Welcome the Driven Female Entrepreneurs Podcast!
The weekly show that helps you dream bigger and achieve more in your business, by learning what works from successful female entrepreneurs.
In this episode
Hi, Welcome to the Driven Female Entrepreneur Podcast.
I’m your host, Melitta Campbell, award winning business coach and marketing veteran, and Value Whisperer.
This week as part of our Summer Business Festival we’re looking at how to run a growing business around your family – and stay sane!
It might not feel like it at times, especially when those ankle biters are around 24/7 for the next 7 weeks, but yes, I can promise you it’s possible. :)
As with everything there will be good days, bad days and days when you feel overwhelmed and if you are letting everyone down, and just want to go back to bed and forget it all and that’s OK. We may be super women in many respects, but do need to remind ourselves that at the end of the day we are all human and there is only so much we can do.
One thing I love that has come out of the podcast is that there is no one way to build a business, especially when you are doing so around a family.
Today, I will share with you some of the things I’ve done to help me run my business over the last 14 years around my growing family, but before I dive in, I wanted to highlight a few of the other episodes you’ll find valuable if you are a parent with ambition:
#52 Business After Babies – Lori Mihalich-Levin
#67 Backyard Sales to Global Brand – Kelley Higney
#71 Successful Freelancing as a Mum – Abbi Perets
#20 Building Your Business Around Your Family – Malva Gasowski
#25 Time and Productivity Techniques that Work for Women – Megan Sumrell
#93 The Marketing Mindset – Teresa Heath-Wareing
I’ve created a separate blog post that lists these episodes for you, with a summary of their advice for you – Click the Link
"Every single day, take some time to do something just for you. Do something that makes you happy and feeds your soul." -Melitta Campbell
So in today’s episode, I want to share with you 5 things that have made a big difference for me, and that I hope will help you get out there more consistently too, and with more confidence and impact.
1. Have a plan : priorities and time activities
2. Set clear boundaries – and stick to them!
Physical boundaries can help too – the day I got a proper door on my office was a game changer!
3. Be Kindful
4. Mindset
Time Line therapy – guilt, anger, sadness, fear,
If you need help with that, then do reach out – I have a six-week Positive Entrepreneurship mindset programme that I’ve created specifically to tackle the biggest challenges and blocks we encounter as business owners, so you can quickly remove your blocks and limiting beliefs and move forward faster and with greater confidence.
5. Self-care
6. Ask for Help
I burned out of my 1st business for two reasons. Firstly, I was no longer doing work that I loved and aligned with my personality, values or goals. Secondly, I was trying to do everything by myself – and none of us can do that for long. I had a cleaner and my kids were at creche two days a week, but that was the extent of it. My husband travelled a lot, so I was left with a LOT to do.
I was watching Lucifer recently and loved the episode where his Mum – for punishment – has to live as a human working Mum. This usually powerful and elegant woman was soon brought to her knees trying to cope – until she figured out how to ask for help and focus on what she was best at and enjoyed most. I don’t necessarily recommend her method of asking, but I thought it nicely highlighted the reality for so many women, and how transformational it can be to get the help we need.
So don’t go it alone on any level. And surround yourself with others who understand your challenges and path, and can provide moral support and insights too. I created the Dream Clients Club FB group to provide you with just such a group so if you haven’t already, come along and join us there.
7. Involve your Kids
When they were toddlers, they scribbled marketing plans and tapped away on laptops they had proudly made from cereal boxes. It bought me a few extra minutes to work on admin and they loved feeling part of my world.
Since then, they have taken all sorts of entrepreneurial and mindset training as I’ve listened to CDs or videos while driving around or doing chores. They’ve helped me price products and create beautiful gift packaging. They’ve helped me design exhibition stands (well, tables) and speak to customers. And now they are starting to give me advice on my social media. Involving them in my business has given them a rich real-life business education and they have loved it.
Not only that, they have taken these lessons and used them in their own projects. They’ve raised more than £3,000 for the WWF and childhood cancer charities by making their own products, publishing books, creating websites and hosting tables at local fairs. And they are still only 12 and 14!
It’s been so rewarding seeing them create a plan, see it through and feel proud of their results. The best part, they haven’t even questioned if they could do it, they just got on with it – a big lesson for me!
My kids are also my mentors and accountability buddies. They are always interested in how my business is going, what I plan to do next and how they can help. In my ‘wobble moments’ they are there to encourage me to take a breath, break things down, and take a small action in the right direction. They consistently inspire me to keep going and keep growing.
So, as I say, involving kids can be chaotic, but the upsides are tremendous.
So these are the seven biggest things I’ve done to help me manage a growing business, growing family, and keep my sanity (mostly) intact.
I’d love to know which of these has been most helpful for you – or If there is anything else that you do that helps you keep it all together.
Drop me a message or better still, come and share your ideas in the Dream Clients Club FB group.
Check out the group and the show notes to grab an eBook I created where I interviewed women about how they balance their business and babies. I put all their best advice in an ebook, alongside my own advice and bonus tips around productivity. And when you get a copy of the book, I’ll also send you access to a Pocket Mentor app I’ve created to help you stay motivated and inspired every day.
As always, if you have found this helpful, don’t keep this episode or show to yourself. Be the force for good within your community and share this episode with your business besties and network, and be sure to take a minute to review the show in iTunes or Spotify.
I’ve been Melitta Campbell, your business coach and value whisperer.
See you next week!
"Involving our kids in our businesses is a really important gift, which I believe is gonna give them a real edge in the future." -Melitta Campbell
Melitta Campbell is an award-winning business coach who is passionate about helping women confidently Build, Grow and Scale a profitable business that allows them to do work that they love, create the balanced lifestyle they desire, and feel proud of the difference they are making.
Her expertise comes from 25+ years of experience in communication, marketing and leadership, including more than a decade of running her own businesses. This allows her to coach her clients on the inner-game of success as much as the practicalities of starting and running a thriving business.
Melitta is also the best-selling author of A Shy Girl’s Guide to Networking, international speaker, and host of the Driven Female Entrepreneur podcast.
In 2021, LinkedIn named Melitta as one of the top Sales Influencers to follow and one of their top 14 most authentic contributors.
At AIs ‘Influential Business Woman Awards 2021’, Melitta was awarded:
Most Influential Female Business Coach (Europe)
And she was recently named as one of the top Female Business Coaches in the World by Cade Hildreth: https://cadehildreth.com/female-busin...
Originally from the UK, she now supports her global client base from her home in Switzerland, where she lives with her husband and two daughters.
If you are a coach, consultant or trainer, book a complementary business assessment call with Melitta to understand your next steps towards enjoying more dream clients, balance and impact. www.melittacampbell.com/call
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About Your Host, Melitta Campbell
Since 1997, Melitta has been using her ability to spot gaps between a company’s goals and its strategy and positioning to help businesses become profitable and achieve growth - in as little as three months.
By combining the insights gained from working directly with senior leaders for more than 20 years, her unique blend of art-school and business-school training, and her restless curiosity, Melitta has helped her clients identify new opportunities and develop creative solutions that add value in profitable and purposeful ways, that are straight-forward to implement and result in a clear competitive edge.
After witnessing too many talented and passionate women fall short of their vision to make a profit and a difference, more recently, Melitta has brought her business, leadership and marketing expertise together with her personal experiences, to become a trusted advisor and coach for female-led businesses.
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