How to Start a Business as a Stay-at-Home Mum (Without Childcare or a 9–5 Routine) with Fiona Sim

How to Start a Business as a Stay-at-Home Mum (Without Childcare or a 9–5 Routine) with Fiona Sim

Ever wondered how some mums manage to run a business with no childcare, no office and no real routine? 

In this powerful episode of The Growth Addicts Podcast, Amanda sits down with Fiona Sim, a certified business strategist and home-educating mum of two, who teaches stay-at-home mums how to start and grow an online business around their lives, not the other way around.

Whether you’re a mum struggling to find time, thinking “there’s no way I could start a business right now,” or you’ve tried before and hit a wall—this episode is your permission slip to do things differently. 

In this episode, we cover:

• Fiona’s unique business journey (including memory bears and sewing machines 🧵)
• The truth about launching a business with your kids around 24/7
• The START Framework Fiona uses to help mums go from overwhelmed to launching
• Tips for beating mum guilt, managing energy, and finding hidden time in your day
• Why childcare shouldn’t be a barrier to financial independence or fulfilment
• How to plan using a “pen & paper + sand timer” method that actually works
• The real talk around mum-life, home ed, and doing business in 10-minute bursts
• Practical strategies for overcoming overwhelm and procrastination (yes, even with toddlers climbing on you!)

🎁 Fiona’s FREE GIFT:
Finding the Time to Grow Your Business as a Stay-at-Home Mum – Download Fiona’s free guide packed with strategies from this episode (plus a few extras!) → Get yours here

Connect with Fiona Sim:

• Instagram: @_fionasim
• Facebook Group: The Stay-at-Home Mums Business Hub

What’s Next?

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Hello and welcome to the Growth Addicts Podcast. I'm Amanda Hughes, your host, and I am delighted to be spending the next hour with you. Thank you so much for being here. I escaped the corporate world with not much more than a burning desire to be self-employed. Fast forward 10 years and I'm running not my first, but my second small business and this time around it's with a passion to share all that I know, all that I've learned and all that I'm still learning with fellow small business owners like you. As the title of the show suggests, I am addicted to growing my small business and I know you are too. That growth means different things to different people though and that's why we talk about a whole host of subjects on Growth Addicts, whether it's a solo episode with just me or with one of my many awesome guests. Between us, we share actionable tips, Instagram strategies, real-life entrepreneurial experiences and inspiring stories. So grab a pen, a cuppa, a biscuit, obviously, and get ready to grow that small business of yours. This This is a Growth Addicts Podcast. Hello and welcome to episode 27 of the Growth Addicts podcast. Thank you so much for being here today. I have an excellent guest with me, Fiona Sim. Fiona is a certified business strategist but she's a really, really unique business in that she helps stay-at-home mums launch an online business without childcare or any sort of 9-to-5 routine and she herself is a home educating mum of two who runs her own business. So as a mum of young twins, my twins are four at the minute and I have childcare in terms of nursery and I can barely get anything done. So I was really looking forward to hear how Fiona manages her day to day with her kids, home education and running her own business and how she can help other stay at home mums do the same. So it's a really fascinating listening. So do tune in. Before we dive into our conversation with Fiona, I'd love to read out some recent reviews for the podcast. Your reviews mean so much to me personally. I read every single one, reply to every every single one like they really really mean a lot but also our editor and our guests everyone who's enjoyed and involved in making the podcast they mean so much so thank you if you're taking the time to leave a review for us on the likes of Apple or Spotify they're really really appreciated and if you haven't yet left a review and you are a regular listener or you're listening for the first time please do after you've listened to today's episode just drop a little review in it's so easy to do I'll actually put a little video on my Instagram I to how to do it on Apple Apple can be a bit tricky but I believe the other ones are really easy so I'll put a little post up about how to do that and if you could leave a review it would be very much appreciated but some recent reviews we've had on Spotify one from Lauren Elizabeth saying I think this is the first social media based podcast that I've listened to that I can actually go and implement the improvements straight away thank you no thank you Lauren that is so very much appreciated another recent review there's no name it's just EJ just list to flowing with your business how to sync your small business with your menstrual cycle so that was a very early episode last year with Renee Fick and this listener is saying it was really interesting makes so much sense a great way to leverage what happens every month to your advantage and entertaining listen to we'll definitely be listening to more so thank you so much for that Louise from Create Time and Space Retreats had left a review recently saying great motivational and practical podcasts for small business owners have listened to a few both so solo and guest episodes wolf fab thank you so much amanda no thank you thank you guys for listening so yes please do leave a review and i would love to be reading yours out do leave your name or your business name or both and when you leave your review and i'll i think i'll incorporate that going forward into episodes to read out some reviews anyway you've heard enough from me i know you're desperate to hear what fiona's got to say she has a fascinating life without further ado let's dive in km accountancy is a proactive and approachable accountant you've been searching for Both friendly and knowledgeable, Kirstie is dedicated to making your financial experience seamless. Whether you're a business owner in need of strategic monthly support or you just need help with your tax return, Kirstie and her team's tailored approach guarantees smooth sailing towards your financial objectives. Head to kmaccountancy.co.uk for more information. Hello I'm good thank you how are you? Awesome yeah I'm really good thanks really good. I am so excited to talk about this today because I know you home educate your kids, you work from home, you're self-employed, small business owner, all of the things and I just cannot imagine how you do it so I've been so looking forward to this conversation. So first off if you could tell us a bit about your business. I know that you help stay-at-home mums start up their own business online is that right? Could you tell us a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_01: 4:51

Yeah of course so I help stay-at-home mums launch their online business business specifically without having to rely on child care or a nine-to-five routine obviously with home ed and stuff I do not have child care nor do I have a routine I was finding that quite a lot of the advice was geared towards not people who didn't have a routine or child care and I really wanted lots of people had spoken to and they kind of just felt like it wasn't possible at all to build a business if you had children around all day and I want to help people see that it is and that you can change your life you don't have to be stuck in sort of stay-at-home mum trapped land forever and

SPEAKER_00: 5:26

as a mother of young twins myself I've got four-year-old twins it is difficult when they're around so like I say I've been really looking forward to hearing how you do it and what your advice is on how to do it so how did your business start then

SPEAKER_01: 5:39

well when my daughter was about nine months old that's when we decided that we wanted to home educate obviously from there I knew I wouldn't be able to go back to a traditional job role a nine-to-five out of the house type situation so at that point I just started I started looking for sort of work from home jobs like trawling indeed and stuff and looking for remote working but all the remote working that I found was very much like you still had to do a shift which required undisturbed amounts of time which obviously I don't have very much of so I slowly came around to the idea of having to do something for myself doing my starting my own business and stuff and I tried I tried all sorts of different things I got I got a sewing machine I learned how to sew I was sold baby clothes for a bit I sold memory bears for a while tried to do worksheets that didn't go very well there was all sorts of different things I tried and over that time obviously I got used to sort of working with the children around as well and I got good at doing that even if none of those ideas particularly took off at the time but when I started this business and when I was coming around to starting a business that I knew was going to do online because I finally figured out that the online stuff is going to be the easiest for me to do because I can pick it up and take it with me my husband's family are from Lithuania so my children are half Lithuanian and I like to spend time in Lithuania with them too so they can kind of get used to the culture so I knew that online was the way to go because I'd have to take everything with me and I had done a few qualifications by that point I'd done a course and then I'd done became a certified business strategist so I wanted to kind of encompass it all together all the stuff I'd learned while I was working with children all the stuff that I had learned while I was becoming a business strategist and stuff like that I wanted to put it all together to help people who want to start a business but just don't know where to start. They think they don't have time because they've got children around all day and there is no time and they also just don't know the first sort of steps to take to get them going. So that's really why I started my business because I want to help them get through those first steps and really get going on their business journey.

SPEAKER_00: 7:35

Wow okay yeah and when your daughter was just nine months old so even at that young age you knew that you didn't have enough child care or anything that you could mean you could go back out to do a traditional employed nine-to-five job and just so resourceful started thinking of other things you could do and I love that you were just trying different things see if anything like felt right.

SPEAKER_01: 7:55

I did at the time I decided we decided to homemade I did have a look at going back to work and stuff and I had a look at nursery and I knew when she got to school age it would be different but for those first few years I looked at it because I don't have like qualifications as good job-wise, the jobs that I had were sort of minimum wage. And then when I looked at childcare as well, I think I calculated I would come out with about£40 a week if I was to work full-time and put in childcare. And I was just like, that's so... Do I want to spend five days a week away from her just to earn£40 a week? No, I absolutely do not. It just totally wasn't worth it. So that's why.

SPEAKER_00: 8:29

And this actually highlights such a bigger issue, doesn't it? That's perhaps a whole episode of its own where... The lack of childcare, lack of affordable childcare is forcing a lot of primarily mothers into this situation where we do still want to work, we want to contribute or we have to work and have to contribute to the income. But our options all of a sudden become quite limited because of childcare, either the cost or the lack of. Yeah, 100% definitely. I think particularly in the UK, it's something that needs to be addressed. I know it's something that's better done in perhaps Scandinavian countries and whatnot. Perhaps that's a whole episode on its own. Okay, so your business now, are you a business strategist and you help stay-at-home mums find something that works for them? Would that be the right sort of description?

SPEAKER_01: 9:15

Yeah, I help them launch their own online business. So I've got a framework that I use. It's called the Start System. And we go through all the steps of that. I'll just quickly run through it. It includes super specific strategy. So having a strategy that works specifically for you and your family, your lifestyle, because obviously it's not necessarily going to be the same as someone who has a full nine to five Monday to Friday. The next part is time. So identifying the time that you've got, even if you feel you don't have it, identifying the hidden time, the time leaks, the small portions of your day where you can slot things in. That's really what the time part is about. Accountability, because obviously when you're so busy with your children, it can be hard to keep yourself accountable. So I do work around accountability and external accountability, what you can do really to keep yourself committed and motivated. Resetting mindset as they are for a start. And that's just all about the sort of all those negative limiting beliefs that you've got rolling around your head that you might not even notice are stopping you from moving forward but they're they're there and they're they're twittering away in the background and until you start to really hear them and and listen like listen to what they're saying and sort of reframe it in a way that is more positive not lying to yourself but reframing it in a way that's more positive and makes more sense to you then you're obviously able to move forward a lot better i i had a lot of information i could give people but often for me is my mindset that's holding me back from doing the things i need to do

SPEAKER_00: 10:41

if you know me by now you'll know that i love social media and i've had great success growing my business there on various platforms and now it's time to share that success with you i've created a mentor group dedicated to helping small business owners just like you get seen and get sales on social media aptly called get seen get sales not only will the group help you grow on socials but it's a whole support system outside of that too with live monthly workshops and things like email marketing, creating standout graphics and much more than that. So whether you're feeling stuck, overwhelmed with socials or just ready to grow your business, we have got you. Check out the show notes for the link and come and join us inside. And do you find a common limiting belief? I know I've heard from a few small business owners it's usually around like work doesn't get to be this easy, like work is going out to work and working hard and being exhausted. like working at home around your kids and earning good money is a sort of fantasy

SPEAKER_01: 11:38

no yeah I definitely agree with that because you're used to doing nine to five jobs you're used to doing long hours to get the money that you're getting and it's kind of hard to change your mindset to think that actually I can do small amounts throughout the day and they might add up to let's say two to three hours by the time you're finished your day maybe a bit longer maybe a bit less depending on how your day is going but it's hard to equate that amount of time to an income that's possibly even better than any income you've had in an employed role so yeah I think even for me actually even for me it's it's sometimes I think I'm not working hard enough even though I'm doing something all along but because it feels like I'm doing maybe more towards the children rather than towards work it's like a constant balance of guilt between the two of them so yeah I think that a lot of work for a lot of people needs to be done around that to sort of raise awareness that it doesn't have to be like super I mean it is hard work but it doesn't have to be like impossible work so that was the R part the reframing mindset T is take action so you can have all of those four things as much as you want you can have done it all but if you're not actually going to do the thing the thing ain't going to happen no the T is keeping motivation getting going and just not stopping really

SPEAKER_00: 12:52

yep and so now Do you help women then that were in the situation that you were in when you were trying different things with your sewing machine and your memory bears and all these different things? So are you now the sort of person you wish you could have found at that point?

SPEAKER_01: 13:06

Yeah definitely so like when I had my children and I was I was thinking about doing all those things and in between all my different ideas and my different tries I would get into this slump of like just like is this really all life is like am I just going to be looking after children for the rest of my days and like there's nothing for me I'm just like I bet like I'd lost who I was and lost my identity and stuff like that because I wasn't getting anywhere with the ideas I was having and I was just kind of living a groundhog day of stuckness yeah that's the sort of part that I wish I had been there for me in that position to be like, come on, you can do it. This can be done. I'll show you how to do it. I'll give you the steps you need to do. And it's possible. You can change your life. I think often people think that they think of changing their life and they think of this massive step because they think of the final step. product of what they want their life to look like let's say and that's really important because it keeps you motivated but what they forget in the middle is that you all the way between where you are now and where you're gonna be when you've got that final product of the life that you're wanting there's all these tiny little changes you can make in between teeny weeny ones just small ones so like my final product life let's say is that I want to be able to travel whenever we want like I just want to be able to think right I want to go off somewhere book it and then we go and for ages I was like that seems so far away from me and then I was like but what what if I just like, because we've got family in Lithuania, I was like, well, what if I just book the cheap tickets in like January that I did that this year? This was the first kind of moment that I thought about doing that. I was like, if I buy the cheap tickets now that we go for a week, that's, we've done a bit of travel. We've, I've, I've, I'm not got itchy feet anymore for the next few weeks at least and then as the weather got warmer I actually bought a tent and we've just come back from Blair Drummond Safari Park we went up there for a couple of nights in the tent so it's like these are things that don't necessarily they're not the big magical trips I'm imagining for for later down the line a bit but there are things that I can change right now right here and now that are still moving me closer to the life that I want to have at the end so I do really think it's important to people see that there's tiny changes that they can make towards what they're looking for. It doesn't have to be a big leap from where they are now to where they want to be.

SPEAKER_00: 15:13

Yeah, and it's often the small changes that make the big difference, isn't it? Because that's the stuff that you see and you feel the difference of in the day-to-day, here and now, isn't it? Rather than constantly waiting, being in this waiting, holding pen for the big whatever, the big trip, the big income, whatever it might be. So yeah, that's a really good point to make. How many kids do you have now? Is it one daughter still? I've got two children. I've got a six-year-old and a three-year-old.

SPEAKER_01: 15:37

We'll see if any more come along

SPEAKER_00: 15:40

again. Well, this is it. The wee surprise movie. and so when clients are coming to you do they have to have a business idea in mind or can you help them figure that out if they're just in that position that you mentioned there where they feel a bit lost which again is very common in the early years of motherhood you become a mother don't you and you really lose your former identity and you're really trying to figure out who you are as well as being a mother so can they come to you and just say you know I'm in this position I want to work I think working for myself might be the best option here but I just don't know what to do and can Can you then help them explore that with that framework? They don't have to actually have a business idea. Yeah,

SPEAKER_01: 16:18

100%. Part of the strategy part of it is thinking of your idea. If they come with an idea, that's great. But if they come, a lot of people, like when I was at that stage, I had no idea what, I wanted to do. I had lots of different ideas in my head but none of them, I could never pin one down or I couldn't narrow it down enough for it to be like a specific idea if that makes sense. We do a lot of work around narrowing down your ideas, finding that one idea which is you solving that one problem for that one person. So yeah, people who don't have an idea Often that's good, too, because you get to sort of bounce around with ideas. You get to brainstorm ideas. They get to get what they want off their chest. And sometimes people don't realize that the things that they do sort of on a daily basis, just like with ease, totally like they don't see that that's something that someone else might want help with because it feels like common knowledge to them. It feels like something they do all the time. Of course, everybody knows about whatever it is. I don't have an example off the top of my head. But, you know, I mean, like just the things that you do easily. that could be the one thing that somebody else really needs assistance with.

SPEAKER_00: 17:21

Absolutely, because a lot of the time we presume everyone's doing the same thing and knows these same things, but it's not the case at all. Amazing. And so... homeschooling then so you said when your first your first child your daughter was nine months old you knew that's the way you wanted to go is that was that a sort of conscious choice that you wanted to do or something you felt you had to do to make your family situation work

SPEAKER_01: 17:41

to be honest with you no one's ever asked me that question in that way before it's really interesting I think probably both to be honest I did want to do it I really do but one of the main reasons is that I want them to be able to sort of follow their own interests when they're learning like it's easier to learn something when you're actually interested in what you're doing which I found out as a later adult when I went back to college and I was doing a college course and I learned so much easier than when I was at school and I was just doing what the curriculum said you needed to do. So a lot of it was to do with that, sort of just steering their education in a direction that they wanted to go. We have our non-negotiables like reading, writing, math. To be honest, I don't really know what the future holds. At the moment, we don't do a curriculum, but it's not to say we're never going to do a curriculum. I'm not against doing a curriculum, possibly not the national curriculum, but there's plenty of online schools and stuff like that. And I think as they grow and we watch how they learn that will sort of become more clear as time goes on so my eldest for example she's six and she's learning to read and write at the moment and she she does that primarily independently and will ask me for help when she gets stuck on like say reading a word or writing a word she likes to write cards to people so she'll ask me what letters to write and she'll do it while I read it out so I'm always there to support her but more or less they just kind of do their own thing, especially at the moment when they're still quite young. So yes, I want to do it. But I also felt like it would be best for our family, especially because we have family abroad, in that we wouldn't be then stuck or constrained to school holidays. And honestly, I couldn't even... I think the flight costs in the holidays were like six times more expensive than the cheaper shoulder seasons for Lithuania anyway. I'm sure it's similar elsewhere.

SPEAKER_00: 19:23

During school holidays, is that...

SPEAKER_01: 19:25

Yeah, so we had to go last year in the school holidays because my brother-in-law was getting married and it was either just under or just over a grand for all of us to travel there and back in August. And me and the girls went in January without my husband and I paid£280. Yeah, that's

SPEAKER_00: 19:42

quite the difference. Oh, it was four times more. Another issue that families are faced with, isn't it? Being confined to school holidays and the cost.

SPEAKER_01: 19:51

Yeah, so that was kind of some of the reasons. There's loads of... I find new reasons all the time, to be honest. That was the initial ones. And I also just, when she was little, I think I just felt like... I didn't really want to spend that much time away from her. Some days now I regret that decision. But overall, it works really well for us. So I'm really glad that we have gone down that route. And none of these decisions are permanent. This is what I tell people all the time. Some of my friends are thinking about doing it and they're a bit worried about deciding. And I'm like, well, it doesn't really matter because whether you put them in school or don't put them in school, you can change your mind at any time. Like my children may ask to go to school when they're older and that's something we'll consider. It's ultimately their choice when they get a bit older and they know what they're doing. But yeah, I can't say what the future holds. We'll see how it goes.

SPEAKER_00: 20:37

Just open-minded, take each day, week, month, year as it comes, see what happens. They're growing, aren't they? They're still very small. So as you say, a lot could change once they start to come into their own mind. But for now, it's working. I need you to tell me what a day in your life looks like. Running your own business and home educating a three and a six-year-old. I just, I can't even imagine. how you get anything done so what does a typical day your sort of structure look like okay quick pause from our conversation because i'm wondering how you'd feel if i said i could give you a free 50 pounds today yep if you have been thinking about moving your business banking recently or perhaps you don't have a business banking account then i can highly recommend monzo and if you're opening an account with them via the link in the show notes you are getting a free 50 pounds for nothing just for joining monzo is free to bank with i bank with them personally and It's so easy to use and also they won the best business banking provider in the UK 2024. So if you don't have a business bank account yet or you'd like to change from where you are just now to free business banking and 50 quid on your account, the link is in the show notes today. Head over there and get it done.

SPEAKER_01: 21:46

Yeah, so I'll start with the night before. Before I go to bed, I'll always write a bit out the day I've had, what I've been doing or whatever. And I'll always write what I need to do tomorrow. Normally, this is like business wise. Sometimes other stuff comes into it, but normally it's just for the business so I can keep myself on track. So I'll write down the things I want to get done the next day so that they're in my mind when I go to bed. And when I wake up, I've got a list there ready and waiting for me. I also have a weekly to-do list, but they do match up with each other more or less. What I tend to do is just try and make every task that I have to do as small as possible. So if it's a bigger task, like writing a blog post, for example, I'll chunk it up into writing down the outline. Then I'll chunk it into just doing the introduction, doing part one, part two. So every paragraph, say, will be a separate task rather than just write a blog post. During the day... First of all, my to-do list is split in half. So half of my to-do list is tasks that take less than 10 minutes and half of my to-do list is tasks that take more than 10 minutes. Oh, I like that. What that means during the day is that when they are busy playing or occupied or outside or whatever they're doing that they don't need me in that immediate moment, I can go to the to-do list and take something from the under 10 minutes side and I can... nine times out of ten get that done while they're busy so that crosses off quite a lot of things off the

SPEAKER_00: 23:01

list. That must be quite good for your momentum as well to get a few of those tasks off. Yeah I love a tick.

SPEAKER_01: 23:07

Yeah same same. Sometimes I write tasks I've already done down so I can tick them off.

SPEAKER_00: 23:14

It's got to be a pen to paper tick for me as well don't know about you but electronics just not get the same feel.

SPEAKER_01: 23:20

No everything to be honest I find that everything I do although it might take ever so slightly longer it provides better results for me if I do everything pen to paper and I'm like writing out like posts for social media and everything I just find it flows more easily when I've got pen to

SPEAKER_00: 23:33

paper. Absolutely same and I have briefly touched on that before with a previous podcast guest and she did look into it but there is some sort of science behind it about the whole brain flow and every time I talk about it I think I have to go look that up and I forget but I'm going to I'm going to write it down.

SPEAKER_01: 23:47

Yeah no it does it probably does take slightly longer than using an actual like automated system but if I use an automated system I still don't get as much done because it doesn't come out but anyway that's that's a different part another thing I do if they're being particularly clingy or they want to be near me or I just can't get any work done because they're there then sometimes I'll employ the sand timer so we've got quite a lot of sand timers and we've got one that's about 10 minutes I'm trying to get them up to the 15 minute one but they're not really budging on that yet so what I do is I set the timer for 10 minutes and I specifically use a sand timer because they can see how much time they've got left so they're watching it and they know when their time's up they don't normally watch it though and I'll sit on the couch and I'll have my laptop open not my phone because they don't associate my phone with work they just think I'm being lazy so laptop open on the couch and they'll play beside me for their 10 minutes for my 10 minutes sorry then I'll get some work done and then we'll flip the sand timer back over and we'll read a book for 10 minutes or I'll play with I'll do whatever they want me to do for 10 minutes so they get 10 minutes of me and then we'll go back again and I'll go back to work and we'll do that for as long as they can take it

SPEAKER_00: 24:51

Okay, yeah, that's good. That's good.

SPEAKER_01: 24:53

Longer tasks, I ordinarily leave till they're in bed. They go to bed between seven and eight, depending on the sort of day they've had. And I'll keep the longer tasks for when they're in bed. I did get into a time where I just had absolutely zero, no time for myself at all. I wasn't doing anything I liked. Now I have, I say I have a Friday. It's Friday evening. I'm supposed to not do any work at all. But it normally translates to be normally I eat with them but on a Friday my husband cooks for me so I eat after they go to bed and I'll watch an episode of whatever I'm watching on telly it's probably rubbish I'll watch an episode of something and then I'm supposed to not do any work but sometimes I'll pick up my phone maybe and do some do some chatting and stuff but just having that time that I know is for me and only me is useful particularly if I'm tired or something I can just like slob about but yeah like there's even little bits during the day so like when I'm putting them to sleep I'll read my kindle and stuff like that so that gives me like 15 minutes of something other than work or children. It can be a long day. So like one of the things I've had to do for myself and what I talk about a lot with clients is that when you're a stay-at-home mom and you're doing all this with children around, you can't feel guilty if you get to the end of a day and it hasn't gone the way you planned it to go because it's so unpredictable. Like you don't know when you wake up in the morning. Sometimes I wake up in the morning and I think, yes, today's going to be a really good day. They're in such a good mood. And then an hour later, all hell breaks loose and it's chaos. And everyone's screaming and everyone's fighting. And I'm like, oh my God, this is nothing like what I thought it was going to be like.

SPEAKER_00: 26:24

It can really change in the blink of an eye with young kids, especially, can't it?

SPEAKER_01: 26:28

Yeah, a hundred percent. So just like, it's just about making sure that the plans you've got are adaptable. The tasks you've got to do are as small as they possibly can be, just so you can slot them in wherever you get them. And I used to actually time how much time I got done during the day and then that just made me feel bad because some days I would get loads done and I'd feel great and the next day I'd get nothing done because it's so obviously interchangeable. So working a lot on the guilt and not feeling... like you're taking one away from the other or vice versa

SPEAKER_00: 26:58

yeah and the mum guilt is such a thing isn't it like I remember hearing my sister talk about this before I had kids her kids are quite a bit older than me when she was telling me I was like you know don't be ridiculous so you don't have to feel guilty for that but it's just a thing it's just a thing that's in you when you become a mother isn't it so sometimes so my kids are in nursery during the day I sort of wrap up work about two maybe take the dog a walk I need to have that sort of transition from work to collecting them at three but if that's not quite going to plan and I've worked on a bit and I've gone to collect them and I might need to when they get home grab my phone just to reply to a couple of quick things I just feel so bad because I think they're home it's their time like but you know you're just you're just doing your best like I don't love them any less or so that must be a really hard thing to manage but it sounds as if you've really you're really on to something with the little sand timer there because it's communicating to them that you need this time and that they will get their time we just and it's something I'm instilling and the kids are trying to all the time about patience so that's a really good thing that you know even though they're young you're communicating your needs to them and and letting them know that their needs will also be met, but we just have to sort of work together here.

SPEAKER_01: 28:09

Yeah, definitely. And at the beginning, when they were really young and I hadn't got to this place that I'm at now, there was no, this is like, I need to do something and you need to wait. It was all like them, them, them, them, them, which was obviously possibly and probably part of the problem of me feeling like I had no identity left because it wasn't. But you're right, there is absolutely nothing wrong with needing people wanting deserving time for yourself and by time for yourself I don't even mean in the traditional sense of you are on your own like sometimes for us like being time for me like to recharge can be us all going out for a walk outside or all going like when we go to the beach for a day that is such a good day for me because literally don't fight they play all day long as long as it's nice and they don't get too cold and and I can just sit and like watch them and that's so nice for me and the beach that we got nearby us doesn't actually have any phone signals so there's nothing I can do anyway even if I wanted to it's less of a balance because you're obviously together all the time and more of a blend this is what I feel like with OMED as well like people ask me how it's going but because we don't specifically do like this is learning time and this is normal life it's just all kind of one that kind of means the business has to just be blended into in some way it's all just one big globby mess

SPEAKER_00: 29:21

but it works for you it works for you and it sounds if it's all about short focused tasks short focused burst of time when you can you know and the sort of boundaries around about that it sounds if you know there's some tools you've mentioned there you're a pen to paper girl like me you've got your sand timers all over the house but is there any other tools or systems that you rely on here to make this work?

SPEAKER_01: 29:43

Yeah I think one very important one that I'll talk about is dealing with overwhelm because obviously when you're doing all these things all the time overwhelm crops up

SPEAKER_00: 29:53

rather a

SPEAKER_01: 29:53

lot.

SPEAKER_00: 29:54

And I think because there's such limited time for you by the sounds of it so I meant to touch on that. I hope you're not just having a Friday night to yourself like I hope you're not working all day got home edding the kids and working all night until a Friday night

SPEAKER_01: 30:08

no no no so we I mean I am with the kids all day that's that's non-negotiable I don't well right now actually I'm at my mum's so this is quite good like my mum lives in the same village as me and she's very much like I'm not going to raise your kids for you but if I'm like okay I've got an afternoon of calls to do please can I come over she'll she'll watch them and stuff so yes I have a lot of time and my for myself we do a lot of stuff so like they'll we go to a play group on a Wednesday morning and all my friends go to that so we spend loads of time with our friends actually because first of all because they just get bored staying in the house all the time and second of all because when you don't do like a school run or a nursery run you don't really if you if you're not careful and you don't make sure that you see people you can end up really not seeing anybody for a very long time so we've got a like we've got a good group of friends we built up a good group I also run the local breastfeeding support group so we go there every Friday morning and people come the kids have toys to play with and stuff like that so I'm definitely not working I mean I I Sometimes it feels like I'm working all day, but I'm not because the small tasks that I'm doing, like I said, probably at the end of the day, add up to between two to three hours a day that I'm actually focusing on work. But because the tasks I'm doing are so intentional and so geared towards moving the business forward, that's how it works. Like I... I don't have a logo for example because I don't have time to sit down and make a logo but the logo itself isn't going to make a whole lot of difference like that might come later and that's fine I only have one headshot which we took at the park beside beside a bench because it had a pretty wooden background that's the only professional shot I have got so because I haven't been able to have a chance to do any specific things so

SPEAKER_00: 31:49

you're focusing on the things that matter in the time that you've got which is really sensible so yeah and overwhelm yeah overwhelm must come it must factor in somewhere here

SPEAKER_01: 31:58

it does especially when I'm like if I'm if I'm doing if I'm kind of sort of making a step up in business overwhelm is like there right on my shoulder being like you can't do this stop right now so when I feel so overwhelmed I have stopped and I'm not doing anything at all which it doesn't happen very often but it does happen regularly enough for me to need assistance with it what I normally do is I'll take a full day of Where I don't do anything at all, no tasks at all. But what I do do is every single task that comes into my head that I need to do, I write down on a piece of paper. So everything that comes into my head, whether it's life tasks or business tasks, they all go down on a bit

SPEAKER_00: 32:36

of paper. Just like a whole brain dump onto pen to paper again, from the head to the paper.

SPEAKER_01: 32:41

Through that day. And then once I've done that, the next day, I'll use one of four separate strategies to sort of kickstart myself again and get started. So the first one is I will pick out the three most priority tasks on the list and start from number one and start that way. The second way is I will kickstart myself is by doing the easiest task first that because that one can just be a good like kickstart one get your momentum and get going on your list to move through it the third one is to this is the one I try to do most of the time but doesn't always happen is do the one I'm dreading the most because once I've done the one I'm dreading the most honestly the rest of them are so easy because I don't have that one normally the overwhelm if I'm honest normally the overwhelm only comes from that one task it's from the one thing I'm procrastinating the one thing I need to do before I do any Yeah. So doing that one first is always the most effective way to get me started again. But it's not always the one I take because sometimes I'm a bit of a wuss and I'll go for an easier

SPEAKER_00: 33:39

option. You're not alone. And it'll sit there and it ticks over on your to-do list daily, maybe even into the following week. And then you actually do it and it was fine. And it didn't even take that long.

SPEAKER_01: 33:50

And then the fourth way is specifically for longer tasks. And that is to do the 10-minute rule. So set a timer for 10 minutes, do the task for 10 minutes, and you'll find at the end of that 10 minutes that you either have built up your momentum and you can keep going, no problem. Or you'll find you don't want to do any more at all, which is fine. You can stop, but you've already done 10 minutes of it and you can come back later again and do another 10 minutes until you build up again. So that's the way I deal with overwhelm. most of the time it works really well and it's a good way to sort of get yourself back up and running when you feel like you have stopped.

SPEAKER_00: 34:22

From precise bookkeeping to savvy tax strategies, KM Accountancy have all your needs covered. Say goodbye to financial headaches and hello to peace of mind with Kirsty by your side. Contact KM Accountancy and let Kirsty lead you to financial success. Head to kmaccountancy.co.uk for more information. And I love the sort of tools and strategies that you're mentioning here. you know it's things that you've just you've found that work for you like that's just a structure you recognize you're feeling overwhelmed so you take a day out you do the whole brain dump and then you've got ways to tackle that then from the next day forward like we're not talking fancy systems here you've not mentioned asana or notion or spreadsheets or anything like that which is amazing you're just and is this all just through trial and error just you know yes is it just you you're just recognizing how you feel and what works for you and your family it

SPEAKER_01: 35:17

is it's through trial and error and also through like if I hear a bit of advice on on a podcast or on a or just from someone online or something and it and it ties in well with what I'm doing and I feel like it would be useful for me I'll like add it into my arsenal of things but yeah most of it is trial and error the split to-do list came from me being like I don't know what I can actually do during the day and then once I was looking for time slots I realized the time slots were 10 minutes or less like they were small and then that's when I had to start breaking everything down so yeah it's all just been through and that's been it's not even been like it's been trial and error since she was nine months old since I've been trying all these different things and I've just been able over time to sort of put them into like structures so that they're teachable and so that I can follow them myself a lot of people who work with their children probably think I'm crazy but I haven't used any of these like Asana or Notion or any of these like planner things just because it doesn't work for me it slows me down more than anything like a pen and paper for me is absolutely fine like and there's there's nothing wrong with

SPEAKER_00: 36:18

you're preaching to the converted

SPEAKER_01: 36:20

there's nothing wrong with doing it like it works well and it and it's fine for me

SPEAKER_00: 36:28

I know and I hear things like on Instagram whatever like get rid of your post-it notes this is the way to go just have it all on your computer so right now I am looking at five six eight post-it notes a sheet of paper and a planner they're all paper-based they're all serving a purpose yeah like and that works for me And that's ultimately what it's about is finding what works for you, isn't it? Well, exactly. So it's so nice to hear that. It's so refreshing because often I feel like I'm the only one who's not using all these fancy systems. I mean, I've got a couple of spreadsheets on the go, Google Docs and whatnot, automate email marketing. So I do rely on technology for some things, but ultimately... most of my stuff's done on paper and I like it

SPEAKER_01: 37:11

yeah absolutely the automations for things like for like email marketing and stuff like that they are amazing so good it's just that but the planning side of things definitely needs to come from my brain through a pen Or pencil.

SPEAKER_00: 37:23

And are these all sort of systems then that you can teach as part of your business to help stay-at-home mums find something? I use

SPEAKER_01: 37:30

FunnelSketchers, which is my CRM system. And that's a white label of Go High Level. So there's multiple different people who use the same system through their companies. So provided they're using that one, I can help them with it. But if they're using another one, I can probably... I'm quite good with tech. I've always been quite quick to pick it up. So... So tech is definitely something I can support people with. And it's almost always actually something that's holding people back because people are scared of it. They don't like it. They don't understand it. And they don't know what to do. And if I can just support them through it, because that often is the one thing that's stopping them going anywhere because they're like, I can't do it, can't do it, can't do it. Tech's too hard.

SPEAKER_00: 38:09

Yeah, I've been there a few times myself. Recently actually setting up various email automations for various signup options. Just like, oh my gosh, I thought my head was going to explode like oh I got it done and I felt like I was like Bill Gates like move over I know what I'm doing now like it's over for you I was so proud of myself yeah you should be at the same time I'm not keen to revisit it anytime soon

SPEAKER_01: 38:36

well that's the good thing about it though once you've set it up once that's it done like you don't have to go back to that it'll last forever

SPEAKER_00: 38:42

that's true yeah better I'm not changing any of the wording ever so If we've got a stay-at-home mum listening, who's been in the position that you mentioned at the start, you know, you were in a career beforehand, whether it was self-employed or employed, you've had your pregnancy, you've had your baby or babies in my case, and then you're in the thick of it and you're thinking, how on earth is this going to work for me going forward? Like... I don't know if I can return to my employee job. I want to do something else. So what sort of piece of advice would you give to her that's listening?

SPEAKER_01: 39:16

I would tell them that, I would tell you if you're listening, that first of all, think about the life you really want to live. Like what is going to bring you joy? What's going to be your ideal situation? Knowing that you can't go back to a traditional role, consider doing something from the skills that you've already got. Because Most people, everybody actually, not most people, every single person out there has something that they can teach to somebody else. Every single person out there has a way that they can support other people to do the things they want to do. And the life that you want and the life that you're dreaming of and the life you're thinking of is Like, you're deserving of that. Like, you absolutely are. Everybody is. And there is a way to get there. There's a way to get there that fits your lifestyle, that fits your family, that fits the way you want to do things. It's not black and white, all or nothing. type of situation it's not that only a certain type of person can get there or only people who have this much determination can get there like everybody can get there it's just about finding the things that are holding you back finding the things that you really want to work towards and then finding the ways to get there and there is always a way there's always a path it's never not an option

SPEAKER_00: 40:25

and not letting child care be that barrier either Abe if you're thinking you know I don't have a big family or my family still work my parents still work like you know there's so So what's going to happen with the kids, you know, before if they do decide to go down traditional nursery in school or maybe thinking about home education, but how will that work? If the kids are here, then yeah, it doesn't have to be a barrier.

SPEAKER_01: 40:46

Definitely not. Children do not have to be a barrier to your success. Childcare does not have to be a barrier to your success. There's always a way to make it work. Like, look at me, like I'm doing it with... scraps I'm building a business on scraps of time and evenings

SPEAKER_00: 41:00

yeah and you know I did when I set this business up as well the kids were still young they weren't in nursery or anything and I remember how nap time was just so precious when they still napped in the afternoon and then I'd just be like and sometimes like folding a washing typing folding typing hanging a wash day cleaning bottles whatever it might be somehow you just get it done don't you like it just like you said these short focused bursts of time like you must be the queen of doing things in 10 minutes probably give you 10 minutes like anything that's fine i'll tackle it in 10 minutes brilliant and fiona you've got a free guide for us as well haven't you that's um round about getting stuff done with kids then a lot of what we spoke about sort of collated into that to read

SPEAKER_01: 41:45

finding the time to grow your business as a stay-at-home mum it's all got all the it's got a couple of things we've talked about today i actually and a couple of the strategies we've mentioned today and a few more in there which off the top of my head

SPEAKER_00: 41:58

but that's why we want to download the guide to find out and I will put the link to that in the show notes amazing and where can we find you then Fiona online if anyone's listening looking for more information wanting to chat with you or just come along and follow along your your adventures

SPEAKER_01: 42:13

yeah so I'm on Instagram underscore Fiona Simm I also have a Facebook profile, which is just Fiona Sim. I've got a free Facebook community as well called the Stay At Home Mums Business Hub. So you can find me in any of those places.

SPEAKER_00: 42:26

That's really important, isn't it? The Facebook group. Again, that sense of community. If you're at home and you're feeling like you're the only one feeling like this and thinking like this, you're 100% you're not. You're definitely not. Yeah, and that's when Facebook groups are really good, eh? Amazing. And do you think there's anything then that we've not spoke about that you'd really like to let anyone know or talk about? Or have we covered everything? I'm on the spot now. No pressure. If you think we've covered everything, that's absolutely fine. I think we have. I think we've spoke about a lot there. Yeah, we've spoken about loads of things. And sometimes it's just a matter of sharing your experience that can be so helpful to someone else to make them think, that is actually possible for me. I'll probably think of some in the second we stop but yeah I think we've covered lots if you think of anything you can always fire it over and I can always add it into the show notes but no that's been really interesting Fiona I was so looking forward to this conversation because I just couldn't imagine how it works because I know if I'm trying to get anything done running but the kids I just it's just either doesn't feel possible for me or I feel so bad that I just abandon it and then it can often eat into like evenings or whatever and I'm tired you know I've been working I've been running a bit after kids and whatnot you're tired at night I I'm pretty spent like come about eight o'clock so that is fascinating to hear that it doesn't have to be like you're not looking for like a full day's work here where your kids are sat with the books you know you're you're just you're being respectful of each other's time you're communicating well what you want to do what they want to do like it sounds like a really good setup so well done because it's not easy so yeah bravo hats off to you and all that definitely um and it's gave me a few ideas as well for the upcoming summer holidays I'm taking in all the advice for that. as to how to structure our day and just yeah not completely lose myself I love my work so I also love my children of course but I'd like to have a bit of both you know I think that's okay absolutely I am I reckon I'll be ordering a couple of sand timers tonight I think that's like that's going to be the first step because I think they'll actually really would like that as well it'll feel like a bit of a game in itself yeah we use one for toothbrushing as well oh yeah that's a good one that's a good one yeah yeah especially my little girl is so thorough as boy girl I've got and my little girl's so thorough with brushing her teeth that my boy would easily just stick it in his mouth take it back out and go all done yeah so thank you so much for your time thank you for sharing your story with us I've got absolutely no doubt that that will help the people that are listening know what's possible for them and be able to move into something that they love that they enjoy and working round about their kids and not allowing that to be a barrier so thank you so much Thank you for having me. I really enjoyed it. Pleasure. Take care. Thank you so much for joining us today for another episode of the Growth Addicts Podcast. I hope today's episode has given you inspiration and tangible tips that you can use to grow your small business in a way that feels right for you. If you loved today's episode, please check out today's show notes where you can find details of our wonderful sponsor, KM Accountancy, and details of how to join my thriving email community so that you never miss an episode. Please don't forget to leave a review today. Reviews are invaluable to us in helping us get the show out there every single one is red and very much appreciated until next time