Q1 2019 Business Update & Income Report

In case you are just joining this journey, here's a quick recap. I left my corporate job last November. My husband and I started a real estate investment company in 2017, and I launched a social media management company full time as of January 2019. I went full on mompreneur with a 4 year old (now 5) and a 2 year old in tow. I committed to giving quarterly updates on the ups and downs of mompreneur life.

And here's my update on my first three months in business-

A Bumpy Start or a Learning Curve?

Cliffs of Moher, Ireland

Bumpy isn't exactly correct. It's been beautiful.  I can't say I have loved every minute, but that's pretty close! Best. Decision. Ever. to leave my corporate job of 15+ years behind. 

However, I made a business plan, and it promptly went right out of the window.

I made plans for all the projects around the house and in my life I wanted to catch-up on.

Also, right out the window.

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Meanwhile, prospective clients were pinging me wanting more. I found myself rambling and stumbling over my words at business networking events. I showed up to business owner roundtable discussions thinking what am I doing here. I'm not a real business owner. My husband continually challenged me to get really clear on what my end game was.

I quickly realized that I needed to step back and do a little self-assessment. With my husband's input (and after quite a bit of floundering), I looked at how I was spending my time. I was a little bit aimless and heaps of overly ambitious as far as my time goes.

It's Hard to Think with Constant Noise

For the first time in a long time, I got crystal clear on my goals. Not business goals, but life goals. You know the question (for me it used to be a dreaded question) - what would you do if you knew you couldn't fail and money was no object?

I'm not quite ready to share with the world what I believe to be my life purpose, but I can tell you that it is not social media management. However, the five clients I have had the fortune of serving are some of my favorite business owners I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. ​

Here's what I did discover:
- As a mom, I am INUNDATED with other's needs, to do lists, requests, etc. It's awfully "noisy" in a mother's world, if we don't have a system to deal with it all. This makes it extremely hard to get clear on matters until time you get a functional system in place.

- I don't think well with physical and mental clutter around me.

- I am not efficient unless I plan my day in advance.

- I am not efficient unless I take care of myself by working out, eating right, and having time alone to think.

First Things First

For once in my life,  I have realized that rushing in with full speed and trying desperately to optimize my time / work harder isn't the answer. Creating more hours and time in the day isn't going to get the job done this time.

I need to work smarter.

​That means eliminating "noise".

My coach, Brooke Castillo, puts it perfectly - we are riding our proverbial bicycles at top speed. We need to get more done in our day so we continuously search for a way to "peddle faster" (a better planner, wake up earlier, stay up all night, hire help). But the long term answer lies in taking time to come to a complete stop, getting off the bicycle altogether, getting in a car, programming your GPS, and then really taking off in the right direction. 

Some times in order to get where we want to go faster, we need to come to a complete stop first.

I programmed my GPS. I know that our real estate business, our family needs, and my own mental health need priority attention right now. I will continue to serve my few amazing clients with marketing assistance, but I do not intend to take on any more at this time.

On that note, here is a snapshot of my Q1 income as promised (I expended zero effort on business development or sales. These clients almost literally fell into my lap.)-

January........$1500
February......$1700
March..........$1700

Coming up next...books I  have read these last 3 months that have provided invaluable insight making this huge transition.

Chat more soon!