Thriving as a Parent and Entrepreneur with Taylor McMaster

Balancing business ownership with parenthood can feel like juggling flaming swords, but Taylor McMaster has turned it into an art form. In this episode, we sit down with her to uncover how she manages a thriving client account management agency while raising her 10-month-old daughter, Stella, alongside her husband and business partner, Jamie. Taylor’s journey is filled with unexpected joys and a seamless blend of her professional and personal lives in ways that defy conventional wisdom.

Taylor is the founder of DOT & Company, where her team offers full-service client account management (CAM) for digital marketing agencies. This frees agency owners to hone their strengths while DOT & Co. ensures client satisfaction and operational smoothness. Taylor not only leads and trains a team of Client Account Managers but also assists numerous agencies in freeing up their time to focus on revenue-generating activities. Additionally, she hosts The Happy Clients podcast, featuring interviews with industry leaders to uncover what truly delights clients in the agency realm.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Taylor's background in running digital marketing agencies.
• Challenges of integrating work and family life.
• Importance of getting help to manage the workload and parenting responsibilities effectively.
• Pursuing non-traditional paths, like working from home, homeschooling, or traveling.
• Emotional challenges of adjusting to new identities.
• Practical adjustments needed to manage day-to-day life.

CONNECT WITH TAYLOR:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/taylormcmaster/

DOT & Company:
http://www.dotandcompany.co/
​​https://twitter.com/CompanyDot
https://www.facebook.com/dotandcompany
https://www.instagram.com/dot_and_company/
​​https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9_2hri1R1uaNTGeZr0Oyxg/

RESOURCES FROM ALYSON:

The Kid-Proof Business Checklist
https://alysoncaffrey.com/checklist

Maternity Leave Planning Guide
https://www.mastermaternityleave.com/guide

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:06

Are you juggling the challenges of running a business while raising your little ones? Do you crave more ease in balancing your professional ambitions with the demands of parenthood? Well, sit tight, you're in the right place. I'm your host, alison Caffrey, and I understand the growing pains that come with building a business while nurturing a growing household. Think of this as a soft spot to land when you feel like your ambitions are starting to become just a little overwhelming. Welcome to Growing Pains. Hey, and welcome back to the Growing Pains podcast. I'm your host, alison Caffery, and today I sit down with friend and colleague, taylor McMaster.

Speaker 1: 0:43

Taylor is the founder of Dot Company and we talk so many things about being normal and embracing, being different than everybody, who is raising kids and growing families and doing the whole thing right. And she gets really deep into her daughter, stella, who's 10 months old, and how they've navigated some of those changes. Her and her husband worked together to run Dot Company and this was such a cool conversation. So Taylor's the founder of Dot Co, where she and her team help digital marketing agencies keep their clients happy and keep agency owners focused on what they do best with full service client account management. Taylor and I actually kind of came up in the agency world together. We've been doing so many different things over the years together and collaborating, because, as you guys know, I'm in operations.

Speaker 1: 1:24

Taylor leads a team of client account managers at Dot Company, training the cams to work with different agencies. To date, they've helped dozens of digital marketing agencies free up their time to prioritize the moneymakers in their business, while the Dot Co team ensures their client experience is smooth like butter. She also hosts a really cool podcast called the Happy Clients Podcast, where she interviews top names in the industry, diving deep into what makes clients happy in the agency world. I am so excited for you guys to listen to this conversation with Taylor. She is such a sweet soul and such an encouraging conversation for any moms, especially if they're in the thick of it, um, you know, with little little ones and really trying to determine what we want to do next. So I'll see you guys inside, taylor. Welcome to Growing Pains. I am so excited to have you here.

Speaker 2: 2:13

I'm so excited to be here because I feel like you and I have been talking about family things for years since we first met, and I'm just so excited to finally get to chat all things family instead of all things.

Speaker 1: 2:25

agency for once, yes, yes. So for those of you guys listening, taylor and I kind of came up in the agency space like almost alongside each other, like our businesses are similar ages, like it's just so wild and we work with digital marketing agencies pretty predominantly, and so, over the years, like you and I have connected in so many beautiful and amazing ways, and you just recently had a little girl, so tell us a little bit about your business and the family that you have at home.

Speaker 2: 2:48

Okay so yes, I work with agencies, so we do account management for marketing agencies. So we essentially are those crazy people who love to come in and talk to clients all day and project manage and glue everything together, while we let the agency owner do what they do best, which is maybe it's sales, maybe it's strategy, whatever they want to focus on. We allow them to do that by taking care of their clients. And for me, this was always an accidental agency. I guess you could call it like a lot of agency owners out there, but I just loved account management. This is what I wanted to do all day and I was like, if I could just do this, this would be my jam. And then it just happened to turn into this agency. Now we have around 50 people and we're just doing this thing.

Speaker 2: 3:34

But my goal, looking back, was I always knew I wanted to have a family and have a baby and I had this vision that I would be able to blend both really beautifully if I were to be my own boss and to have my own business. And I had this vision of like, okay, when I get to this size, I'll be able to have a baby. And it was always like, when we get to here, when we get to here, when we get to here, we'll be able to have a baby. And a year ago maybe Well, a year and a half ago, I guess my husband and I were like, why are we waiting? We have the business, we have the time freedom, we have the location freedom. What is it that we're waiting for? We're like I don't know. And then we got pregnant. Right away. The universe was like, okay, you're ready, bam. And we didn't really have time to think about it, but we just knew it was going to happen.

Speaker 2: 4:22

Similar to you, allison, I just knew I always wanted to have a family, whether that was small or big. But I knew I didn't want to do things. The quote normal way of working corporate, leaving my kids at eight, seeing them at five that just wasn't my jam. And so, yeah, fast forward. We've been doing this for five years and we recently had a baby, last summer, so last July, so she's almost a year, and juggling both has been the hardest thing I've ever had to do. So I'm sure we'll get into that today. But yeah, we have a little daughter named Stella and Jamie, and I my husband and I both work together in the business and we juggle being parents and business owners at the same time.

Speaker 1: 5:04

You know, it's so interesting because, like parents running the business together I think a lot of the folks that I've interviewed here and we did a parent series over the summer last summer and it was really highly attended and, honestly, my curiosity around how couples run the business together when they've got the kiddos because a lot of folks will be like, oh my, you know, my spouse stays home or you know that kind of thing and that's our situation. Like Steve is home, his predominant, you know, role is like being with the kids. So like how do you guys juggle that in terms of the priorities that you have for the business and the priorities that you guys have at home?

Speaker 2: 5:35

Yeah, that's a good question. So when I first had the baby, I took two and a half months off completely, and so Jamie was full-time running the business at that point and I decided to come back and looking back on that, I don't know if it was out of fear or if it was like I just wanted to feel needed again, or whatever that mindset was, but I came back two and a half months in and I wasn't planning on coming back that early, and so I came back and that's when we had to really figure out how are we going to do this. And obviously we have time freedom and we're flexible, but it's not the same. When you have a baby. It's, you know, you're on all the time. It's like when do I find time to work and take meetings but then switch off with the other partner?

Speaker 2: 6:21

And it was just really hard because it was getting harder and harder to switch off because we'd have, you know, a couple of meetings together. And it's like what do we do with the baby? It doesn't nap time. Working is not a thing. I don't know how people do it Like, oh, I'll just work from my baby naps, Like I don't understand how people do that. And it was really really hard to kind of figure that out and we had a lot of help from our family and recently hired a babysitter three days a week. But it's been a lot of juggling and trying to figure out what are priorities and what are not. And really we figured out like we can't be working all the time and I know that wasn't our goal, but it really forced us to think about what are we doing, what are we only responsible for, and we have to let our team do the rest because we can't hold hands all day anymore. It just doesn't. It doesn't work, yeah.

Speaker 1: 7:12

For me it was the deep work, a little bit Like you know how, especially if you're breastfeeding in the beginning, right it's like the only two hours goes by, and by the time, two hours goes by and you have to like breastfeed again or like feed the baby again.

Speaker 1: 7:26

It's like you're constantly task switching and you and I are productivity type people, like task switching can be the death of you, right, and like an actual cost to fulfill on something. So it's so hard, because I feel like that's what happens when you have a baby. It's just you're just always task switching. And even with us when we got early care, it was like day on and day off, because our nanny was only available on like Mondays and Wednesdays or something like that, and so I would work like Tuesday, thursday, friday and never get into like a solid rhythm through the week, and so I don't know if that was something for you guys. But did you feel like you were just kind of passing ships, like, okay, I can't get anything any deep work done, I'm just going to go to the next thing.

Speaker 2: 8:10

That's such a good way to put it. It's like you're only doing surface level things. It's like whoever's yelling at you the loudest, hypothetically, you know, is what gets done and all the things that you really want to do get pushed and pushed. And I know we're the same person when it comes to this. But like I don't thrive on that, I'm an overachiever. I want to be able to do stuff fast, quick, efficient and when you literally cannot, it's really frustrating and I felt like it was. I was wearing like multiple identities at the same time, where it was like, yes, I was breastfeeding all day, every day for nine months, and I was also running a business and I was also trying to be a wife and a daughter and a friend and keep my house clean and do the laundry and, you know, feed myself and maybe get some sleep and go on a walk.

Speaker 1: 8:59

How dare you, how dare?

Speaker 2: 9:01

you and it's like I. Where we live in Canada, people get 12 to 18 months off, and so people were saying to me like oh you poor thing, like I don't know how you're doing it, and it was like this pity that I was like running through my head too. It was like I'm not normal, this is not normal, I shouldn't be doing this, you know. And that was also playing into my head where I was doing too many things and I recognized that. But then I couldn't feel bad for myself because it was a choice and it was like I just have to figure it out. And I couldn't figure it out because I didn't want to just have this random person taking care of my baby, because I wanted to do it, and I didn't want someone else running my business because I wanted to do it. And it was just so many identities crashing together while you're sleep deprived and hormones, and all these things all at once. It was just this huge wave for probably like six months.

Speaker 1: 9:55

What's it been like to get a babysitter in it's recent.

Speaker 2: 9:58

Yeah, the last two, three weeks it's been really good. Like the first week I was slow, like I took it slow. I was like I'm going to ease into this and make sure she's comfortable and make sure we trust each other. And then I'm working at home. She's upstairs with my baby, so when she was crying I was like, oh my gosh, I can't go up there and, like you know, see her, but I should. You know it's kind of that. But since I've gotten used to it it's been a game changer. You know, I think you and I have talked about this before. But like I go upstairs and like the laundry's done and things are tidy and like that just helps me with my sanity a little bit, I know that she's here for a walk.

Speaker 2: 10:33

I know I'm not just putting her in front of the TV while I'm trying to get things done. You know it's. I do feel really good about it and I I think it's going to be hard if we ever go back to not having help, but it's been a total game changer.

Speaker 1: 10:49

So far we just lost our help. Who? Jessica was amazing. We went to a bakery with her on Sunday and the kids were saying goodbye because she decided to move to South Carolina with her husband and she is just a fantastic soul, super sweet to our kids, was with us for about nine months and, man, they just do the good ones. They become part of your family. And it really was like talk about a game changer Cause our first trial with um, you know, a nanny supporting our home wasn't amazing.

Speaker 1: 11:23

It just wasn't a personality fit and you don't know what. You don't know until you go through that experience. That's the same way hiring somebody, right, you're like, okay, this person looks great on paper but like I don't really know what type of personality I need to fit this dynamic best, until you totally understand. And so for us, you know, going back to Steve and I just like slapping hands and being like all right, it's your turn to go hang with the kids. It has been a really interesting challenge, and so I'm noticing that that transition time, for me particularly, is the heaviest need. So before I go from my desk to downstairs, I need to get myself together in some kind of either physical activity, whether that's stretching or breathing exercise or something to just be like okay, you're going to walk downstairs, it's going to be a madhouse. We need to just like keep it together. So does your husband stay home with the kids.

Speaker 2: 12:24

You said when did that? Has that always been the case?

Speaker 1: 12:27

Oh yeah. So since we had the kids, so he, when Frank was born, he was transitioning out of the military and Steve stayed home ever since. Like he hasn't worked since he was in the military. Last year he did a one year organic farming program and so he was out and like working on a farm, but it was like part of his education and all of that and he was out three days a week.

Speaker 1: 12:51

So that was actually the trigger because I was like we can do this, we can raise the kids, just you and me. And I was really similar with what you were sharing, taylor. I didn't want someone else taking care of my kid. It was like a really confronting thing and the kids were little. Jack was like eight months or so when we'd hired our first nanny. So it was like, you know, I didn't debate. Like you know, babies want their mom at that time, right, like I'm sure you're dealing with that with Stella, right, you hear them crying and you're like, oh my gosh, I just want to be with them.

Speaker 1: 13:24

So that was the trigger for us to go and get some support, because Steve was out of the house three days a week, all day, from like five in the morning to like 8 PM, and so that was a big thing and we were like, okay, what is? What is this maybe going to look like? But this year he's not in the program, which is really great because it was just a year. But we're selling our house, so he's like putting trees in the ground and like painting, molding and doing a whole bunch of house projects, and so he needs some of that bandwidth to get our house ready to go on the market literally next week literally Gosh.

Speaker 2: 13:51

I understand how much work that is, so yes you need help.

Speaker 1: 13:54

It is so crazy. And Jessica, our wonderful nanny, she was like I have this wonderful opportunity to go to South Carolina.

Speaker 2: 14:00

We were like, go we're so happy for you and we're totally going to cry when you. I know, right, it's really hard and I think in our heads also, before having kids, we run this online business where we create this lifestyle where we can do whatever we want whenever we want, and you just think that kids are just going to slide right into that life and be like this is what I created, it's going to be easy. Then you do it and you're like this is the furthest thing from easy. I can't juggle it all and my brain feels I feel like I'm in a blender. That's the only way I could explain it. It was like I'm being a mom and running a business and I think it's possible. You just have to have help. Like you have to have support, whether you pay for it, whether it's your partner, whether it's, you know, your parents, whatever that needs to look like. You need to just surrender and get some help.

Speaker 1: 14:48

Yeah, totally. I wish we knew that a little bit earlier and I've definitely been a huge proponent, like on the show here, about like getting help and like even just asking, right, like just being like, hey, listen, this is what we need. And then not being like cause that can get tough too with family, right, a lot of people, I think, will ask their family for support and their families like we don't want to watch the kids three days a week. It could strain that relationship. So it feels like it's a lot to admit and or like deal with all at once, especially like what you were saying, when you're sleep deprived, when the hormones are crazy.

Speaker 1: 15:23

But I want to talk about like doing things differently and not being normal, because I think a lot of what we went through and it sounds like our transitions into motherhood were super similar.

Speaker 1: 15:35

But for us, I had a really hard time with the not normalness of what was going on, because a lot of what you read, a lot of the support out there whether it's like mom, facebook groups or any of the things they really do gear, because the majority of people are in this situation their content, their support, their help toward people who are working jobs or stay-at-home moms or whatever that looks like for them. But for us it looks a little bit different, and so I had a really hard time embracing the abnormality of what we do, in the sense that I know we're doing it like a quote-unquote harder way, we're doing it a more difficult way so that we can reap some of the rewards of working for ourselves and having some of that freedom. So what was that like for you, embracing the abnormality of like what you guys are doing and how you're raising your family?

Speaker 2: 16:23

I love that question because I don't know about you, but where I'm from, everyone is very traditional. Everyone does the thing that everyone else does and, like I said earlier, we get really great maternity leaves. So everyone takes a year minimum, like that is minimum, and so all the friends that I've made, like mom friends, are all on mat leave and so they want to get together and I'm like sorry, like I have to work, like I have meetings, and you know their priorities look a lot different than mine. You know the things that they're talking about, that they're worrying about, don't even I, don't even have capacity to think about those things, and so it's very different in terms of setting my priorities compared to other people, and it's so natural that we just compare ourselves to other people, especially in my childhood.

Speaker 2: 17:06

But I think I always have to remind myself like I wouldn't change our situation for anything, like I do not want to be on maternity leave right now and my husband working nine to five. That is not fun for me. I think I would just be lonely alone by myself with my baby and then have to like go into this complete identity shift at 12 months, going back to work nine to five and having to do daycare Like that is absolutely not what I want. So I do have to check myself a lot and be like, although it's hard, it's still not that hard, you know compared to the quote normal life.

Speaker 2: 17:39

But you know, as we've been really thinking about how we want to do things differently, when we found out we were pregnant, we really slipped into the normal, the normalcy thing, and to the point where we moved to the suburbs, we rented this house in this cardboard box community and we were like, okay, like we're going to live here and we're our kids are going to go to school here and we're going to meet neighborhood friends and they're going to like live the life that we did.

Speaker 2: 18:07

And we started to kind of come out of this fog of newborn life and we're like, okay, we want to start traveling again and we want to do all these things. And we were like life. And we're like, okay, we want to start traveling again and we want to do all these things. And we were like what are we doing? Like why are we doing all these normal things that we thought were normal, and living in this big house in the suburbs and, you know, want to send our kids to school and we're on daycare lists and dah, dah, dah. And we're like that is the complete opposite of what we really really wanted before. And so we really again had to check ourselves and we were like this isn't what we want. So since realizing that probably four or five months ago actually it was, yeah, in the new year we decided to move back to our property in the city, which is totally our vibe. We get to walk everywhere and go to coffee shops and live that life. It has a basement apartment so we can kind of basically live for free. We can travel way easier because we're not in this big house that's sitting empty and it's way more aligned with our life.

Speaker 2: 19:07

And then, thinking about school, we've been thinking about homeschooling and we get a lot of pushback from people and, like I was saying to you before we started recording Alison, it's like we as parents, I think, work so hard to not screw these kids up and we think, like 20 years down the line, we're like oh, how do I do everything I can to make them the best version of themselves possible, and the only way that we know how to do that is to do what everyone else is doing. So maybe that's normal school, normal daycare, normal, all these things. That's like the safe route because we know that everyone else is going to do that, so we can't screw them up that bad. But when we think about doing things differently. Maybe it's homeschooling or traveling with them or whatever, like hiring nannies.

Speaker 2: 19:51

That feels so different and you get a lot of pushback, and so we're really working through that right now, like family planning how many kids do we want to have? What does this look like for the lifestyle that we want to have for us and them? What does that look like versus this normal suburb, normal life thing? Right, and so it's been really challenging and I feel more aligned now than I have over the last 10 months, because we've really figured out what it is that we want and how do we want to be different and what does this look like and feel like? And focusing on that and not listening to everyone else.

Speaker 1: 20:28

What's the filter look like for pushback? Because I'm sure I mean, whether it's family, friends, I mean, I'm sure that's hard.

Speaker 2: 20:34

Yeah, it's more like subtle messages, right? It's like we're talking about traveling and all our friends are like oh you better travel now, cause you only got three and a half four years till they start preschool. I'm like, well, we may not put them in preschool. Like what do you mean? It's like, well, we might homeschool them. They're like oh huh, you know it definitely breaks people's brains a little bit.

Speaker 1: 21:01

And I think, too, there's an interesting thing that I've observed with folks. When you tell them that you might be like homeschooling for us as a particularly hot button issue, frank is for, they're asking us like you know what, what schooling he's going to go to, or do they have pre-K programs? And I'm like, honestly, I don't know. And I'm like, honestly, I don't know, I have no idea. And the fact of it is like we're moving as well, so like we're 100% pursuing homeschooling, and I always feel like, especially I don't know if you can relate to this, taylor, but like in the very beginning of running your own business, like the first full year, I feel like maybe even 18 months, you're really just proving to yourself that you can do it Right. Like that's like, that's like what it is. You're like, is this viable? Can I make money? Can this be profitable? Do I even have the guts right To get this thing off the ground? And like that's how I feel, like it is with parenting in a lot of ways. Is that and it's not just one and done, of course right? There's like these, like interesting moments in the kids growing up and those decisions that you make and those early stage moments you're like is this viable?

Speaker 1: 22:01

So for us, we're trying to figure out is homeschooling viable? And you know what, if it's not, school is there we can figure out other things. And so I think there are folks who, when we explain this to them, they're like well, do you think you can homeschool? I'm like that's not what this is Like. It's not just all my information up in my brain or all Steve's information up in his brain. It's like there are tutors, there are online programs, there are curriculums that you can purchase and so you can get really creative with how you do that. And I think for us, like, maybe it was like this for y'all growing up, but like every homeschooler was like a quote, unquote, weirdo, 100%.

Speaker 2: 22:43

But like, what is that? It's not like that anymore and I think like it depends on how you're approaching it. For you, you're moving, you're traveling, you're doing all these cool things with your kids. They're going to learn so much right, and what Jamie, my husband, and I talk a lot about is like we didn't like school. Neither of us did. I was more book smart, so like I excelled at school, but I did not like it, and he was the opposite, not book smart, hated it. So we're like why are we going to put our kids into this environment that both you and I did not like? And we've worked so hard to be different and our kids can learn so many things not be structured in the nine to five like everyone else and just like, do things different. Like why not? Why not try it? And, like you said, there's always school, like, yeah, why not? Like it's fine, there's nothing wrong with it. But we've chosen a different path and we're doing ourselves a disservice if we don't try it. We don't try things differently.

Speaker 1: 23:44

Right Totally, I think, when it comes down to it too, like being flexible and like able to adapt and change with the kids and their needs, and all of those things like if you keep like ownership over that right as the parents and you're like okay, if they're excelling in this subject, we can get them a tutor in this direction, or we can kind of like help them through some of the other areas.

Speaker 1: 24:07

I find that, especially when you get into larger school systems, there's just like way less customization for kids who have maybe any issue and then all of a sudden there's like a label put on them that like they're not good at math and like even my husband like legitimately to this day, I kid you not he like designed this so behind me here, which not many people know, this is a Murphy bed. I'm in my guest room, beautiful room, gets the best natural light in the entire house. So he built this, built in for me and all of the physics that needed to go into like the actual build. He custom designed everything and then the thing folds down, but he was told his entire school career that he wasn't good at math.

Speaker 2: 24:47

Right, that's ridiculous.

Speaker 2: 24:49

So it's been playing in his head Like what has held him back over his life.

Speaker 2: 24:54

It's so interesting Like my mother-in-law is a French teacher here and obviously she knows the school system and has worked in the school system. So I ask her a lot like what do you think about homeschooling? Or like French immersion versus English and all these things, and she's very like I think you should homeschool, Like there's nothing wrong with that. And you know she talks a lot about the system and how the system is flawed and things like that, which makes me more confident in our thought process to homeschool or whatever that looks like, because she legit is a teacher teaching small children and she doesn't agree with the system. So I'm like obviously there's something going on here. But yeah, you're right, If your kids show interest in what, if they're really good at piano, like allow them to crush piano and work on that for hours a day and get tutors and like really go all in on that, versus try and be all perfect at everything, single subject and compare themselves to everyone else in the class and I don't know. It just feels a little backwards.

Speaker 1: 25:54

It does, and you know it's interesting.

Speaker 1: 25:57

I think you've used the word safe a couple of times regarding the burbs house and the going to school and doing things the way other people are doing them, and I was recently reading a book about like safe financial investments and it's like put all your money in the market and over fund a 401k and all those other things right, the traditional ways of like handling your finances, and the whole book was basically about the quote unquote safe thing isn't actually the way that you like keep the most handle over, like what your money is doing.

Speaker 1: 26:27

And so it was interesting because I think that, as parents, often we outsource our kids' education, our kids' health and all of the other things to some of these external systems and it feels quote unquote safe. But like I don't know about you, taylor, I see some of these families and like some of the kids are really struggling educationally with their mental health, with their physical health, like lots of overweight kids who are told that this is the way everybody does it and we're all just kind of trying to fit into this box and anybody who's quote unquote not normal, like to me, though, that doesn't feel safe, like I know it feels like what everybody else is doing so we can share with the struggle, but do you have some of that going on behind the scenes? You're like look, I don't know if I want my kid to be like everybody else's kid Totally 100%.

Speaker 2: 27:13

Yeah, it's funny. I was reading this thing online yesterday and it was talking about daycare and how the pros and cons of daycare and really like all the cons of putting your kid in the daycare system. Right, it's like this person was writing it from the perspective of she was a daycare provider and she was like I love the kids that I watched and dah, dah, dah, but like, really, we don't have time to care for individual needs for your children. If they're tired at 10 AM, well, they have to wait till 12 to have their nap and well, if they're crying and we can't get to them, well, you know, like we don't have the capacity and things like that. Right, it's like everyone just goes the normal route, puts their kids in what's the safest option, but what is that doing down the road? Really, we don't know. We don't really know things that people think is safe. It's it's more of just like conforming to what everyone else is doing and unless you have other options or create other options for yourself, then that's the system that you're going to go into, right it's.

Speaker 2: 28:19

It's really interesting when you, when you have the ability to take a step back and look at it in a different lens that no one else really gets the opportunity to do. It really makes you wonder. You know, like I always look at it in a different lens that no one else really gets the opportunity to do. It really makes you wonder. You know, like I always look at people who live in Europe and whatnot and look at their lifestyles versus ours in North America and they're vastly different, yes, very different. And it's family first. It's not hustle culture, it's, you know, family over everything, versus here it's not. And it's really, really interesting, I find.

Speaker 1: 28:53

It is, and you know, I don't know if you struggle with this and I'm curious, but like there is this I don't want to call it like judgment, or I often feel like and this could totally be me projecting, but I'm like I think a lot of folks, if we do something a little bit differently, oftentimes I feel like I'm met with this A resistance of like well, what do you mean? You're going to homeschool. And then B, it's like almost like well, who do you think you are Right? Like who do you think you are to homeschool, or who do you think you are to just go take your kids and travel and do whatever? And and travel and do whatever.

Speaker 1: 29:25

And oh, it must be nice. It must be nice to be able to just like feel really blase about everything. And I almost feel like there's, yeah, like this judgment that comes along with it, almost like we feel like we're doing something better or we feel like we're doing something that's like you know, again, must be nice, or it must be amazing to have these types of opportunities. And I look back at the days where, like I had no idea if my business was going to work, I had no idea if I was going to be able to make payroll.

Speaker 1: 29:49

I was like struggling very, very hard in those early years to be like, okay, wait, am I really actually going to like risk my entire family's financial security? Thankfully it was only me and Steve at the time, but like, is that what was happening in order for me to get here? So like, yeah, it must be nice now for me to not have to live under that crazy stress Do you feel like that a little bit where folks are just like, yeah, it must be nice for you to just be able to travel all the time and do all these things and homeschool your baby.

Speaker 2: 30:14

Yeah, and I think, because people don't see the struggle. They don't see the days that we cried and the days that we wanted to throw up because we were so stressed, or the days where we were calculating on a spreadsheet whether or not we were going to be able to pay our employees or what the what it was going to look like. You know, entrepreneurship is such a gamble and an educated gamble but it's not easy. And people just look at you at the end and say like, oh must be nice, but they just don't see the struggles and not that we have to share them. Like we don't have to share the struggles, but people just don't get us. They just don't see the struggles. And not that we have to share them, we don't have to share the struggles but people just don't get us. They just don't understand and they never will.

Speaker 2: 30:56

And I think I've often wasted so much energy trying to explain to people or convince people that I deserve it, or convince people that it was hard.

Speaker 2: 31:07

It was hard, it was hard, but I'm like they don't get it and they never will. So it's really not worth my energy. I might as well just enjoy the life that I have and enjoy the fruits of our labor. Because, like, I look at your business and like, wow, you guys are amazing, like that's so wonderful. But I also understand what went into that Totally and I understand what you would have gone through and nobody else gets that. So it's like I don't look at other people who are entrepreneurs and juggling it all and traveling and dah dah, dah as like lucky, like it's. Yes, there's a component of luck, but it's like that's the tip of the iceberg the amount of gunk that you had underneath that, stuff you had to work through and risks you took and all of the things that go into it. It's not worth wasting our energy trying to convince people that we deserve what we have, because as long as we believe that we deserve it, that's all that matters.

Speaker 1: 32:03

Man. I hope everybody listening replays like that section because I needed to hear that. When I was postpartum with Frank, I just remember feeling so much like I wanted people to understand me and so honestly, that was like half the reason why I launched this podcast. I was like I need to talk with women who understand what it's like and how challenging it can be and how much you need to believe in yourself. And even when that's really hard, right, when you're like I'm doing everything wrong or I feel like everything's imploding. So I appreciate you sharing that, because I think I always say that these are like my little therapy sessions and I think a lot of times it is hard, it's hard to dig deep, it's hard to let go of that need for other people to understand you or approve of what you're doing and at the end of the day, right, it's all about you know what we know is best for us and for our family and for you.

Speaker 2: 32:56

Know the growth of all that Yep, I agree, and I always picture my daughter growing up and looking back on what we were like as a family and I always have to try and keep that top of mind. It's like I want her to feel like proud and that we went for it for her and that we did things differently for her and for us. And I don't want to ever get to a point where I'm like we almost lived this dream life that you could have had and her be like, well, why didn't you do it? And me be like, well, I just wanted to do what everyone else was doing.

Speaker 1: 33:34

Her being like what the heck you know? Or like even looking back. I said this to Steve at one point and I think it got misunderstood when I shared it another time in like a family setting. But I was like I never don't want to do something because of my kids. Like, imagine that even if I didn't do something and I didn't outwardly tell our children that I didn't do it because of them, but in my, in my mind, I just like built that silent resentment of like oh, we can't do this because we have kids. Or imagine because I'm filming content, I'm guesting on podcasts, I'm speaking on stage. Imagine I share a story and I'm like, oh yeah, I didn't do this because I had kids, or we did whatever because I had kids. And then they hear that as an adult and they're like, oh, wow, I held my mom back. How would that feel to them? Truly, how would that feel?

Speaker 2: 34:20

Yeah, I agree, and I like that perspective because it makes you fast forward your life to a point where you've already done the things. And you have to really catch yourself, because you're so in the moment, right, like things are just like building up and you're like you create these stories in your head and you're like, oh, but like maybe I shouldn't because the kids and I want to spend time with them, and you're like, no, you have to catch yourself and say like in 10 years, in 20 years, what do I really want this to feel like? And I think that's such a helpful reminder for all of your listeners because, yeah, I also don't want my daughter to think that she held me back, because it's the complete opposite.

Speaker 2: 34:58

We're doing this to be like I want to spend more time together and I want to build relationships together and I want us to be like best friends and for us to be able to do that. It can't be like such a divide where she held me back. That would just that would not be a positive relationship. So I love that perspective of like I never want to do something, not do something because of kids, and I think it's it's all perspective, it's all how you look at it. Most people who are moms that I know are like oh, it's so tiring having kids. Oh, it's so tiring. Of course it is Like did you think it was going to be easy? No, but like, look at, like, change your perspective. It's, you know, same with business.

Speaker 1: 35:42

Like we didn't think it was going to be easy, no, maybe I did in the beginning Maybe I was like, oh wow, everybody's banging down my door for this thing and, right, like I think like the early uptake you said you were accidental like in agency life, I was too and it was because I had such early stage success. And so I was like, oh cool, this is just going to be a compounding effect. And then there was like a plateau where I was like, oh shoot, I really need to work at this. And so I feel like that was probably true too. Like I remember the newborn stages with Frank, particularly like hormones and showers and all that stuff aside, like he slept a lot, and I was like, oh, this is kind of neat. Like the first couple of weeks I was like, oh, this is kind of neat. Like he's really not that bad of a baby, this isn't as bad as everybody says.

Speaker 2: 36:31

And then all of a, I was like, oh my God, but how cool is it? Like I feel like running a business is 10 times harder than having a baby. I don't know about you, but like, yeah, they're hard in different ways. Yeah, like I think running a business just prepares you for the unknown of like you're just, you just have to embrace the unknown and that shit's going to go sideways and you just have to figure it out. And business prepared me in that sense before I had a baby. And now I'm like, meh, we'll figure it out, you know totally.

Speaker 1: 36:59

I agree with you. That business taught me that A I could do a lot of stuff I didn't think I could do. That's number one.

Speaker 1: 37:05

I was like okay, I could do this and even birth and that whole process. I was like, whoa, that's what I can do. It was like really, really empowering feeling, and I remember from there it was like, okay, we can figure this out. Like there are definitely stressful times, like when we get in the car I say this all the time Like if I can't get my kids in the car in under 20 minutes, like there is very, very liable for a meltdown for me.

Speaker 1: 37:25

I'm like oh my gosh, everybody just get in the car. But anyway, Taylor, I am so grateful that you joined me today on the show For folks listening where can they follow along with you? And Jamie and Stella, Amazing Well, thanks so much for having me on.

Speaker 2: 37:39

This was so great Like this made my whole week talking about something other than account management. I just I love this, so let's do this more. You can connect with me on LinkedIn, taylor McMaster, or over on our website, dot and companyco, but please reach out. If you're a mama and you're struggling or just need an ear, I'm here.

Speaker 1: 38:00

Taylor, you are amazing. I'm so grateful to be pals and to be together on this journey because you are just such an incredible mom and business owner. Thank pals. And to be together on this journey because you are just such an incredible mom and business owner. Thank you Right back at you.

Speaker 1: 38:19

Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode of Growing Pains. I know that you have so many things vying for your attention right now, so I am so grateful that you just spent the last hour or so with me. So I hear all the time from mompreneurs Allie, allie. What systems do I need to have in place in order to thrive in business and in parenthood? If you go over to allisoncaffreycom checklist, you can grab my kid-proof business checklist and it will get you started in the right direction around making sure that you build a business that doesn't steal all of the time away from your family. If you loved today's episode, I would be so, so, so honored if you would leave a review on the podcast. It helps us reach even more incredible mompreneurs just like you and give them the resources they need to be wildly successful in business and wildly present at home with their families. Thanks so much again and I'll see you next time.