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The Modern Moms Roadmap to Balance Podcast
Is it really possible to find balance as a mom? Each week, I'll be bringing you inspiring chats, interviews, and dialogues all based around helping moms like you unlock their potential and lead the balanced life they want. If you enjoy listening to topics that help you lead a more balanced life, then you've come to the right place. I'm obsessed with helping moms lead the life they want without the guilt.
With the right information and support, you can find balance in motherhood without sacrificing your needs.
The Modern Moms Roadmap to Balance Podcast
Episode 35: Unpacking the Realities of Motherhood and Entrepreneurship with Special Guest Laura Sinclair
Have you ever felt like the quest for balance as a modern mom and entrepreneur is like searching for a mythical unicorn? Laura Sinclair joins us to demystify this journey, sharing her transition from a business-centric worldview to embracing a life where success encompasses family, self-care, and mental well-being. We unpack the concept of balance, not as a rigid scheduling challenge but as an internal state of calm. Laura's reflections on the dynamic nature of parenting reveal how each stage reshapes our understanding of what it truly means to have it all.
Striking a chord with listeners, I open up about my own pivotal moments that reshaped my personal and professional life. From the brink of a marital breakdown to closing a business during the pandemic, these stories weave the tapestry of a mompreneur's life. The chapter on mentorship underscores the significance of connecting with those who walk a similar path, as the camaraderie between mompreneurs often proves to be the most resonant and effective when it comes to navigating the unique blend of motherhood and business.
We round out our conversation with the transformative power of small actions and the importance of community. So, tune in as Laura and I explore strategies for working smarter, fostering meaningful connections, and the profound impact of reaching just one person with our message. Join us on the enlightening road to a more balanced, strategic, and connected life for moms who mean business.
Helpful Links:
Website: www.laura-sinclair.com
Social Media Handles:
@itslaurasinclair
@thismothermeansbusiness
This Mother Means Business Community
Book discussed: Worthy by Jamie Kern Lima
About the Podcast Host
Kayla Nettleton is a licensed therapist based in TX, business owner, mom of 3 kids and coach for therapists who want support and guidance in their journey in creating an aligned business model so that they can live the freedom based life they've always dreamed of without sacrificing their own needs.
In her private practice as a therapist Kayla specialize in helping women overcome anxiety, perfectionism and people pleasing tendencies so that they can lead a more fulfilled and authentically aligned life
Find Kayla on IG
@kaylanettleton_lcsw
@themodernmomsroadmaptobalance
Email: kayla@kaylanettleton.com
TX Residents can Schedule a Free 20 minute therapy consultation here.
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Hello everyone and welcome back to the Modern Moms Roadmap to Balance podcast. Our guest today is Laura Sinclair, and Laura believes that you and your business deserve to be seen. With over a decade of experience building digital marketing strategies for some of the world's biggest brands, laura has dedicated her life's work to teaching women how to grow their business and take big leaps into their entrepreneurial dreams through her podcast courses and events. Laura went from corporate dropout to multi-six-figure business owner. Her journey ranges from public relations, sports marketing, sports marketing, sponsorship marketing and social media management to nutrition coach, gym owner, women's event host, community builder, author, podcast host, investor and CEO. Laura is a mom of two. She's a CEO of the boutique social media marketing agency, the LJ social Agency, and the host of this Mother Means Business podcast. Welcome, laura.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for having me. I know it's a bit of a. It's quite the journey reading in my bio. And everyone says when someone asks me to write a bio I'm like, how much do you want to know? So, thank you for reading that.
Speaker 1:No, thank you for sharing. I really do enjoy hearing people's especially mom's journeys, because I think a lot of the times what happens is when we're talking about a bio or we're just trying to get to know them, we just hear about this one piece and it can really like create this belief that, oh, they did that thing and it just went so well for them. They kept going. When the reality is although, yes, that can happen Most of the time people jump and move to figure out what is best for them and their families and their businesses.
Speaker 2:Totally, and some of those things went really well and then stopped being aligned for me and then other things didn't go so well. And so it's definitely I know I love that you, I love that you say that because I think you know, when we talk about motherhood, we talk about entrepreneurship or like even career right, like whatever it is that you want to do to fill your time. I think there's so many different seasons and different needs.
Speaker 2:You know, my kids are six and three and the things that they need now are a lot different than they were when they were three and one or three and a newborn, and I know it's going to be different again when they're, you know, six and nine, and so I don't know. I feel like that's part of it for me.
Speaker 1:I'm always going to be a lifelong learner a lifelong shapeshifter, probably as far as I'm, you should just pick one, and I do understand that it's better to give your attention to one thing at a time, but I don't just want to do one thing for the rest of my life. I want to do lots of things. I'm a multi-passionate person, me too, yeah. But before we continue diving into this topic with the question, I always ask everyone what is your definition of a balanced life?
Speaker 2:Yeah, mine. When I think about balance, what I actually like start to think about is like my own physical body and like how I feel in my physical body. So I'm a person that really feels. When I'm anxious or I'm sad, I like feel it in my body. It makes me feel like I'm walking around with an open chest wound and so for me, when I think about balance, I think about like it's actually calm, it's like relaxation in my body, it's just like a sense of ease and I think and I know we're going to dive into this, but balance is very much a moving target. It's like, you know, some people will tell you that it's not achievable. Some people try to go for more harmony over balance. But when I think about the word balance like what I want that to look like, regardless of what's happening on the outside in the world and in my house and all those things it's like that sense of just like ease and calm within myself is really what comes up for me.
Speaker 2:Yes, I love that, that physical feeling thinking about how you want to feel within your physical body. Yeah, and like, and that's so many things. Right, that's like stress, that's my mental health, it's what am I putting into my body? Who is, how much energy do I have? Like there's so many things. But for me, when I think about the word balance and like what I want that, I think about what I want it to feel like, less so what it looks like, and the feeling is what comes up for me as like just how it would feel it, how it feels in my body.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. How has that definition changed for you over time? So you have a six year old and a three year old. Do you feel like that has changed you over time? So you have a six-year-old and a three-year-old. Do you feel like that has changed, you know, since maybe just having your first child?
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh. Yes, balance wasn't something that I even like thought was possible or something that I thought was achievable, and I I tend to shy away from the word balance a little. I I'm more of like a harmony girl, but I think like, at the end of the day, we're just talking about semantics. It's like how do you, how do you feel in that moment? And so you know when I think about when I had my daughter I owned a brick and mortar gym at the time and there was no such thing as balance.
Speaker 2:I was in this headspace where I was business or bust right, like this business was going to work and it didn't matter what I sacrificed If it was my marriage, my own mental health, and it didn't matter what I sacrificed if it was my marriage, my own mental health, time with my baby, like none of that. It was just like I was in this headspace where I had to be quote unquote successful in the business that I was running at the time and certainly through a lot of therapy, a lot of inner work, a lot of exploration, really coming to this place of like what, understanding what really matters for me has shifted Right and I think that's a big part and getting really clear on where my priorities are has helped me achieve. You know, whether you call it balance or harmony or ease, however you want to call it I think being clear on my real priorities in my life is something that's really given me that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what? What has helped you to, like, get clear on your priorities? I know that you mentioned, like you've been to therapy and a lot of inner work, but was there some kind of like catalyst or something that happened that you were thinking or that made you think, okay, things need to change.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I think there were a few things over the years. I think, you know, one of the biggest catalysts for me is, you know, my marriage basically falling apart back in 2020, what no? 2019. So, pre-covid, we had the baby, I had a baby, we were running the gym and my marriage basically fell apart and it was sort of like why, you know, my husband and I we joke that we're on our second marriage or probably our third marriage at this point we're still together, but there was a really hard, difficult time in my personal relationships where I had to kind of take a step back and be like what's going on here, why is this happening, what really matters? And so certainly that was one of them.
Speaker 2:A second big moment for me was during the pandemic. I ran a brick and mortar gym. We all know what happened in March of 2020. I was, at the time, eight weeks pregnant with my now three-year-old son. He'll be four and four in this for this year and for me, that really gave me a big moment of pause too, because we our gym was closed for quite a long time here in Ontario, canada, restrictions were very severe in terms of what you could and couldn't do, and we made the decision at the end of 2020 to actually close our gym permanently because we knew that we didn't want to go back to you know where we were in 2019 or 2018, struggling with our marriage and trying to build this business with a baby, and it was just not a good situation.
Speaker 2:And so I think it's been like pieces over time, you know, like moments that happen in our in my life that are not ideal but there's always a lesson there and being able to just sort of get closer and closer and closer, and also just looking to other mentors and looking at other women that I respect that are building families and building businesses and brands and who are finding ways to do it. I tend to be a modifier by nature, so I love looking to see what other people do, what works for them, and then, adapting for my own life.
Speaker 1:I love that and that reminds me of this specific post that I had seen and I think it might've been that post where I had reached out to you to do this recording and in it you had said something along the lines of women or mothers need to stop looking to women without children for business advice, or something along those lines. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I say that a lot. I say that a lot. I think it's just like you can't understand what it's like to be a mom running a business unless you're a mom running a lot. I say that a lot. I think it's just like you can't understand what it's like to be a mom running a business unless you're a mom running a business. And I invested. I could have bought a house with the amount of money that I've invested in mentorship over the years. I mean, I'm I'm 10 years into entrepreneurship, so I was entrepreneur before I became a mom.
Speaker 2:But you know what I think about, why I left my first mentor I have this. When I owned a gym, we had a mentorship and it was a man and he was lovely. But when I had my daughter, I remember being in a session with him and saying to him you know I'm really struggling, I'm feeling overwhelmed and you know, there's there's all of these demands and I like I'm having a hard time and he kind of just like was like, yeah, you know that's really hard, let's look at your spreadsheet to see your targets and where we're at.
Speaker 2:And then we spent the next 20 minutes of him going over, like all the ways I'm not doing enough, and I was just like, okay, and I think that I canceled my. I think I, you know I was working with a mentorship group and I think I, you know processed that for a couple of days and then I just sent an email and I was like, hey, you know what this isn't, this isn't it anymore. And there's been many times where I've gone in, paid you know thousands of dollars to be in rooms and masterminds and receiving advice from someone who just doesn't know what it's like to be in my shoes. You know, I received advice recently. I host a free community connection call every other Tuesday at 10 am Eastern. If you're listening, you want to join, please come.
Speaker 2:But I was talking about this in an event I was at and the guy that was hosting the event was like you need to do those more, you should do more of those. It's like, yeah, I mean I would, I would like to, but it's not. You know, it's that's probably all I've got right now in terms of like, my capacity. And he's like well, you could do it at night. And I was like do you want to come do bedtime at my house.
Speaker 2:I don't do you want to come for my kids to bed, because I'm sure that the other women that would be coming I tend to serve moms will also be doing bedtime, and so you know there was a moment where it was sort of insinuated that I was being lazy when I was pushing back on this and I was like, no, not being lazy, yes, I'm just being realistic about, you know, the 24 hours that I have.
Speaker 2:Meanwhile, this person that I'm talking to has no children, has all the money in the world probably has someone cooking for them, doing laundry, cleaning, like all those other things that I do, and so I think it's really important to filter your sources and when I'm looking for mentorship absolutely Sorry, I'm losing my voice. When I'm looking for mentorship, I'm going to hire a mom. If I'm going all in on that, like making a big investment and looking for someone to mentor me, it's because they are living a life that I want to live and that starts with being a mom. It doesn't mean I'm not going to receive advice from somebody that isn't a mom on, like, a certain subject, I'm happy to learn, but when we're talking about, like, actual mentorship, this is how you need to function in the confines of your life. Don't talk to me unless you know what it's like to live even, you know, an hour in my life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, no, and I I completely agree with that, because even in other areas, people who are not moms can't wrap their minds around what it really means to be a mom and all of the things that that moms do. Or I want to say have to do. I hate to say have to do, but all of the things that moms do. Yeah, it just shifts, it changes. Things change from zero kids to kids.
Speaker 2:Yes, and I have to admit, like I was that person that had no idea. I have this memory of my last corporate job. My boss was a single mom and I would. I was probably 25 at the time and I remember, you know, she'd come in late and she'd leave early or she wouldn't. You know she'd miss a bunch of days because so-and-so was sick. And I vividly remember thinking to myself that must be nice. It must be so nice to get to come in late and leave early because I'm here at the time, I'm supposed to be here and I leave, and I resented her for it. I did and I had no idea.
Speaker 2:And now, you know, I would apologize to her a thousand times over because, gosh, it's such an ignorant thing for me to think. But you know, I didn't know better and most people don't right like you. You can't know unless you are a primary parent and you're managing the invisible load of motherhood and all the things that are piled on with that, the stuff you don't even think about, that other people don't have to think about, because you're thinking about it. You just can't. You can't get it and it's not. I've had people take offense to this, you know. I've had people that you know wanted me to join their programs or looking to mentor me, and I've said like I'm really sorry but I can't hire you because you're not a mom, and they're offended by that. They're, they are truly offended and I and it's not that they're not incredible people, it's not that I don't think that they can help me, it's just I know there's going to be a moment at least one, probably 20, where I'm going to be coming to you for support that you actually can't give me because you don't, you don't know, and so that's that's a really big piece of it. That's that's really important to me.
Speaker 2:Actually, I I run a mastermind myself and just today, as we have a Voxer group, so like a chat, and just today, you know the over the last couple of days, the Voxer group has been really loud. There's been a lot of conversation from women who are struggling and we're all and all having the same conversation. One woman sort of popped in and was like hey guys, I know I haven't been here in a couple of days. I'm really having a hard time. You know, I'm putting all this pressure on myself. I'm trying to be the best at running my business and the best mom and I feel like I'm failing in all of the things. And then, bing, bing, bing, all these other women pop in Right and and then bing, bing, bing, all these other women pop in Right and they're like I could have said the same message. I'm feeling that too, and so, you know, as a leader of the mastermind, of course I can echo those things.
Speaker 2:And then my thought is okay, who can I bring in now to support better Right? What other tools, who can I bring in to support us on these topics? And there are a bunch of you know, a bunch of different things that come up. But I think, like that conversation doesn't happen. You're not getting that vulnerable If you're in a group with a bunch of you know, 20 something childless people that are going to.
Speaker 2:They're not going to hold space for you in the same way, and so it's just really cool to see it happening. I mean, that's the reason that my mastermind exists. But even as we're having this conversation like this is a conversation that I'm having this morning with the women in my community that are really and it's not always fixable right, there's not always an answer out of it, but at least knowing you're not alone, that you're not crazy, that you know sharing strategies with one another, things that you do and kind of giving some permission right, like I think that's a lot of it. It's like permission to maybe push a deadline, permission to play hooky for a day, to you know, take some pressure off yourself.
Speaker 2:Remember that. You know it's about quality time with your kids, not necessarily quantity, like all of those things um is a really big part of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I I really like the term permission because I think that's what gets in the way of women and moms being able to take the breaks or move a deadline is they don't feel like they have the permission to do that, or they feel like maybe they're going to get in trouble or maybe they're not going to. This must mean they're not enough or they can't hack it when that's not necessarily the reality. Your business and the way you frame your time is about you and your capacity, the amount of energy you do or do not have, and paying attention to those things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's two sides of it, like. One of the things I find so interesting is I think moms are truly the most efficient people on the planet.
Speaker 2:Like I can get more done in three hours than most people can do in an entire day, because you've learned that right, like, if you're a mom, you're managing so many things, and so, you know, in my agency, all of my staff are moms, because they're just wildly efficient human beings.
Speaker 2:And so I think there's like two sides of it. Right, there are things that we can't always do the same way as other people, but I do think that when we simplify things, when we figure out what does work and then we double down on it, like there's so much that's available to you, like I am the last person that will ever use motherhood as an excuse to not go after my dreams or to not achieve my goals. I'm also the first person to give myself grace in moments where, hey, that didn't go exactly how to plan, because the Nora virus just swept through my house over the last week. Yeah Right, like those are things that are going to come up. But I also believe that, like, if you're a mom and you want to, you have a dream on your heart. You are the perfect person to pull it off because you're already capable of so much. Your bandwidth is massive and some of the time you know, we talked about imposter syndrome before we hopped on Some of the time.
Speaker 2:It's just that it's like the knowing that you're actually like worthy of that idea and that it is for you, but you are going to have to do it another way than maybe you know, sally next door who, or your other friend that you see online that doesn't have kids, that has, you know, 14 hours a day. I remember I hired a mentor early on in my business and she had, I think she said she had 21 private clients and would spend two hours a day on Instagram doing engagement and I was like oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:Both of those things are a no for me. I'll tell you that right now I will not be spending two hours a day on Instagram engaging with strangers, and 21 one-on-one clients is far too many more than I would ever I have. I also have small children those count for like 10 one-on-one clients each in terms of their capacity of like what they, what they require of me. And so you know, being able to look at another person and be like, okay, like that's great for you. Here's what I'm going to do. That's going to be different. I think the key for a mom is like really figuring out what quote unquote strategy or tactic is going to work for you, and then how can you maximize the effectiveness of that strategy. And sometimes we joke in my mastermind it's like how can we do the bare minimum for the maximum result? But it's all available to you.
Speaker 1:No, that's so funny. The bare minimum for the maximum results, because it's going back. What is that? The Pareto principle, the 8020 rule, that it's only like 20% of your effort produces like 80% of like whatever it is that you're doing, or something like that, something along those lines. So it's the bare minimum. You don't want to be working super hard, like you don't have to work hard, like super hard for you to be successful. It's, it is really the working smarter, not harder.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and most, most of us overcomplicate it, and I like it's important for me to admit to anybody that seems to think like I am a queen, I will make work for myself. I am the queen of making work for myself. I'm actually in the process right now of launching my community, and so by the time this episode comes out, I'm sure the community will be live or available. And so I have this mother means business podcast, I have my this by the means business mastermind, but I'm going to be launching this mother means business community, a space for entrepreneurial mothers to come and just receive support in a really cost-effective way and be part of community.
Speaker 2:The one piece that I've seen is, regardless of where you are in your entrepreneurial journey, there's this, this thread of loneliness that seems to exist for all entrepreneurial moms is it doesn't matter if you make 50K a year, 10k a year or $10 million a year. There's a loneliness factor. And so I've been building this community for years without really knowing it, and so now it's time to formally launch it. But you know, I was talking to my team about it just this week and my intention initially I was like, okay, I'm going to do a webinar and then I'm going to have the funnel and that's going to funnel in.
Speaker 2:And then I had to take a moment to be like Laura you have been building this community for three years Like you don't need to do a webinar. Like you just don't. Like your people are ready. And so I. Even for me, I had to take a moment to be like, oh, you're right. And it was like a conversation. You know I'm having like my left brain, right brain conversation yeah, you don't need that, you haven't, that's not required. And even just having to check myself on, oh, that that isn't required, as I'm, you know about, to write all of the webinar marketing emails and then the follow-up emails and the launch emails, I'm just writing one set of emails and the people that want to come and be part of this community will cause they'll know that it's for them.
Speaker 2:And that's what I spent the last three years building my business, building this part of my business. This just makes sense now, and so I'm the queen of making work for myself. I have I have to check myself relatively often, because I don't want to be chained to my desk all day. I just don't and it's not required. Yes, you need to work hard, right, I'm not going to tell you not to work hard. You should work hard. But you got to work smart and so, yeah, it's something that I'm constantly checking with myself is how can I make this easier? Where can? Where am I over-complicating something that doesn't need to be complicated? And I think that is, you know, a big part of it. Yeah, so what made you even think like, oh you know, for something higher ticket. But truly for me, like when I think about my community like it is, the for the founders offers $47 a month. The amount of value is ridiculous and my community is ready for this.
Speaker 2:Like I, like I said, I've been building this. This mother means business. The podcast has been out for over a year, but I've been having conversations around motherhood and entrepreneurship for three years on social media. You know I have the email list, I have everything. So for me, it was just this.
Speaker 2:I think it was more of like you know to your point, seeing what other people are doing to fill their programs and then also like knowing what email nurture looks like, right, the nurture process moving somebody through, like awareness through to purchase. But I had to kind of just check myself and be like no, everybody, like your people, are ready for this thing. Like we I do, I've been doing these free community connection calls for a full year. Like we're ready, we're ready to take this. You know we've been we've all been dating each other for the first little bit and like we're ready to take this. You know we've been we've all been dating each other for the first little bit and like we're ready to to go into a committed $47 a month relationship. So for me it was yeah, it was a little bit of like just seeing what I know other people are doing, um, or telling myself stories about where my, where my audience is really at and where my community is at. Um, yeah, yeah, I think that would be it.
Speaker 1:And you said, telling yourself stories of like where you're at and where your community is at. What helps you identify those stories for?
Speaker 2:yourself and then to be able to fact a story, and so I'm a person that will tell myself a lot of stories. I think we all do right, and whether it's like, who am I? And even I think launching this community is a great conversation point, because when I first had the idea of doing a community, I was like oh, there's so many communities. Like who?
Speaker 1:am.
Speaker 2:I to launch another one. Like who cares about me? And then it was like no, lots of people actually, laura, you know, like I, I lots of people during my mastermind. They come to my retreats, they come to my events, they listen to my podcasts Like I'm well aware that there there's lots of people. Um, and then also like be able to give myself permission that it's okay if it starts small and then it's going to grow over time. This isn't going to be. I'm not going to launch and have a thousand people in my community, and that's okay.
Speaker 2:And so for me it's often like hearing a story and being like, oh, and I will stop myself in the moment. I'll be like, oh, that's interesting, you know where's that coming from. Sometimes I write it down, Sometimes I, sometimes I write it down, sometimes I'll just kind of sit with it. And for me it was like, certainly with the community. It was like who am I to do this? You know there's a couple other mom entrepreneurship communities that I'm aware of, but I wanted to do it differently, I wanted to do it my way, and so for me it really just comes down to okay, that's an interesting story.
Speaker 2:My first thought is whose voice is that? Whose story am I I hearing? Like where, where's that coming from? And sometimes that's like, oh, that you know, maybe that's my mother or my it's like a childhood story coming through. Or maybe it's some other person that I've been around. Maybe I'm just not around the right people and maybe somebody, you know, somebody was pouring their own self-doubt onto me and I'm triggering that. And then really, for me it's like what is true about this? What is the information? Like to really fact a story is something that I'm really good at for myself and others. Right, my coaching clients.
Speaker 2:They'll come to me like hey, you know, I'm telling myself this story, or this is my belief, and it's like, okay, what's true about that? Nothing. Okay, If nothing's true about that story, then what is the worst thing that could happen? What's the best thing that could happen? And really starting to think about, okay, what can we fact over top of this? Because nine times out of 10, the stories we tell ourselves whether it's I can't do something, I'm not worthy of something, I shouldn't do, that it's not going to work, who am I to? Any version of those are all just stories and very rarely do we actually back fact up to those stories. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:Yeah, do you connect that? Because you were talking about paying attention to what you're feeling within your body. Do you connect those stories to feelings? Is that also what helps you identify these stories?
Speaker 2:Yeah, sometimes. So I have learned a little bit about human design. I'm not a human design expert, Don't pretend to be. I'm a manifesting generator which would make sense if you go back to my bio. We're a little all over the place, but one of the things that.
Speaker 2:I am supposed to do as a manifesting generator is have a gut response to things. And so, yes, I get a little like hang in my body. I'm also not a person that does well. When I like make a decision and then impulsively act on it, I usually sit on it for a little bit and it might just be a day or two. It doesn't have to be a long time for a lot of for the people on my team they think it's a very short time. So even for this community, I was like you know, it'll probably take me a while to figure it out. And then, you know, 10 days later I'm like, okay, I'm ready. And they're all like what feels right, what doesn't feel right. And also, you know, I think there is a little bit.
Speaker 1:It's important for all of us to have a little bit of like delusional or delulu belief about ourselves, like it's required.
Speaker 2:I think I'm halfway through reading Jamie Kern Lima's book worthy, which is I highly recommend reading for anyone.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:It's called worthy. It's by Jamie Kern Lima, who's the founder of it Cosmetics really, really great book. Okay, talks about like confidence versus worthiness. So if you're a person that struggles with imposter syndrome or anything like that or you think that you're not worthy of your big, hairy goals, highly recommend the book. But I think that's a big piece and, like somewhere along the way I just kind of decided that I am worthy of the things that I desire and so for me that's just an inherent belief that I've been able to to lock in there. It doesn't doesn't mean it doesn't get shaky every now and then it does, but I kind of can go back to that right. It's like we are all worthy of the things that we desire, but you just have to decide. So much of success is just you deciding that it's time that you're deciding you're going to do the things that are really is yeah, like you're going to ask for what it is that
Speaker 2:you want in the world. You're going to decide to do the thing. That's scary. You're going to put that thing out there. You're going to put yourself out there. Right, it's just largely a decision that enough's enough, let's go, and so I think for me, that's one thing that I've been able to do pretty well, and I mean, I've been an entrepreneur for 10 years, so I'm pretty wired that that's just how it goes now, and so, yeah, it's kind of like a muscle over time.
Speaker 1:No, I'm really glad that you shared that and you brought that up, because that also was something for me too, in recognizing my own worthiness was something for me too, in recognizing my own worthiness, and even when, in the creation of this podcast, I had the idea for a while, but it really took me finally deciding I didn't have to have everything in place, everything perfect, I just had to start doing it. And that started with me just deciding okay, I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna start recording. I'm just gonna do it and I'll figure everything out along the way. But if I waited for everything to be in line, for everything to be quote unquote perfect, I might've not even ever started recording.
Speaker 2:No, you would be waiting forever, and that was the same thing for me with this mother means business. When I launched the podcast, I was like if one person listens, then that'll be great, you know like if episode one launches it up and one person listens. And I think within the first week I had like 120 downloads on the first episode and I was like what is?
Speaker 1:which you know like.
Speaker 2:to some people that might be a really small number, I feel like a really small number, but to me I was like if I get one person, and okay, that's fine and that's. That's kind of been an energy that I've tried to hold. I had a mentor early on talk to me about that. It's like just being in the energy of one person. If I can help one person, if one person listens to this podcast episode and get something out of it and our listen hangs on to one thing that I said then this was so worth our time.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:If one person listens to my podcast episode, great, you know. If one person reads the emails I send out every Tuesday, fine, I will write it for that one person. And so if I've changed one person's life or helped one person on any given day, then I'd take it as a win.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. That's such a great mindset to work off of.
Speaker 2:Yeah go ahead I was just gonna say, like one becomes two, two becomes four, four becomes eight, you know like yeah, that is how it builds. I got a message yesterday, actually from my car. I was like I was on a call and your, I send emails every Tuesday. It was Tuesday yesterday to give away the recording date. But I got a message in my Instagram DMs. I was like hey, I was on a call that somebody brought up your email that you wrote this week. I was like what?
Speaker 2:And then they started sharing the link about the email that I wrote and I was like who was it? I'm so confused the name of the person wasn't even a person whose name I recognized. I was like that is wild to me. Wow, you're on a call. This person that's in my community happened to be on a call with someone she doesn't know, that she knows and doesn't believe to be part of my community Said hey, you know what Laura Sinclair wrote this email this week about this thing.
Speaker 2:You should check it out. And I was just and she's telling me this and my brain's melt, like my brain is melting. I'm just like is this actually like? Okay, and I will be honest, like I don't have a huge email list, I think I've got like maybe 700 people on my email list, which is big to some people, small to most, right, I don't have a 10,000 person email list and so it's just wild. When she told me this, I was like this is wild and that is that's the energy of one person, right, it's like one person who I haven't even connected with yet in a meaningful way to me, but I'm connecting with her in a meaningful way, is then going and having conversations in rooms I'm not even in about an email that I wrote, that she might be the only person who read it, and that's okay, right, I know she's not because I can check my open rates, but you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Like it's just so that belief of like I just need to help one person really does continue to carry me, and I'm sure that it will for a very long time, and I bet it also I mean from hearing that it makes me, and I'm sure that it will for a very long time, and I bet it also I mean from hearing that it makes me also think I bet that takes a lot of pressure off so that you can just let the writing flow, be able to say what you need to say, instead of worrying about all of the people that you're trying to speak to.
Speaker 2:Yeah, very much so, very much so. It takes the pressure off, and I won't pretend that there aren't days where I'm like, oh, not enough people are open my emails or like I wish that I had more people in those offers or my real had better numbers, or whatever it is Right. There are still those moments where I'm like, oh, that sucks. Yeah, but in the totality of the thing, yeah, it totally takes the pressure off, because I know inherently, because I've seen it so many times, like one becomes two and two becomes four, like it really just does and and that's okay, right, like it, it doesn't have to be this race.
Speaker 2:I think in the online space, there's a lot of rhetoric and narrative around. You know, if you're not doing this quickly, if you're not getting to six figures in 10 minutes, or you're not making sales every single day, like you're failing and I just don't like that's not it, that's not true, that's not real. You know that might be the reality for some people, but most people. There's a reason why 95% of business owners are making less than six figures. Like it's an astonishing number. Maybe it's 92% it's a very low percentage. It's less than 10% of business owners are making six figures, and less than 2% are making seven figures and so.
Speaker 2:But if you spend any time scrolling on Instagram, you're going to believe that if you're not making something's wrong with at least a hundred thousand dollars a year, there's something very wrong with you which just isn't. Isn't really true, and so you know. For me, I think, in this world where everything apparently needs to happen yesterday, it's important for me to like remember that for myself that good things take time and business, growing a business takes time. But also it's a big part of the conversations I try to have. You know my Instagram account and my podcast. Things like that is like things take time, but everything that you do is planting a seed that you don't necessarily know when it's going to bloom yet, but like know and trust that it will eventually.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that. So you're about to launch your community and then you have an agency and you said you have a mastermind. Can you talk a little bit of each?
Speaker 2:Of course. So my brand I'm moving the podcast this Mother Means Business really into a brand where everything that I do will function under this Mother Means Business. Aside from the agency and one-on-one coaching, that's just with me, whatever I do. So on the mentorship side of my business, I do one-on-one coaching, so I work with entrepreneurial mothers one-on-one to build their businesses and to build a business that makes them a lot of money but also doesn't sacrifice their sanity, and so we play there in the one-on-one capacity. I run a mastermind this Mother Means Business Mastermind. It was formerly called the Ambition Mastermind, but it is the this Mother Means Business Mastermind moving forward, and I run that twice a year. It's a six-month mastermind. It's a combination of one-on-one coaching and group mentorship. Coaching and group mentorship.
Speaker 2:I mentioned that we have a group chat that we're in all the time. It's really just a beautiful way for high-level women to come together and support each other, grow their business, collaborate and get access to me and my resources and my support. Through that way. It's really about navigating the duality that is motherhood and entrepreneurship. Then there's the communities. The founding rate for the communities is $47 a month. I don't know what the timing will be or, when this episode comes out, if there will be founding spots left or not, and then it'll go up to $67 a month and eventually $97 a month for the community and that is just a really really cool place for entrepreneurial moms to come together in a way that's really authentic and not everybody's selling to each other and not, you know, fluff. Yeah, I think that sometimes when we talk about motherhood and entrepreneurship, we end up having like really fluffy conversations that are that lack depth at least in my experience and so I really wanted to create a place where we can have depth of conversation and receive support.
Speaker 2:So in the community you we have a monthly mastermind session where people come together on our monthly call. We break out into small groups and you can mastermind in the small groups and I'll kind of pop them in and out, which is amazing. We have a bi-weekly networking call. There's also a monthly workshop. So we're doing trainings as we build out our library on all the things. So from legal finance, marketing, emails, like whatever it is. You need support with that.
Speaker 2:And then I host a yearly retreat. So in October October 2nd to 4th this year, here in just North of Toronto, canada, we're hosting the Smothered Means Business Retreat. It is for 10 moms At this point it's 40% sold out and it's a three-day, two-night retreat where we get together and we grow our businesses and we workshop our businesses together, but also relax and have some balance and chill out. And we're doing some contrast therapy. We're bringing in Reiki, we're going to do a little bit of exercise.
Speaker 2:We've got this incredible facility. We're on five private acres. It's actually in one of Canada's largest log cabins, which I just love. It's a 14,000 square foot log mansion and we're on the beach. It's going to be beautiful. So I'm really excited for that. And then, because I don't have enough things, there's also my podcast. This is what I mean business podcast which we drop a new episode every Thursday. Sometimes it's guests, sometimes it's me, and then I have the social media marketing agency. So if you're in a season where you are looking to offload any of your digital marketing work, I can support with that too.
Speaker 1:Awesome. And how do people? What's the best way for them to get in touch with you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I love to hang out on Instagram. I'm at, it's. Laura Sinclair. If you made it this far in the podcast, we are officially friends, so feel free to send me a.
Speaker 1:DM and say hello.
Speaker 2:You can also check out this mother means businesscom or Laura dash Sinclaircom, and I'll make sure I get you all the links. We can put those in the show notes, but Instagram is the easiest place to find me, or you can find me on my website.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Laura, for giving up to your time today and all of your wisdom.