Diary of a Small Business Owner: Behind the Chaos & Creativity

Ever feel like your best-laid plans got buried under snow days and two-hour delays? Claire opens the door on a week where parenting, weather, and work collided, and uses that chaos as a real-world lens on creativity, marketing, and small business stamina. We explore why calling yourself a “creative” or “business owner” can feel awkward at first—and why owning those words matters when your output depends on energy, focus, and a steady pulse of content that actually helps people.

We get practical about the content grind: the hidden steps behind a single Instagram post, the mountain of iCloud files and Google albums, and the messy pipeline from idea to publish across a website, newsletter, podcast, and partnerships. Claire shares the small systems that lower friction—lightweight asset libraries, better naming, and simple editing choices—while staying honest about the gaps. This isn’t hustle worship; it’s an inside view of how local media gets made in real time, under real constraints, with kids napping in the next room.

The heart of the conversation lands on boundaries and focus. When your brand is personal, the laptop follows you to bed and weekends blur. We talk about choosing one idea to finish, resisting shiny object syndrome, and giving new experiments like Patreon a clear filter: ROI, joy, and a plan you can actually keep. There’s vulnerability too—imposter syndrome without a formal marketing degree, the guilt of always being “on,” and the hope that longer days and spring light can coax creativity back to a confident rhythm.

If you’re a mompreneur, creator, or local business owner trying to build something real while life keeps moving, you’ll feel seen, learn a few workflow tricks, and leave with permission to make one thing great today. 

If you’re building something while juggling real life too, you’re not alone. Follow along on Instagram @the.columbiamom 📸✨ if you’d like to see more, stay inspired 🌟, and join the journey — chaos 🌀, creativity 🎨, and reheated coffee ☕ included.

Transcript

Welcome And Weather Whiplash

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey friends, and welcome to Mom Talk Maryland. I'm your host, Claire Duarte, founder of the Columbia Mom. And this is your spot for real conversations, local love, and a whole lot of community. Whether you're folding laundry, running errands, or hiding in your car for some peace and quiet, let's dive in. All right, let's do it. Um man, I haven't recorded in a few weeks because the weather has been crazy. We had the full week of snow. Last week's school schedule was just crazy. There was the uh two-hour delay Monday and Tuesday, then my son didn't school, have didn't have school on Wednesday, and then half day, Thursday, Friday. So I feel like I've been fighting for my life and uh trying to balance all things work and everything like that. So I feel like that was a perfect um topic for today of like diaries of a small business owner and kind of like sharing with you some of my struggles, thoughts, things that kind of go through my head. Um, you know, to and to be honest, to kind of kick it off. It's kind of weird for me to even call myself a small business owner because when I set out to do all of this, it was really never with the idea of like creating a business. Um, like I said, I had, you know, if you know my story, I was just kind of like in the social media space. And, you know, creating the Columbian Mom came out of a way to kind of really kind of specify what I wanted to see more of on Instagram specifically, and then it really just kind of morphed from there. Um, you know, and actually, so it's funny because in 2022 is when I like first started. Um, but I got my LLC the following year in 2023, and again, lessons in business that you learn along the way legally, you are not um in business until you are legally organized as one. So when you're applying for things like loans and other things like that, um, you're not recognized as a business until you are registered as one. So um I was like, what do you mean? I've been, you know, in business since 2022. Um again, I I don't have a business degree, I don't have a marketing degree. Um, you know, things, uh, things you learn along the way. So um, but yeah, so obviously the struggle's been real trying to, you know, work from home with the kids and juggling these crazy school schedules. I'm just glad that they're pretty much having a full week. My daughter has a half day Friday, but otherwise, like we are we're in it. Um, and actually what I will say is I do feel a little bit more focused, a little bit more um slightly on my game this week. But, you know, as someone that's in the social media space, um, I feel like I get a lot of people telling me, like, oh, like, you know, not that people say like, oh, you have it all together, but I feel like that's the mirage of social media. It's easy to go to my page and see all these posts and whatever. And um, though my I think my stories are just a whole feral side of me. I I love stories because I just like let my weirdness just out. Like I'm it's basically 99% of me resharing stuff and then like that 10% of like my life and whatever else, who knows? Um, but um, you know, I think the last, I don't know, the last like couple weeks I've been in like a little bit of a creative rut. And this happens. I I feel like this happens to all creatives, whether you're in social media or art or just anything that involves you creating things, you know, it can be whether it's photography, art, music, um, video, I mean, really just anything. I think I feel like this just happens. And and being a creative, that's another thing that I never identified myself as. Um, I remember as a kid, sorry, I'm just going on all these tangents because this is what you get. You get to just kind of be on this lucid train of thoughts with me. Um, as a kid, I loved like arts and crafts. I love doing art. And um, I remember I was in middle school when like, you know, we were in more of our rotations or whatever, and um, and I was really enjoying it, but like it was getting harder, you know, because it's more challenging stuff as opposed to just like sitting down and doing what I wanted to do. And I looked up and realized that I was taking forever to complete art projects. And um, and it was because like I would I've never called myself a perfectionist, but I think like I had this idea of what I'd wanted, but I feel like my hands couldn't create that, and so I would it would just take me a while. Um and I remember in seventh going into eighth grade is when I switched to chorus because I was like, you know what? I don't know that maybe art is my calling. Let me switch to um singing, and um, because I had uh another really good friend that was doing that, and I and I loved that. Not that I would call myself a great singer, but um that felt easier because I'd also been I've been playing piano since like I don't know, first grade or something like that. So kind of moving into music was a good shift and and and ended up actually working out because in high school I was in some musicals and um again never really saw myself as much of a theater kid. Um, but you know, the universe has a a weird way of aligning your paths in ways that it should. But anyways, all that being said, um through most of my, you know, childhood, college, and things like that, I never called myself much of a creative because I kind of felt like I wouldn't say I gave up on art. I just felt like, okay, like I enjoyed it as a pastime, but it wasn't something that I felt that was like a strength of mine. Um but I think because at the time I would associate art and creativity with or sorry, creativity with things like physical art. And forgetting that creativity and being a creative really spans a massive pool of individuals. Um and the way I kind of even think of being creative now is a little bit more so like with how your brain is wired a little bit. Don't quote me on that. I don't come for me, you all you neurologists or whatever. But um, you know, I I've realized that in the last couple years that because of how much I love social media, um, you know, you have to be creative and have kind of this flexible mind um to see things not always in a different way, but in your own way, maybe. Um, you know, and uh, you know, so when it comes to like creating videos and you know, your idea behind that, and you you have to think of your idea, right? And then you gotta film it, right? And then you gotta edit it. And so there's creative elements that go into all of that and talent and skill need needed for each one of those pieces, because you have to have thought and direction in, you know, setting up the shot. Um, even if you were the only one, like you know what I mean, like I'm setting up the cameras and things like that, um, and then to execute it and then to like act it out or whatever. Um, and then you know, it's your artistic, you know, direction with editing the video. I'm kind of I know I'm making this flap sound way more flowery than it is, but it's also kind of the truth, right? Um, so like I said, my social media journey, oh God, I'm going like all over the place. You know, if you know, you watch my origin story, you know, I talk about I was a beach body coach, and that's kind of what thrust me into social media in the first place. Um, though I wouldn't say that my skill level was very high uh whatsoever. But then, you know, later on when I stopped doing that and I moved into the mommy influencer thing was when I kind of got like my more real start. Um, that was in 2020. I created my blog and then I started, and actually reels came on the scene kind of like right at the same time. So it was kind of a good time because it forced me to learn reels and make videos and just I was just creating a bunch of random mom stuff. So don't scroll down my feed too too long because you're gonna just find some weird stuff. Um, but uh, you know, it it forced me, you know, like into that space. And like I said, at the time I, you know, I had a newborn and a toddler, I had two babies under two, and I you know it was a height of COVID, so I was stuck in my house. So it was a just a good outlet for me, you know. Um, like I said, sorry, I'm I'm always I'm always going back to go forward. Um, so uh that that's just how my brain works. I'm like all over the place. Um, because I'm talking about being a creative. And so yeah, so I think over the years I finally have digested and accepted that because I've realized, you know, you can it it's not just a passion side thing that I enjoy in life because now guess what? I've made this into my business, right? But I'm also realizing like that is kind of how my brain works. I really do enjoy that outlet, you know. Um, I wouldn't call myself creative when it comes to like decorating or again making art and things like that, but in this realm, in this world with social media and and maybe marketing, I guess, um I would. And which is just also kind of funny and ironic to me because like I said, I feel like I'm always battling imposter syndrome, like, well, I don't have, you know, education and degrees and and real-world uh working experience other than building this business, right? Um, so anyways, I was just kind of giving you this tangent about being a creative and a small business owner. And um, but all that being said, I all this I said because I was like, I'm feeling like I've been in a creative rut. And it's funny because I I I say that because to take you into the mind of a business owner of someone that's in marketing, right? Um, because with my platform, I've got Instagram, I've got my website, um, and on our website, we've got a community events calendar, we've got blogs, um, I even have advertising spaces on the front page for businesses. Um, we have our email newsletter, um, obviously the podcast, you know, all these different things, right? So when I think about like what to post, right? Um, there's so much that goes through my head. So much that goes through my head. I think about, okay, what's seasonally happening, right? What's happening the month? Like obviously February, there's Valentine's Day. So I have a lot of posts and you know content that's centered around that, but I'm not gonna do 20 days of that. So what else do I want to post about? Well, it's winter time. So, anyways, my mind is going through all these things, but then there's so much that goes into each and every one of those things because um the other reality for me is um I have thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of photos and video files. And so I know that I have the capacity to create videos and whether it's posts or carousels or blogs, because I'm like, I have all like because I've been to ton of these coffee shops and different playplaces that I could talk about, but it also to find those specific photos can take me a really long time. I've been lately doing a little bit better about organizing them, but it is still very challenging coming up with like a decent organization system um for all of that. Um, I also pay for like the a crazy amount of storage, which again, business write-off, um, which is obvious and perfect. So I pay for like super high in Apple and iCloud and also in Google, um, you know, for sharing things with like my team and businesses and clients, I do a lot of Google albums. Um, that's like a really easy way to kind of share assets. So that I love. Um, but yeah, as far as just like the majority of phones kind of of photos and files kind of sit in my iCloud. And oh my God, it's just uh if I were to sit there and organize all of that, it that would be a full-time job in and of itself, and I wouldn't have time for anything else. Um, I will say lately, like when I'm shooting, you know, I'll come back and make um albums and I'm getting a little bit better at that. Because obviously, like I send files over to my video editor. Um, so it forces kind of that side of it to be a little bit organized. But if I'm going back years um prior, like I only hired a video editor a year ago, right? Um I I did not have as many good systems then. So um anyway, so that I was like, I'm no, I have no shortage of ideas, but it's the execution behind it that can often slow me down. I'm like, well, thinking about okay, well, I want to create this, but then I've got to find all of that. And then even let's let's just say I do find the files and videos that I want to make for the video or the carousel, right? Then I gotta write a caption. Um, and then, you know, oh, do I need to edit the photos? Um, like sometimes like I like to brighten them a little bit. I don't like to over-edit, I do like to just brighten, sometimes I blur the background a little bit, whatever, and that's just for photos. Um, and then sometimes it depends. Oh, am I am I writing um caption overlays on the photos, right? Don't even get me started on the video editing. Luckily, I do have my video editor that helps speed up that process, and she very much knows my style that I like, and I'll give her direction every now and then for specific specific things. So by the time I get to it, I still have to edit it. I still have to do like final touches. Like sometimes it means putting a voiceover over top or um, you know, writing up additional caption overlays, and then I gotta go into and then I upload it into Instagram, and then I'm adding the music and creating the real cover, and then I'm uploading the caption, and then you gotta tag all the places, and you gotta add the location, and you know, it's hmm. I don't think people realize how much work goes into singular posts. Yes, I can whip something around pretty quickly um with certain things, but I feel like that's the mistake a lot of people, just because I can like do a post every now and then, you know, uh really quickly, doesn't mean that all of them are like that. And you really truly have no idea how much work can go into all these pieces. And that's why um, you know, because you need the creative energy to fuel it to, you know, breathe the life into say you like your marketing strategy, your posting strategy. Um, and I really try to avoid the whole like, oh God, what am I posting today? You know, I try to build up a library of content um that's mostly kind of up and ready to go. Um, but again, I feel like the winter time has been, you know, and then with the kids' um home and funky school schedules last two weeks kind of just thrown me. Um, because Lord knows that snow week I worked for maybe a day and a half. So I feel like, and then like last week, you know, I also didn't get a lot of work hours because of all of that. So um, so yeah, I feel a little bit behind as far as like my backlog of content, not to mention backlogged in, you know, being able to film for the podcast. So um, you know, that's just kind of like one side of my mind. Um, you know, and one thing I was saying to a friend the other day, I was like, because she also has her own marketing business, and you know, the more I'm in marketing, the more I'm like, wow, I feel like marketing people, we can still take off, you know, and you know, go on vacation and have time off. Um, and maybe it's different when you are your own business owner versus, you know, a marketing job, but obviously when it's like because of my business, I feel like I never stop thinking about business ideas. And sometimes it sometimes it's just like my to-do list. That's also the nature of being a mom. I realize our brains never stop. Um, but I feel like I'm I'm never not thinking about this stuff, even on the weekends, and I still am working on the weekends. Um so I I don't ever think I I don't know that I ever feel like I'm fully off. Like, yes and no. I do try to be better about boundaries. Like I will say I probably bring my lap up laptop up to bed probably every single night. I am better about not necessarily being on it, but um I will like because once I put the kids down to bed, I'm like, okay, maybe you know, maybe I've got like 30 minutes. Let me just like go through emails or finish editing this or whatever. Um, I'm super guilty of that. Um, but it's hard because the the guilt of being a small business owner, your own, you know, boss, right? Is that the work is is never done. And, you know, with having such a small team, you know, the work always falls on me, right? So you kind of feel like you can never be off. Um, and it's and it's ironic because it's even me saying that sounds so toxic, and that's like that hustle culture that I also feel like I try to avoid. Um but it's a slippery slope again when you're a business owner, because you know, uh the business is dependent on you. It's dependent on you showing up, it's dependent on your efforts, it's dependent on, you know, what you're able to create, what you're able to sell, how you're able to show up for your clients, how you're able to show up for your audience, and you know, all these things you gotta do, and then plan and future forecasting and all of that. The work is just never done, you know, and it's a beautiful thing, right? I don't think any of us who are small business owners would do this if we didn't love it, you know. We're not actively trying to work ourselves completely into the ground. We're doing it because we have passion, love, joy, you know, grit, determination, you know. We're probably all a little mentally unstable to be in business for ourselves, right? Especially during this economy that has been kind of really strangling small business owners for lack of a better word. Um, but uh yeah, so it it's it's certainly, you know, challenging. I think I spend probably the most amount of my time thinking about posts ideas, video ideas, and then next maybe blog ideas. And then the third thing is just thinking of like I I I'm always kind of thinking, and I I try not to let myself get too lost in this area, but like thinking of new ideas for the business, whether it's new offers for clients and businesses, or you know, oh, maybe I should do this, maybe I should do that. Um, I am super guilty of shiny object syndrome, of thinking, you know, if somebody else is doing that, I I, you know, think, oh, should I do that? And um, I am good for the most part of trying to kind of corral myself, but again, being a creative, it's hard for me to not think about it, not consider, not research something, not take a look, blah, blah, blah. I mean, look, in in I'm saying all this now. And yesterday I was like, you know what? I think I want to start a Patreon. Um, I have no idea what I'm gonna do with it or if I'll keep up with it. But the goal I was thinking, it was like, you know what I think might be neat is if I can start to create like a catalog and library of videos where I can start to share a little bit more of, you know, my social media, digital marketing experience, um, and share that with other small business owners, maybe other women or moms or individuals that, you know, have a brand or they're looking to start a business, but maybe you're feeling overwhelmed, don't know where to start. And I don't know. I was just thinking it was like I've learned a lot along the way. Maybe I can, you know, put my thoughts together and and teach you or others um what I've learned and see if that might be helpful. So um, you know, Patreon's interesting. It's a it's a again a brand new world to me. I know uh I have a bunch of friends that do it that are, you know, maybe like in the medical world, and it's interesting because I guess like you can create all these videos and then you know uh you can then people can pay for memberships to access your content and material. So I'm like, oh, this is interesting. Um, so we'll see. Again, like I said, I'm super guilty of shiny object syndrome, and you know, my goal is to kind of keep up with this and see where this goes. Um, you know, and I and I have lots of other ideas for 2026, but I'm also trying to remind myself like to as much as ideas are exciting, it doesn't do you any good to over-ideate and overthink of these ideas if that means I can't, you know, be consistent on my baseline things, like my content and posting on social media, my website, sharing with my audience with you, you know, um, and doing those things and half ideas that never get off the ground are never is is yeah, is basically like one really well executed idea, even if it's not successful, is better than four half thought-out ideas that never get off the ground, right? And that's what I try to remind myself and try to like rope myself back in, like Claire, like how much time and energy are you gonna spend on that? Blah, blah, blah. Remind, and again, because that the other thing of small bit designer, we always have to think of our ROI. We take risks all the time. Lord knows we have to when we do. And being in Aries, I know that I jump in feet first without thinking a lot of times, um, which is a great strength, um, and also a great weakness at the same time. Um, but sometimes, you know, you just you just gotta jump. And I guess like Lindsay Vaughn, you know, just said, sometimes you just gotta have faith and you gotta jump um and believe it, dream it, and feel it before you feel like you're ready. So um, you know, that's that's a little slice of my brain um in this given week, in this given season. I know that I'm very much looking forward to hopefully the the weather starting to slowly thaw a little bit more. I feel like more sunshine will help fuel my brain, fuel my my energy, my creativeness. And I know it started to kind of give me that feeling of like hope, like, oh my gosh, March is gonna be around the corner, it's gonna keep getting warmer. So that makes me excited. And I get really excited about creating spring content. So that also feels exciting too. So um, so yeah, if that resonated, let me know. I don't know if you're creative and can relate to any of that, but um, you know, or if you have thoughts on how you know you get out of your own creative rut, I'm I'm curious. Like, let me know. Um, because uh sometimes it's it's hard to shake out of that. I mean, a lot I do love going for walks. I feel like that's great for mental clarity. Again, the weather's been funky lately, obviously, um, been like crazy cold, but you know, hopefully we're gonna be getting keep thawing out, and hopefully that'll keep um allowing us to do that. So, anyways, on that note, um thank you for for taking the time to listen to this crazy side of my brain, and I'll see you on the other side. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Mom Talk Maryland. If you loved it, leave a review, share it with a friend, or tag me at the dot ColumbiaMom on Instagram. I'd love to hear what you think. And don't forget to follow the show so you never miss an episode. Until next time, keep showing up, keep supporting local, and keep being the incredible mom, woman, human that you are.