Overcoming "Mompreneur" Overwhelm: 16 Tips for Balancing Motherhood and Entrepreneurship

Navigating the teeter-totter of motherhood and entrepreneurship is an art form, one that comes with its own set of brushes and colors. I'm Caroline Balinska, your guide through the complex world where business meets bedtime stories. Join me as I open up about my own struggle with balance, while offering 16 practical tips to help you harmonize the demands of nurturing a business alongside raising a child. From leveraging the magic of automation to setting boundaries that honor your time with family, we'll explore ways to keep your professional success on the rise without missing those precious moments that make life sweet.

Life throws curveballs, and as a parent, I've caught my fair share. Sharing my story of loss, stability, and the illusions of perfection, I pull back the curtain on the real-life challenges and judgments that come with the territory. You'll hear how a consistent podcasting effort can offer stability amidst life's chaos, and why the gilded stories of success that flood our feeds often conceal the hard truths of personal struggle. This episode is a heart-to-heart on persevering through the unexpected twists of life, and a reminder that even when the going gets tough, there's a community here to support you.

Self-care isn't selfish—it's essential. As mothers and entrepreneurs, it can be challenging to carve out time for ourselves, but I'm here to show you how integrating fitness and mindfulness into our daily routines can have a transformative impact. I'll share innovative ways to weave self-care into the fabric of your busy life, ensuring your well-being is never on the back burner. And for those ready to take their personal and business growth to the next level, I'll introduce the 14-day challenge and coaching options that can help you streamline your life for success. Tune in for an episode that's as much about building businesses as it is about nurturing the soul.

Transcript

Caroline Balinska: 0:00

I still haven't met anyone that can honestly say they don't have some of that guilt. What I've decided to concentrate on is automation and how to automate a business, because with AI these days it is mind blowing what can be done on automation and also it's really important that number four is make sure you're ruthless. I'm only sharing this with you because I just want you to know that there's a whole world of smoke and mirrors at the moment that we see all these like wonderful people. In each episode, we'll unravel the strategies, tactics and insider secrets to elevate your marketing to new heights From lead generation to automation, to positioning yourself as the expert, to client retention. I've spent years in the trenches learning the ins and outs of the marketing world. Now I'm here to share my knowledge and invite other experts to help you create a thriving and fulfilling business that you're passionate about. This is the More Clients, less Hustle podcast. We'll be turning your business dreams into reality. Are you ready? I'm Caroline Balinska, your host. Let's dive in and transform your business dreams into reality. Are you ready? I'm Caroline Balinska, your host. Let's dive in and transform your business together.

Caroline Balinska: 1:09

Welcome back to the podcast, and I'm so excited to be here again. It has been about six weeks since I last did an episode. I'm going to explain to you why that is what's happened. It's a little bit raw and a little bit emotional, but I'll do my best to hold my tears in, and today I really wanted to talk to you about balancing motherhood and a business. There is a lot about this podcast that I'm passionate about. If you already know, I do have another podcast about life, on purpose over 40. I created that podcast really about the whole change of life and how important it is to us, as women, to understand that we need a purpose and we need to understand how to do life in the best way we possibly can for ourselves, and so that podcast is all about lifing, how to be an adult, but this podcast is all about how to make the most out of your business time, how to get the most out of everything that you do without the hustle. I have known how to hustle. If you know anything about my past, I was the best hustler in the world. I used to work 70, 80 hours a week, and that was just on a average week for me. I know how to work really hard and I really, really enjoy it, except since I had my daughter. I understand that I don't have that time anymore. I don't even want that time anymore. I really, really want to spend time with my daughter. So in today's episode, I'm going to give you 16 tips on how to make the most out of balancing motherhood with your business, and we're going to go into a little bit of, I guess, my story.

Caroline Balinska: 2:47

I've been in business for over 25 years and I help a lot of entrepreneurs with their businesses, so I can give a lot of advice based on what I've been through, but also what I've seen other women go through. So my number one question that I get asked from women is how on earth do you do it? How on earth do you run a business and be a mom at the same time? I used to get asked this before I was a mom. I spent six years being a step-mom and at that time I was actually balancing between my business and when the kids were with us 50% of the week. I would make sure I wasn't working on my business. So my business was run around the schedule of um, that we had our stepkids, that we had my stepkids, and now it's a little bit different. Most of them have moved out and we've only got one left, but we've got my daughter as well full time. So now things have changed again, so I can give you a lot of information on things that I've seen work well, things that I've seen not work well. So today there's 16 tips to help you do a easier job of being a mum and a business owner.

Caroline Balinska: 3:50

So let's get into it. So the first thing that I wanted to mention is that there's a lot of talk about whether to have your own business or to work for someone else. I am aiming this more at people who are business owners. However, I just want to say that there's a lot of pros and a lot of cons both ways. So, yes, being working for someone else can be really fantastic. Sometimes I'm jealous of my friends when they have really great jobs and they get to go home at five o'clock and that's it. However, I also think that being an entrepreneur, being a business owner, also has a lot of upsides. So I don't think that one's ever better than the other, but I think that, depending on what you need from your life, you need to choose which one's better, and if you go through this process with me and you find out that you are not actually better off being a business owner, then that's also okay. You can try this out, and maybe it's not for you.

Caroline Balinska: 4:43

But what I do think out of everything that I've learned? And I came back from maternity leave and I really I did my podcast life on purpose, but I was thinking what else did I want to do with my time? And I really assessed do I want to work for someone else or do I want to work for myself and for me? I think the biggest benefit for me is being able to set my own hours, and that means that every single day I set my own hours. But that means that I have to be accountable to me and people ask me how do I get out of bed and do my work? Like, how do I actually keep myself accountable? It is something that I am very good at for myself. It's not something that I find a huge chore. However, what I do find a chore sometimes is trying to not so much wanting to work. It's more sometimes so many other things getting in the way.

Caroline Balinska: 5:33

I'm not the woman who does my washing over my business. I've never been that person, except I do know a lot of women that do that, and that's one thing that I've had to help women understand that sometimes it's good to go do a load of washing when you want to get your mind off things, but using that as a constant excuse is really not a good way to go, and that's where I always believe in getting housekeepers to help you. Getting some sort of help is always a better way to go about those sort of problems. I can also tell you that no matter what you do, no matter what you choose, you're always going to feel guilty. That is just part of, I guess, being a mom, and it's something that you're always going to have to deal with. People who say that they don't go through that are most likely lying to you if they're working and they're being a mom. I still haven't met anyone that can honestly say they don't have some of that guilt, and a lot of it is our own, in our own heads. However, some of it is things that we can actually work on to make a difference too, and that's where these tips come in. So my 16 tips are going to help you understand how you can do those things better If you're a young mom with kids under the age of 16,. Keep listening, because tip number nine is going to be something that I don't ever hear anyone talk about, but I know it's a fantastic one for anyone that struggles with mom guilt. So keep listening. It's a really really good tip for, like I said, anyone with kids under 16. And also, tip number one is really, really important. So listen on in. There's a lot of great advice here. It's stuff that, like I said, I have learned over the years, but also things that other moms have told me as well.

Caroline Balinska: 7:13

I have worked for myself, as I said, for over 25 years and I had a three and a half year break on maternity leave and over that time I, like I said, I sold my business, and the reason why I did that was that I knew if I didn't do that, I would still be working in my business. I wanted the opportunity to spend time with my daughter and just raise her for that first couple of years. I'm so lucky I got that opportunity. So many people don't get that chance. So many people can't do it because of financial situations. There might be other situations as well, so for me I could do it and I'm really grateful that I could. I still had this like really small inkling of thinking should I be working? And on the backside of that, coming back into work, because I did sell my business, I had to start again from scratch. So there's an upside to keeping your business. There's a downside to it, look. There's just never to keeping your business. There's a downside to it, look. There's just never the right answer. It's the right answer for yourself, and that's one thing that I'm going to stress to you from the very beginning of this is that all of my 16 tips are based on what I see generally, but you need to work out what works best for you.

Caroline Balinska: 8:19

So I'm going to give you a little bit of a backstory of what's happened to me over the last sort of six months, maybe a bit more. It's probably been. It all actually started at nearly two years ago, but it's sort of in the last six months has sort of come to a head, and the last six weeks it's been at its worst. So I found out about a year and a half ago I was going through menopause and perimenopause and that was a struggle for me. I was trying to get pregnant again and found out I was going through perimenopause. So my daughter is a miracle. I'm going to see the bright side of it and just be so thankful that I have the most gorgeous girl in the world and be really grateful and see all the benefits to just having the one child myself.

Caroline Balinska: 9:01

I hear it a lot from people that talk about these people who choose not to have children or choose not to have more than one, and it's not. I don't think anyone should be judging anyone else's situation. My situation is out in the open. I did not choose this situation, but I'm going to look at the bright side of it rather than sit there thinking about what could have been and realize that now I have a lot of great opportunities only having to deal with one child at home with me for the next 18 years, rather than having two or maybe three. So that was the start of my journey and then since then I've had a lot of things come up over the years.

Caroline Balinska: 9:40

At the last year and a half and about six weeks ago, I put out my first episode of this podcast and I was really happy, really proud. If you know anything about me, I used to have another podcast. I sold that business. I actually help a lot of other entrepreneurs with their podcasting and I love podcasting and this podcast was going to be my new podcast that I was so excited about. I got an episode out on a Monday and I was like, yes, finally I've got it out and I'm going to start this journey and this was part of my, this is part of my marketing strategy for my business. It's what I teach people how to do is podcasting, but I also use it for my own business as well.

Caroline Balinska: 10:18

I, like I said, I sold one podcast. It's been very successful. It's still successful with the new owner, and when that episode went out on the Monday, I was really, really happy and I have got this rule and I teach everyone this rule and I stand by it myself is that you have to be really consistent. Once you get an episode out, you have to get one out every single week. That was on the Monday and on the Thursday, wednesday, I think it was the Wednesday. Two days later, I got a phone call that my mom had just had a major stroke and she was dying and she was not going to survive. So I jumped on a flight and went back to Australia to catch her at her last moments. I made it and I had those last moments with her, which was fantastic.

Caroline Balinska: 10:58

However, it also has sent me into a tailspin in every other part of my life as well. On top of that, a lot of other things have happened. There's a whole lot of family dramas going on. There's that whole you know problems in the relationship which anyone who's been in a long-term relationship knows. No relationship is perfect and I've had all of these like layers on top of layers, that have been going on and it's really thrown me. It's thrown me, it's really thrown me, and I guess the only thing that's been completely stable in my life has been my daughter, and she's been keeping a smile on my face this whole time and I've had a lot of happy moments because of her.

Caroline Balinska: 11:36

But everything else around me has been in an upheaval and even this morning, I just got a really bad, crushing bit of news that has just taken the next thing to the next level, and I wasn't even going to record this episode today because of what I heard this morning and I had to look inside myself and just say, with all of this going on, it is what it is, life is what it is, and all of these things that are happening around me are things that I don't have any control over. I have zero control over everything that is going on and the things that I did have control of, such as my perimenopause, I have taken the control back of that and I've taken care of that and I'm working on that. The other areas of my life are really areas that I have done my part for, and everything else I can't help. So, after the more crushing news this morning and realizing that particular thing is completely out of my control, no matter how sad and stressful it is, I cannot do anything to resolve that, cannot help it. I cannot do anything, and so I realize I need to get on here and just go on with what I'm doing.

Caroline Balinska: 12:48

I'm only bringing this up not because I want to share all of my personal life. I'm not here to share all of my personal life. I'm only sharing this with you because I just want you to know that there's a whole world of smoke and mirrors at the moment that we see all these like wonderful people doing wonderful things, and it's so true. There's people doing wonderful things. I've got some clients of mine at the moment who are doing amazing things and what they show on the outside. They are doing on the inside as well, like I see behind the scenes and I know that they're actually getting that success.

Caroline Balinska: 13:19

So I don't want to say no one is real out there. There are real people out there. There are real people out there. There are people that are like really lucky and doing amazing things. But there's also people out there that are showing you one side of their lives and showing you how fantastic things are.

Caroline Balinska: 13:35

I'm not someone out there showing things. I don't post much out there at all when it comes to my personal life. I actually don't even post much for my own family and my own friends personal life. I actually don't even post much for my own family and my own friends. I'm just not the person that cares too much about being on social media for my personal stuff. But there are people out there that are showing off a lot of amazing things and I know that some of these people are just lying, and the reason why I know that is because I have these people coming to me and asking me privately for help. Like, oh my God, I've got this business and when you look at it from the outside, it looks fantastic, and then they show me the real numbers on the backend and they're not getting the business that they want to be getting.

Caroline Balinska: 14:16

They're not getting the clients that they want to be getting. They're not getting the results that they want to be getting and I have to help them build that up. So I've got some clients that come to me not because they're failing or because they're not getting enough business, but because they want to grow. And then I have a whole other lot of people who come to me because they are. They are failing, they're not making the numbers that they want to be making or that they're showing. So I want you to know that if you're listening to this, watching this, that you need to look into yourself and only worry about what you need to do and what you need from your life and be less worried about what's going on around the world. So that's my first tip. The first tip is forget what other people are doing. I'll give you some other examples.

Caroline Balinska: 15:01

I have a friend of mine. She has got her mother helping her with her kids. She has got her own business where she works for an hour. She has an amazing husband. She can work whenever she wants. She can work from home, she can work from the office and she's got all these amazing things going on.

Caroline Balinska: 15:18

I don't have anyone helping. I live in a different country. I don't have any family here. My partner doesn't have any family close to us, live in a different country. I don't have any family here. My partner doesn't have any family close to us. We get zero help. I don't get any help at all.

Caroline Balinska: 15:29

And I've got that friend of mine who's got all the help that she needs around her and at the same time there's times that she has to wake up at two o'clock in the morning, three o'clock in the morning or stay up all night because there's dramas in her business. So while there's a lot of good stuff going on in her life, she's also got the side of her business that's not fantastic. So we can't judge people based on just small snippets of information and we can't be jealous of other people Like I know people. I know a lot of people who get the help from there. You know they've got a sister that helps them out, they've got friends that help them out, they get government support and they get all of this help from other people. They cry poor to other people help me, help me, help me and they play the victim and they need help from everyone. They get their children running around and helping them. And then they turn around and they still say I don't get any help and I need more help and I need more.

Caroline Balinska: 16:24

And I sit there and I look at, I'm horrified by these people. I'm still horrified by these people, but at the same time, they are them and if they choose to live that life, if they choose to play the victim, if they choose to play the person who deserves all this help, so be it. That's their problem, that's the way they want to live, that's the person that they want to be. And, at the end of the day, it's not my problem, it's not my problem to solve, it's not my problem to deal with. And it's not my problem. It's not my problem to solve, it's not my problem to deal with, and I'm going to look after myself and know that I'm doing the best for myself and my family. So, forget what the influences are doing. Forget what the people that you went to school with are doing. Forget what the other people in your life are doing, that your neighbors are doing. Just look on what you can do, what you can do better and what you can change.

Caroline Balinska: 17:09

So that is my first tip of being a mother and having a business, and if this is something that still bothers you, then look at, uh, go to YouTube and look up um stoic quotes, um store a stoic tips, because there's a lot around that as well. I'm actually going to be putting out a podcast episode on my life on purpose over 40 podcasts about stoic quotes and how to look at the world in a different way and I'll explain all of that on the podcast, because I think that that's something that it really helps me get grounded and helps me understand what is important to me and what's important to my life and my values, and to forget what else is going out there in the world. The second tip I have for you is I'll try to keep these as short as possible. Now, that first one's really important, but I'm going to try to keep these as short as possible. So the second one is be clear about what balance looks like to you.

Caroline Balinska: 18:04

Again, forget what everyone else is doing. Think about yourself. What is balanced to you Is balanced to you. Working Monday to Friday nine till five is balanced to you. Taking a day off during the week so you can be with your kids during the week is balanced to you? Making sure that you work out, making sure I'm going to do a whole tip about working out and things like that as well but what is balanced to you? And forget the rules, forget these so-called rules that other people put in place.

Caroline Balinska: 18:30

You need to find your balance. That might mean for you working 10 hours a week. It might mean for you working 50 hours a week, but you do what's right for you and what's right for your family and what's right for I guess, also your partner, because you have to bounce off each other. Maybe your partner can fill in for certain hours that you can't be there. Maybe you need to travel for your work.

Caroline Balinska: 18:50

So you need to work out what balance works for you and stop looking at all these influencers who talk about I only work five hours a week. I only work 20 hours a week. I only work, and I can tell you some of those people are completely lying, like there's one particular person out there that I've been looking at and she talks about. If you read her actual post, one quote, like one post, is saying how she doesn't work more than four hours a week, and then in the next post, she's talking about how she puts in all these hours. So don't worry about what other people are doing.

Caroline Balinska: 19:20

Find the balance that works for you and stick to it, and this is why what I'm doing with the automating businesses this is why I'm so passionate about helping people automate their business is because I actually help people get as much of those tasks down into automated tasks, and then you concentrate on the tasks that actually matter for your business, and those are the ones such as talking to people one-on-one, doing the podcast, doing your social media videos, meeting new people, doing live events so you can meet people in person, whatever that might be for you, but automating so many things that people don't even realize that they can automate. And making sure that you are structuring your business in a way that you can work the optimum amount of hours for you and what you want to do in your life. So tip number three is audit what you're doing and outsource everything that you don't need to do. This is a huge one that I find most moms cannot do properly, and this, again like tip two, this is why I'm helping people automate their businesses, because there's so many parts of your business that you can automate. But then a big part of this for me is actually your home life. I cannot stress enough how much outsourcing your cleaning is important to you as a person, as a mom, as a business owner. For your own sanity, get rid of it, unless that is something you are passionate about. And if you're passionate about that, maybe you should make that your actual business. There are women I know that their whole business is revolving around cleaning and they love cleaning and they actually created a business around it. Fantastic, I love that.

Caroline Balinska: 21:01

I myself my partner has made jokes in the past like oh, you love to clean. I'm like, I hate cleaning. I cannot think of anything worse than cleaning. However, I do love to have a clean home, so I always think about the results. What results do I want? At the end, the result I want is a clean house. The result I want is ironed clothes. The result I want is I don't want to see my child walking around in crinkly, scrunched up clothes, so I make the effort to make sure that the clothes are done properly. I make the effort to make sure our house is clean.

Caroline Balinska: 21:31

It's not that I like cleaning, so I try to outsource as much of this as possible, and I can tell you that I still get stuck at times, and that's got to do with the fact that there's days where, for instance, there's extra cleaning. I live on a boat, we bought a boat and there's a saying in Dutch buy a boat and work until you're dead. That's literally the saying in Dutch. So there's so many things that come up there's. You know, there was a huge storm, so then our windows need extra cleaning and then the cleaners can't get in in time and I don't want to wait till the cleaners get in, so I clean it myself, and I do that a lot. Um, but I am working on this and I'm working really hard. But I can tell you the amount of women I know who do not have a cleaner at all it I can tell you that for me, I would rather have a cleaner than have a new pair of shoes this month or have new makeup or anything like that.

Caroline Balinska: 22:24

To me, the sanity of having a cleaner goes above everything, and if you work out the hourly rate for your cleaner compared to you doing it yourself, it is so much better. And look, if you're listening, shaking your head, I can tell you I've had this argument with friends of mine so many times. I've got some friends of mine that still refuse to listen to me on this tip and they still do it themselves. And then at the end of the week they're sitting there going oh I don't have time for anything, I don't have time to do my nails, I don't have time to do this, don't have time to do my nails, I don't have time to do this, I don't have time. And I'm like I keep on telling you get a cleaner. So if there's one thing, just one thing, that you outsource in your life, it is cleaning. Whenever you can you get a cleaner, the first money that you make with your business, get a cleaner, because that time you can spend on doing what you are good at rather than spending time cleaning. I cannot stress it enough. So that's my huge, huge, huge, huge stressor is get a cleaner.

Caroline Balinska: 23:17

Tip number four is make sure you're ruthless and you set boundaries. You need to set boundaries around what you can do. I've got a good friend of mine. She is in a very, very busy career. She's um don't want to get into her career because I don't want to talk about who she is, but I haven't asked her permission so I won't. But she's got a very, very high level career. So does her husband. They have this beautiful family. He's amazing, he's so helpful, but she tells me she still has to go and get um, go to her therapist to make sure her boundaries are set each week, not on a weekly basis, but she's constantly thinking about her boundaries. And here's someone that's so capable, she's so, so fantastic at everything and she's still having to negotiate her boundaries, even though she gets a lot of help from her partner. So if you're not setting boundaries properly, you need to.

Caroline Balinska: 24:10

I am the person who has struggled with this. I didn't understand boundaries for a long time. I talk about this on my podcast, life on Purpose over 40. I go into this about my own experiences. Boundary setting for me has been very, very difficult, and if you want to run a business and you have a family, you need to really understand boundaries. Something as simple as I am going to set a boundary around what time I'm going to have dinner on the table because of the fact that you need to work until a certain time and maybe you've got a family who's like mom I want dinner on the table earlier. I'm always hungry earlier. Well, maybe you change the dinner time, or maybe you just set a boundary and say sorry guys, you need to have a snack in the afternoon and I cannot be available to for you until X time. Or maybe you set a boundary around I need to exercise like I do. My boundary is I must exercise in the morning. If I don't get up and exercise, I'm not going to exercise that day. So I've got a boundary around that. So it doesn't matter for me if someone else wants something else from me or if a client wants something else. I actually make sure my workout is in before any of that happens, or I know I'm not going to do it. So set really strict boundaries with yourself and everyone around you.

Caroline Balinska: 25:25

Seek a support network. I cannot stress this one enough either. I think all of these tips, I'm going to say that. I cannot stress enough how much you need a support network. I have this with some friends of mine. I also know people that don't have this. They come into business and they haven't been an entrepreneur before, and they come into being an entrepreneur and suddenly they're in this like world of. Oh my God, I don't know what to expect. All my friends are stay at home moms or they work for other people and they don't get me. And then you're going back to those people and trying to get support from them and they don't understand what you're going through. So find a support network who understands what it's like being a business owner and a mom, because that's really, really important.

Caroline Balinska: 26:08

Number six is you are not your business. Find a hobby I. This was part of the reason why I sold my business while I was on maternity leave. I didn't want that to become my little side thing while I had my child and trying to raise her. Problem that I see with women all the time is they don't understand how much they're earning per hour because they have decided that their business is their little side project as well and it's their little hobby. So they spend all of this time and then we do the numbers and I've done this just recently with a client of mine where she was. She's very, very successful. She's doing a fantastic job, but we sat down and worked out her hourly rate based on what she was doing. She was blown away with how little she was actually earning per hour once we put all of the information together.

Caroline Balinska: 27:00

So if you are running your business and you're working. Let's say you're running your business nine till five, your kids are at school, or nine till three, your kids are at school. You're doing your business around your kids nine till three and then in the evening you decide to put in a few more hours. Then on the weekend you put in some hours and that's all well and good. But if you're not careful you might turn around and go hang on a second. I'm earning $7 an hour doing all of this extra work and if that's the case you need to put in automations. You need to put in other people that can do the job. Find some people on Fiverr or an Upwork that can work for you for five, six, seven dollars an hour and they can do the work. And you concentrate on the things that are really, really important in your business. Because if you're not careful you're going to turn your business into a hobby, and a hobby is something you do not get paid for. You do for fun, and if that's how you see your business, then call it a hobby but don't call it a business.

Caroline Balinska: 27:55

Tip number seven. Tip number seven is rest and reset. This one is very, very important. I have found this. I never had this when I didn't have my own daughter. I have found this a new thing in my life, but what I find is rest, and reset is so important.

Caroline Balinska: 28:11

I get to a certain time. Maybe it's the menopause that's doing it to me, I don't know. But what I'm really finding is that I get to a certain time where I'm like, okay, I'm going to work, work, work, work, work. I get to a certain time and my brain is just not functioning. Even if I have to get a task done, it's not functioning. And what I've learned is I just need to switch off. Usually, I just go and have a bath and I just switch off. And one of the biggest problems for me is I still in the past, I've still tried to just keep going on, keep going on, keep going. You're not good at that point. Stop what you're doing, rest, reset and maybe get up one hour earlier in the morning if you have to get something done urgently, or wait a few hours and do it later.

Caroline Balinska: 28:52

Have a nap in the afternoon. That's something that I think from breastfeeding and napping while I was breastfeeding, I was never a good napper because I always got up feeling groggy. But now, if I get to that point where I'm really really like I'm actually going to fall asleep right now. I actually just curl up in a ball and I go to sleep. I think I spoke about it on my other podcast one day that I did this one day and my daughter actually she was three at the time she picked up my phone and turned on my video camera and started filming me sleeping. I didn't even realize I'd fallen asleep. It was like 15 minutes and her just filming me going mommy's asleep, mommy's asleep, mommy's asleep and I accidentally saw this video back a few days later, laughing to myself, going, oh my God, that is just so not something that I would have done in the past, but I'm not going to feel guilty for it. Let's not feel guilty for needing that nap. I remember that day that I felt so much better after that nap. So rest, reset and then keep going. Okay.

Caroline Balinska: 29:46

Number eight is make sure you have automations in place for everything. I have, like I said, I have really after 25 years in business. I've been doing online marketing for over 20 years I can help you with any part of your business. Like you ask me for SEO help, you ask me for um social media help. You ask me for help on you. Name it. I can help you. Add anything you want I can help you.

Caroline Balinska: 30:10

What I've decided to concentrate on is automation and how to automate a business, because with AI these days, it is mind blowing what can be done on automation, and also it's really important that, if you can automate lots of your business, you have time to spend with your family, but also on the parts of your business that you're actually passionate about, because what I find is that so many people get stuck on all these mundane jobs or they're not sure how to do certain things and then, by the time it gets to client time working directly with your clients or camera work like this you end up not wanting to do it because of how you've dragged through all the other parts of your job that you don't want to do in your business. No one loves every part of their job. There's lots of things in your business that you're not going to love, so why not automate those things? And there's so much that can be automated. You'll be mind blown with what can be done, and this is why I sit down with people and automate so much of their business to automate as much of your business as possible. I cannot stress it enough. Now. This is a really, really good tip that I need everyone to hear. I've never heard anyone say it before, but I can tell you right now it's probably one of the biggest game changers.

Caroline Balinska: 31:24

Being a mom with a business, I have never, ever, I felt so good about outsourcing my daughter as I do for this reason, so it all hit me. A while ago. I used to. Actually, when I lived in Spain, I used to look after some girls for one hour a week and I used to teach them English. The mothers got together and they'd pay me for like a group of girls and I teach them English and we play games. And I really realized, because I live here in the Netherlands and my daughter's going to school in a Dutch school, but she only goes to the daycare two days a week, so she spends a lot of time with me and we speak English in this house. So her Dutch. It took her a while and she's she's at a good level of Dutch, it's not a problem. I make sure that the babysitters always talk to her in Dutch and it really made me realize that just today, while I'm doing this, I've got a babysitter here with my daughter that I didn't feel guilty about sending her away with the babysitter for four hours because I realized she's going to have four hours of Dutch.

Caroline Balinska: 32:24

I can tell you right now that learning a language, no matter where you are in the world, learning a language is so, so powerful, even if that child never uses that language. Let's say, you teach, I don't care like, choose a language. It might be a I don't know from the Solomon Islands, doesn't matter what language it is, but the way the brain actually processes learning a language and how it actually gives you a lot of other benefits in your world. Learning one language means that learning the next language is actually even easier. So whatever that first language is, doesn't matter what it is you can then get your child to learn another language even easier. I'm going to, once my daughter starts primary school, which is in a few months, I'm going to actually start getting her a French tutor and getting her to have French lessons with her babysitter and then that way, um, my daughter will have another language because her Dutch will be done at school by then. So she'll have English and Dutch and I'll get her a third language.

Caroline Balinska: 33:22

The thing is getting it as a babysitter is such a good idea because if you send your child to a school and the school is a one hour language per week whatever it is Japanese, french, spanish it's one hour a week in that class Really good. However, if you can get a babysitter and then what that babysitter is doing is playing games for that three or four hours that your baby's, your child's, with that babysitter, you can actually have that child immersed in this language for that time. Of course, get the babysitter who actually speaks your language as well, so then the child can communicate in both and doesn't get frustrated and upset. You don't want to let the babysitter keep talking to that child in that language if it's going to get upset, but over time the child's going to learn a lot. My friend does this with Japanese. Like I said, we're doing it with Dutch and it's so, so useful. So the babysitter can be there, you know, painting with the child or playing Lego with the child and talking in that language, and that child slowly picks it up.

Caroline Balinska: 34:21

When I was teaching English in Spain, I did exactly this. So I had this group of girls and it was only one hour, but we had a. It was a. It was an actual lesson, but it was all games, because how on earth do you teach a nine-year-old to sit there after they've been at school all day and read from a board? This is the word. This is the word. Instead, we just play games. I had little games and would play them in English, and the kids would learn. Or would get a little book, a magazine, a kid's magazine, and read through it. So there's so many great things that you can do where you will get so much less mom guilt knowing that your child is actually learning. Now, it doesn't just have to be a language, it can be so many things. Here's some other things you can do. You could have someone getting your child to bake cookies. You could just make that the experience.

Caroline Balinska: 35:06

Learning how to cook, and what I do with my daughter is learning how to measure. So at the moment, she's learning half so a full cup and a half cup so that, or cracking it how to crack an egg. My daughter started cracking eggs when she was two and a half, so she's actually really good at cracking eggs on her own. She now knows the pancake mix off the top of her head. She knows to go and get the eggs, she knows to get the milk, she knows to get the baking powder, she knows to get the flour, she knows exactly what goes into eggs, which bowls to get, so she can literally make pancakes on her own. The only thing she can't do is actually turn on the hot stove, and that's something you could have a babysitter do with your daughter or your son Also, just doing basic math, basic alphabet.

Caroline Balinska: 35:48

Another thing is gardening. Go and buy a couple of little pots they're like one or $2 per pot. Get a like a little tray and teach your child how to plant plants. Like. It might not be a language, but there's so many things that you can have a babysitter teaching your child as an extra skill that you can then feel good that, okay, maybe. Maybe in the perfect world we as moms should have been doing that, but hey, I don't know Dutch so I can't teach my daughter Dutch. And at the end of the day, if there's four hours there that, instead of saying to the babysitter, watch some TV, that child can be learning something with that babysitter. So I recommend that highly. I think it's a great way to actually remove that guilt while your child's learning something new.

Caroline Balinska: 36:30

Number 10 is priorities. What are your priorities in your life? I've worked mine out, I've got mine really really strictly on a list and my priority at the moment is my daughter. So, yes, I am working on days when she's here, when she's not in daycare she's only there for two days a week. So there's going to be times that I'm working when my daughter is actually with me. But the way I prioritize my day is that my priorities for myself. I'll get into health a little bit more in another tip, but I prioritize my exercise in the morning.

Caroline Balinska: 37:00

My daughter is during the day that I get certain time blocks with her If she's at home with me or I have a babysitter here with her and I make sure I prioritize like that. I make sure that on weekends we do stuff. I make sure every single day I take my daughter out, no matter what. We love the rain, we jump in the puddles and we prioritize our days based on her and her needs. But also I need to put myself somewhere there at the beginning. So first, I hate to say that I put myself first because I'm not that person. But at the end of the day, if I don't prioritize things like my health and my own needs, then it's very hard to be a good mom. So my daughter's up there with me and we make sure that that priority is important and when it comes to other things external to that, I do put them after all of those needs. And maybe for you that is, you know one of your, you know cousins or your aunts and you know you should be coming around every week to our weekly barbecue. And if that doesn't work for your situation, then don't do it. Don't feel like you have to, because the only thing that matters is you, your children and your partner. However that family unit looks, that is the only thing that matters and everything else is secondary to that little family unit.

Caroline Balinska: 38:14

Another tip for me that I find really important is communication. My daughter's three and a half, so how I communicate with her is probably very different or is very different from how I communicate, for example, with my 13 year old stepdaughter. It's also very different how I communicate with older kids. One of my step sons is 21. So the communication is different along the way. But communicating with your kids about where you actually stand with your work, I think is really important because I see it a lot where we sort of like keep it in this bubble of we won't communicate with our kids and they don't, like they're too young to understand. However, they're not, and it's a really good way to do it. So you know, when I was growing up, we actually worked in my father's business and we knew that it was really important that he had to go to work, that he had to make the money, but we spoke about it in ways that probably now I'll do it in a better way than they did it. But there were certain key aspects there that I understood about my father's business and it didn't matter how old we were, but we understood certain aspects.

Caroline Balinska: 39:10

So make sure you communicate with your kids, that you don't just get angry at them and say, oh, I have to work, or you know I'll play with you later, because later is not a timeframe for your child. So, communicating with you know I set alarms for my daughter, so then she knows I've got on the oven clock, I can set that time and show her. You know when that timer finishes. When you hear it, then you know that it's time for you and me and we do that. And you know I've got to do this with my business and this helps me with my business and if I can do this and later we can play together. Whatever that communication is, but make sure you communicate with your kids, because it does make a difference.

Caroline Balinska: 39:46

Tip number 12 is make sure that you unplug from everything and you spend time directly with your kids. This sometimes is really really hard if you're waiting for a client to contact you. I know how hard this can be, but you really need to unplug at times and give your child your full attention, your children your full attention, your partner your full attention and yourself the full attention. So this is not just about, oh, my kids need no, we all need time away from any sort of online phones, online stuff. Really unplug and make sure you get time. That is about that moment, and there's times when sometimes I think, oh, I should get my phone and get a photo of this because it's such a fantastic moment. Then I remember to myself, no, I can just have this moment and not make it about taking a photo of it, not about a memory. And sometimes I write things down. I've got a little list that I keep of little special moments that I didn't get on camera and that I can keep that as a memory for my daughter later on and sometimes I read back oh yeah, I remember that time. I don't have a photo of it, but I remember that. So unplug and spend time with everyone in your family without something on and that includes yourself. So you know, I have my bath where sometimes I just turn everything off and, you know, don't watch something, and I just get time to relax.

Caroline Balinska: 41:03

Another really good tip is having a situation of multitasking your business with your kids. We did this when I was growing up. I remember my mom did a lot in my dad's business where she would collate all the paperwork and have to put all these papers together and we would help her with that because we loved doing that. We didn't see it as a chore. We didn't see it as a job. We didn't get paid for it. We saw it as time with my mom to help her with what she was doing and we had fun doing it. So find those little tasks that you can get your kids to help you with. That will make a difference in your business.

Caroline Balinska: 41:35

One of my stepdaughters I actually get her to do some little video stuff with me. Sometimes she gets bored. She doesn't always want to do it. I've got the option there for her If she wants to get involved with my business stuff and help me. I have little things that she can do appropriate to her age, appropriate to her capability, appropriate to what she likes to do. But I also don't make it a chore for her. She doesn't have to do it. There's times when I've offered to pay her and she still doesn't want to do it. There's times when she just helps me out and she doesn't get paid for it. But if you start adding that multitasking thing into your business, you're going to have a child that's going to learn really good skills and you're going to have extra time with your child. So I think it's a really nice way to bring your business into your home life and having that connection. So tip 14 and 15 are going to be sort of in together.

Caroline Balinska: 42:23

So tip 14 is make sure you set schedules. Make sure you have a schedule, make sure you have a plan planning what's going to happen for the week, what's going to happen for two weeks. The amount of people that I meet in business who do not know what's going on next month in their business, as an example, when there's Black Friday coming up, or Valentine's Day coming up, or Mother's Day coming up the amount of people that come to me one week before the event and say, oh, I need help, carolyn, I want you to set up some ad for me for that, or I want you to set up a promotion for that or send out an email for that, and I'm like it's one week before the event. You should have already planned this out so you can just start. If you can automate your business now, then the time that you have left over, that you've automated so many processes, you can use that time, use your brain to think ahead and think what is going to happen in the next part of your business.

Caroline Balinska: 43:15

So planning out and scheduling is so important. Know what your week looks like and know exactly like okay, my kids have swimming on that day, they have to be at this party on that day. How can I work my schedule around that? Don't decide halfway through the day how it's going to look, because nothing will get done. Like that, you're never going to have any business time at all.

Caroline Balinska: 43:41

If you work like that, you need to schedule out your week in advance, your month in advance, and the way your week looks looks very different from how your day works. Your day is going to be more structured. Your week's going to be a little bit less structured, but still structured. Your month is going to be a little bit less structured, but it's still going to be structured. Your week's going to be a little bit less structured, but still structured. Your month is going to be a little bit less structured, but it's still going to be structured. Your year is going to be less structured, but you're going to have key points in there. However, if you don't have this sort of plan out, then it's going to be very hard for you. But then my next point, number 15, is be really flexible. So while you're planning all of these things, while you've got all these schedules in place, and while you have all of these like plans, grand plans, black Friday is going to look like this. Mother's Day is going to look like this. I'm going to do this. The kids have got holidays for these weeks, but I'm going to work the two weeks leading up to it and then everything's going to be fantastic.

Caroline Balinska: 44:30

How I just started this video is that my mom had a stroke and died right at the beginning of when I started this podcast journey and I got my first episode out and I was like, great, I'm going to put out an episode every single week. That completely turned the other way and it took me until today to actually get the mental strength back to be able to get into creating this podcast. I was not in any sort of frame of mind over the last like whatever six weeks to create a podcast. Every time I sat down to try I was like no, I just can't do it, I wasn't ready. So you as a mother, as a business owner, have to be ready for things in between. I haven't even said some of the other things that happened.

Caroline Balinska: 45:12

So there were so many things that happened over the last six weeks. My daughter ended up in an emergency twice in that time period as well. So once in Australia, when we got to Australia, we were at the hospital for my mom in the last few hours, and then two days later or the next night, she ended up at two o'clock in the morning. I had to take her to the emergency room because my daughter was like really, really unwell. We spent the night in the emergency room. So that happened. Then we came back and she was still sick, and then she got sick again and these things happen. Things happen to us as humans, things happen to us as business owners, things happen to us as moms, and we have to be ready that, while we have all these plans, we also have to be ready for flexibility of things going wrong along the way and things changing. So, as bad as it is for people who don't have plans, I think sometimes it's harder for the people that have too many plans and too much of a structured life and then things go wrong and it really throws them out. So be ready for anything that might come up in your journey on the way.

Caroline Balinska: 46:14

Okay, before I get into tip 16, I just want to tell you at the end of this. I want to give you a little bit more information about how the next couple of months are going to look in this podcast. It's really exciting and I want so much to share with you. These podcasts are free. If you're enjoying this so far, please subscribe to this podcast, because it means a lot to me to know that you're actually finding it interesting. It helps me know which episodes are the best. It helps me understand what I should be doing better or differently. So please like this video. If you like it, leave a comment, tell me. Maybe you've got some other tips that I haven't shared in this, and if you've got some ideas of things that are really important to how you actually work as a mom and a business owner that really make a difference in your life, please leave them below. Maybe there's some ideas that you have that your friends do and you know that you should be doing it. Leave any of the comments below. I'd love to hear from you. I reply to every single comment and keep listening, because I do have a lot going on in the next couple of months. I've got some exciting news. So tip number 16, I kept this one to the last one because I think it is so important.

Caroline Balinska: 47:23

I, like I said before, I'm not about prioritizing myself over my children. However, sometimes we do need to, and this is all about prioritizing yourself. If you do not look after yourself, you are never, ever going to show up as a good mom. It's just not possible, and I see it all the time. There are so many women I know out there that I have to feel sorry for, because there's things that you can see if they actually took care of themselves better, if they actually made more effort about their own needs, then they could show up as better moms, better humans, better business owners. And sometimes we are too close to our own problems to realize what the actual problem is. So sometimes you need to stand on the outside and really look upon yourself to see what's going on. I'm going to just reel off a few things that if you are not doing any of these correctly, then those are areas that you probably should be working on and maybe those are helping. Maybe that will help you show up better in life, better in your business, better as a mom. So some of the areas that are really important physically, really really physically so important. If you're not working out on a regular basis, then you're in big trouble mentally and physically, and I can't stress this enough.

Caroline Balinska: 48:37

In my other podcast, life on Purpose over 40, I really do I interview a lot of people about fitness. I interview a lot of people about health. My own journey of what's happened to me has really opened my eyes to how important it is. It doesn't matter your age, but for women there are some really key health things that we should be doing to look after ourselves physically. That will make a huge difference in our lives. Just one big thing. I don't even know the statistics, but they say once you're over the age of I think it's 40 or 50, once you fall once and you injure yourself, you have got a 60% chance of dying in that first year after injuring yourself like this is huge when you think about it. And this comes down to us not looking after ourselves prior to that time. Once you fall, then it's really hard to get yourself to a really good level, so you need to look after yourself before that. So just that alone is such a huge reason why you should look after yourself. But then mentally, you should be looking after yourself, because the better you look after yourself physically, the better you are mentally.

Caroline Balinska: 49:39

There's a woman that this is many, many years ago. She was very, very overweight. She couldn't lose weight and she did this thing called the washing line fitness or something like that. If you Google it you'll find it and what she did was she couldn't get herself up and off the couch and she just started walking out to a washing line each day and walking back in out to a washing line, back in, and then she started making it two times and three times and then four times, then started going out around the block, and that was her little thing. There's Mel Robbins who talks about the five second rule. It doesn't matter what happens, but when your alarm goes off, count backwards five, four, three, two, one. And when you say one, you have to get out of bed, no matter what People talk about putting your fitness clothes out the night before. So then you can make sure you get up.

Caroline Balinska: 50:24

I find these things pretty easy for me. I'm not saying I'm perfect, I'm not saying it's every single day, but I am pretty good at making sure that I work out. What I find is the days I really don't want to work out, I just do anything Like, even if it's a five minute workout, even if I just do five minutes of squats or five minutes of even stretching. So I make sure I stretch every single day. So on the days where I'm not feeling like I really want to do a workout, I at least stretch, because that is making a difference to my body. And sometimes it's five minutes, and that's okay, because for me, as long as I keep up that routine, I'm going to make sure that I'm going to try harder the next day, harder the next day, harder the next day and there's going to be days that I'm not going to make a big effort. But doing something is better than nothing Going for a walk every single day, getting outside they talk about needing light in your eyes.

Caroline Balinska: 51:13

Physical exercise I cannot stress enough how important it is. I don't want to make it a big thing on this episode, I don't want to go into too much, but I'm passionate about it and I know how important it is to every part of your life. And then, of course, when it comes to looking after yourself in a fitness way, eating healthy is so important and drinking lots of water is so important. I can't stress that enough because the amount of times that I pick up something that's not so healthy and I eat it. But I know the consequences and I don't do it very often. But when I do, I know what's going to happen to me and sometimes I'm like, hey, I just want that pasta and I know that eating that big creamy pasta is not going to be good for my body. But I make sure if, for example, I'm doing any videos, I never, ever, ever, eat anything that's got any sort of cards in it before I do a video, because it makes me. I know my body. I've had a lot of health issues. It makes my body really lethargic and it makes me really sleepy, so I do not have any cards before I'm going to do any sort of video work really sleepy, so I do not have any cards before I'm going to do any sort of video work.

Caroline Balinska: 52:14

Now, if you learn your body, then you should know what it is for you that you should and shouldn't have. I know that I can have three coffees in the morning. If I have a fourth coffee it actually makes me more tired. So I don't have that fourth coffee, no matter how much I crave having another coffee. And if I want to do video work, then sometimes I stick to two coffees, just to be sure. So work out what it is for your body and how you can show up better in your. You know, if that's how I show up as a video, then that's probably how I'm showing up as a mom and how I'm showing up to my partner and how I'm showing up in life. So making sure that you have those things in the back of your head. Hey, I don't feel good when I eat this. I don't feel good if I don't do this. I don't feel good in that situation. Make sure you know what those things are.

Caroline Balinska: 52:53

Meditation is a big one as well. I don't do it enough. I am, you know, I struggle, but I try my best. One thing that I found is me just meditating is something that I find really um, I have to say I find it a waste of time, and I shouldn't because it's not a waste of time, but I find it really. I get really agitated like, oh, I'm just sitting here and I'm meditating. So what I do, what works for me, is I stretch while I'm meditating. I do some really slow stretching and it can just be as much as just sitting on the floor with my legs open and stretching from one side to the next. So I'm not making the. I'm not doing a whole yoga routine while I meditate, because otherwise my mind is going to too much of my form of my stretching. So I keep it really basic, even just lying on my back, because I get back pain, just lying flat on a yoga mat on the ground and making sure that I'm stretching out my back and putting my legs up in the right position. Sometimes that's enough. So doing some basic stretching for me makes me feel like I'm killing two birds with one stone, and I'm getting my stretching and I'm getting my meditation in. But meditation can be really, really helpful. They're now finding that we, as women, I think we go to our friends a lot to let out all our stress and our frustrations. They're actually saying now that meditating is actually a better form of getting through that stress and anxiety. So if you don't have someone to talk, to do some meditation, because that's going to be really helpful for you as well.

Caroline Balinska: 54:21

And if you have any hobbies, stick with your hobbies. Make sure you get time for them. Go and put into your schedule one, two, four hours a week to get your hobby in, so then you can actually get some time where you're not thinking about cleaning the house, wiping your kids' faces, cleaning up the mess, making dinner, worried about your business clients. Is there enough money in this week? How are you going to pay your taxes? How are you going to pay your mortgage? Is it okay that you didn't pay your car payments on time? Is it going to come back and bite you later on and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Find time to do something that actually brings you in a peace.

Caroline Balinska: 54:57

Whatever your hobby is. Mine is really walking on the beach, like I love being outside. I'm still trying to learn how to kite surf. I hope at some stage I'm going to be on here telling you that I'm a kite surfer. I'm not there yet, but that's my true intent hobby. I'm trying my best to do it and I will make time for that over now coming into summertime. Whatever your hobby is, make time for it. If you've got hobbies with your kids, even better. So make sure that you make the most of your time. So that's my 16 tips. I would love, like I said, you to leave any comments below. Let me know what you think are extra tips I missed out on.

Caroline Balinska: 55:32

I have got the most amazing 14 day challenge coming up in. The next it starts in about three weeks. I'm going to do 14 days of my podcast because I am crazy. I know that I am the sort of person who I take everything just maybe a step too far. While so many people are like, oh, podcasting is already so hard doing it once a week For me, I'm like, yeah, I've got really consistent in my last podcast to get an episode out every week. I was thinking of doing more than once a week. I don't want to do that for my daughter's sake. I do have my other podcast as well, but what I do want to do is do a special 14 day challenge that is going to be out in about three weeks and that is going to be how to automate your business over 14 days. The things that you need to put in place, areas that you need to think about, um, that are really, really important, and I'm going to have special guests on. Like I said in the beginning, I'm going to have special guests on over those 14 days and we're going to go through 14 days step-by-step.

Caroline Balinska: 56:29

You can listen to them 14 days in a row and follow along with us. You can leave comments underneath the videos as well. If you're watching on youtube and I highly recommend that you actually watch it on youtube, because I will have screen shots of different things I'll do be doing screen sharing you can listen to it on the podcast as well. If you're listening via audio which I totally understand, because I am like that as well, that I like to walk and listen to something and, as a mom, we're so busy, I get it and every single time that happens that I have something on a screen share in the podcast. I will link that in the show notes of the podcast so you don't have to miss anything at all if you're listening, but if you're watching it and then you can just watch over the things that you think, oh, I need to see that visually. I'll be explaining it along the way. So if you're listening and maybe doing the you know, cooking dinner or doing the laundry and you do sometimes like what I do I watch a video and I'm doing some other job at the same time then you can actually listen and hear everything as well. So everything's there for moms. I understand what it's like trying to get you know all the different things done.

Caroline Balinska: 57:32

I'm going to take you through over 14 days how you can automate your business step by step.

Caroline Balinska: 57:37

I've blocked everything out into the right amount of right days and then you can just follow along with that. So everything will be in the 14 day challenge. So make sure that you subscribe to this podcast and I will be letting you know when that comes out. If you have any questions for me, reach out to me. If you have any questions for me, reach out to me. If you come to my website and take a look.

Caroline Balinska: 57:59

I've got a free audit for anyone who wants help and to go through an audit, we can do that together on a one-on-one Zoom call. If you need help with any other part of your automation, reach out and I'm happy to give you any assistance that I can point you in the right direction. Or maybe sign up for my challenge, or maybe you sign up for my coaching. I've got many different options, so if you've got any questions, let me know. I look forward to hearing from you and until next week, take care and make sure that you are looking after yourself, because the more you do for yourself, the better it is for your family too. Take care Bye.