Six Things Every Mom Entrepreneur Should Know About Running a Business

0:00Sometimes we have to treat our business like a business regardless of the season. Welcome to this mother means business. The podcast where ambition meets motherhood and success has no limits. I'm your host, Laura St. Clairn, and if you're a mom who's passionate about building your own business, you're in the right place. Whether you're launching your first startup from your kitchen table, scaling your side hustle during nap time, or growing your established business while juggling family life, this show celebrates the incredible women who refuse to choose between being an amazing mother and a fierce entrepreneur. Each week we're diving into real stories, practical strategies, and yes, a little tough luck when you need it most. I'm here to push you past the excuses and give you permission to build your business and live your life exactly on your terms, because here's what I know for sure. When a mother means business, extraordinary things happen. So let's dive in and get down to it. Welcome back to another episode of this mother means business. Today on the show, I want to talk to you about six things that I think every mom entrepreneur needs to know about running a business.

1:04And some of these things are going to be a little tough love. I don't know. Spicy Laura is just hanging out these days. She's feeling spicy. A lot of things that I just want to share with you. And I am so privileged to be able to talk to so many mom entrepreneurs. We just had our free quarterly connection call. We have 35 women there and we were talking about how to get more clients. Our next free connection call is going to be in May. I think May 13th. So if you head to this mother means business.com and you get on list for that, you can join that. Haven't announced the topic we're going to be discussing, but I'm open to suggestions. So if there's something that you want to talk about, send me a damn. I'd love to know what is on your heart. But I have talked to 35 women in that group. I'm talking to the 50 plus women inside of the inner circle. And there's just some things that have been coming up that we need to talk about. And so I thought we would just dive right in. Okay. So first thing. First thing that I need every

2:05mom entrepreneur to know is that your business might be growing at a different pace. And that's okay. It might have to be at a different pace. It might not be possible for you to grow your business at the pace of somebody that doesn't have kids. And that's okay. And so it's really important that we are not comparing ourselves to people without children or people with children who are potentially better resource than us, right? If we are not people that have nannies, families close by proximity to wealth, access, things like that. Yeah, your business is going to grow at a different rate. And we all have different pressures and different responsibilities. And one of the things that I think is so important is that we really take ownership of that. Now, does that mean that we accept it? Oh, you know, I'm a mom. So my business isn't going to grow. No, like at the end of the day, like, are we doing this? I'm the last person that's going to let

3:07motherhood get in the way of your goals. But I do think that the pacing might be different. The structure has three different. A lot of the time. And that is all right. And so one of the things that I think is so important for a mom entrepreneurs to know is that you can't compare yourself to other people. It is still possible for you, but it's going to look different. And it might be it might be a different pace. And which kind of leads me into my second point. And that is just about seasons, right? There's different seasons of motherhood. There's different seasons of business. And depending on what motherhood season you're in, you may be able to move faster than somebody else. And I think about seasons, I think you're in two ways. There's like the season of how old your children are and what their needs are. And then the season also of like, where you're at, right? You might be in a season where, hey, you know what? I just want to be with my kids. I'm just want to be super kid focused right now. And that's beautiful. Or you may be

4:09in a season where you're like, actually, I'm really going to lean into my ambition right now. And I'm going to allow my kids to know, let other people love them for a bit. It's not going to be 100% me. And I think that season is okay too. And so the reason why I love to talk about seasons, you know, a couple of years ago, I was at an event or last year. I was at an event. Time is a bit of a work. But I had a woman come up to me and she said to me, oh, man, I see what you're doing with your podcast and your events and your community. And I would love to be able to do that. And the first question I asked her was, how old are your kids? And she said, you know, two and a baby. And I'm like, well, that's why. You know, my kids are eight and five. They are in school full time. They love going to school. My daughter, I could try to keep her home. Like, not sending her to school would be like a threat to my daughter. She wants to go. We were expecting a snow day the other day. And like one in the morning, it wasn't a snow day. And I told her, hey, but it's not a snow day. She said, oh, good, because I really wanted to go to school. Okay, it's every season is going to be different. So my right now in this season, because I have, you

5:10know, nine to three 30 most days, Monday to Friday, to myself, to work on myself and work on my business, I'm absolutely in a season where I want to push where I am feeling ambitious, where I'm doing a lot of big things where I have access and the ability to do things. But in certain seasons, I may say, hey, actually, you know what, I'm going to really lean into my family in this season. And that's okay. I don't think that there is a right choice for a wrong choice. But again, I think it's so important that we don't allow motherhood or other things that are happening in our lives to quote, unquote, be in the way of the things that we really want. So first point around pacing, right? Your pace is going to be different. But second point is like, it's okay if you're in a season that's different than somebody else. Everyone's season is going to be different and you're also allowed to decide when you're going to shift into a different season. That is totally acceptable and totally okay. So that would be my second, my second thought. Hey, I need to tell you about something big. On April 1st, 2026, this mother means business

6:14live is back. And this time, it's happening at the Pearl Hotel in Spa in Burlington, Ontario. This isn't another networking event. It is a room full of women who are building businesses, raising kids and refusing to choose between the two. We're talking strategy sessions, powerhouse speakers, meaningful connection, and yet a little spoiling of you too, because you deserve to go to your business and enjoy yourself while you're at it. VIP tickets are pretty much sold out, but there are plenty of GA tickets available for you. And trust me, there is no better time than right now because early where tickets are available. If you had to do this one, that means business.com, you grab your spot, use code TMABE500 to save $50 on your gym ticket. If that was a mouthful, make sure you head to the show notes. We'll put it all there so you can grab it. This isn't just an event. It is truly proof that you can build success your way and I hope to see you there. Which drives me into the next thing, which is this and this is going to be a bit of a tough love moment. I told you it was coming. Sometimes we have to treat our

7:15business like a business regardless of the season. If we want the success that we say that we want, we have to sometimes unplug the heart shit that's showing up in our lives and treat the business like a business. You can be in a season where you're like, hey, I'm going to lean into my kids right now and that's fine. But don't expect your business to be successful in that season unless you are willing to unplug the heart shit or unplug that for a little bit and plug in the business stuff. It doesn't mean that you aren't going to be successful. You can be. I think we just have to manage our outcomes with our inputs. If we are in a season where, hey, we have decided that we're going to lean a little bit more into our kids. We don't get to be frustrated that our business isn't growing at that rate or we've got some hard things going on that we're struggling with.

8:18Sometimes we do need to unplug that stuff if we want our business to grow and listen, I'm the last person in the world that's going to tell you that you should bypass your feelings for any length of time. But I do think that it's so easy for life to get in the way of the things that we actually want. This particular point is coming from some of the conversations that I've been having with women who are struggling with things outside of their business. And they are allowing those things to get in the way of the things that they really want. And life can be difficult. Life can be challenging. There's a lot going on in this world right now that can be really triggering and really upsetting. But I do think that it is required to unplug yourself from what's going on in the world if you want your business to grow. And I mean, just for like an hour a day, I'm not talking the whole day. But sometimes we do need to put our heads down and do the thing. Sometimes we just do. I think about the number of times where I

9:18when I was a gym owner and postpartum and really struggling and it felt like my whole world was calling it part. And I would show up to my gym with a smile on my face. And I would run the class for the 12 people that were there that had no idea what it was that I was going through. Because that was my job. And that's what I was there to do. And that I was treating my business like a business. And I think sometimes when we are going through things and we get so far away from that and we let it to consume us, it gets in the way of the things that we really want. And sometimes that gets in the way of our ability to generate the income that we need to generate in our business. And so I think that it's really important that we treat our business like a business regardless of the season. And you know, I recently had Kelsey Rital on the show. And I think this episode is launching actually, I think it was last Thursday's episode. So this works out beautifully. But one of the things that Kelsey and I were talking about, which I think is really relevant, is you know, she's in a season where she's chosen to focus more on her kids.

10:23And in order to her son, in order to navigate that, she has elected to make two days a week, her work days. And she is working 12 hours on, right? That is the choice that she's making. And that's what she's doing. And because we're still treating our business like a business, she's still been able to maintain the revenue because she goes really hard on those days. And so I think in the scraps and the margins of time that you may have available to you, you need to make sure that you are unplugging whatever is in the way of you getting that done. And you get that done because we have to treat our business like a business, okay? So that's the third one. Number four is filter your sources. Make sure you're managing who you're getting information from. Right? If you're getting information on productivity from a 20-something child this man, no, it's probably not going to be relevant to your life. If you're working with a business mentor who is helping you not just with strategy, but also your life, super important. They have an awareness of what goes on in your life on a day-to-day basis. Do I think your business mentor has to be

11:28a mom? No, it doesn't have to be. I think you're better off, you know, positioning with your somewhat, positioning yourself with someone that's a mom, simply because of that level of understanding. But I think if you're hiring somebody because you want to learn a specific strategy or specific skill, yeah, sure. It doesn't have to be a mom for that. But in the sort of broad strokes example of showing up that the way that you want to show up in your business and how you want to run your life, I do think it's important that there's an awareness of that. Okay? So filtering your sources, being aware of where is this information coming from? What is this person's perspective? Is there a way for me to adapt this to my own life? Super, super important because the reality is not all information is created equal. Okay? That's number four. Number five is you have to ask for help. Please ask for more help. It was recently joined by I joined the moms and tech group, which is an incredible group. There's like 19,000 moms that work in tech in the United States and this group and we were talking about, you know, what do you do if you don't have a village? What do you do if you don't

12:28have a partner that's always available and you don't have family close and you're a single mom and you're navigating all that. How do you do that? You have to ask for help. You must ask for help more than you think that you need to ask for help and certainly breaking my leg in 2024 really brought that to light for me that I just don't ask for help in the ways that I should be asking for help. And help doesn't always look like help in your business. That could be help with your kids. That could be help with daycare drop off. It could be help from, you know, the 15-year-old around the corner, teenager on the street who can hang out with your kids for a couple of hours so you can get undisturbed work time. Help could look like using grocery delivery instead of going to the grocery store. Finding help, you don't have to do it alone, is such an important thing and so that will always be on my list of things that I need mom entrepreneurs to know. It doesn't all have to be you, it just doesn't, okay. And the last thing that I think is really important is that you find your people the easiest way to get through motherhood and entrepreneurship is to find other mom and other mom entrepreneurs who have been on this journey or on this journey too so that they can,

13:31you guys can build together. You can link arms, build together, grow together and have each other's back. So often I meet women who say, hey, I don't have anyone in my world that understands me. Maybe my spouse doesn't understand me. My family doesn't understand me. This is crazy. There was a new woman that joined the inner circle recently who joined under our inner circle access scholarship which is intended for women who make less than $50,000 a year in their business on a sliding scale as far as membership inside of the inner circle. And she was like, my, my husband doesn't understand why I'm doing this. You know, he's questioning why I'm making this investment at all. People think it's crazy but like, I know that I have to do this and she's been surrounded by women already who are, who see her and see the passion and see what's there and are pouring into her and people that are showing her what's possible. And it's not just about other people that are like, are you sure? Right. If you're surrounding yourself with people who don't get it, you're surrounding yourself with people who aren't walking the same path as you aren't willing to walk the same path as you are certainly questioning your path. You need to find people that are going to say,

14:34hey, you're on the right track or hey, what if it looked like this? Hey, let me open a door for you. And if you're not surrounding yourself with those people, you're already behind. They're so important. So let's recap the six things that I want every moment for now. And gosh, I feel like I have to fly so fast in these Monday episodes. If you like them longer, let me know. But I feel like this, this length is good. First one, it can be a different pace, right? It might have to be the the rate that your business grows. And that's okay. Second one, it's okay if your season is kid-focused or if it's not, if you want to be in a season of a really leaning intervention, that's okay too. Or if you're in a season where your kids are really little and their demands are really high, or if your season with your kids are in school or maybe they're a university or maybe you have all the time in the world, but seasons will come and seasons will go. And you get to decide how you want to show up through them. That's number two, number three was sometimes you got to unplug the hardship and just treat your business like a business. It doesn't mean that, you know, yeah, maybe you were up five times last night and maybe you had a kid puking and maybe there's pink

15:38high and maybe everyone in your house has a fever, but like sometimes you just got to do the thing, okay? And I know these things can get in the way, but like sometimes you just have to do the thing and stop allowing those things to be reasons why you don't do what you actually want to do. Four, filter your sources, make sure you're aware of who you're getting information from, make sure that you are using the lens of like, is this for me? Five, ask for help. Six, find your people. Those are the things that need you to know. I'd love to know what else should I add to this list. I'm sure I can do a part two, part three, part four of this episode, but I'm so grateful for you for being here. I'm listening to the show. I think we have, oh gosh, the time of recording, we have less than 30 tickets left for this one. That means business. So if you haven't grabbed doors, please do so. And if you haven't, haven't looked into the inner circle access scholarship, which I mentioned briefly on the show, that is now available for you. If you're making less than $50,000 a year, there is a $79 a month version of the inner circle, which is typically $129. I do that entirely on the honor system because I trust that you're going to make the decision that is correct for you in the season of your business. If you want to learn more about what's going

16:41on with our events, and inside the inner circle, this one is business.com. Thank you so much for being here. We'll see you next week. Thanks for listening. If today's episode gave you the push you needed, share it with your friend and don't forget to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Ready to take this even further? Head over to www.thismothermeansbusiness.com and become a member. You'll get real business growth support and build your virtual village and entrepreneurial moms walking the same path as you. Until next time, keep showing up, keep pushing forward and remember, when this mother means business, anything is possible. This podcast is produced, mixed and edited by Cardinal Studio. For more information about how to start your own podcast, please visit www.cardinalstudio.co or email Mike at Mike at CardinalStudio.co. You can also find the details in the show notes.