How a Full-Time Mom FOUND TIME to Grow Her Business & Made Money Doing It
When a 9-year-old has a business idea, you listen up. But do you take them seriously?
Jenny Murphy’s daughter told her, “Someone should invent something to help people take better selfies…”
And Jenny became enough to jump jumped in & research how to bring the idea to life.
The problem?
“Jumping in” when you’re running a home, a classroom, and also in the middle of adopting another child…
doesn’t look or FEEL like “JUMPING”!
It’s more like crawling through the nooks & crannies inside your calendar to find some time to get work done.
When I met Jenny, her biggest challenge in making her daughter’s idea PROFITABLE was two-fold:
- She’d skipped a few vital foundational steps - which had her stuck in the middle of this idea without a way out.
- Even if she knew what was next, she had ZERO TIME to grow the business.
Frazzled is her word: “I had SO many MONSTER goals & very little time to make any of them real.”
Who hasn’t felt THAT?
Add in overwhelm, panic, anxiety, frustration…just to scratch the surface of the spectrum!
TIME was her number one enemy, so Jenny’s wheels were always spinning.
Tired & defeated, she thought, “If I could only make everything go away and just have some TIME, I could get SO MUCH DONE!”
She actually LIKED her life. She just wished she had MORE TIME - all the while beating herself up because she’d made an intentional choice to stay home with their family’s new addition!
Part of her felt like she couldn't complain. Shouldn’t complain.
I mean - she CHOSE this life, right?
Did she get to have a family life AND something for herself?
What I love is that Jenny admits something that many women are loathe to say:
She felt a little bit jealous that her husband could have his career and keep going with what he wanted!
“My career felt like a lot of stops and starts. Always shifting my career around.”
Thank you for saying the truth! We want to be there for our families & kids AND we want something for ourselves.
This creates so much guilt.
And as grateful as Jenny was for being able to stay home, she ALSO she really craved some time to bring her goals to life.
If you don’t have time to bring YOUR idea to LIFE - that will create a little resentment - then a little guilt - then self-judgment.
This roller coaster of emotions will most DEFINITELY STOP YOU from moving forward if you have a goal and other things are getting in the way.
Jenny literally had 90 minutes each day - IF her small son stayed asleep - to work on her business.
How’d she make it happen?
There were two changes she made to create momentum & get her business growing.
Each started with mental shifts.
- I believed I needed to be THE ONLY person who’s with my kids, 100% of the time. I thought it was 100% my job to make sure that they are growing & learning & safe.
She implemented a lesson she learned from coaching:
“When you make different choices, you give other people the opportunity to show their strengths.”
Those really improved things for Jenny & her family!
- She began to understand a major tenet of Time Mastery: it starts in the brain.
I had to get over my grumbling and shift what was going on in my mind. And that created a domino effect that helped me get more time back every day.- Letting other people show up & help
- Changing my expectations of what “NEEDS” to be done.
- Pausing to assess whether this job NEEDS to be MY job.
These two changes LIBERATED Jenny!
I now own a few extra minutes of my day. I actually started to be in charge my time!
Simply shifting my priorities & standards has created time so I can have more time back.
Her BIGGEST A-HA Moment:
Taking her son for a walk one day, she realized a BIG problem: she had a little rock in her shoe but didn’t stop. She didn’t want her son to be disturbed in his stroller!
I would make myself comfortable - but I didn’t want him to be uncomfortable in his stroller.
She realized this was such a habit - she was shocked at herself.
She now says, Stop doing the things that are making you bananas because the other person won’t even NOTICE or MIND!
Now I’ve learned to make small changes to TAKE THE ROCK OUT OF MY SHOE.
“When you’re always sacrificing yourself, it’s not QUITE the same thing as LOVE. It’s VERY close because you give so much up - because you love someone and you’re fine with it - but at some point you have to put yourself back on the list.”
What has changed in the family dynamic?
People are more aware that I have some goals I want to accomplish and they’re a little more respectful of that. And I’m willing to ask for help - giving my daughter jobs that she’s very capable of.
It’s my fault, really - I don’t give her the tasks. I’ve been taking everything on myself.
Even her approach to her business has changed - a piece of the day is working on my business.
It’s just part of my routine. I worked hard on goal setting - I got really focused & now don’t feel like everything’s massive or unattainable.
I chip away on the micro goals and am getting things accomplished!
What outcomes did she get?
She hired a design team, created a relationship with a brick & mortar store who ordered her goods, and now works on her business every day!
Her advice: Stop trying to do it all yourself! I spun my wheels for at least a year before just getting help.
ALSO: don’t skip over the fundamental aspects of business - do the hard work of setting up the business before you hire a lawyer, create a HUGE website, or writing a business plan.
When Jenny got help, she completely changed her life in 3 months! What she accomplished in 3 months is impressive.
Her results are NOT unattainable. Be committed. Move forward every day.
That’s how you get results.
Want results? You need to kickstart the changes in your life.
They don’t happen easily. And they often don't happen without help.
Learn how you can GROW your business & see your idea come to life.
You can find Jenny’s product at www.takeabetterselfie.com
And if you're ready to kick yourself to start getting things happening that have been in your head too long, then be sure to check out my online coaching group "The Idea Space".
