Hello and welcome back!

In today’s conversation, we are chatting with Miranda Schroeder, the boss mama behind Thoughtfully Designed Co. based in Indianapolis. Over the last few years, I’ve followed her on Instagram and have watched her career path evolve through her various passions while coming into motherhood. Today she’s sharing her journey and the pivots she has made in her professional life along the way.

Main Topics included in this Episode

  • Miranda’s career journey
  • How motherhood changed her outlook
  • What she has done to curb work life burnout
  • What she is looking forward to in life and in business

Connect with Miranda

Connect with Alysha

Music Licensing Info

Music by Eli Lev - Dancin' on the Lawn

Link

Episode Transcription

Speaker 1

Welcome back to the Messy Mompreneur podcast. I'm your host, Alysha Sanford, and I'm so happy to have you here today. I'm having a conversation with Miranda Schroeder. She is the mastermind behind Thoughtfully Designed Co. and she's located in Indianapolis. She is an wedding and event coordinator among many other things. She is going to be sharing a little bit about her, kind of, career and corporate world evolution through her various passions and pivots that she made when she faced moments of burnout, especially coming into motherhood and how that played a role in everything. She will also share a little bit about what is to come for her business and in her personal life. So I'm really excited to have you hear from her. I've been following her now for, I don't know, a few years and it's been kind of fun watching a Mama in action navigating things that align with her heart and may not align anymore and how things changed and how she made those changes. So with that said, let's hear from Miranda she. I guess I'll quickly add, we had recorded this in two different. Like video chats because of technology and busy mom life. So I am very, very grateful to her for taking not only one but two different mornings of her very busy schedule to chat with us. So again, let's hear from Miranda. All right. Hi, Miranda. Thank you so much for joining me this morning to kick us off. Could you share a little bit about yourself and your family?

Speaker 2

For sure. So my name is Miranda Schroeder. Most people find me online as thoughtfully scripted. I'll literally be out and about and people won't. They don't know my. They're just like, are you? Thoughtfully thrifted. Like I have a real name. My name is Miranda. I am married to my husband Andrew and we have. A2 year old. She just had her birthday. Last week, so Fresh 2 year old. I'm an entrepreneur. My husband is a physician. It's crazy. It's really crazy. We work a lot.

Speaker 1

Can you give us a little bit of info and background on your journey into motherhood and how your career was set at that time and entrepreneurship? Because I think those came first before baby, right?

Speaker 2

Yes, yes, so I.

Speaker 1

OK.

Speaker 2

Did my undergrad and while I was studying. I was like I. I knew I wanted to get married, but I was team, no kids. I was like, don't want kids. I want to live my life. I want to have, like, a bustling career. I want to travel. I just had. Zero desire to have kids. I never like just my whole life. Never felt like I had that. Like, motherly instinct, you know, where you know some of my friends were like, I've always known I wanted to be a mom. Like I'm meant to be a mom and I just. I never felt that I've. I've never. Really been like the nurturing. I'm a little more like.

Speaker 1

Oh, I don't know.

Speaker 2

Terms people would use for me like ohh she's like. Very much a go getter and you know a little more aggressive and like competitive, I've. Never been described as like. Oh, she's very nurturing and. Like loving and you know, the typical. What society wants a female to be? So I was very team, no kids. I was actually engaged to my college sweetheart. And thankfully, that wedding was called off and then very shortly after that I started dating my now husband. We actually knew each other as friends for years before we started dating, and when we started dating on our very first date, he told me he wanted. 4 kids. Well, I was like. I was like, wow, that's a hard, hard right for me. But I really, really like you. So as you know, things got more serious and we were talking about marriage. We were like, you know, and I still was telling him at that point. Like I still don't know. Like if I want kids and I was like, I need you to be OK with that if we get. Married like. We may end up. With no kids. So even after we. Got married? It was still a good discussion for. At least a year. Of like, do we want kids? Do we not want kids? I was starting to warm. Up to it, after we got married. And then finally, one day I was just. Like you know what? I want to have a. Baby with you so. That is, that is what happened. And we were like, let's try. We got pregnant instantly and that's that. That was it, we. Were like, alright, we're. Having a baby, we're doing this thing.

Speaker 1

That's a fun story. What were you doing for work at that time?

Speaker 2

It's a little crazy. Let's see. When I met my husband, I was working. For a medical device company in marketing, I had. Been there few years. And that was before COVID. So I was working in office. My husband was living in Michigan, mind you, while I was working full time, I always had all these, like, things on the side that I was doing. Like quote UN quote side hustles. I was like flipping vintage and doing like. Vintage markets like selling, you know. Furniture and home decor and rugs. So I would like work all week and I'd like do my website and. Online sales at night and then? On the weekends, I would go to these markets. But when my husband and I got more serious, he was in Michigan. It was in. Indianapolis we were about 5 hours. So it turned into just utter chaos of trying to do everything. That one and then making like 5 hour commutes back and forth, back and forth every weekend so. It was crazy. I knew I was. I was doing anything I. Possibly could to get out of my corporate. Job I was like, I just need to make. Enough money to live. And so I was never afraid to just, like, try different things. Like I invested in my blog for a while and, you know, had a nice little income stream from that. I was flipping the. Vintage UM. I had a little brick and mortar store there for a. Minute like I was like, whatever. I don't know what the. Pathway is, but I'm going to find it.

Speaker 1

I think that's about when I came across your Instagram account. I don't know how I found it, probably hashtags because I'm into the thrift and flipping and whatnot like flea was it. Flea Market flip is my jam, I. Love that show. And anyway, I think this was about when I came across your thoughtfully thrifted account. So I think I just missed. Well, your online sales, you don't do that anymore really, do you?

Speaker 2

So after I when I. Was doing the online sales. I thought my dream. OK, I'm going to say right now it's OK to have. A dream. And then you realize it. And it's not your dream anymore because I thought my dream was to have a brick and mortar. So right around the time my husband and I. Got married. I had a small little like pop up shop. That was like a. Physical space and I sold vintage. I absolutely hated it, so I would sit in there. All day. And I would do my day job for the medical device company in my little pop up shop. And then, like, take meetings and like, talk to customers in between. And I hated it, I. Hated this concept of. It felt like a like jail. Like I had to be at. The store from these hours? Day on the weekend. I just hated it there. Was just no time. Freedom in it and I. Quickly realized like. Thank goodness I did this little pop up experiment. Where I like, you know, at. Least a 2000 square foot space and was like this is what I'm going to. Do for my career. And once I realized how much I hated it, I was like, it's totally fine. Like, there's nothing wrong with it. I just closed it all down. I was like I'm done with online sales. I don't want to have a store anymore and at that point I kind of transitioned into. Doing digital marketing for other small businesses, I was like, well, you know, I'm racking my brain. I'm like, what experience do I have my background that I could take and turn into a business? And I was like, mom, my day. Job is marketing, so. I did that for a while three or four years, actually, and I was still doing that when I had my daughter, so we worked with, I think, between those two years, 5060 small businesses helping with social media, e-mail. I hated that too. I was like. I just hate this. I felt like the client expectations and the reality on like digital marketing was. Just not a lie. And social media is so time consuming and it's like all-encompassing and I felt like I. Could never get away from work. It was like my phone was like a source of anxiety, and so I was like I. Don't know what I'm going to do. So I like. Started firing clients and phasing that out, and then the wedding planning, which is what I do now completely just came out of nowhere. Out of nowhere. Never my idea, it just happened and it's been like the best job. I've ever had and I've had a. Lot of jobs.

Speaker 1

OK. So you touched on so many things that I definitely want to revisit and I'll try to be quick about all of them because they're all things that I was already planning to ask you about you mentioned. What was it? The brick and mortar being a dream and then quickly realizing you were locked in daily, I completely resonate. I have a studio downtown, and while I love the idea of a shop or, you know, a quaint little boutique studio, being part of the downtown community, it's by appointment because I could. Even imagine just sitting down there and I'm an introvert. So, like the idea of strangers coming in and me not necessarily. Even feeling safe and just being there alone, that terrifies me. So I completely get not wanting to sit there for hours on end.

Speaker 2

I mean, it'd be great if, you know, you had like a manager and employees to run. It for like. Any small business has to start. You know, usually it's boots on the ground and that was not working for me. At all, everyone would be. Like out at the. Beach, you know, hanging out with. Friends. And I'm just like. Duck in this little store, like watching the clock waiting for. The hours to go by. And I'm like I'm choosing this. This is my choice, so I don't want to choose. Something I don't even enjoy.

Speaker 1

So not to put you on the spot, I know I sent a list of questions to expect from me. Just a heads up, but this one. OK, so you had your daughter. I'm wondering if there's anything specific that maybe caught you off guard as far as. Introducing Mom life into being an existing entrepreneur. Is there anything specific that you found? More challenging than expected, I guess.

Speaker 2

Oh my gosh. It's so hard. So when I had my daughter, I was working full time for veterinary MRI company and it was remote. But I did have to travel. And I was doing that full time like 50 hours a week plus I. Have really just. Started getting my wedding planning business off the ground. While I was pregnant, I want to say I did. Three to 10 weddings and then. We were up. 1520 weddings a year when my daughter came, and so I was trying to. Juggle all that. Being a new mom and then juggling my day job. And I just I had multiple breakdowns. I remember one very specifically, like literally just crying on the bathroom floor telling my husband I can't do this. Like, I can't do this. It's too much. And I think I had, like Ryan, was maybe three months. Old at the time. Time and then the final straw on like the final straw was I was four months postpartum. My daughter was. Exclusively breast fed. So anytime I'm leaving her, I'm having to pump every two hours and like, wash everything and it's just a whole thing. Any of my breastfeeding or pumping mommas. No, like it's just. It's a whole other job. And so my boss was like we my day job. Boss was like, we need you in Nashville. Over this long weekend, we want you here from like Thursday through like Monday or Tuesday or something. And I was so anxious about it. I didn't want. To leave my daughter and not leave. That we had a wedding. That Saturday. So like, she's asking me to go to Nashville and like, I can't. Like, I have a signed. Contract with the client from however many months ago up to a year ago. I have to. Be at their wedding and it was. Like all my. Worlds were just colliding and it was. Like a dumpster fire. And I did not want to leave my baby. Overnight, like I wasn't. I was not ready to leave my baby, and I tried to express that to the company. And you know what? They just they didn't care. And I went I compromised. I did the wedding on Saturday. Didn't see my daughter all day pumped. I had to get on a plane with all my breast milk. And all my pumping gear and go to Nashville for this conference for 2-3 days. I'm literally leaving the conference floor to pump every two hours. So and I'm in there for 45 minutes, you know like. I'm like this is I have to. Feed my baby like she's literally living off of. Me and it. It's just awful. We I get back from the trip. My boss sits me down and says. I didn't feel like you were very happy. On this business trip and I just wanted. To be like. Like excuse my language. Are you freaking kidding me? Like, of course I'm not happy. I told you I didn't want to go. I told you I'm not ready to leave my. Child, you didn't give me a choice. You literally did not care. And you didn't understand. And there was no empathy. You know, we're sitting down with the CEO having a breakfast meeting and they're like, OK, well, we all need to walk to the conference now. And I'm like. OK well I have to go back up to. My hotel room and pump now so. See you in an hour and a half. Like it was. Just a train wreck. And after that I looked at my husband and I was like, I'm done. I'm not going to be treated like this. Like, this is not going to work for me, so. So that was probably. Oh, I don't know. September or October or something like that. I ended up putting in my resignation in November, December and. I was done. And I was going full time on. On my business.

Speaker 1

And no regrets.

Speaker 2

No regrets. 0 regrets. My business has grown and flourished, and I don't.

Speaker 1

Regret it at all. Well, I am so sorry you went through all of that because breastfeeding Mom here, although she never took a bottle. So I physically can't be away from her more. Than a couple hours and. Yeah, I can. I can't even imagine. And anyway, I'm proud of you for standing your ground, because holy cow.

Speaker 2

And this is like, this is totally like a side note, but there was another woman on my team. So this was a. UK based company. So there was another woman on my team that reported to the same boss as me. And because she was in the UK, she was actually granted 12 months of maternity leave and completely got to check out for 12 entire months. And mind you, this is my teammate who I work with on the daily. Well, I only got 2 1/2 months unpaid to be with my daughter, so there was a lot of like bitterness and like. Resentment and frustration. It just. It didn't seem fair. And then the reasoning was ohh well you. Know the UK like pays for her to take this leave. Well, the company had to hire basically a whole another individual to backfill her role for those 12 months. So I'm like the company is still. Paying to get the job done. So that was. Just like the cherry on the top for me.

Speaker 1

Yeah, that's really imbalanced. My goodness. OK, so I would consider that a big pivot because you decided it wasn't aligning with your heart and that was I was going to ask you to share more about it, but you. Just did so coming. Into full time entrepreneurship with the kiddo. I'm. I guess I'm wondering. You obviously had a completely new daily and weekly routine, or maybe a period where you didn't have a routine and had to find one. Is there anything? Specific that you'd want to share about, I don't know, finding ways to make sure that you're completing your To Do List while also trying to navigate finding that rhythm. Anything you implemented?

Speaker 2

I don't think there, I think, finding a rhythm in motherhood is basically impossible. I just. I feel like I feel like no matter. What your job is like, it's just being the. Mom is the hardest. Job in the world. And I feel like it's constantly changing and it's unpredictable and you don't have any experience. Well, for me, this is my first. So like, I don't know what I'm doing. I mean, the biggest thing for us was we had, I had so much help and I'm very transparent about sharing that because I could not do my job without having live in help. I have live in help. We have an au pair. She's been with us since my daughter was two months old. She lives at her house. She's an absolute saint, like I would not be afloat without her. She's leaving us in a month and a half her program finishes.

Speaker 1

Oh no.

Speaker 2

So we're really sad, but really excited for her to kind. Of move on to the next you. Know phase in her life. But I don't know if I didn't have that living health. There is no way like my business would be where it is today like and now we even have double child care. So my daughter is in school three days a week. And then we also still have up to 40 hours a week of in home health, and I just, there's no. Way I couldn't do it without the help.

Speaker 1

Are you looking to find a new au pair or are you kind of moving into just school for childcare for the time being?

Speaker 2

That is a great question. All our friends keep asking because we've been so spoiled with our au pair. I'm like, how can anyone ever? Live up to her again. We wanted to do our plan, you know. Funny, funny thing, how plans don't always go as you planned. We were hoping to have another little one this year. And it just hasn't happened for us yet. So we're kind of holding out on adding a second to the mix to for our next au pair. And then in the meantime, we're just going to go the school route until that kind of happens so. I don't know what's going to happen when I. Go to school route because. We already have conflicts every week. It's like I'm. Supposed to pick up Brian and then a. Meeting comes up and it's. Like my clients all want to meet in. The evenings because they have day jobs. The guilt that's been the hardest part. It's like, you know, sometimes I go 2 days and I don't see my. Kid at all. She leaves before in the morning before I even get up. And then I'm gone until 8:00 PM and I don't see her so. I'm trying to go to a school schedule and somehow me work according to the school schedule. But that's going to be an interesting experiment.

Speaker 1

Yeah, I can only imagine. Your wedding, your wedding planning business. I want to talk a little bit about that before we move on to the next, main struggle I want to talk about as well.

Speaker 2

So many struggles!

Speaker 1

I know, Well, so you handle them so gracefully and you share so openly on social media. And I want to thank you again. I know I sent this to you previously, but you've always been so encouraging because. I don't find pleasure in other moms struggling, but I feel less alone anytime I see it because it's a reminder that it's, you know, real life is happening behind the scenes of an Instagram account that might seem curated or whatever. So thank you again for your transparency because it's. I don't know it's.

Speaker 2

It's funny.

Speaker 1

It's been a pick me up.

Speaker 2

It's funny, it's funny you say that because I've been called a complainer so many times on Instagram. And I'm like, I'm sorry. Like, do you never complain about anything that happens in your life on the daily? Would you rather me just act like everything is perfect in my life? I feel like that is so discouraging from someone watching online, right? Like the accounts that just. Their hair is always perfect and their clothes are always perfect and they go on these amazing trips with their family. And you wonder, do they ever work? Like how do they have all this money? And I'm just like, I see. That, and I just, I can't relate to it all and it just feels very like unattainable. And then you get down on yourself. You're like, why doesn't my life look like that, you know? Why am, I not rich on a beach, spending two weeks a month, you know, with my family uninterrupted?

Speaker 1

Yeah, just ignore them. They might not even be parents. I don't know if they were parents, I would imagine they'd understand a little bit more. Yeah, well, OK, so your wedding planning team. Do you have? How many employees do you have or do you have a business partner as well?

Speaker 2

So we our team has just been growing and growing like the past probably six months. We've added two more like almost full time roles. So there's eight of us total. We kind of have like a core team of. Four of us, so. There's myself, I have a planner, a coordinator and. I also have. So we are spread trying to spread the workload and I'm getting to the point now where I have to get really serious about delegating and getting things off my plate. And it's for the benefit of the client because you don't want me trying to do it all because I can't. So yes, we've grown a lot and having the team there, it's just a whole different experience. It's more of the dream that I hoped for of getting to choose who I work with. Every day and having fun and like enjoying the journey and not just feeling alone because entrepreneurship can feel very isolating and lonely when it's just you and you're everyone and you're doing everything by yourself and there's no one to like. Share in the. Misery with because sometimes it is miserable.

Speaker 1

Yeah, that's awesome that you're growing your team and being able to spread out the work and hopefully that includes finding a real groove, you know soon. I know you have so many evenings and. Weekends that you have to dedicate to it, which means. Sacrificing family time. Missing events and I know that a little bit because I used to do wedding photography and then I was for a while I was second shooting for other photographers so it's all consuming but we weren't having to set up and tear down and then you know pick up and drop off and it's like one wedding would probably turn into. Multiple days of work just around the wedding, plus all the additional times I. I'm glad you're having some more help.

Speaker 2

Yeah, we 2 the about two weeks. Ago we had a wedding. We were. Literally it was a private property. We were literally on site four days in a row. It was Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and some days there were seven of us out there like that's what it took. To get the. Job done. Yes, it's crazy and it is such a sacrifice. I remember one wedding last fall. All of our adult friends like got babysitters and they went down and had, like, a full adults day and were wine tasting. And you know, they're all together. And my husband went and I was working. And I just remember I cried in. A closet at the wedding. Because I was getting all these like Snapchats. And you know, you do you feel like you, you miss out on a lot and it sucks. But at the same time, I would not. Sacrifice all of that. If I didn't love my. Job because when I'm. There at the wedding, I'm like. 90% of the time I'm like, completely in the moment and rushing around and. Just so happy to be there and. I love the work so much. That the days go so fast, too fast. Honestly, it's like a month of season goes by and I'm just like. Where did the? Last month, go like it just disappeared.

Speaker 1

I can tell that you're passionate about it and it's awesome that you found.

Speaker 2

Yes, but we are. I'm not going to lie. We're ready for slow season. I am ready to have. I'm going to have like 3 to 5 weekends with my family. Over the summer. And that's like everything to me. Like so looking forward to that.

Speaker 1

OK, so I'd love to talk a little bit about social media burnout. It can feel like a full time job keeping up with a presence online, especially when you have like multiple accounts across multiple platforms. How does social media play a role in your life and how has it changed for you through the last few years?

Speaker 2

It has changed. Immensely. So if we go like way back like probably like 5-6 seven years ago, maybe Instagram was like all the rage. It was like today's TikTok, like it. Was like near. And exciting. And everybody was like. I want to, you know, be this cool like brand on Instagram influencers. I feel like they were a. Thing but they. Weren't as like. Prominent and like well known, like if you said influence or some people might be like. What's that? Mm-hmm. And I was going to use. It as a platform to like. Sell things like physical products. That was like my. Aim in the beginning. And then I quickly learned like Ohh, I love sharing, like decorating my home. Like oh hey I you know, I rearranged the living room or like, I painted the dining room or I surfed this and. I sell it this way and. People were really receptive to that and it was super fun and I got like, hooked on it. It was like addicting. It was like every day it was like about a style. Something I got to photograph. It I got a. Post like I got a nice camera and I. Like learned how to edit and. It was the whole thing. And then right as I was like getting that going, this is totally unrelated, but like my relationship. Ended and I had to. Sell my house and I. Was like, oh, God, like I don't. Know what I do with this platform from here because the platform really became sharing my. House and I was like, I got to. So I started like decorating my apartment and sharing that. And then I moved again. So then I started. Turning that house. And then when I have. My daughter, like everything changed like when I put all my priorities out on the table like. My wedding business was growing. I still had this like. Blog and Instagram where I was sharing home. And then obviously I have. My husband and like now. A daughter and it was. Like when you laid everything out of. The table like there was only time. In the day. For so many things and. Like when you prioritize them like my blog. And decorating my home and everything that went. Along with that Instagram account. Was like literally the last thing on the list.

Speaker 1

Yeah, I social media. Gosh, that would be a struggle in itself. And then just be. I just feel like keeping up. With the presence online. Especially this day and age, it just seems like it. Takes so much effort to post any piece of content, let alone you know from like if you post it from Instagram and you try to share it automatically over to Twitter and Facebook, there's always an issue. You have to go into Facebook. And sometimes it didn't actually share it. Like it says it did. And so you just, it feels like it's been in circles trying to make sure it all works seamlessly and it's. I don't know. I'm so burnt out. On it, so I'm like. Yeah, and it's.

Speaker 2

Like it is a full time job and so. I came to a crossroads. Like I was monetizing my platform for a little while and that was great. And like at that point it does, you know, move up the chain in priority. But when I. Kind of went away from monetizing my platform. I had to be. Like, look, if I'm spending my time. Doing something like a lot of time. Like I need to be making. Money for it, like from. Or like it's just not worth my time. You know? It's like either. It makes money. Or I don't do it. Like you know. And I even prioritize things. Like that in my like wedding business, it's like, OK, well, here's the thing I could do. Is it going to make me more money? It's like, OK, then don't even put it on the list. Like there's no, there's no room on that list and I mean, I was. I was looking back on my like blog, Instagram. Like I posted. Maybe this is like high 30 times, like the entire year last year like it just it was not a priority.

Speaker 1

Did you ever try any of like the scheduling apps or the features where you could just post ahead and try to like batch content?

Speaker 2

Yes, Yep. Tried that many times. That is so time consuming like to batch a month of content. I would have to sit down for a week and like edit and plan and write and schedule and like I don't, I don't have that time at. All like Nope and I. Had gotten to the point of my. Platform where I was. Like really. Really. Picky and this is one of the. Thing this is the number one thing that. Stops me from posting right? Now is like this perfection. And it's like it's not, it's. Not good enough, so anytime I. I'm like oh, it's cool. Or like a peanut. This or whatever I want. To share it but. I'm like, it's not good enough. It's not professional photography. It's not like professionally edited like the video. Like doesn't have any. Transitions and like. The clips don't go to the music. And like I just get paralyzed. Like, that's where I've been the last two. Years like nothing feels good enough to. Because I feel. Like the level of content that is online now. Is like so high. I just. Feel like I can't reach it.

Speaker 1

Yeah. And I the amount of content that is shared is it's just so much all the time. And I see all these reels and you mentioned trying to sync things to music that it seems like it would be easy or no brainer. You know, I tried it actually just yesterday and I had to use somebody's template. Cause I'm like I'm not going to spend an hour trying to set 15 image. Is to the beat that's happening in the music and someone has a template. Well, use that instead. But even the template and producing all that, I mean the time it takes to collect the images that fit in the real and make sure the songs right, make sure it's a trending audio. It's just like there's so much to it that I'm like, I should probably just start outsourcing this because it's just not. It's not a smart use of my time.

Speaker 2

And that's how I felt. And so like, that's how I felt in my wedding business. I was like, we need. An online presence. Like I don't have time to. Do it like I'm going to hire someone to. Do it but. Then when I really sit down and. Like break it. All down and I look at our lead sources, most of them aren't coming from Instagram, and I even went back and. Looked at the ones that did. From Instagram and most of them didn't. Even book with us. So I am. Like if I'm investing X amount of dollars per month to hire somebody to produce this content, I need to. See some kind of return on invest. And if I look at my books, that is not where. Our clients come from. They come from like trusted referrals. And so that tells me like, no, like I should be putting my money into building relationships with other people, like in real life and like social media is great, and it can be a portfolio piece. But for me to pay someone else. I just don't see that as. Like a smart return on investment.

Speaker 1

That's a really good point. I think a lot of mine come from more like Google or personal referrals, which I am very grateful for and I don't know that many come directly from Instagram unless that's just initially how they found me. I think. I love the aspect where they can. Get to know the person behind the brand you know by you sharing your face or I don't know, behind the scenes stuff. So I like that connection aspect, but you're right, there's a total line where it's like, am I putting way more effort into this than is necessary? And is this really the smartest way to spend my time? So.

Speaker 2

Right cause it's kind of, it's like a, it's like a keeping up with the Joneses.

Speaker 1

Right.

Speaker 2

Well everybody else has this like amazing platform. So like I have. To too, but the this weird. Thing was happening where a client would book with us. And then like 3 weeks later, I would see them follow us on Instagram. They weren't even following us when. They booked with. Us they didn't care. Like, it's so crazy.

Speaker 1

Well, I'm glad you said that too, because that just happened the other day. I had someone follow me and I'm like, oh, they weren't already. OK, so Instagram is not the only place to. Be that's for sure. So task wise in general like business life, I know you've shared a little bit about how you, I mean you know you have full time or in home care for your baby girl. Is there anything else that you have no regrets about that you've outsourced or anything that you would like to? In general, I guess.

Speaker 2

Oh my gosh. So my husband and I just bought a new house and it kind of. Like bumped up how? We could, like, spend our money. Like more money goes to our house now than it used. To, but I mean. In our previous House, like we had a housekeeper, we like ordered all our groceries to our doorstep. We did HelloFresh. Like we have in home we had in home childcare like we had a lawn service. We didn't mow our lawn. Like there were so many things we outsourced. And it was just like it was. OK, you either this. Few hours of week that you have to spend with your kid. You're either going to spend it with her or you're going to spend it mowing the lawn.

Speaker 1

Right.

Speaker 2

Like which do you want? And so now we're kind of in a phase of like making an adjustment and like kind of moving around like how we spend our time and money. And it's a. Huge conversation in our marriage right now. Like you know how much? Is your time. Worth how much is and I am quantifying this from a dollar amount because this is like a real conversation. My husband and I are. Having he's like I. Can go to work for four hours and. Make what you make in 80. Hours of work. And it's like, what's better for our family? You know, it's like you being gone an additional 4 hours a week or me being gone. For 80 hours over 2. Weeks to make that same amount of money like. You know, it's a conversation we're. Having right now, we're trying to like rename, navigate and figure it out all out. And the reason I brought that up is like that, getting that to say, I got that, you know, 80 hours a week back. It's like now I have time to go mow the lawn while Ryan taking a nap or, you know, put her in school part time and like, I can get those kind of. Things we were outsourcing. Fine. Well, she's at. School, part time, so. Yeah. It's like we have. A huge shift coming like our childcare it's ending. I have to. Like create a new schedule. I'm like trying. I hired someone new at work, so I'm like delegating more like administrative tasks and like, you know, one of my assistants is. Out running errands right now. Like she went to the post office. Do some work stuff so it's like OK. How can we get the most time? And the most money and like. You know what works? For our family.

Speaker 1

Find that good. Well, I'm excited to follow along and see what you guys end up implementing because. It sounds like you're definitely in the middle of, like you said of pivot and what you outsource and spend your time on well, so talking about daily life, the busy days nights that you just don't have time to cook and you say you didn't order out. Do you have any, like, go to dinners or meal plan? I don't know, recipes or anything you stash. Way for those nights when you want to cook from home or have, like, homemade meals.

Speaker 2

Yeah, we. So we cook from home pretty much every day. We go out maybe once a week and that's Andrew and I like date. Night, we're HelloFresh fans. I'm not going to lie, like I'm not like an affiliate or anything like HelloFresh has just saved us like and it's the mental load piece of it. Like trying to meal plan. Or the grocery store and make sure you have. All the ingredients. Like, we don't even have to think. There's no decision to. Make it's literally like. You know, we do three meals a week with HelloFresh and then we kind of. Like fill in with like we. Love Trader Joe's like a good you know good. Go to like 20 minute frozen Trader Joe's meal to like fill in the gaps like that's pretty much what we do. Now that it's summer, like maybe we'll grill out once a week. But now that we got HelloFresh, it has been a lifesaver. When we were like cutting back the budget we were both like we will not sacrifice HelloFresh like. The like we will make room somewhere else to keep our HelloFresh.

Speaker 1

I love it. Big supporters of HelloFresh.

Speaker 2

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1

So thinking self-care, how do you make time for it as a busy mom and business owner? Like how do you what do you enjoy doing to recharge?

Speaker 2

Yeah, well, I'm trying to do better about that now. Since we're in a little bit of a slower. Season I've pretty. Much just come to terms with the fact that between like May and June and like September and October. Like there's just not going to be any rest, but I'm really trying. I kind of shifted my like day so that people aren't allowed to schedule meetings with me until like 11:00 AM. And then I kind of take that time for myself. In the morning and it. Makes a huge difference when sometimes I'm. Bad about like oh. I scheduled this time for myself, but I'm like. Not going to take it. And then I'm resentful all day like. And it's my own fault cause and. Like you literally gave yourself the time to, like, work out and take a. Shower and get ready or you. Know read a book or whatever you wanted to do. And like you chose to answer your emails. But like this morning I got on the peloton. Took a shower. Got ready and like. I find that when I do that and take that time like I'm just a better human and like a Better Business. Owner all day long. Better Mom, better wife.

Speaker 1

Yeah, it does definitely set the tone, especially when you start your day out prioritizing it. That's good.

Speaker 2

They always say like, you know, like pay yourself first, like, pay yourself first was. Like OK and then. It's cool because if you get. To the end of. The day you're like, wow, like I already took care of myself today, you know.

Speaker 1

You don't save it for the very end and then miss out. So say you did have a free hour at the end of your day and you spent it watching TV. What are your guilty pleasures that you're currently into?

Speaker 2

Oh my God! So I'm currently watching married at first sight, my husband thinks it's literally the most painful thing. Like he'll see me turn it on the TV and he will just like bolt out of the room. But he did tell me he was like, tell me when it gets to the last episode and we have, like, bets on who's going to be, like, together at the final episode. And then we also have like another list of like who's going to be together when we stalk them on Instagram like after the reunion show?

Speaker 1

I'm a big fan of that show, but yeah that. My husband's the same way. Like he's sort of into it. Just to like know who's maybe together still but. He just, there's so many episodes in between that are just so drawn out, especially with all the what is it? Is it pre shadowing? Foreshadowing? All the just coming up on when they could just get to it and show it?

Speaker 2

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1

It's like come on. So Fast forward a lot.

Speaker 2

I may or may not have answered emails last night while I was watching it, you know.

Speaker 1

Yeah, that's a good show. If you could go back and tell yourself something as a tired, fresh, first-time parent, what would it be? I know that's a big question because I'm sure there's a lot, but. Like one main thing.

Speaker 2

Ohh my goodness. It gets better. You will feel like yourself again. Also like. That like that time like with your baby is like the most important and like everything else can wait and will wait. Because I feel like there's like this weight of when you have a baby. Like, Oh my God. Like everything's going to fall apart like at work, like my social life like. Everything and like. No, like it's OK, like everything. Will be there like. When you when you. Come back for it.

Speaker 1

I feel that I feel that deeply. Do you have anything that you are really looking forward to in the next couple of years like any big goals or projects in the works for your family, home, work and business?

Speaker 2

Ooh, that's a big question. We're working on like a big European vacation. We started like the planning process for that. It's just going to be my husband and I super excited about that. We love to travel. And business-wise? I'm like, I was just talking to my husband, I was like I'm trying to figure out the secret stuff. Like how do. I scale back the hours I'm putting in. We'll also scale like up the business. So I feel like I finally have like the right team to be able to do that. So I'm my goal, like by the end of the year. To be working like a three day a week kind of thing. And then Ryan will only be. In school part time. We won't have in home childcare and so that's my goal as like. A business owner is to. Like finally be able to like run my business more as like the CEO and the BOSS and not like the constant boots on the ground to worker. Like, that's a huge goal for me over the next. Year or two.

Speaker 1

Those are really big and exciting things. I'm excited to follow along. And Speaking of that, I know this will put you a little bit on the spot. You have a podcast called though. Right. Thoughts. By Miranda Sir.

Speaker 2

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1

Is that something that you're continuing to pursue or is it because I know I again, I'm putting you on the spot. But I'm just wondering if that's where you'll be sharing a little bit more or if you still plan to share your journey a bit more on Instagram.

Speaker 2

I would love to share on the podcast like I just recently like started listening to podcast and that's where I was kind of like ohh. Like, I feel like this is a different and maybe better way to talk about things that I. Want to talk about? Like the small. Amount of characters that you get with a. Picture on social media like it's. Just a different format and setting and I. Love it and I want to continue doing it. I have to figure. Out like how that fits in with everything else and that's. A big a big part. Of like, OK, how can I? Like get my time back in my wedding business. But I can do some of these things that I want to do you know? And that includes like Instagram and the blog as well. It's definitely like a pause button right now, but I do not want to say or I don't believe that it's like it's an end for like any of those platforms, I think it's just. Like a pause button which is totally OK.

Speaker 1

OK, so stay tuned.

Speaker 2

For sure, yeah.

Speaker 1

Well, as we wrap up, if you'd like to allow listeners to follow or connect with you, can you tell us where to find you and where you're most active?

Speaker 2

Yes, the best place to find me is at Thoughtfully Thrifted on Instagram. Like you mentioned, my podcast is on Spotify and Apple and it's "Boss" by Miranda Schroder. You can also find my blog at mirandaschroeder.com that kind of branches you out to any of our platforms from there.

Speaker 1

Nice! We'll make sure to link it all in the show notes. Well, thank you so much for taking so much of your time. I mean, twice now because we, you know, did this in two spurts.

Speaker 2

Because the first one was my fault, yeah.

Speaker 1

It's just technology and now. It's technology and you're so busy, which is, you know, obviously you being a Boss Mama, but I think it's been really nice chatting with you, especially because I've been following along. So this is kind of like a little fan girl moment for me personally, but anyway, thank you again for sharing your heart and your journey as a mom. And business owner and all the things.

Speaker 2

Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.

Speaker 1

I hope you have a good rest of your day.

Speaker 2

You too. Bye.