BIRD WILLIAMS: You're listening to Bird Means Business Episode 74.

Hi there. And thank you for tuning into Bird Means Business podcast. I am your host, Bird Williams. And in this special episode, I'm sharing five lessons that I've learned as a mompreneur. And honestly, a lot of these lessons learned could apply to any type of mom, but we'll get into it. With Mother's Day approaching this Sunday, and my being 37 weeks pregnant. Oh, yeah, this baby could come any day now. I figured this was a perfect time to have an episode like this. So I'm very excited to jump in. But before we do, I'm excited to announce that Prove It Plan is open for enrollment. 

So Prove It Plan is my signature business plan development course, which is the exact framework I use for my businesses, and which has transformed so many other businesses as well. Y'all, I believe in the power of having a business plan, having a thoughtful and strategic approach to building your business, as opposed to just kind of randomly launching new products or services and just crossing your fingers and hoping it works. No, my approach involves pulling together the four main pillars of your business. This is your foundation, your financial, your operations, and your marketing. You pull all of that together into a business plan template that I create for you. And there are tons of other bonus resources, like a three-year financial spreadsheet, where you can do your projections. And it's super easy, doesn't have to be scary. I have an amazing template that I've like upgraded again and again over the years, where you can just plug in your estimates right there. And I also have a financial goals and a pricing spreadsheet so that again, your pricing isn't just random. You're looking at what are my actual goals for what I need to take home? And what are my expenses? And how do I need to price my services accordingly? So there's tons of really great resources. And oh, there's my favorite, the monthly live q&a with me exclusively for the Prove It Plan community. So we get on Zoom and I get all of your questions answered. And it really is my favorite part because I love to dive in really deep, show you the behind-the-scenes in my business with how things work. And I only do that exclusively for the Prove It Plan community. So I couldn't be more excited that enrollment is now open. You can go to birdwilliams.com/proveitplan to learn more. All righty. Let's dive into the episode. 

Now, before we talk about the lessons that I've learned as a mompreneur. And I say mompreneur. That's obviously a mom who's an entrepreneur. I want to say that there are no mom types better than another. Right? That should go unsaid. But I want to make it crystal clear that, you know, mompreneurs are just one type of moms. And sure, we have our unique struggles. But there's so many incredible moms out there. So I want to show love to moms in different realms. So first, shout out to my stay-at-home moms. if you're a stay-at-home mom, maybe you're tuning in, because a friend shared his episode with you. Or maybe you're considering entrepreneurship. But right now you're just at home with the littles. You are incredible. Managing a home, especially with littles in the mix, is super hard work. And you really are a hero. And I can say that from my own experience because my mom was a stay-at-home mom. She worked in insurance when we were really young. But I believe it was my great grandmother getting sick, and my family wanting to keep her with our family as opposed to taking her to a facility. And my mom was happy to do it. And she left her job to care for my great-grandmother. And you know, my great grandmother ended up passing away. And really what happened is more and more people, and it's funny, I say people. Yeah, people in the community, other family members, lived with us throughout my whole time living at home. Up until I graduated high school we had someone living with us in our home, and my mom was taking care of them. But she was a stay-at-home mom. And so she was able to be in so many special moments. Moments that, you know, you really can't get back. She would bring us lunch every day to school and they were bomb lunches. All my friends were always trying to switch lunch with me because it was so good. I literally can like taste it right now. It's like the salads with the chicken. It was like super healthy, you know. She was really involved in our school. And she, like I said, did so much for our community and our family in that role. 

Another thing that I really appreciate about what I saw modeled with my mom and my dad is that they had very equal roles in the household. It wasn't looked at like my dad was even like the breadwinner, although he was obviously the only one working. She wasn't working. But they had a very equal role. They were partners. And that was huge in terms of shaping how I view myself as a woman, and as a mother, and how I operate my household as well. So I just want to say to all the stay-at-home moms out there, you're incredible. And you are having such a special experience with your kids that, you know, especially when they're really little, it's hard to kind of get back. So, shout out to the stay-at-home moms. 

Next, there are the career moms. I just want to say really quick. There is like a huge power in gaining corporate experience. Having that corporate environment that you're gleaning from. We actually talked about that in Episode 73 with Aidah Williams. She's a hairstylist. And she went to work at other hair salons to learn what they were doing and gained so much to be able to pour into her own business. So even before you get into entrepreneurial ventures, maybe there's a career mom out there who's tuning into the episode. You can gather so much great intel. And you can understand the systems and the market and the industry and client needs when you're working in a corporate environment that you can then bring into your own business when the time is right. So just want to mention that. But I do want to say on the mom front when it comes to being a career mom, you have your own challenges as well. Like, I think about how much harder it must be for a mom in an environment that you really can't control as much. You know when you work for someone else. I think about pumping or breastfeeding. I'm actually like I said, I'm 37 weeks pregnant. So I'm getting ready to be doing all the breastfeeding things, which is a little bit daunting in the beginning. It's been a challenge for me with the past two babies. And I just think about, man. What would it be like to have to go to work and have to pump at work and try to find the closet, if there's not a pumping room. I know a lot of businesses are getting a lot better about that, which is awesome. But even me with traveling like, with my kids, when I was breastfeeding. It would be, man I gotta find a pumping area in this airport. Getting your milk scanned. And then I realized you don't have to like actually let them scan your milk. But, anyway. My point is just that you have your own set of challenges. And I really wanted to salute you because being a mom with a career when you're in the corporate world is really tough. And I just want to say I see you and you're crushing it. 

And then there are us mompreneurs. And so there are, of course, unique challenges and opportunities that we face. Like we don't have a structured maternity leave. When folks talk about maternity leave, you know, my perception of what that is, is very skewed. I've never honestly taken a maternity leave. I really don't even know what it is, you know. And this time around, I'm trying to be more diligent. I know how important it is to bond with the baby. I do feel like I bonded very well with both of my sons. But I was working. I pushed Trenton out. I had a home birth at 2:51 in the morning, and I was on a call with human resources stuff at 8 AM. So I've never really taken a maternity leave. But like I said, this time around, I'm trying to do better with that. I'm taking two months off for having like one on one sessions. I actually will still have the monthly live q&a with the prove It Plan community, which I'm really looking forward to because I think I'm gonna really want to do something. I don't know how I'm going to be sitting still that long. And I'm going to try to take at least one week where I just don't do any work at all. And I know some of you are judging, maybe listening to that like, "Seriously? Just one week?" That's more than I've ever done. And we have a lot going on. I run multiple businesses and one is in the middle of a lot. And I just know that it's not realistic in this season for me to really think that I'm going to have like six weeks of absolutely no work. So that's just where I am. But I don't feel, I feel fine with it. Like I've accepted what it is. And anyway, my point is just that we don't have a structured maternity leave, right? We can't say, "Oh, my colleague is going to just pick up my tasks to do while I'm out." Depending on where your business is. For example, I have a gym business called The League. I've had it for seven years. It is like a well-oiled machine. I probably spend three hours of work on The League every week. So it's very low maintenance. It runs on its own. And those three hours, I really could probably outsource to someone else. And that's because I've built a business. I've built systems. I've, you know like I said with my business plan that I look at, again and again, every single quarter. It's not a one-and-done thing. It's something that you really use to help grow and build a business. I've gotten that business to a place where it's fully functional, you know, without me. Whereas with my new business, Bird Williams, a strategy firm. It's a baby business. So there's so many things that I'm still learning and growing into and I can't, you know, there's no one else who can fill my role for a lot of things. So I just had to figure out how does that going to look a little bit different. 

So anyway. Us mompreneurs, we don't have a colleague who can just take over. And especially in those beginning years, you know, you can't just take six weeks off without kind of fully stopping your business. And that's okay. Okay? I just want to say that. There are seasons to this, which we're going to talk about a little bit. 

But there's also kind of more risk as a mompreneur. Because maybe you don't have the 401k, initially, or even health insurance initially. And it can be a little scary. I'll tell you a quick story. Whenever there was a time period where my husband is now working at our church. He is like the co-director of volunteer teams at our church. And so he gets insurance through the church, which we're on. But there was a time, a period of time where we didn't have that, and we could no longer be on our parents' insurance. I don't remember the exact situation. But I just know that my little baby was going to a doctor, a doctor's office, that was super, super shady, because of the insurance that we had to have. It was all we could afford. And really, all that was accessible to us. When it comes to insurance, as entrepreneurs, the plans change so much. It's very different from you know when you work in a corporate environment. And so we had a good plan. And then one year, the lady was like, yeah, then we're not, they're not offering that anymore. And so we were like, super downgraded, and there wasn't a whole bunch we could do, based on what we could afford. And man, I felt so bad, like taking my kid to this pediatrician in this super shady situation. I could barely understand what the pediatrician was saying. It was just not ideal. And so again, it just goes to show that there are pros and cons to all of the different ways that motherhood could look in terms of your career, whether you're sitting at home, or you're working in a corporate environment, or you're running your own business. But it's okay. And you have to just kind of roll with the punches and do the best you can with what you have in the season that you're in. 

I do want to say one really special thing about being a mompreneur is being able to really pull your kids into moments inside of your business, right? Kind of showing them what it's like behind the scenes and allowing them to see you build something from the ground up and be the boss. I think that's really special. Y'all know that my oldest or you might know, I don't know, if you're new to the podcast, and you haven't listened to any of the older episodes. My oldest, who's Terry. He used to be at the end of the episodes. He'd have Terry's Take. It started to get a little wild and out of control. And he was super distracted. So I had to stop it, which was sad. Many of you reached out and said, I definitely miss Terry's Take. But it was so fun to have him on the podcast. And he still talks about it and wants to come back. But we're trying to get it together. We're trying to see if he can have a cameo. I don't know. But it's just really fun for them to be able to be really involved. 

So that segues really well into the five lessons that I've learned as a mompreneur. So the first is that there is no one right way to do this. Mamas, there's no one right way. I recently had someone, I share a lot on my personal Instagram about my pregnancy journey. And I had a young lady who isn't quite trying to conceive, but she's very excited about being a mother. She was like, I'm just nervous because I don't know how I'll be a really good mom. Like, tell me, what do I need to do to be a really good mom? And I was like, how do you even define a really good mom? What is that even, right? There's no one right way. You just love your kids. You love yourself and take care of yourself. And there's no, like, formula for it. I had, I have a really great friend, I have a really great support system. And one of my friends, Jalen, she said this that really stuck out to me years ago. We were talking about nighttime routines for our kids. And you know, the whole process of getting them back from school, eating, feeding them, getting them bathed, getting them dressed, reading a book, whatever you do, and how does that look. And our nighttime routines, look completely different. For her, it was like her husband did a whole lot more with this. And they kind of really focused on getting the kids to bed first. Whereas we kind of were also, I don't take a shower before the boys go to bed. It doesn't matter about the specifics. The point was that we came away from the conversation like, wow. Our nighttime routines are really different and that's okay. And she was like, "Ashley, you have to just really do the best for your family and your situation." And that really stuck out to me because I can be the kind of person who's like, I want to make sure I'm doing it right. Just like the girl who asked me the question. Or am I missing anything? Like, is there something we're supposed to be doing every night with our kids? And she's like, no girl. Just depending on your family situation and what you have going on. And you know, all of the different limitations you might have or what your night looks like. What time you get home from work. All those kinds of things. You shape what works best for you. And so I just want to say for anyone listening, there is no one right way. Just do what's best for you and your family. And I also want to say don't allow a family member or what you see on social media to negatively affect how you feel about who you are as a mom. I've shared on the podcast before, I think it was the women's episode. I shared that I don't cook and I have family members who feel some kind of way about the fact that I don't cook. And my husband cooks. He loves to cook. It's therapeutic for him. And how crazy would it look for me to be over here trying to cook and burning stuff. And it's like, not good because I'm not a good cook. It's not a core competency of mine. Because it's supposed to fit some kind of role or is supposed to make other people feel comfortable. Naw sis. I don't cook and that works for our family. And so I don't let, you know, that negatively impact me. Now when I see moms out there crushing it with like the little snacks and the food. It's inspirational to me. It excites me. I try to, my friend, Jalen. Hey, shout out Jalen. She's awesome. I'm not intentionally trying to bring her up. But she just keeps popping into my head because she is such an incredible mom and such an incredible friend. An example and side note is so important that you have people around you like that, who inspire you and cheer you on in all the things. Anyway, Jalen was giving me this idea of taking, you know, the cupcake pans, like the muffin pans that have all the holes. And putting snacks, like different snacks into each of the holes. You know some can be duplicated. But putting an assortment of snacks, and then just putting it outside for your kids, while they're playing outside. And be like these are all of your snacks. Don't ask me for any other snacks. I was like that is such a good idea, right? So you can glean so much from other people. But when it comes to social media, if that is issue with comparison for you, I want you to not allow that to be in your space. Allow us to not come into your space if you can't see moms doing those kinds of things and feel inspired and motivated and excited about it. And instead, it makes you feel bad as a mom. I mean, maybe there is some work that we need to do there. But also just turn that off, don't follow that account. Because comparison is really the thief of joy. So I just want to make sure that I put it out there that if something, whether it's a family member, or a friend, or social media that makes you feel bad about the kind of mom you are. Turn that off. We don't need any of that. Right? If it inspires you. Great. If not, leave it there and move on.

Okay, number two, a lesson that I've learned is don't do it alone. And this is a big one for me. Y'all know that I'm always saying don't do it alone when it comes to building your businesses too. Because it's true. You'll go further faster when you aren't doing it alone. Why suffer alone if you don't have to? You really have to ask yourself, if pride is getting in your way of being your best self. Of being the best kind of mother you can be. Of bringing the best to your family and your community because you're trying to hold it all together and do it all yourself. I have an episode entitled, "How I Don't Do It All". I was asked all the time about like, how do you do it all? How do you do it all? I don't. I don't do it alone. I talk about how grateful I am to have a really strong community, friends like Jalen, my family, oh my gosh, they do so much for me. I lean into the village that I have. And I lean into it even when it's uncomfortable, even when it's hard to ask for help, even when it feels like I've gotten so much help already, and I need you again. I lean into it. And I don't do it alone. So that's super important. And it kind of ties into point number three, which is to take care of yourself. 

You're going to be the best mom, kind of to answer that young lady's question who asked me. You're going to be the best mom when you are your best self. When you are taking care of yourself, you can show up so much better as a mom. So I'm best for my kids. I'm best for my husband. I'm best for my community. I'm best for my businesses when I am well taken care of. I'll give you an example. I talked about this in my episode about having a morning routine. Like my kids waking up on the monitor and me hearing them either cry or start talking. That used to be my alarm clock. And I would roll out of the bed exhausted and tired and bumbled my way through brushing my teeth or whatever it was to get upstairs to them and get them up. And it was a problem because I was crabby and I was tired. And the mornings are hard for me. And it clicked to me one day. Like I need to have my own sacred space in the morning before I'm even in the mom role so that I can have space for me that I carve out. Because once you wake up your kids, it's like all about them all day, right? You're getting them to school, then you're going to work and then you're picking them up from school and then you're doing all the nighttime routine thing and then you're trying to spend some time with your husband, you know. So if I don't have any time for me, it's just like I'm go go go all day. So I started waking up at 4 AM y'all. 4 AM. That was not easy for me. And it was so good. It was so powerful because I was able to have my quiet time and go through my whole morning routine and feel very full and centered and grateful. And then when I'd hear them on the monitor waking up, I could go and be a happy, prepared, ready, present mom for them because I wasn't just rolling out of bed. So saying all that to say it's just not selfish for you to say I need to carve out some time for me. Or even I just need some alone time or I need to go get my hair done or my nails done. It's okay because you taking care of yourself is how you're going to show up best for your family. 

I want to say like mom guilt is BS. I get so frustrated by it. And I don't want you to feel like I'm ... This is a no-judgment zone if you've ever felt mom guilt. It just frustrates me that you would even be in a position to feel it. And that society puts this pressure on women such that we would even have to ask ourself if we feel mom guilt. I was actually asked once by a man if I felt mom guilt about something. So we have what we call Nonna weekend. And Nonna is my mother. "Nonna" is grandmother in Italian. And I spent six months living in Milan, Italy in college and fell in love with everything about Italy, the culture, all the things. And I told my mom back then that was like 2008, I think I was like, Mom, I want my kids to call you Nonna and she just loved it. And so they call her Nonna. And we have Nonna weekends. And this is when my boys go spend time with their grandparents. My mom, my dad, my aunt Bessie, who's very involved and does so much. And my sister helps out too. It's like a whole weekend that they get to spend with my family. And during Nonna weekends, honestly, you would think that we're just like hanging out, me and Terry having fun, my husband and I. But it's really like, usually, we're working. We're trying to get a big project done or something. We do, of course, have our date night and stuff like that. But we were sharing this with someone and the man says you don't feel guilty? You don't feel mom guilt. And it was interesting because my husband Terry was sitting right next to me when he asked this question. But the question was directed at me as if I should feel guilty about it. But Terry, who also doesn't have the kids for the weekend shouldn't. So I think mom guilt is BS. I think that it's okay to have your children enjoy time with their grandparents, right? And take some time for yourself and not feel guilty about it. So if you're feeling mom guilt, I would just encourage you to really ask yourself, why. And to really just kind of pause and think about it. Because again, you can't pour from an empty cup. And taking time for yourself should be celebrated and not making you feel guilty. 

Now, I want to say this too. While something worked in one season. it might not work in another season. So I want you to understand that like if you ever have to change like maybe you always ran the household this way. But then something happened in your life. You launched a business. Or you got promoted or whatever it might be. Your season has changed. And you might need more help. And that's okay, for example, we have Matilda come and help us clean our home. And she vacuums the floors. And she makes these incredible lines. And I was videotaping my kids on Instagram stories, and I shared a post, they were just being silly. But a mom replied to me, it was like, Oh my gosh, you were just amazing. You like you have all these businesses, you have your kids, your husband and your family's so beautiful. And you clean the house and you have these like amazing straight lines on your carpet. And I'm like, Girl, no. Matilda holds it down. And I'm so grateful for Matilda. And she was like, I have been wanting to get someone to help me clean the house for so long. And I just feel so guilty to do it. Like I feel like I should do it myself. And I was honest with her. When we first had Matilda, come help us out. It was hard for me because my grandmother cleaned homes. She was always teaching us how to clean, like how to dust and how to do all this extra stuff. And I actually enjoy cleaning. It's therapeutic for me. I felt like, uh, this doesn't feel right. But I also knew I can't spend six hours on a Saturday cleaning my house when Matilda could do it much faster and much better Lord, and I could spend that six hours doing something else that I really need to do. And so again, when a season changes, and you might need something different be open to that. And on that point. I've shared this before, but I think it's very appropriate for this episode. I heard this before about having plastic and glass balls that you're juggling, right? It's like you're trying to juggle all these things in your life as a mom. You're trying to juggle your own self-care, your kids, your family, your health, your business, or your job. All the things. And it's just like, how can I make all of this work? It seems impossible and overwhelming. Well, there are plastic balls and there are glass balls that you're juggling. So imagine yourself juggling these balls, some are plastic, and some are glass. So when it comes to the glass balls, you don't want to drop those because they're going to shatter everywhere. It's going to be a big mess. It's going to be destructive. But a plastic ball if you have to drop it. Give yourself some grace. And the thing is, there are plastic and glass balls in both your home life and your work life. So you can identify some things that are plastic or glass balls. Maybe when it comes to like, for example, I gave myself a really hard time once. I was just so upset because I was almost done with this very important project that had a deadline. But it was time to pick up the kids. And my husband, Terry and I, go together and pick up the kids because we just love to go pick up our kids. It's like, honestly, one of our favorite parts of the day. And I knew that I just needed 15 more minutes, but we had to go now. And it was like Ashley, just stay home and finish the project and get it sent off. Because that's a glass ball, it was really like a big deadline that I needed to get done. Whereas picking up my kids, I pick them up every single day, that's a plastic ball in my home life, right? And so giving yourself some grace for that. Identifying what are real priorities, and you can't do all the things all the time. So if you have to drop a ball, just make sure you drop a plastic ball and not a glass ball. And of course, there are glass balls in your home life. There are certain things that you need to be there for. And if it means dropping a plastic ball for work, then you got to do that. 

I was talking to Terry about all of this. And he just said this that really stuck out to me. And it's simple, but it's just that the world champs never have an undefeated season. Whoever's winning the World Championship for whatever sport, it doesn't mean that they want every single game. They just won in the long run. So think about your life that way. In the long run, how can you win? It might mean that one day, something gets dropped. You lose a game, but that doesn't mean that you're out for the whole season. You can still be the champion. Okay? 

All right. Number four is make clear boundaries with work and home. So this is something that I think the pandemic has really helped me do, really kind of separating work and home. And it's been really healthy and good for me. So one thing is like not having my phone in the evening. I used to kind of always have it around. Here, let's just be honest. I run a gym business. And we have staff there. We have classes at night. And so things come up. And so that was kind of my excuse. Like, well, I need to have my phone with me. Because if someone needs to text me something or something happens to come up, which rarely ever happens. I need to have my phone with me to be able to get back. But what did it actually really become? It became me checking Instagram real quick or seeing a notification come through and be like, Oh, I need to get back to that. Or a text that really wasn't important or urgent. But then you make it urgent in your mind. And then my kids are over here like Mommy, Mommy, Mommy. Not okay. Right? So now I have my phone turned on, with the volume on. But it's sitting on the counter over there. So that if a call comes through, which is what I have trained my staff to do. Don't text me if something urgent comes up. Call me. Then I can go and check my phone. It never rings, right? Because there's not anything going on. I don't need to have my phone with me. And I made that change because I once had my son, we were in one room, and we were going to a different room and he said, "Oh Mommy, Mommy, here's your phone." I had left my phone sitting there. Oh, Mommy, here's your phone and giving it to me, like, oh, Mommy needs to have this phone attached to her person at all times. And I was like, Oh, baby, it's okay, mommy's gonna just leave her phone right here. And he looked at me like, but you never do that. Why? I was like, uh, this is terrible. I need to create some boundaries. So another boundary, I think, in that vein is communicating with your husband about your needs. Again, there are seasons, so things change. And when new things come up, you know, you shouldn't be the default person in the marriage, in the partnership, as parents who's automatically going to be taking on all the roles associated with this new thing. And making sure you're communicating that with your husband as things change, right? So if there's a new season in your business, or in your career, making sure you say, "Hey, I think I'm going to need a little bit more help with this." Or "Can you do a part of what this task involves? So that it's not all on me?" I think communication is huge. 

Ultimately, I just think about this too. Being a mom, to me, is everything. It really is. Like it just means the world to me. And I think like if I had to give up everything else, all of the other roles that I have, to be a mom. I would do it in a heartbeat. My kids are my why. They are a huge source of my motivation to do all the things that I do. And I can't forget that when I'm in the day-to-day. So while that is true, I feel like there are times when I don't actually operate as if that were true. Maybe I'll put myself down for my business's success. Not to realize that putting myself down or not taking care of myself, will then affect my moments with my children, which is really the number one thing that's important to me. So you're always having to kind of say is this really best for the season I'm in and what I'm trying to do right now? Yes, I'm saying yes to something in my business. But as long as it's not going to be detrimental to me to then now be detrimental to my family and my children. So that's just kind of how I think about it. But I have to remind myself that if they're really the most important thing. Then I need to act in my day-to-day like they're the most important thing as well. 

And then number five, and this is probably the biggest one. I ultimately surrender it all to God. Y'all, I don't know how I would navigate any of this without my faith. I mean, I don't know I would navigate anything in life without my faith. Because as a mom, I know we all have those thoughts and those fears. Like, there's something that's just scared me so much. like, what if my kids, my new thing is, what if my kids get bullied in school? And it's because I've heard all these stories about kids getting bullied? I'm like, what if my kids get bullied? Well, I'm like the kind of mom who's, let's go to the school, not only talk to the kid's parents. But I'm talking to the kid like, yo, what's going on? Right? Or college. My cousins right now are going to college. And I'm talking to their moms like, oh, my goodness, how? Like, you're just leaving? Like one of my nephews is going to Boston for school. And I'm like, you're gonna just let them go to Boston and just leave them and you're in Texas. It's like, so far. I'm thinking, Oh, my gosh, will my kids let me come and live in the city that they go to college? No, they're not gonna let me do that. And it freaks me out. And there's all these thoughts, right? Your what ifs or you're wise, or your house can go on forever and ever. And ultimately, you can't protect them from everything. You can't put them in this bubble and make sure that they never feel any harm or hurt or pain, because they'll never grow. And that's really hard for me to grapple with. But I think that's where my faith steps in. Something much bigger than me. Like God will be protecting them. Just like he protected me, right. And just remembering that we can't control everything. But I do have a God who is watching out for my children. So I surrender my parenting to God. When there's something that's out of my control that I've done everything I can do. I say, "God, it's in your hands." 

We had a really scary incident with Terry, a few years ago. I think he was like two, maybe three. And he had a seizure. And it was probably the scariest moment of my entire life. And he just went limp as we were talking and walking and fell to the ground and his mouth was gaped open. And I mean, even just talking about it gives me, makes me just go back to that really scary space. But I didn't know what to do. And I just started praying after you know, getting in the car and trying to drive in the rain as my husband was giving me directions of where to go to get to the nearest hospital. And I just started praying to God because it was just so much bigger than me. So when it comes to being a mom, besides all the tips I could give or the lessons that I've learned. Ultimately, I just surrender to God. You know, my confidence comes from God, I do what I do, I stand firmly, I keep my head up, because of who I am in God and knowing that he's got me. And that's not just with the motherhood stuff, but with the business stuff and the wife stuff and all the different things that, all the different pieces of my life. I say, "Okay, my confidence is in God." And that's how I can do all of the things that I do. 

So I want to challenge you. If you're a mom, or a mom-to-be, listening to this. I mean, this is really for everybody. But I feel like moms, we can tend to put ourselves on the backburner a lot. This is my challenge to you, I want you to carve out some time for you on a consistent basis, to take care of yourself. To just say this is my me-time. And if every week feels unrealistic, which is what we should be working toward. Aim for every other week or even once a month. But I want you to actually block it out on your calendar, like how we time block, you know, working on our business and working in our business. And we time block, maybe different client appointments, and on and on. I want you to also time block, hey, this is my weekly personal time where I can do whatever I want. I can sit down, sleep, go get my nails done, walk outside. Just some time for you. Because I want you to take care of yourself. Okay? 

As always, thank you so much for tuning in to Bird Means Business podcast. For sharing this really sacred and special space with me, especially as I talk about something as dear to me as being a mama. Please make sure you subscribe on Apple Podcasts. And follow the podcast on Spotify. Be sure to tell every mompreneur you know about this episode, so that they can maybe find some inspiration or tune in and just hear some of these lessons that I've learned too. All right.

Talk to y'all next week.