Confessions of a #momboss with Gigi New York

I'm going to get a little personal here about working from home as a mom, running my own businesses + life as a boy mom, all while trying to stay sane. Ok, trying to stay slightly sane, since I'm being honest. I've worked from home in some capacity for the past 6 1/2 years, since becoming a mom to Breck, my first born. But, #momboss mode has taken on a completely different level for me since acquiring American Gluten Free. 

We live in such an amazing time where opportunities can be abundant because of technology. It's incredible! However, just because opportunities are available, it doesn't mean balance automatically comes with it. Just like anything in life, balance has to be sought after, protected, practiced. The more we bring into our lives, the more we have to work to balance out, schedule out, take out, or delegate. Or, set aside until we can get back to it once things settle. All of this takes time + time is so precious, especially when you have three beautiful boys growing up right before your eyes. What balance looks like + feels like for me probably doesn't look the same or feel the same for the other #mombosses. All of our situations are probably quite different. 

I shared here why I purchased American Gluten Free + why I felt like becoming The CEO of American Gluten Free was the right step for me. Let's get really real here. Nothing in life is perfect. It's just not. There's a give + take. Sometimes the give is more than the take. And, sometimes we have to give a little less to feel life a little more. Is this new business opportunity going to change my life? It already has. Is it going to change me? It already has. Will it continue to grow + stretch my family? It already has. I'm not sure where this all will take us, but hopefully somewhere good. 

Something I'm willing to get really personal about here is the internal struggle that comes with acquiring or starting a new business. This is true to me, but it seems to be true to many that go down this road as well. I mean, we are putting ourselves out in the world in a vulnerable way, so it's no surprise that internal struggles creep in.

Here are some things that I've faced but seem to impact other #mombosses trying to blaze a trail:

Self doubt. Any negative self-talk that swirls in my head on a daily basis, has come out like a ravaged beast. It's like an internal battle raging war on myself day in + day out. (Research tells us that we all have repetitive negative talk going through our minds on a daily basis + the same negative thoughts are on repeat for all of us. Our voices are just different). Something I've really been focusing on to get to the root cause of my negative self-talk. This has honestly been good (though hard) for me to face, as I set out to really rebuild my life + myself after my recent miscarriage + D&C + my son, Bowan's two recent anaphylactic episodes that were both life threatening + traumatic. After facing such painful experiences back to back, I realized my life just wasn't set up to withstand such difficulty. That led me to find a way to better structure my life + a lot of it centers on cultivating deeper personal strength. Running a business really helps to work you down to your core + it helps bring you more to the person you're meant to be. 

Priorities. Let's face it, we have to prioritize. Not just our time, but who we want to be. I want to work, yet I want to be with my kids + that's something I've had to work hard to figure out. Prioritizing things within the business are really important too. What is absolutely most important now, what will we get to next? What has to wait, what do we need to explore to see if there is a better or different way? Another priority of mine is to pay off our medical bills, on average we get about 3 medical bills in the mail each day. They just keep coming + we haven't even had any recent medical appointments. So, when I think about giving up, this priority of paying off our medical bills is set for me, something I'm working toward. 

Passion. It's so important to have some kind of passion project in life. Maybe it's a corporate job, or side hustle, or artwork on the weekend, or personal photography of your kids, or activism in the community. Running a small business surely needs to center around passion. Is the mission of the company central to a core passion of yours in life? I am so passionate about health, finding safe foods for people with food allergies, Celiac + autoimmune diseases. These things have touched my life in such a profound way, I can never go back. I can never un-be who I am because of these things that have changed me. Because I care so much about the central mission of American Gluten Free, it keeps me coming back even after the long days + long nights. 

Here are 10 tips to help you on your #momboss journey:

1. Write down your why in life. Write down your why in business. How do they cross? How can they compliment each other?

2. Write down your top 10 priorities in life. How can you make sure to include them in your daily + monthly life? If some things have to fall by the wayside for a short time, how will you get them back in?

3. What negative self-talk to you tell yourself? Name it. Work through it. Give that voice a name. Tell her you hear her, but keep moving on + don't give in to her. 

4. What 10 things are you most passionate about in life? How can you work them into your personal life? How can you work them into your business?

5. Remember, how things look on the outside doesn't mean they feel the same way on the inside. How are you going to make things feel right on the inside once you peel back the layers of the business?

6. How do you want your customers + clients to feel?

7. Is there anything you can delegate? Make a list. 

8. Make lists. Find a beautiful journal + make a list of all of your ideas in one place. Business ideas, ideas for your personal life. All the ideas. Come back to them + explore them often. 

9. Find a way to get movement into your day. A focused run or yoga class is ideal. But, since #mombossing it ain't easy, sometimes we've got to get creative. Take the kids on a run, do some yoga with the kids. I love to lie on a yoga block in fish pose. Do some plie's while washing dishes. Find a few ways to move during the day, your thoughts + emotions will thank you for sure. 

10. Make a list of the things you are doing well. It's so easy to feel discouraged even when things are going well, because the to-do list might be longer than the day's accomplishments. Make a list of the things you are doing well + the things you've accomplished recently. 

This post was sponsored by Gigi New York. Because sometimes #mombosses just need a beautiful purse to help express their creativity + to help them feel confident in the day to day of running a business. I only share things I love + use + I'm happy to share this brand with you. 

If you are looking for adorable + comfortable shoes, I have the brand for you: The Walking Company. Click here to discover your new favorite pair of shoes.