):
Ben Come on.
I don't have to.
Liz (13:11):
I can just look at it Every morning when I wake up, I just
see it right there, okay.
Ben (13:16):
Is that too?
Liz (13:16):
much.
No, tell me more, tell me more.
Ben (13:20):
So I think, right there, right, there's an example of a
wife Right?
Liz (13:24):
No, it's true.
It's true, conducting business,doing entrepreneurial things.
Well, it's so interesting thatthe example that's given of an
entrepreneur is in Proverbs 31.
Ben (13:33):
I just think that's amazing that.
Liz (13:34):
that's the example, yeah.
Ben (13:35):
Yeah, and then another New Testament example is Aquila and
Priscilla in Acts right.
So they're tent makers and theyhook up with Paul and then
their ministry together withPaul, but they're both in the
tent making trade and it's notjust the husband, it's also the
(13:56):
wife, so that's pretty cool.
And then also Paul is a tentmaker, so they shared a lot in
common with him and I think theywere together for a little over
a year I don't remember theexact number of months, but so
that's.
That's really fascinating rightYou've got, and they were in the
same business together, so alittle different than us, right.
Liz (14:10):
There are husband and wife teams out there.
We know that.
I mean, there's amazing husbandand wife teams, yeah.
Ben (14:17):
Yeah, we haven't.
We haven't cracked the code onthat one yet.
Maybe we will, maybe we will,we'll see.
So there's definitely abiblical foundation for doing
entrepreneurship in the contextof family, in the context of
marriage yes and just going forit.
And so, like tell us a littlebit about maybe I don't know,
like from when you got into moreof your skincare business and
(14:43):
your beauty business, like whatwere some of the challenges of
like having to go through thetraditional roles and maybe
letting go of some of thosethings, or trying to get
creative and how you kind ofprocess that.
Liz (14:59):
So I'm a big believer that you buy help like you pay for
help, because being an achiever,which is what I am, and Clifton
Strength Finders achievers inmy top five, and then I have
also activators, so I like toget things done and make them- I
like that about you.
Ben (15:19):
Quick yes, in fact, we just cleaned my office and I was
frozen in the details and youcame along and activated me.
Liz (15:27):
Yes, this is actually very true.
His office was intense and I'vebeen saying for a while now I'm
like, hey, why don't you, letme get in there with you and we
can get this done?
And so we had a break I guessit was a Saturday afternoon, I
don't even remember and we gotin there and we knocked it out
in like what two hours?
Ben (15:46):
or something.
Yeah, we did so.
Anyway, that's taking me a lotlonger, yeah.
Liz (15:50):
Yeah.
So for me, um, being, you know,an achiever and and having a
home and having a family andhaving a husband and also having
a business, something has togive, because I only have so
many hours in a day, I only haveso many hours in a week, you
know, and on top of that, justwith the demands of what my
(16:11):
business was growing in, and itwas a financial blessing to our
family and I mean it was a lotof monetary, amazing things and
also to, you know, the kidsbeing raised in in a dual
entrepreneurial home.
There was just things that werenot important.
They were not the ones thatwere going to care if mom
cleaned the toilets or not, theydo not care.
(16:31):
They do not care if I'm the onefolding their laundry and
putting it away.
They really do not care.
So the things that were moreimportant, obviously, was, you
know, face-to-face time withthem, and I would much rather
pay someone else to do thethings that are on my to-do list
or my bug list and spend thetime with you.
Date nights were non-negotiable.
You and I would go on datesweekly.
Ben (16:53):
We had to learn that.
We had to learn that it wasnon-negotiable, non-negotiable.
Liz (16:58):
And then also to taking time out individually for the
children and family time,everybody together.
And we were adding more kids inthe midst of it, because number
four was born after I startedmy business.
Okay, number five was born,number six was born, and so you
know, we doubled in kids whileI'm building a very successful
(17:20):
business.
So some of those things neededto go off my plate and I was
making good money and there werepeople around me who wanted to
have extra jobs.
They weren't willing to do whatI was doing, which is fine, and
so I hired out help for housecleaning.
I hired laundry fairies that'swhat I called them, laundry
fairies.
They would come over becauseyou guys, can you imagine eight
(17:43):
people and the laundry?
Like, just think about that,eight people in the laundry and
it's a lot.
Oh, the mounds of just a week,you know, and I would try to do,
you know, a load a day and youknow, trying to do all that.
But it was just like ridiculoustrying to match all the socks
and you know, especially in yourpotty training.
(18:03):
I mean, there's just so muchthat is going on.
So I hired somebody.
You know I hired whether it wassomebody who was older, who
just wanted to get in a homewith kids, and they would just
sit there and talk to me asthey're folding socks and even
if I'm on the floor and I'mplaying with my kids, it's
better than me folding socks.
You know, and you know, I lovedit when I had laundry fairies,
because all the drawers werealways so organized.
(18:25):
It was just so nice, you know,and some of the things I
reserved only for myself, like Ididn't really have them, you
know, always doing all of ourlaundry, but but okay, then, um,
I had a house cleaner.
Um, I, I had I'm just thinkingin the house um, homework helper
.
Um, so when the kids got olderand they were all in school and
(18:47):
this is before we were like fullon homeschooling um, they would
come home and kind of called itthe witching hour, because it
was like everybody has to gettheir homework done.
I'm trying to get it donebefore dinner.
And there's just I would makesure I didn't book any calls or
meetings or anything in that youknow, three to five time but
five kids all needing help forhomework on all different levels
(19:10):
, and you're, you're helping oneand somebody gets up from the
table and they're gone, right,and where are they?
Up a tree, like you know, therewas those things.
So I hired a homework helper andtypically it was just somebody
who was in college or highschool.
I think I had some in highschool like seniors and stuff
that they just got off schoolearly and they came in and they
(19:32):
did homework, and so it was justlike knocking it out, and
sometimes I would be presentdoing the homework too, with
them, you know, but it just, youknow, a couple of days a week,
I mean it just it took thestress right off of me so that I
could put my mind at easeinstead of trying to be
everything.
I feel like there's some otherthings that I did.
(19:56):
Oh, I did what I call $10 jobs,and so whomever was there,
whether it was the laundry fairy, my house cleaner.
Sometimes the homework helperdid it, but like you know
anybody that was there or I justwould hire people who wanted to
just make some extra money.
You know, girls from our churchor something like that were in
college and I would pay them 10.
Now you probably would need topay 20.
I mean, I got more, but itwould just be the things that
were on my bug list, likecleaning out underneath the
(20:18):
kitchen sink, organizing thiscloset going through this toy
bin and throwing away all thethings I just couldn't get to,
and it was more beneficial forme to spend that time with
family or with my business.
Ben (20:34):
Right, and so anyway, no, that's great.
I remember having a realizationbecause you were doing a lot of
your business in the evenings.
Yeah, Right, and so I would getoff work around five or six and
then we would transition.
I would start watching the kidsand start doing more of the
house stuff.
You would go into kind offull-time business mode and I
remember, you know, trying tothink, okay, what am I going to
(20:54):
do for dinner Because Liz is ontonight.
Liz (20:57):
So now you know what am I going to do.
Ben (20:58):
So I would start thinking like well shoot, if I'm going to
cook, I need to, like, quitwork a little earlier and then
get everything prepped and readyto go so we can have a meal.
And get everything prepped andready to go so we can have a
meal and then it just dawned onme one evening.
It's like you know what, whydon't I just keep?
working that hour, or maybe eventwo, that I would have gotten
off earlier to prep and to getall the stuff ready.
(21:21):
Why don't I just keep workingand order food?
And at that point it made morefinancial sense to just keep
working order takeout.
Let's just have a meal andlet's focus on having the meal
together instead of me trying toquit work early so that I could
make this?
Meal and then eat together.
Liz (21:42):
It actually saved us money by ordering out, which is crazy
to think about.
Yeah, it's kind of, and that'sa different mindset.
Ben (21:49):
It is.
That's a growth mindset RightInstead of a fixed mindset Right
, and that actually kind of goesa little bit to the book
reference that we're pullingsome of this from, which is the
E-Myth Revisited.
Liz (22:01):
Right, which we didn't know this book before we were living
it.
We were, yeah, we were.
So this book is basicallysaying what we already did.
Ben (22:07):
Yeah, it's like jumping into that growth mindset.
Stop thinking like an employeeand think about an entrepreneur,
think about systems, thinkabout business systems that
allow you to grow instead of capyou where you're at, and so
that's like a mindset right.
We had to break free of some ofthe things that we thought we
should do and just focus on thethings that we needed to do in
(22:30):
order to get past, like some ofthe limitations we were running
into.
Liz (22:33):
Well, and also too, I mean, with the meal thing.
You know everybody hasdifferent weeks.
All kinds of stuff happens,like kids are sick, and then,
you know, somebody comes fromvisiting you know from out of
town, or there's just all thesethings.
And so sometimes in that area,you know, I'd be like you're on
for dinner tonight, like there'sI am.
(22:54):
I've been, you know, unable todo what I need to do for the
last three days, you know, andor I couldn't get a crock pot
meal in early enough.
Ben (22:58):
I mean it's just like because it's life.
Yeah, and so you know, okay,what's the what's a good
decision, and we yeah exactly weboth was working, we can afford
it, yeah, so it's got to makesense financially.
But yeah, yeah, we just had tokind of rethink and reshape some
(23:18):
of the way we did things inorder to make it work a little
bit more holistically.
We weren't so concerned aboutsome of the feelings of, hey, I
have to do this because I'm theman, or hey, you have to do that
because you're the woman.
Instead, we looked at it as apartnership.
How do we do this together tobe successful, Both of us
covering?
Obviously we've got to takecare of our family, but we also
have to take care of ourbusinesses.
(23:39):
And how do we thinkholistically, in a way that I
support you, you support me, andwe're not going around saying,
hey, you didn't do this becausethat was your job?
Liz (23:48):
Right.
Ben (23:49):
Instead, I'm here to help you.
How can we best fit together,how can we dialogue about it so
that we both end up what we wantand what we need.
Liz (23:56):
That's true, yeah, it's a little different, a little
different, yeah, and we I meanalso too, and being both
entrepreneurs, the differencebetween an entrepreneurial
mindset and a fixed mindset oran employee mindset is income,
is it can be whatever you wantit to be Like, if you're willing
to put in the time.
Ben (24:15):
In some ways it's limitless , almost, I mean there's natural
limits with things, but whenyou start thinking in that
entrepreneurial mindset the onlylimitation is more of yourself
at that point.
Liz (24:25):
Right, exactly, and also too.
I'm just thinking like whenyou're clocking in at eight and
clocking out at five.
You know you may get a raiseevery year you know those kinds
of things, but for us the raisecould be any day like it was
daily, and so it it it.
We had to change our mindset onhow we're doing all of these
things, right, yeah?
(24:45):
And and we saw it as a gift youknow, to be able to employ
people or, you know, support thelocal restaurant down the
street.
Ben (24:54):
I mean it's almost an investment.
I think, yeah, like, yeah,almost an investment, yeah Right
, because you're not only you'resupporting them, but you're
supporting yourself.
Liz (25:01):
Right.
Ben (25:01):
Being able to do the things that you only could do.
Liz (25:04):
Right.
Ben (25:04):
Right, someone couldn't run your business for you, but they
could surefold your laundry.
Liz (25:08):
Oh my gosh.
And you know those people.
They love being in our homes.
I mean, still to this day.
Some of them have startedlistening to the podcast.
So if you're watching this, youknow who you are, but you know
it's so fun because it's beenneat to see how you know people
come and go in and out of yourlife for all kinds of reasons.
I've always heard it say somepeople are in your life for a
(25:29):
moment, some people are in yourlife for a season or a lifetime,
and we've had very seasonedpeople, you know our moment
people, and I love that we wereable to have them and invite
them in because, hello, let's beclear, it's chaotic, it's a
little bit of a circus.
It's a little bit of a circus,and even today, with teenagers,
I mean, before we started thisepisode today, it's like, okay,
(25:52):
you guys, okay, I mean we werejust trying to dialogue.
Okay, what are we going to talkabout in this episode?
And I mean it was like arevolving door in our bedroom.
It's like one kid, then anotherkid, then another kid, then
another kid, and I mean they'rejust opening up the door and
jumping on the bed and I waslike hi, mom and dad.
I mean they want to talkbecause they're teenagers.
And it's like, okay, we need torecord, but we're going to take
(26:19):
time out still, and they'refirst, you know.
I mean, well, we're first foreach other, but they are, you
know, next.
And so, anyway, it was reallycute.
I know I'm like it's chaotic,they're a lot of fun, it's
chaotic.
Ben (26:27):
They're a lot of fun, so okay.
So why don't we?
Unless you had something else,why don't we just jump into some
like practical takeaways?
Liz (26:36):
Okay.
Ben (26:36):
What do you think Sure Like , just run through them.
Sure Go ahead we talked about alot of things, but let's just
kind of go through some of thetakeaways.
So one of the things that werealized was like intentional
scheduling, right.
So this is just a practical.
If you ever think about doing adual entrepreneurial home,
getting on the same page,schedule wise.
Liz (26:56):
Yes, super important.
And how I did that is I likepen to paper.
Ben (27:01):
So, he you said a bad word, I know, yeah, ben doesn't.
Liz (27:06):
Yeah, he doesn't like that, he likes everything digital.
Yeah, ben doesn't.
Yeah, he doesn't like that, helikes everything digital.
I'm getting better.
I'm still getting better,getting better at it, but I like
, I mean I still have my log.
Let's just say you like analogI mean I still have, I have my
calendar right here and it's, itgoes in my purse.
It's ancient, it's long in themuseum I love it, um, but ben
misses those things because he'snot in my purse.
(27:28):
He calls, he calls my purse theblack hole.
So what I did, especially backin the day when we were first
starting out, is I put like aweekly view, you know Sunday
through Saturday, or I put uplike the whole month.
Mom has this, mom is here, youput that in the kitchen.
Ben (27:46):
I did.
Liz (27:46):
I put it in the kitchen and we also hired help or I you
know, we had somebody in thehome always helping me with the
kids, you know so that somebody,whomever it was, so I could get
out and go to the grocery store, even you know, or that's the
next thing, is outsourcingstrategically.
Yeah, oh, okay, I'm ahead of us, yeah.
Ben (28:16):
No, you're good, You're right on time.
Liz (28:17):
So yeah, thinking about how you can outsource and delegate
the things that strategicallyneed to be done that you don't
have to do.
Well, and back then, when I'mtalking about in the beginning,
they didn't have like DoorDash,there was no grocery store
pickup.
Like those things I dreamedabout.
There was nothing where youdrive through a drive-thru and
you can get your bread, milk andeggs Like those things I
dreamed about.
There was nothing where youdrive through a drive-thru and
you can get your bread, milk andeggs Like there was none of
that.
I had to schlep to the storewith all of my children hanging
all over me to be able to go tothe back of the grocery store to
(28:39):
get that one gallon of milk,you know.
And so anyway, with hiring,help and outsourcing that, I
would even like sometimes give awhole list to go to the grocery
store for me and they would gorun that errand and I had
assistants in my office.
I had virtual assistants.
I had all those kind of things.
(28:59):
I was outsourcing the thingsthat someone I didn't
necessarily have to put my handto it.
I could hire someone else toput their hand to it and they
would do it much better half thetime You're thinking like an
entrepreneur.
Yes.
Ben (29:11):
And by doing that this is the next point you let go of the
shoulds.
So you should do this.
You don't really.
I mean who says that you shoulddo this?
Who says that you have to dothose things?
We have it in our minds.
Liz (29:23):
It was me in my head.
Ben (29:24):
Yeah, and same thing for me , I got to get off work early so
I can go start the dinner andspend an hour and a half prep
and do all the things and it'slike, well, do I have to?
Liz (29:33):
No, Can I just go take out?
Well, actually, what would befun is you would make an
adventure for the kids and belike who wants to go with daddy
to go run and get whatever itwas, pick up pizza or-.
Ben (29:43):
Yeah, it still took me about 20 minutes, but shoot,
sometimes it's a lot less.
Liz (29:46):
Well, and you got alone time with the kids.
Ben (29:47):
Oh yeah, that's true.
I mean, that's huge, you know.
Liz (29:51):
And in your business a lot of what you're doing.
Mine was different.
Ben (29:55):
True.
Liz (29:56):
Because I was in sales and really out there interfacing
with the public.
Ben (30:01):
Right.
Liz (30:01):
But you, I mean you're behind a screen and so you know
you're talking to people fromall over.
Ben (30:08):
Yeah, programmers and yeah, sometimes internationally, yeah
, mostly national, but yeah,well, and the thing is too, is
like, even with the should right, let's just say, for instance,
cooking dinner Because we hadsix kids the scale of that is
significant.
Liz (30:22):
Right.
Ben (30:22):
We're talking about just cooking for yourself.
That's a little different.
But we're talking about cookingfor eight people and then
trying to prep for that Likethat's how much hamburger meat
we need now for taco.
Yeah.
Liz (30:40):
Holy moly people.
The other night I made we stillwe really prioritize sitting
down as a family at the table.
I mean it's you know, and thesekids are hilarious right now
because they're just giants andI mean they'll always be giants.
I'm not going anywhere.
They're all growing up Likethey're all today.
Somebody was not going to grow.
Well, our youngest daughtertoday.
She was measuring today and I'mstill half an inch taller than
her.
She is determined, in the nextweek, couple of weeks, to
(31:01):
surpass me, but anyway.
But my point is is like theother night I made a chicken and
rice dish.
There was nothing left.
You guys, and when I saynothing left, I mean the pan
that everything was cooked inwas gone.
We had kids licking their plate.
I'm glad you're laughingbecause it was like really.
So the point we're trying tomake is when you're making food
(31:24):
for an army.
Ben (31:25):
Yeah, it's a significant time investment.
Liz (31:27):
It is.
Ben (31:27):
So the next one, focusing on partnership versus
traditional roles.
At the end of the day, what'sgoing to matter, the thing
that's going to matter, is thatI supported you.
You supported me.
How that looks like doesn'thave to be conformed to anybody
else's image but us and the Lord.
Right, we shouldn't just letthe traditional part of it?
(31:49):
overweigh the practical piecethat we might need in that
season.
So partnership over tradition,in the sense of what the roles
should look like, and again,these kind of all come from that
idea of the E-Myth Revisited,which is a book that is by
Michael Gerber and it's just gotsome great concepts about how
(32:10):
to think beyond yourself as anemployee and more of an owner or
more of an entrepreneur.
Liz (32:16):
And it's a full mindset, because if you just have one
entrepreneur in the home andthat I would think would be
probably more challenging insome ways, yeah, but in having
two, we're both kind of thinkingthe same thing.
We're kind of like, okay, we'reheading in that direction and so
when we were coming up to someof these things that we had to
(32:38):
figure it out, I mean itrequired, and I just want to say
also, it required a lot.
But I also just want to say, ifyou're a stay-at home mom and
you're not working outside thehome, you work hard, you work
hard.
I was at work from home mom, soI was running a business out of
our home, you know, and had avery thriving business.
But doing all the things thatwe're talking about delegating,
(33:02):
it is hard work.
It is.
And you hear these people whotalk about, like you know, if I
was going to go out and hire awife, I mean there's no way you
could even afford it because yougot to be up throughout the
night.
You got to, you know, yeah it'spriceless.
Ben (33:18):
It's absolutely priceless.
Couldn't pay for that, yeah, soyeah, that's true.
Liz (33:22):
Yeah, well, and I do want to say something also too,
because I know we're going tojump into some scriptures here
in a minute, but I'm justthinking about, like you know,
one of the things when you're anentrepreneur and we can maybe
do another episode on like themindset that you have and all
that but when I was maybe fouror five years into my business,
(33:43):
you know, I was really seekingthe Lord and I'm like, you know,
how do you want me to do this?
Because by that time it was likemy business was growing and we
were growing as a family, andyou know, he was just so
faithful.
He was so faithful to answer,you know, any questions I had
and to direct me.
But I'm actually thinking of astory when we first moved into
this house and, uh, there was,we were sitting down for dinner
(34:10):
and it was time to to bathe kids, and so I was walking across
the home and and I feltsomething in my hair and I was
like what in the world is that?
And I thought it was my bangsor something like coming down,
and I fell up there andsomething moved on my head, and
so I I grabbed it and and I'mlike screaming screaming and I
(34:35):
threw it and it scurried underour bed and I'm standing in our
room screaming, with the bathtubrunning and of course,
everybody comes running in likewhat's wrong, what's wrong.
I'm like I just had a lizard inmy head, on my head, and they're
like how?
I'm like I don't know andyou're like did you go outside?
I'm like no, I literally wassitting at the dinner table
(34:56):
having dinner, got up, walkedacross the house and there's a
lizard on my head, and soeverybody you know, and when you
scream like that, it likeshakes your innards right so
then all the kids were liketrying to look under our bed
with flashlights, trying to findthis lizard.
Do you remember that?
Ben (35:08):
I do.
Liz (35:08):
Okay, good.
Then I went into the kitchenafter a while because I told the
kids they could have Italiansoda.
Isn't that funny?
I remember that detail.
I told them they could haveItalian soda for dinner after
dinner, and they had all beenbathed, and so the first kid was
there, which was our oldest,Elisha, and I was pouring it and
I felt something move on myhead.
Ben (35:30):
Again.
Liz (35:31):
Again.
Now this is after I bathed theyounger kids, so you have to
understand when you're bathinglike bending over the tub.
So if anything was on my headit would have never stayed there
.
So I'm there and I feelsomething move in the kitchen on
my head again and I'm like andI reach up and grab my head,
another lizard, it's anotherlizard, I forgot about that.
(35:56):
And I took it and I threw itacross the kitchen, scream
bloody murder and our son'sstanding there and he's like
whoa, mom.
And he was like growing.
So he's like at eye.
Now he's like almost six feettall, but he was like eye level.
Then he's like what happened?
I go who put that on my head?
And he's like what?
And I was convinced that achild was pranking me by putting
(36:16):
lizards on my head.
That's funny.
Ben (36:18):
I wouldn't put it past him.
I wouldn't put it past me.
Liz (36:21):
Yeah, well, we never found either lizard.
Okay, I don't know if it wasthe same lizard, I don't know
what was going on.
So shortly after that, I had myteam come to a beach house and
we, um, what I would do is Iwould do these weekends where
women would come that were on myteam and we would spend time,
you know, um training, goalsetting.
Um, you know, it was real, theywere really rich and good,
(36:44):
girlfriend time.
And so, anyway, I like to get upearly, early in the morning,
and go to the beach and watchthe sunrise.
It's just something that I love, yeah, and especially since
where we live, I never see thesun.
It's so wooded so I never seethe sun and I miss sunsets and
sunrises.
So, anyway, I'm out there andI'm having quiet time with the
Lord and I just, you know, I'mlistening, I'm listening to some
(37:05):
worship music, um, and I justfelt like the Lord, you know,
impressed upon my heart.
He and he said you didn't askme about the lizards, and I'm
like what?
what say what?
And I, I just whispered back inmy heart.
I was like I didn't know.
I was supposed to and, and, andI just felt like the Lord
(37:29):
whispered in my heart.
Just well, that was me, and I'mthinking what, what?
And so it sent me on thisjourney to begin to look through
the scriptures about lizards,and lizards are in the Bible.
Ben (37:43):
Did you know that?
What'd you find?
Liz (37:44):
Well, it's in Proverbs and it talks about although the
lizards are small and you cangrab them with your hand, you
find them in the courts of kings.
It's out of Proverbs and it wasso, so precious, because I was
having this inferior mindset,Like it was just, like I don't
(38:06):
know if I can do this.
We had just moved to a newstate.
Like I'm building yeah, I'mbuilding a new location.
I left another location thatwas thriving with a great team.
Ben (38:18):
How am I going to do this?
Liz (38:19):
You know we have, we have six kids, you know all these
kinds of things, and, and it waslike the Lord was just
reminding me, because when I wasgrowing up, um, my nickname in
high school was Lizzie theLizard.
Anyway, did you know that?
Ben (38:33):
No.
Liz (38:34):
OK, I didn't think so.
So it was Lizzie the Lizard,and so I've always like do you
remember slam books?
Ben (38:39):
Yes, ok, so I always signed way back.
Liz (38:42):
I know I always signed in the slam books as Lizard, so
that was Lizard.
Lizzie as Lizard, so that was.
Ben (38:47):
Lizard.
Yes, not Lizzie the Lizard,just Lizard.
Liz (38:49):
Well, people weren't supposed to know it was you?
Ben (38:52):
Oh, okay, because on that certain page it was like do you
think?
Liz (38:55):
so-and-so is cute.
Ben (38:56):
That was your pseudonym.
Liz (38:57):
Yeah, and who do you like, like on page 79, you go through
this whole notebook to get towho liked who and then you look
back and say who is number 12?
They think so-and-so is hot andyou don't know who 12 is.
Lizard thinks they're hot, butanyway.
So it was just very somethingspecial to me and just like,
(39:19):
even though I'm small, you findme in the courts of kings, and
not that it has to be applied tome, but it was just like a
little nudge from the Lord andthat same morning and one of the
reasons why I want to bringthis up because we are talking
about being entrepreneurs is Iwas sitting there at the water
and I'm dialoguing andjournaling about well, how am I
(39:41):
going to build my business?
And I just felt the Lord say inmy heart look to your left, what
do you see?
And I looked down the coast andI felt like he said you know,
what do you see?
Can you see far?
And I said, yes, I can seereally far.
Now look to your right, what doyou see?
I see very far.
It was very vast and very openand looked out in front of me.
(40:02):
What do you see?
You know, it's so much space.
I mean, it's just beautiful.
Where our beach was, there wasno high rises or anything, so
it's just gorgeous.
And then I felt like the lordwas whispering to me in my heart
you know, do you?
You know?
Do you want a fish?
Because this whole ocean isfilled with fish.
(40:24):
And what kind of fish do youwant?
Do you want small fish?
Do?
What kind of fish do you want?
Do you want small fish?
Do you want large fish?
Do you want a school of fish?
Do you want fish that stay atthe surface?
Do you want fish that go downdeep?
And then, how are you going tofish?
Are you going to stand on theedge of the shore and cast a
line with a fishing pole?
Are you going to take a net andcast it and catch a couple of
(40:48):
them.
Would you love to go?
Ben (40:49):
I'm the net guy.
Yeah, he's the net guy speakingto me right now.
Liz (40:51):
Yeah, he loves the water.
You get out there in the waterand he's got a cast net and he's
out there for hours, hours,hours.
Um, and I love that because youcome alive in nature.
It's God's beautiful creationand I get it.
So, anyway.
But then it was like are yougoing to get in a boat?
Are you going to wait out inthe water with your reel or with
your you know, your net?
Are you going to get in a boat?
(41:12):
Are you going to stay closer toshore?
Are you going to go out?
Are you going to get on a pier?
Like it was all these questionsand I just felt like the Lord
was saying there's a lot of fishin the sea, and so why I'm
saying that?
Is because if you're anentrepreneur, you have to get in
and fish.
You can't just stand there andwell, you can't just stand there
(41:34):
and just gaze and expect thesefish to jump into your lap.
Ben (41:38):
Right.
Liz (41:38):
I mean, I guess if they're salmon they will.
I don't know, I've never beenaround salmon, but but the point
is, is that how do you want todo this and how do you want to
build your business?
And it's available, especiallyif you have a desire in your
heart to do something.
You know, and so to me that wasa really big encouragement in
building my business.
(41:58):
You know, to not just stay onthe shoreline but to get in
there and do it, and I knowwe're talking about all the
practical things and howintentional yeah, meal plans and
all this kind of stuff, but thetruth is is that you know the
fish are there right, this isbound to fall.
Ben (42:14):
To go get them.
Liz (42:15):
It's up to us.
And how are you going to do it?
I know how you're going to doit.
Ben (42:18):
You're going to cast net, he's ours Cast net.
Yeah, man, that's good.
That's a really encouragingstory.
I think it helps us kind ofkeep that in mind that like
God's our partner in this and hewas encouraging you to think
about like how you know you weregoing to actually go about and
do it, and that's awesome.
(42:38):
Yeah, it's really cool.
We've got some scripturetakeaways.
Let's look at Ecclesiastes 4, 9through 10.
Two are better than one becausethey have a good return for
their labor.
If either of them falls down,one can help the other up.
So I feel like we kind of dothat in this crazy
entrepreneurial doubleentrepreneurial home that we
have Dual entrepreneurial homeRight.
(42:59):
Like we've had ebbs and flowswhere, like you, know my
business maybe not going well,but yours is and you're able to
encourage me, and then I can,you know, reciprocate when the
time comes where things aren'tgoing well for you and they are
for me, or you know, I thinkwe're just we're able to kind of
help each other out.
Liz (43:15):
And it's unique too, because a lot of times when you
hear entrepreneurial homes, it'sa lot of times it's a husband
and wife doing the same onetogether.
Ben (43:22):
Ours was not the same, not the same, very different,
distinctly different, differentschedules, different schedules,
all of it, and especially when2020 came.
Liz (43:30):
I mean that yours was already online, but mine went
fully online and that thatchanged a lot.
Um, you know, I had to fish adifferent way.
Ben (43:40):
I don't learn how to do that.
Liz (43:42):
Um and and build my you know my business, and especially
when the world was in such acrazy place.
But yeah, but it still survived.
Actually, it was my highestyear, but anyway.
Ben (43:52):
Yeah, good time.
Liz (43:53):
Two is better than one.
Ben (43:54):
Two is better than one Boom boom.
Let's wrap it up withColossians 3, 23 to 24.
Whatever you do, work at itwith all of your heart as
working for the Lord.
Liz (44:04):
Yeah.
Not for human masters, so good.
Ben (44:06):
That's a huge mindset shift , right.
Liz (44:10):
It is yeah.
Ben (44:11):
Like even when you do work for human masters, knowing that
really in the long run, you'reworking for the Lord, yeah.
You know and think about itlike that.
Liz (44:19):
We are always bringing that up with our kids.
Ben (44:21):
Oh yeah.
Liz (44:21):
Especially as we're cleaning the house.
Ben (44:23):
And especially as they start getting jobs and
especially as they start gettingjobs.
Liz (44:30):
Yes, they are oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah, it's, it's been an
interesting journey hasn't itraising these teenagers, oh
teenagers, oh teenagers,teenagers yeah, we had a family
devotions yesterday and we weretalking about, you know, happy
hearts.
Have a happy heart oh man, it'salways challenging yeah, but
good, I mean, we wouldn't tradeit for anything.
Ben (44:48):
No, it's a good mess.
Liz (44:49):
We love it.
Ben (44:50):
We loved our blessed mess.
Liz (44:51):
Yeah, that's why we named this our blessed mess right.
Ben (44:53):
It's true, our 1BM.
Liz (44:54):
Our 1BM.
I love that.
Well, thanks for being a partof our one blessed mess today.
Don't forget to subscribe andshare with a friend who needs
encouragement.
Uh, we hope this encouraged youtoday.
I mean, we're just talkingabout some practicals by having
a dual entrepreneurial home andwhat that's like raising kids
and homeschooling.
But, um, you know, follow us oninstagram, follow us on
(45:16):
facebook, uh, like, share, doall the things that you have to
do.
Don't forget to subscribe, ofcourse, and we are so thankful
that you were here today.
Thank you to everybody who'sbeen sending us messages.
It's so encouraging.
I got another one today.
I was like, wow, this isamazing, and so we are just so
grateful and, honestly, untilnext time, embrace your
(45:37):
beautiful mess, because if ourmess can be blessed, what Ben?
Ben (45:41):
So can yours.
Liz (45:43):
So can yours have a blessed day.
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