SUMMARY
Leah is the host of the podcast Building a Mumpire, which is dedicated to supporting mums who are not only raising a family, but also trying to build their own business. In this episode, Leah talks about her own experiences of starting a business and how it wasn't a great beginning. She explains that she started her business out of fear of becoming homeless, and reflects on the difficulties she faced in getting her business off the ground. She wants to provide support and encouragement to mums who are facing similar struggles, and remind them that they are part of an amazing community of strong and resilient women.
At the beginning of 2020, the speaker was working in the travel and events industry and was expecting to be made redundant due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Just 12 months prior to this, they had already been made redundant from their previous role in the industry. The speaker was not prepared to deal with this reality and decided to figure out how to use their skills in a new way. They watched Netflix, ate ice cream, and cried to come to terms with the situation. Ultimately, they decided to make a change and start looking for a new job.
The speaker recounts how she faced unemployment come September when JobKeeper was going to end. To figure out what she wanted to do with her life, she threw herself a post-it note party, writing down everything she was good at and loved, as well as everything she was bad at and disliked. This exercise led her to realize that she was good at project management and really enjoyed telling people what to do. She then started her own virtual assistant business, helping people in various areas such as mortgage applications and social media management. This eventually led to her creating her own business as the Productivity Queen and building her ‘mumpire’. She emphasizes how she has managed to do this on her own, with her friends understanding what it’s like to build a business.
The speaker, a single mother and entrepreneur, talks about why she started her own business. She had to figure out her journey on her own and found that many of the resources she sought out weren't quite what she was looking for. She wanted to find a community of women who were creating a life for themselves and their families, and she wanted to be able to celebrate with them and be there for the hard times. She had to make a lot of sacrifices and put things for herself on the back burner to make it work, but she is now much happier than she was in her fifteen-year corporate career. The speaker also talks about how she gets to make the choices, set her own boundaries, and do the things she wants to do without having to ask permission from anyone. She is now focused on the fear of success, rather than the fear of failure.
TIMESTAMPS
0:00:00 Building a Mumpire: The Story of How It All Began
0:01:13 Reflection on Career Transition During the COVID-19 Pandemic
0:03:20 "From JobKeeper to Productivity Queen: How I Built My Business Out of Necessity"
0:06:26 "The Inspiration Behind Building a Mumpire: A Single Mum's Journey to Success"
0:11:10 "The Birth of the Productivity Queen: How One Woman Found Success in Helping Others Achieve Their Goals"
0:13:09 "Building a Mumpire: Empowering Mums to Shout It From the Rooftops"
