Online Business Owner Roundtable: Entrepreneurship, Schedules, & Finding Your People [Ep. 107]

 
 

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Here’s what to expect from this episode:

As an online business owner, do you ever feel like you're living two lives: your business life and your personal life? Whether you're a course creator, podcaster, TPT seller, or service provider, I bet there are people in your personal life who don't quite understand what you actually do. 

Which is why I'm so excited for you to hear today's episode. Now, it's a little different than our typical episodes, but about a year and a half ago, some networking friends and I started a book club. Not only has it gotten me into the habit of prioritizing reading again, but it's turned into so much more than just a monthly book club. It has created incredible friendships between all of us women who are also online business owners. 

Back in May, we met up in person for a weekend retreat, and one of the things we did was record a podcast episode roundtable style. (And a quick disclaimer about the audio quality: it's not perfect. It's not terrible, but we had one mic for all of us and recorded it on one track. Some voices might be quieter than others, but hopefully, it's not too distracting.) 

You'll hear us talk about what each of us does in the online space, how people in our lives responded to us starting our businesses, what our work schedules are, how we balance it with our children, and how having a network of like-minded women has been a real game changer. I hope you feel a connection with a lot of what we discuss and feel inspired to find your own group of people who just get it. 

And guess what?! Now YOU get to be a part of our book club too!

We'll be expanding this club to other female entrepreneurs who are ready to ditch the online isolation and find community. Join the waitlist here.

TOPICS COVERED:

  • What we all do in the online space (and how we all met)

  • How people in our lives responded to us starting our businesses

  • Comparing work schedules and how we balance them with our families

  • How having a network of like-minded women has been a real game changer

  • What we do outside of work (and yes, watching TV counts as a hobby!)

Resources mentioned:

favorite podcasting resources:

Connect with Sara:

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  • Sara Whittaker 0:00

    Today's episode is a little different than our typical episodes. And I'm so excited for you to hear it. About a year and a half ago, some networking friends and I started a book club, we would read one book per month and then get on a zoom to talk about it at the end of the month. Well, it has turned into so much more than that. Not only has it gotten me into the habit of prioritizing reading again, but it's created this incredible friendship between all of us women, who are also all online business owners. If you're listening to this podcast, then you are probably an online business owner of some sort yourself, whether that's a course creator, podcaster, TPT, seller, or service provider. And so you probably feel like sometimes you live two lives, your business life and then your personal life. Chances are people in your personal life don't really have an understanding of what it is that you actually do. And this is why having this group of women has been so helpful to me. Back in May, we met up in real life for a weekend retreat. And one of the things we did was record a podcast episode round table style. Now, obviously, podcasting is my thing. And so this really kind of pains me to say, but the audio is not perfect. It's not terrible. But we had one mic for all of us, we were sitting in a circle, and we recorded it on one track. So some voices might be a little quieter than others. But hopefully it's not too distracting. I listened back to it, and I could hear everything. But I did just want to let you know, you'll hear us talk about what each of us does in the online space. How people in our lives responded to us starting our businesses, what our work schedules are, like how we balance it with our children, and how having a network of like minded women has been a real game changer. I hope you feel a connection with a lot of what we discussed and enjoy the conversation. Your Podcast is a powerful tool that serves your audience and your business. But how do you manage it all bring in new listeners and convert those listeners into customers. That's what this show is all about. Welcome to podcasting for educators. I'm Sara Whitaker, classroom teacher turn podcast manager, and I'm here to help you get the most out of your show, all while making an impact on other educators. All right, we are going to kick this off with everybody going around and introducing themselves and sharing where they're from. So I'll start I'm Sara. I'm a podcast manager from Virginia,

    Lucretia 2:41

    and Lucretia and I'm a director of marketing for fashion based businesses from Ontario, Canada.

    Safa 2:48

    I'm Safa. I'm a director of operations from Tampa, Florida.

    Nicole 2:52

    I'm Nicole. I'm an Instagram strategist from Virginia.

    Elena 2:55

    I'm Elena. I'm a social media manager from Indiana.

    Melanie Battistelli 2:58

    I'm Melanie, I'm an Online Business Manager and lunch strategist from Virginia.

    Chelsea 3:03

    I'm Chelsea. I'm a Pinterest strategist, and I'm from Michigan.

    Kaci 3:06

    I'm Kaci, I'm a clickup expert from Idaho.

    Kristen 3:09

    I'm Kristen, I'm a marketing strategist from Colorado.

    Ashley 3:13

    And I'm Ashley, I'm a director of marketing from Washington.

    Sara Whittaker 3:16

    Alright, so we are gonna go through some different questions. We've got a few different categories for you all. And we're going to start with marketing. So question number one is, what's been the most effective marketing tool or strategy for your business growth? Nicole.

    Nicole 3:33

    So I think that when I first got started in the online industry, I had all of this noise telling you to kind of be everywhere all at once, like, be on Pinterest, be on Instagram be on YouTube. But the thing that helped me the most is figuring out what is going to work for you. Where do you enjoy being? Where do you enjoy showing up? Where are your people hanging out? So I think if I were to give advice to anybody, like figure out what works for you, but for me, I found Instagram to be the most fun, entertaining and community building for me and my business.

    Kristen 4:06

    Okay, let's go on to another question. So this is a home business life question. And this is a fun one. Could you ever picture your spouse being an entrepreneur? Definitely. Yeah. That was Lucretia.

    Lucretia 4:22

    Yeah, definitely, I could totally see I keep joking that I would like him to become my Instagram husband. And I know he has wanted to kind of break out on his own and do his own thing, kind of based on what he's doing now, but like, with his own company, so that's kind of one of the goals is to make him do his own business and be with Instagram. Katie,

    Kaci 4:45

    definitely not. I love my husband's death, but I first of all, don't even want him to have his own business because I want him to go work somewhere so that we're not in the same room all the time. But also Oh, it's interesting. We hear a lot of stuff about like retiring your husband or having them join in source, some sort of business type thing. And my husband loves his job, like he truly loves it. And so I could never see him leaving his industry whatsoever.

    Kristen 5:16

    This is Kristin, my husband tells me all the time that he has no idea how I do all this. He says he doesn't have the brain to be an entrepreneur, like he doesn't think that he'd be able to. He thinks he wouldn't be very productive or like it'd be too easy to procrastinate and stuff. So I think the what he does in his corporate job is like really good for him. Safa. It's a little bit different for me, because my husband is an entrepreneur, and he got started before I did. And I think for my husband, it makes him feel like he has more control about what he can do for our family. He's like, Oh, if this is working out, I have more options to do more for my family. So that's what it speaks to his personality a lot more and what who he wants to be as a husband and father.

    Sara Whittaker 6:04

    Okay, what show Have you recently been loving? I'll go first. This is Sarah still. Apple TV. It's called the last thing he told me with Jennifer Gardner. And it's amazing. I'm in the middle of it right now. Episodes get released every Friday. Apparently, it's also book, which I did not know until I posted about this show on Instagram. It's kind of it's a thriller, I guess is what I would describe it as so good. Highly recommend. Casey, what about you?

    Kaci 6:35

    Do we need to read this for a book club? Yes.

    Sara Whittaker 6:41

    I read it. Oh, you did you already

    Kristen 6:42

    read? Yeah. I'll read it again. But just based on our book club books, it's definitely one we're going to be like, Oh, it's so slow. And we're gonna be disappointed at the end.

    Unknown Speaker 6:53

    Like every really Yeah. Because like, Oh, of course. Yeah.

    Sara Whittaker 6:57

    Like at least adaptable, or it

    Kristen 6:59

    was predictable. And it was again, it didn't wrap it up like we'd like it to be and it just rushed through the end. Does the show. The show might be.

    Sara Whittaker 7:07

    That's the thing that I'm like on the edge of my seat. Like I'm genuinely disappointed when the episode ends. Mellie.

    Melanie Battistelli 7:16

    So Sarah had me watch this lesson. Currently room sharing, and she'd seen it before. So she was asleep. At the end, when it went off. I grabbed the remote. I was like, do I need to watch another one? But then it was 1245. Then I called my husband. We were FaceTiming. And I walked him down to the dock. And we at 1245. No, no like today. I thought that this show has on you is really good. Like maybe not that it's really good. And so if you bought apple TV today he will be watching the first episode tonight. That's homework, and then we're going to proceed with it tomorrow. So I'm really excited.

    Nicole 8:04

    Jennifer Garner gave like a free discount code for Apple TV for like a month or two. So you can start watching it just so you know, I'm going to tell ya.

    Sara Whittaker 8:13

    If you haven't if you have an iPhone, go to your settings. And most of you probably have a three month free trial of Apple TV and you just don't know what to leave.

    Lucretia 8:26

    So after I finished Gilmore Girls, I started watching Queen Charlotte. And because of our book club, I didn't realize like the whole Bridget in series is like a book. And it's like not new. It's been in the libraries forever. So it's like a whole thing. And they released Quinton, that was really good. I don't know when they released new episodes, but we like the first six were released. And then the next one. So I think it's like weekly. I just don't know what day of the week because I know.

    Sara Whittaker 8:53

    There were only like six episodes

    Lucretia 8:55

    with previews of other ones. That's just from when we was opposing. Oh, okay, I was like really getting excited.

    Kaci 9:02

    Or you're in Canada and they're released differently. Or?

    Sara Whittaker 9:07

    Wait, okay, follow up question, because I feel like we had like we both watched the show before reading the book. Do you all like to read a book first? If there's a movie or a TV show based on a book, do you like to read the book first, and then watch or vice versa? Kristen.

    Kristen 9:24

    I definitely like to read the book first names for sure. I like to imagine it myself. And then I like to watch and see what they imagined the creators of the show. Imagine, Casey,

    Kaci 9:35

    I never know that it's a book. I always see it and then I hear about there being a book and then I can't go back and read it because there's too much comparison happening. And a book is so much slower that I can't focus on like what's happening there. And the differences and stuff so I ended up oftentimes just watching whatever is apparently famous.

    Sara Whittaker 9:59

    Yeah I feel like I'm when I read the book. First, I'm always been disappointed by what the characters actually look like. Because it's never what I pictured in my mind. I

    Ashley 10:09

    feel like most people say that they get disappointed with the movie or the show if they read the book first. I don't know that I've ever heard it the other way.

    Sara Whittaker 10:16

    Yeah, it depends. Oh, what's one that wasn't like

    Lucretia 10:20

    that? I like Twilight. I feel like the first one. They had like a lot of open crap in it that they didn't need to have basically, like those music scenes where they're like floating through the forest, like, take all that crap out. But like Harry Potter, like, those were just, you can't always picture that in your head. So I don't know. I like reading it. But like, sometimes like seeing how it came to life, how it was read, like that was just like pure creativity, because I like pulled that from the book and like to be able to like, mimic that. I don't know, that's my life.

    Kristen 10:53

    Alright, let's move to a business question. And this is mindset hurdles. That's the category. So do you we've all been in business now for a few years. Right? Or more? Do you still get nervous to get on video? Lucretia?

    Lucretia 11:11

    Yeah, it depends on what kind of video because like, if it's like a walking video where after a walk, I like really get self conscious. But like if it's like sitting in stories, and just my face looks fine. But if I it's like a real or dancing or moving, you know, it's really hard for me.

    Nicole 11:29

    And so I think for me, I've gotten to the point where I feel like when I like watching people on video, they're more laid back relaxed, like they don't really care. They're not as polished. So I've kind of tried to take that approach into my video and it's taken the pressure off immensely. Like, I used to record a story maybe, I don't know, 15 times and like rerecord it and re recording so it's not perfect. And now just you know, what if I say something wrong, I say something wrong. No big deal. Elena,

    Elena 11:55

    I was gonna say the same thing. Like I feel like it's a lot easier if I don't put pressure on myself, because I feel like I get more engagement that way too. They don't want something like perfectly polished.

    Kristen 12:05

    This is Kristen. I if I go too long without being on video. Like if I take a break for a couple of weeks or something. I get weird. Like, it's weird to get back into it. I do kind of get nervous. So it hasn't fully gone away for me. Ashley, I don't

    Ashley 12:22

    get nervous on stories or recording reels or anything anymore. But I do feel a little anxious before I go live. You can't erase or rerecord lives. Sarah,

    Sara Whittaker 12:37

    I find what helps me is like I've tried the whole batching videos thing. And I much prefer not to do that. And to just kind of like, go on video, whether it's real or Instagram stories just whenever I feel like it. And whenever I feel like I don't know, feeling competent, or feeling like I even have something to say like, when I tell myself, I have to get on Instagram stories every single day. Sometimes I just feel like I don't really have anything I want to say. And I don't want to just do it just to do it. But when I'm more in the moment, that's when it feels a little

    Kristen 13:09

    bit better. This is Kristen. So piggybacking off what Nicole and Sarah said, if it's more like, I don't know if it's not so structured, and it feels like I'm just talking to just a friend or something and I don't it's like if I feel like doing it in the moment, and don't feel like I have to be scripted or anything like that. That doesn't make me nervous at all. Sokka Yeah, that's what I was gonna say when it's very organic. For me, it is a lot easier when I have something to say. And I don't feel like I'm forcing myself to come up with the smart things to say or that's going to be engaging, when it's something that is more just like spiritually motivated, that I have to share, but also on that if I'm being consistent, I'm going to have more of those moments. But if I've taken a break, it takes me a lot, I have to kind of do something structured to get me back into the flow of it to keep it going. So if I lose the consistency, I don't have that organic feeling anymore until I push myself to do it, and then get back in the flow.

    Sara Whittaker 14:19

    Okay, I'm gonna choose this next question because I actually hate this question. I hate being asked this question because I feel like I never have an answer for it. And that is what do you do outside of work slash business? And I feel like I'm like, I don't know. What do I do? I don't know why go for walks. Does that count? What do you guys do? Outside of work? Elena, we have a book club. That is so true. I have a hobby now.

    Unknown Speaker 14:50

    Every day. Some drills or other story get yourself not this one.

    Kaci 15:00

    Okay, so we the book club actually has been a really big thing actually. Like, it's not only fostering like me reading more, but also this community that we have, and this fringe these friendships that we've built, and it's become like part of my daily life outside of work. And even though we're all business owners, we talk about everything and when you share so much, and we're so vulnerable, that it's become so much more. But then like, with my husband, and I, we, we have bikes that we love riding, we go down to our Greenbelt along the river, we go camping. We also love just watching TV, just chillin, you know, because we both work a lot. And this is a day and age where a lot of people are stay at home moms, and they have, they can have those hobbies and have like, We're exhausted. You know, like, we're work all day, we have kids, we have animals, and then your husband's working all day. And so children's on Netflix,

    Sara Whittaker 15:57

    I know I hate when people I feel like I always hear people say, It's so tempting to watch TV at the end of the day, but you need to spend that time connecting with your spouse or like put your phones away no screens. But at least for me and Craig, that's like our downtime, and we do it together. But I very much look forward to that at the end of

    Kristen 16:17

    connected when I save.

    Lucretia 16:20

    We're the exact same, we can be sitting next to each other on the couch watching TV playing on our phones. And we're like, at least we're in the same room. Yeah, like there's so many nights where he'll come home from work, and I'm still working. And he's like, at least so right next to you. Like, I don't care how much you have to work as long as I'm with you.

    Kaci 16:34

    Yeah. Kaci, we have this thing to where if we have a show that we both like, we have a no phones rule. So we both so we can't use our phones while we're watching the show together. And that really helps the, like quality time and also just when you're on your phone, you're not paying as much attention, you know, so then sometimes it will happen. What what just happened? Well, you're not supposed to be on your phone. Yeah, so that, you know, we do have that. And we really liked that because it does help with the connection of not just looking at your phone all the time. But like, I don't like this question either. Saturday, I agree. Because I feel like I'm supposed to stay all these like really active, like, exercise and like all these things. And it's

    Sara Whittaker 17:16

    like, yeah, to do all these things. Yeah. My day is full. I love

    Kaci 17:21

    to chill on the couch like I in the windows. I love having my windows open and just like having the breeze come in and like read my book, you know, for book club or watch TV or whatever and decompress, and we shouldn't feel guilty for that. Yeah.

    Sara Whittaker 17:37

    Chelsea, I feel like you might have do you have hobbies? Or you feel like you stay really busy. I'm always busy. Yeah,

    Kristen 17:43

    I'm not I don't do well, I'm shutting off. And I will fully admit I barely ever read the book for book club. But I do like we talk so much that like staying up on top of our conversation as a full time. It's it is a lot some days, but like in a good way. Like it's reminded me how important like genuine friendships are. Which I think I lost touch of when I became a mom, like I lost sight of my friendships. And I think this is a good reminder. And this weekend has been really good for like, cheesy to say, but personal development of like, this is something I need to prioritize more beyond my business friends is like I need to reconnect with my like my friends outside of business, too. But I'm always busy always, like I'm always active are always outside. We're always at the park. We're always doing something. Yeah, you kind of have to get creative when you're a mom to like, make sure you keep those friendships and that side of your life going like Nicole is you're in a mom's club type situation. I'm in a mom's club are talking about that earlier. And then we have this and yeah, actually.

    Ashley 18:59

    Yeah. So I have been in this big, rediscovering phase of myself. So my kids are almost two and four now. And for a really long time after we moved into the house. I feel like I lost myself with how much I was doing for business and Ellie was an infant and the house was a complete DIY project. So lately, I've really been prioritizing things that I want to do. And that's been a very interesting journey, I guess you can say. So I have really enjoyed being in the gym, they get to go to the gym daycare, and I get that time to myself, whether it's to focus on catching up on messages, scrolling Instagram or just diving into my workout and listening to fit radio. I've really looked prioritizing that in my day. And it's been tricky because most of my clients being on the east coast. So it's afternoon for them when I get my gym daycare time but having that priority of something that really gives me energy back has been has been really good. You

    Sara Whittaker 20:00

    Yeah, I totally relate to that. And you have to prioritize it. Because time is limited. We only have so many hours in the day. But I've been the same way. Like when I started online business, that was a big thing, going from teaching where I was on my feet all day long, moving all day long to sitting at a desk, and I let myself kind of get into a slump. And now that's something I've really been prioritizing is like getting some sort of movement in. Usually it's a workout in the morning, but if not at least going outside and getting on a walk. Because you do you have to fit that into your day. Safra,

    Speaker 4 20:33

    Chelsea and I were talking about this earlier, that when things get busy and time gets busy, or like money gets scarce, like the first thing we sacrifice is ourselves. And if you don't make the attentional choice to choose yourself and be like, No, I'm not going to sacrifice myself in this. And like my husband and children, and everyone will be okay, I'm allowed to do this, I don't have to be the one that always sacrifices, I think that makes a huge difference. Because I am able to serve my kids and my husband and my business much more when I give that even small bit to myself. And I think book club had a huge part to do that. Because it really just like, oh, no, I have to finish this book. Because I'm gonna let all these other women down, we have to have these conversations, I have to show up on Thursday at 830. Like they're gonna be there. And they got me in the habit of just like taking a little bit of time to do that. And like, connect with them. And I think the relationship is so low pressure that we just all show up. And we're all there and like, just supportive for each other. And I think that helped really trigger the taking time for myself to fill my cup.

    Sara Whittaker 21:46

    That's true, Nicole,

    Nicole 21:48

    I love what's often just said, When Casey first asked me about this book club, I was a little hesitant honestly, because I was like, already have so much going on. I have another baby coming. I have all these things going on. Do I really have time to add one more thing onto my plate right now. But I know this is something that I really wanted to prioritize reading again, friendships again. And I feel like adding even this one thing or like even a workout or even like adding one more thing into my schedule that was for me, made me feel like I had so much more time. Like I don't know what it was. But I feel like I'm less stressed. And I feel like I have more time to do my business stuff and do like the kids stuff now that I'm actually doing something for me to like, I don't know if that's crazy, but that's how I feel about it.

    Sara Whittaker 22:30

    Yeah, I love that I was the same way. I mean, I've been trying to I'm not always the best in our Instagram chat, I find it very overwhelming to be honest, especially because I am like trying not to spend so much time on Instagram. But I was really happy when we switched to texting for this trip because I'm much worse. But I mean, it is like you if you make it a priority for me. And it sounds like everybody like it's had a really positive impact.

    Lucretia 22:58

    Lucretia, I think I've told the whole group that you guys are like, my only friends basically, like they don't have a lot of friends outside. Like, I know what we were doing stuff on weekends, the small things I would do when I would take breaks from work. Like, I don't even want to be here like I just want to hang out on Instagram with. It's gotten to that point, because there's just like, I don't really have a lot of like friends locally, like a lot of them live far away, and like over texting or whatever. I like one or two. But like we don't hang out a lot. And so like you guys are who are talking to you. And when there was like, some stuff going down at some of the stuff that we were doing, like you guys were like, No, Your feelings are valid and like just like different stuff like that. Because like I don't really have friends in real life. So like, meeting everybody, like as we can. It's just been super good. And like, kind of separate. We all needed.

    Kristen 23:51

    Yeah. So this question somebody asked on Instagram, so we definitely need to ask this one. How did everyone meet? Oh, I'll kick it off.

    Chelsea 24:05

    Okay, so I am very much want to reach out very easily. So others there are 10 of us here there are 12 of us in book club, or their typical club. Nine out of 13 are from the same program with the same Freelancer program Correct? Yeah, so we all besides for went through the same freelancing program. And I know I personally reached out to looking in this room I think through myself, trying to build that community because our real friends we can all attest to this, I do not understand nor do our husbands this online space. And so I took the leap of building those genuine connections from day one.

    Kristen 24:59

    So I personally started my business in 2020 of November, many of the girls in here or anywhere from 2018 to 2021, or 2020 2020. And so

    Chelsea 25:09

    I think we all started just Facebook messaging each other. And then Kaci started this book club. And I know we started with what nine of us. And then Kaci you were like the root of all this shout out product sock off, and then Safa brought in. No, you didn't bring anyone. Okay, so Kaci,

    Sara Whittaker 25:37

    I brought in Melanie, okay, yeah,

    Chelsea 25:39

    so So Sara brought in Melanie or I

    Melanie Battistelli 25:42

    But I had already had relationships. Yeah, the three or four of you. Yeah. Weird. Leave

    Sara Whittaker 25:48

    it. I know. Everybody's connected. Yeah. Yeah, this world

    Chelsea 25:51

    clearly connected. And then Kristen. And I Kristen was like my first quote unquote, friend. And yeah, I think I think at first, when we started book club, it was very strict. Like, it felt like very much like, this is a professional book club and do the thing and like, we left it as very, yeah. Yeah. And it was very much you did kick people out in that first month, and then they she kicked him out.

    Lucretia 26:29

    Multiple people, she invited me to ask him her real. Like, I asked a question about, like, how, how'd you like that book or something on one of Casey's rails? And she's like, I don't read those books, or something like that. And I was like, why the somehow you invited me to book club. And so I came,

    Kaci 26:46

    I kicked out I think for for people. I'm vicious.

    Sara Whittaker 26:51

    That is not I like I think that would be I just could never do that. So I appreciate that. You do that? Yeah. Like even we had. So we started a text chain for this trip. And even you being like, let's keep this just for retreat.

    Kaci 27:08

    Want to respect people's personal? Like, I'm trying to,

    Chelsea 27:12

    but I will say like, I'm so glad by what it has become like, yeah, like what it started out, as, was the intention of truly just having like a book club that would meet once a month. I thought that's all it was gonna be like, I knew the people in it. So I was like, great, well, the girls, but it's become like our own safe haven, mastermind, whatever you want to call it. Like, I haven't felt the need, like I'm a true believer in investing in my business, I haven't felt the need to invest in a mastermind a coach, because we all have that. And we talk about motherhood struggles business, our amazing husbands who drive us nuts and and we all are at different stages of our lives, with kids with business with everything. And so I'm very grateful that it's organically and authentically turned into what it is. But yeah, a lot of us had known each other through that program that turned into friendships that turned into the book club.

    Sara Whittaker 28:15

    All right, let's switch gears. Where are you nervous to start your own business and leave your nine to five?

    Melanie Battistelli 28:24

    Melanie? Yes. Extremely. So earlier, when Chelsea was talking, she looked at me to kind of acknowledge, like, did you start in 2020. And I did. But I took a super slow approach. So I was a high school teacher for 12 years. And I started my business when I was pregnant with my second daughter, and really took the time to leave the classroom like a lot of time. Like I did this one full year while still teaching and then I dropped down to part time teaching, and did that for an entire year. So really, this is my full year, first year in business. Because I was super one you guys know me now I feel like I take a little time to make a decision. I'm very cautious and just really want it to be like the right choice, which you don't ever really know if it is never the right choice. So that was something that I think was really, really hard to let go of. And plus, I mean, some of us in here, former teachers or worked in the school system, like you wrapped so much of that in your identity. Yeah, it's like really hard to make the separation. Like, I'll still tell people like, oh, yeah, I taught for 12 years. Like it doesn't matter anymore. Yeah, but I mean, but like, it's hard to like leave. Yeah, I was a teacher.

    Sara Whittaker 29:38

    When people asked me what I do. I always say that first. It used to be a teacher. Yeah. Why? Why? That's not what they asked me. Yeah.

    Melanie Battistelli 29:47

    It's really hard to make that separation that makes me feel better, but like also worse, because you've been doing this like, you know, three years longer than I have full time. Yeah, because it's not

    Speaker 6 29:56

    a typical path, because it's Yeah, you didn't get your college degree in this and so I feel like I feel like when I say I'm a Pinterest strategist it's like it didn't come with a college degree so to speak. So it doesn't feel like my family. My own mother in law doesn't see this as a as a career like she doesn't see it. So sure. I think that's why we lead with that was a teacher, I do

    Melanie Battistelli 30:20

    have a master's degree. But you

    Sara Whittaker 30:23

    like has your all's inner circle like family close friends, for the most part been supportive of everything that you've done with your business? Or do you feel like judged at all?

    Nicole 30:34

    I'm half and half. Oh, sorry, I'm half and half. So my friends have been amazing. My friends all support. They're like, yes, you've got this, you're going to be amazing. My family not so much like my mom and dad are great. But my aunts, uncles grandfather especially, was like you're doing what you're not like using your college degree anymore. Like you paid so much money for this. And like, that's what you should be doing. And like, in their defense, like that was the way to have like a stable income, right was to like, do what you're supposed to do retire have your retirement package? And like, that's what was what you were supposed to do. Today's day, and age is just much more different.

    Sara Whittaker 31:14

    Yeah, for sure.

    Lucretia 31:16

    No, like my husband, fiance, boyfriend, whatever the heck you want to call him because he's basically in it for life. Now. He's really supportive. I have a couple of friends that are supportive. You guys are all really supportive. My dad, like doesn't understand it. But it doesn't ask too many questions. My mom literally sends me job applications like every week. So and I think a lot of and I'm like, very kind of shy to talk about it. And I think a lot of it stems from like, my sister saying she was, quote, unquote, a blogger, and saying that she works online. And this is like, everybody's laughing. But it's like a story for a different time. So like that he my whole family has like bad taste in their mouth about being in the online business. And I've been doing this since like, 2005 2006. And I was in high school at the time. So I finished high school, I got three degrees in six years, I did this all on the side doing that. And then I went into the corporate world. And I did that for four years ish COVID it, and I got laid off. And I was like, Alright, this is my chance, like, because I was so afraid of like not having that stable income. But I could do anything. So I might as well go into this full time, I had nothing to lose at that point. And I've been doing it ever since. And so that was kind of the thing. But like, before that like it's always like, Oh, I can't say that I do that. Because like, you don't make any shoot ever made anybody have it. So they never thought I could and like this is kind of the first year I've actually brought home and gum and like, done big things in my business like this trip, but other trips, and just so they finally are starting to see it. But I still thought it was job applications.

    Kristen 32:56

    Christian, I've had almost nothing but support from like everybody in friends and family in my life. There was one family member before I started my business when I was talking about doing this and then putting my nine to five to do this and stay home with my kids. And she was like, Well, maybe you should get a part time job to go with it. And that made me feel like, I don't think you know how like all in this is gonna be like, so it made me feel like I don't know if you have confidence in me. But everyone else has been super supportive. And like always asking me about the business. A lot of my friends and family will tell me that they've like been listening to my podcast, or like, watching my stories on Instagram. And I have no idea that they're following along. And it's always surprising. But it feels really good to have that support. And also it can feel when you're in this space, it can kind of feel like you don't exactly know how to explain what you're doing so, but I feel like those people who have been really engaged in what I'm doing, they like they even know what I do. They feel like they have a good understanding. And that means so much to me. I think it's so awesome. And I've even had some friends and family who had kids and they saw this lifestyle, and they decided to go for I've had some friends recently and quit their nine to five and now we get together for dinners together to talk about business. It's so so cool. That's awesome.

    Lucretia 34:27

    How about you Casey?

    Kaci 34:28

    So very supportive, but funding supportive. So for instance, my thought that I created click up founder very, very supportive, but like they don't understand anything that I'm doing. And so my family comes from most of my family are very well off and blah, blah, blah, you know, that kind of stuff. And so the way that I have shown them that I don't mean I don't I really don't have a college degree. So the way that I've shown them that I've made it is I tell them like, I have made this much money, like this is a real thing. And for some reason it clicks with them then because because I'm like, I am supporting our family, like I can do these things like my husband and I have dual like, this is not just this fun little gig that I lose money on, you know, and that has helped them kind of understand that, like, I have an actual business. But it was funny one time my grandma, she was like, so did you like, create clickup? Like, No, I did not. You didn't tell Safa.

    Safa 35:44

    I didn't tell anybody till after I was successful,

    Lucretia 35:47

    same pretty much.

    Kristen 35:49

    And it started if my intention was never to leave corporate, I was very successful in my career. It was like it was great. I wasn't making money but Drell was starting his business and we needed more money. I was like, okay, yeah, I can do some freelance extra side gig, some money coming in. And then it grew and grew and grew. And then I was able to bring in a lot of my corporate experience from being at like, the higher corporate level into there. And it was like this unique perspective, that was really helpful to business owners. So then it kind of grew from there. I was like, oh, okay, this is real. This is okay. I guess I'm doing this. And then it was already proven. So when I told people about it, they were like, Okay, well, I guess you're already making money. So we can't tell you you're not going to be successful, because it's already done. I didn't give them an option to not be supportive of me.

    Sara Whittaker 36:42

    Yeah, it's funny. Like after hearing all of you go, I feel like people need that. Those like results before they they need the testimonial. Exactly. Ashley,

    Ashley 36:54

    so my most of my family doesn't ask me, I don't think that they realize how big this has gotten. For me. I think they just see me as a stay at home mom, whenever we get together, you know, they're asking my husband, oh, How's work going for you? How's your job and my sister and they go through everyone else? And then they never asked me and it's like, I'm doing stuff to guys. Just cooking dinner? Actually, I'm doing more other things.

    Sara Whittaker 37:27

    Do you guys ever, like when when you're in a new social setting, not business related? Like maybe you're at a wedding or whatever? And somebody asks, what do you do? Do you still get a little like? Yeah, like, do you go into detail? I usually try to change the subject

    Speaker 6 37:48

    of marketing, because yeah, I share what I do. Know. Yes, digital marketing is accepted. What like to go in detail. So what I'd like why,

    Kaci 37:58

    right? Yeah, nobody understands. On space, nobody understands. I, I fumbled and I've been in business for three years. And if somebody on the street asked me what I do, I can't answer them.

    Kristen 38:10

    I just say operations consultant, operations consultant for small businesses. I say marketing business

    Sara Whittaker 38:16

    and like marketing is

    Kristen 38:20

    Yeah, yeah.

    Lucretia 38:22

    Director of Marketing, interesting.

    Ashley 38:23

    Marketing agency.

    Lucretia 38:25

    My dad just loves that. I'm happy and my grandma just loves that I get to travel. She always wanted to travel for work, but she never really like worked out of the house too. Too much. So she just thinks that it's so cool. That'll be like all like, going to be book clubs. Like this is what you do. Like you're been working though to write and I'm like, Yes, like, I still want to travel one day. She's like, Give me 92. So she never she probably not going to travel anymore. But she loves it like now we get to travel and she's like, so you you do Facebook right? And that's not everything I sometimes just shout out to the grandma. Basically.

    Sara Whittaker 39:13

    My family, everybody in my life lately has been like so supportive. My mom hypes me up a little bit too much sometimes. She doesn't totally get what I do. But when I started my online course she calls it a manual. Everybody, like if she's with her like girlfriends from college, she's like, Sarah, come on over and tell about the manual that you created. What are you talking? Like I'm picturing I think she is picturing a work like a textbook or something. No, it's all online mom.

    Kaci 39:50

    Everybody at the pool?

    Sara Whittaker 39:52

    Oh, definitely. If she were here yesterday with us, she

    Kristen 39:55

    absolutely would have said that. The neighbor was talking about our four houses your mom's to Talking about your man. Yeah.

    Lucretia 40:03

    My mom is still the one like you can't charge for that, though.

    Kaci 40:06

    Really? Yeah. I don't think I could do this if I didn't have the same.

    Sara Whittaker 40:11

    Yeah, no way. That's why we've had either. Absolutely. Yeah, like I think all of our husbands, I think it's

    Kristen 40:21

    supportive, it would be a different story. My husband's a huge reason I'm doing so yeah, he has to be on board on any on like, we have to be on the same page for financial decision. A big financial decision we have to make together

    Ashley 40:33

    shout out to the husband. Yeah, my, my husband isn't unsupportive, but he's more supportive in it, because it's what I want to do. And not necessarily because he sees the potential in the business and all of these other things that he sees how much it means to me, and how much fulfillment I get from it. So then he's supportive of that. Yeah, so my husband has no

    Speaker 6 40:53

    volume. So the fact that we're all here, because our husbands are home, like for most of us with our kids, and being willing to take on for days, and like, no

    Sara Whittaker 41:01

    question, no

    Speaker 6 41:02

    question. Yeah, husbands to do. And not that, like, their dads, they should it's not. I think it speaks volumes to the fact of like, they are so supportive of knowing like, this is a personal thing, we need to be doing as much or as women, but also the business side of things of like growth and development within that, which I don't know, if a lot of people in this space get I have talked to many others, and we are lucky group. So I just want to mention that, because I have talked to or I have friends in the same space that don't have that support. So I think we are all very lucky

    Elena 41:42

    to have how many husbands passed like you're going to meet strangers? Yeah.

    Lucretia 41:50

    Yes. Mine was literally like, I'm just so happy. You get to like, go out and actually meet your friends. He's like, he really needed this. Like the day we booked it. I literally was like, oh, we need to book a flight. He came right down. And he was like booking like listening to our book club call as we're like talking about booking the flight for us, like, what seat does she get? Can you just send me that? Was like, go do it. Like, the thing is he loves like the freedom and that's where he wants. And he's like, you're working your butt off for how long? Like you can travel?

    Sara Whittaker 42:23

    Oh, anytime I mentioned going out of town. My husband is like, oh, you should go a day early because he thinks it so he can go on golf trips later. Went away.

    Kristen 42:38

    I think for a lot of us, at least, like my husband does not understand how this works. He's like, Oh, it's like he's like it's obviously working, which is fine. I don't understand how you do it. But like, sounds good. But I think for a lot of us they're they support us. And not necessarily like they obviously support the business but it's more their faith and supporting us specifically and not every

    Sara Whittaker 43:01

    my I listen to all of our books on audio and my husband. Just to be clear, we're not reading, you are not reading like yes, I am. It's it's a book club. I'm reading a book, and he just loves anytime I'm like listening to anything, whether it's a podcast, or whatever on my phone is like, Oh, are you reading a new book?

    Lucretia 43:26

    The Kindle, he was like there now you don't have to, like carry your books around. But like if people ask him what I do, he's like, I don't know something online. Like he's like Facebook. Again. Something with Facebook.

    Kristen 43:42

    Okay, tough question here because I know how many things we all balance. What does a typical day look like? Well, that's interesting. Do we have a typical day?

    Elena 43:54

    This how many of us, I guess, have childcare versus when we're like that? Because I think that's a big factor in how our days look. So like I have part time care felony, you have part time care laid off the days that I'm doing the online stuff. I don't have any child don't care. Don't Nicole, you have your husband to support but right now I have

    Nicole 44:20

    a show. Yeah, my husband's there in the morning and I work in the morning and he goes to work in the afternoon and then I let the kids suffer does

    Unknown Speaker 44:26

    not have childcare, zero junk. Sarah's daughter is at school. Kristen does not

    Speaker 1 44:32

    have childcare for Carson just a couple days a week. And then Ashley, you have them both right?

    Ashley 44:38

    I do have them both. We have a babysitter that ideally comes for hours. hours a week, yeah to two hours on Wednesdays and two hours on Thursdays is what our schedule is but oftentimes things come up for her so it doesn't always happen. but that is my quote unquote predictable gym. That's why I have the gym. Yes, oftentimes, we're all trying to do an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon so that I get to have a little bit on both ends of the time. But yeah,

    Speaker 6 45:17

    and I think our hours have shifted depending on our phase of life. Like I think, like many of us in this room have added on a little one since being in Book Club, which I know has shifted. So like, maybe we can share how many hours like truly I only get 16 That's not only I get 16 hours of undivided, whereas I used to have 25. Casey, you have what like 35 house? Well, you only work you only work 20. Well, I

    Melanie Battistelli 45:43

    don't have kids, right, but I

    Kaci 45:45

    can work. You know

    Unknown Speaker 45:46

    what your ideal week is only 20.

    Kaci 45:47

    But yeah, I work. I work roughly around 20 hours a week on regular Yeah,

    Unknown Speaker 45:53

    I'm here at what,

    Melanie Battistelli 45:54

    I get about 20 hours, but it's very divided, right? Because I'm so blessed to have my mom and to the area. But she watches the kids in my house, which is a very smallish townhouse. So I know someone's having a meltdown, and I'm not on a zoom call, I go down and help her and then I prep lunch. And then I help with nap time. So I think I did about 20 hours. But it's a I am blessed to get an hour and a half at a time of focus detentions. It's

    Unknown Speaker 46:26

    very broken.

    Elena 46:27

    Wait, how many hours do I probably say about 10 to 15, depending on the week, the call or 20 hours a week 20 Soccer.

    Kristen 46:35

    It depends on how tired I am. Because I will work. I will probably get maybe an hour during the an hour, maybe two hours during the day. But then I try to do from 8pm After bedtime till about 11. So what's that about the three hours, like five hours a day, so like five ish hours a day. And that's like, on I have high energy because some days I'll be like 8pm I'm going to sleep because I can't go. So I think it varies from eight to 10 to 20 hours a week.

    Kaci 47:08

    I want to mention too, though, so we're all saying like, we don't work, you know, full 40 hours, we have kids all these things. We all have such successful businesses. And we're like, in these pockets of time. I mean, you guys your mom's not me. But pockets of time you guys are getting you're so efficient that you're getting so much done, to have the successful business to leave your teaching job. A lot of you guys were former teachers to leave that teaching job and replace that income and not have to work, you know, 40 hours to replace it. So kudos to you guys.

    Speaker 6 47:43

    Well, there have been very smart and building teams are building like, yeah, hiring Casey to build click up for.

    Speaker 1 47:54

    Yeah, so Ashley and I talked about this like as moms because we're so used to working distracted. So when we do get that focused amount of time, I can get like a whole day's worth of stuff done in two hours and just bang it out and get it done. It's like, exactly. We don't have an option. And I often think about I was like, if I had 40 hours, I can't imagine where I live. There's exactly like I can't imagine what I would be able to do like all that clarity, so much creativity, even just this weekend, having that clarity of thought I was just like coming up with ideas for all this stuff. So it's definitely I sometimes it's not really a choice to have this successful business in that pocket of time. It's what I have to do, and it is hard. And it is something we make it work because that's all we have available for us. So it's definitely not like, oh, yeah, I only work 20 hours. It's like no, that's

    Kaci 48:55

    yeah, though you do because if so I don't have kids, and I do only work 20 hours. Yeah. So if you didn't have kids, you would still only work. Ooh, maybe the less because you guys are more efficient, probably more efficient. Obviously, me. So you do. So Sara, do you? Are you on your daughter schedule? Like do you only work?

    Sara Whittaker 49:16

    Yeah. So I mean, I work about six hours a day. Okay, so you could work five hours a week? Yeah. Well, no more 33.

    Speaker 6 49:25

    I would say Fridays are off. But yeah, that's my life. Yeah. And I

    Sara Whittaker 49:29

    used to work more like her being and she's in kindergarten this year. And it's been really great, actually, because she gets home earlier than she did when she was in preschool or daycare, whatever you want to call it. And so when she gets off the bus like I'm done, and I'm not gonna go back to work after she gets home, which has been really nice. Like I actually, I mean, I've been lucky because I've always had some sort of support. Like in the beginning I only had a couple of hours. Today, but my my parents have always helped where she's been in some sort of childcare. But I just like when I first started my business, the whole naptime hustle thing seemed amazing. I hate that so much. Like, if she's home, I don't want to be on my computer. But I get, I'm allowed to do that, because she goes to school, like having a school aged kid, it really does change everything. Because when they're home with you, you know, you only have so many options of when you can work. So I have really been trying to walk away from my computer because there's always something more that I could do after she gets home. And my office is on the main floor with no door. So it's so tempting to like go back to my computer and just like do a couple things. So that's what I've really been working on is when she gets home, I'm done. I'm spending time with her. I'm spending time with Craig,

    Kristen 50:52

    you brought up the naptime hustle, which I it's so hard because you get in the zone, but then you know, and that's really hard.

    Sara Whittaker 51:01

    It doesn't nap to because that was my time muscle was like the hustle without the nap. Yeah, but

    Kristen 51:08

    even like, sometimes you might get a two hour nap. Sometimes you might get a 30 minute nap. Yeah, you're like really in the zone, you're really going and then it's just like,

    Speaker 6 51:17

    then you get frustrated, you don't want to get frustrated. It's not it's not that it's just like, someone's gonna get two hours. And now I'm behind and I'm working the nights and like,

    Ashley 51:27

    I didn't do this other thing because I thought I was gonna have this time.

    Kristen 51:31

    Kids are constantly sick. It's always like, even when I say I have a 16 hour workweek, like something's always yes, very calming. And Chelsea, you touched on this, it was, but we all have other supports in our business too. So it's not just 20 hours that our business is going we're investing in other people and outsourcing and systems and automations that putting more hours into our business or our getting our businesses are getting more hours than just our hours to get them to this spot. So I think there's a lot of misconception on like, you can be a millionaire and 20 hours a week, like, yeah, maybe my 20 hours but like, other people's 20 hours are also going into my business and it takes

    Lucretia 52:16

    you a while to get there. You don't start out with 20 hours.

    Unknown Speaker 52:20

    60 hours on the ground, because you're like oh work for anybody who will pay me Yeah.

    Kaci 52:30

    I had my first client paid me $15 an hour to go on her Instagram and reply to stories. It was awful.

    Unknown Speaker 52:43

    60 hours a week.

    Speaker 1 52:47

    Speaking of can we all go around and say what we started doing?

    Sara Whittaker 52:51

    Yeah. Like first gig Yeah, so like that.

    Kristen 52:56

    So there's just Kristin I started as a virtual assistants

    Unknown Speaker 53:00

    Kaci, you said virtual virtual tells me social media,

    Melanie Battistelli 53:04

    customer support replying to inbox emails. Virtual Assistant

    Lucretia 53:08

    legacy real intuitive. Just yeah. This isn't a call.

    Nicole 53:13

    I was virtual assistant and with virtual assistant people like think it's like, just like one thing, but as a VA, I was literally doing podcasts. Instagram, yeah, Pinterest. I was doing YouTube for people. I was literally doing every single thing that anybody wanted me to do. I redid

    Kaci 53:29

    the website. I was

    Sara Whittaker 53:33

    like, I've never even heard of WordPress. Either way,

    Unknown Speaker 53:37

    though, to try to like it was good to like, figure

    Nicole 53:39

    out what I wanted to do when I didn't want yeah,

    Ashley 53:41

    I did branding and strategies, virtual assistants.

    Kristen 53:48

    And then we learned, especially as in charge for

    Unknown Speaker 53:52

    last year. Yeah. Especially specializing is that.

    Kristen 53:56

    All right, we're gonna wrap this up. Thanks for listening.

    Sara Whittaker 54:03

    Well, I hope you enjoyed listening to that roundtable talk. One takeaway that I want you to have is to get out there and find some people who you could start a book club with having the support from people who just get it and get what you do, and get what it's like to have an online business. It can change everything. We've had some people reach out to us and ask about the possibility of extending this book club and making it a larger community. So if that's something that you would be interested in, send me an email to Sara at podcasting for educators.com and I will include that in the show notes as well. Thanks so much for listening, and I'll see you here next week. Thanks so much for listening to today's episode. To keep this conversation going connect with me on Instagram at podcasting for educators. I'm always looking for an excuse to talk about podcasting. If you're looking for support and launching, managing or growing your podcast, check out my online course the podcast sink for educators prep school at podcasting for educators.com/prep School I'll see you here next time

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