Hello and welcome!

On this episode, I’m reflecting on my journey coming into motherhood as an entrepreneur. I share the lessons I learned, and the 6 major changes I would make if I could have a do-over. Definitely give it a listen if you are entering parenthood soon (or entering it again), yourself!

I’d love it if you’d connect with me over on Instagram! It’s where I’m most active and I love to share behind the scenes of mompreneur life on that platform.

Main Topics included in this Episode

  • My messy motherhood and mompreneur experience
  • 6 things I would do differently for a smoother journey

Connect with Alysha

Music Licensing Info

Music by Eli Lev - Dancin' on the Lawn

Link

Episode Transcription

Hello and welcome back to the Messy Mompreneur podcast. I'm your host, Alysha Sanford, and I'm so happy to have you here. Today we're going way back three years back, to be exact. My husband and I had experienced infertility for years, and after finally seeking help, we were able to become pregnant, which is a huge blessing, and we're very thankful for. I unexpectedly saw two pink lines the morning of my 32nd birthday. Best birthday gift ever, and I still remember those moments of disbelief, tears, and then of course, I spent my pregnancy dreaming of the future, assembling a nursery, finishing out my time at my office day job, and then wrapping up client sessions before a planned maternity leave. My daughter was transverse breached throughout the pregnancy and I was being pushed into a scheduled C-section. I eventually ended up developing. Preeclampsia, turning it from a scheduled C-section into a, quote, UN quote, Emergent 1. The entire experience was traumatizing to me for many reasons that I'm not going to go into today, and I was then navigating newborn life while navigating crazy postpartum hormone changes and recovering from a major surgery and on heavy medications at one point. And then trying to get back into anything that resembled a routine. And yeah, it was crazy. And I was back to photographing studio sessions part time at about four weeks postpartum. Thought that the physical strain would be the most challenging, but it turned out to be my expectations of how I'd manage my home and office work while caring for a newborn who wouldn't take a bottle, pacifier, or even sleep much without being attached to me. Many of the struggles I experienced then I still somewhat struggle with today as a mom of a now 2 year old who still nurses on demand, mostly for comfort, who often fight sleep and who is just now starting to go to my parents once a week without myself or my husband. Looking back on my experience, I can clearly see what I wish I would have done differently. And I want to share it in case you or an entrepreneur that you know is coming into parenthood. #1 I wish that I had gotten comfortable asking for help. Even though I wasn't ready to share my newborn, I could have at least asked a trusted family member to spend an afternoon at my house so that I could have a few hours to work on my business. That could have then had a domino effect into her becoming a little more social and a little more comfortable with all of our family members to allow them to watch her for. Little segments at a time. That's something that we didn't do and I wish that we. #2, baby wearing. I did wear her a few times, but I wish that I'd embraced my baby carriers even more while she was still so little and tiny, because once they get bigger and heavier and they're moving around, it's going to kind of hurt your neck and your back if they're on your front and you're trying to see around them, to see your computer. Screen to baby wear them while you can, and while it's comfortable. #3 I wish I would have implemented systems I shared about setting up a CRM system in the last episode, but automated emails and workflows would have been an absolute game changer for me as a new Mama. I cannot tell you how many emails I've tried to send while sitting in the rocking chair. In the dark nursing my newborn, then my 6 month old one year 1 1/2 year old I mean. I to this day I'm trying to send emails on the go and it's just not. It is not conducive, it is not efficient. #4 I wish that I had gotten into a good routine of batch creating and scheduling out my content ahead of time. It could have bought me a few months offline during maternity leave and then it could have. Helped me. To just get more organized and find a good groove without feeling the pressure to always be logged in always be scrolling being all over the place in all the places at once, even virtually, while also being a mom. It's just it's tough. #5 I wish I had lowered my expectations on baby sleep. I swear she would fight naps harder on the days that I needed to get her down for a nap before handing off the baby monitor and rushing out to a quick session or to. Sit on my computer to edit. She could feel the deadline. She could feel the pressure and I just it would trigger me. It was so upsetting to me and I would be so frustrated, but I just wish that I had lowered my expectations on sleep. Maybe created more buffers, or just maybe taking on less, I don't know. I don't think that I did a very good job paying attention to the season that I was in. And matching my, you know, my offers to it. I that's something that I'm working on this year too, which I will share more on. But yeah, #6, I wish that I had pushed harder to get her to accept a bottle. This would have helped in so many aspects and it would have allowed my husband to play a bigger role in feedings, nap times and bedtimes. I feel like that's a big one and I know that people have their own opinions on how they want to feed their baby, so this is not me telling you how to feed your baby. This is just saying that a bottle it could have bought me a little bit more. All of that said, I'll forever be grateful to have been home with her full time, especially when she was so little. It is a privilege to be able to do so and to be able to also work from home, mostly from home, doing what I. If you're coming into parenthood and prepping to work from home as well, I encourage you to try and plan ahead and apply some of the previously mentioned tips. I hope that you have a smooth transition into parent-preneurship and I'll be cheering you on.