In episode 684, Chelsea Cole teaches us how to creatively manage our time and build a successful business—all while navigating the challenges of first-time parenting.

Chelsea Cole is a cookbook author, food blogger, and founder of The Cookbook Lab, a course that teaches self-publishing cookbooks. Her website, A Duck’s Oven, focuses on sous vide cooking. She has written two cookbooks, Everyday Sous Vide and Sous Vide Meal Prep and her third, "A Feast of Thorns and Roses," a fan cookbook inspired by the "A Court of Thorns and Roses" series, comes out April 1st. She currently lives outside of Portland, Oregon with her husband, son, and daughter on the way.

In this episode, you’ll discover strategies for balancing your blog, launching new ventures like writing a cookbook, and embracing first-time parenthood—so you can keep growing your business while showing up for your family.

Key points discussed include:

- Strategic Outsourcing: Sometimes you have to know when to ask for help. Chelsea’s smart move of delegating cookbook photography proves that you don’t have to do everything yourself.

- Flexible Work Hours: Those early morning hours are gold, especially with a newborn. Chelsea turned those 4 AM wake-ups into productive writing time.

- Content Prioritization: Focus on essential business tasks while temporarily pausing less critical activities.

- Family Support: Your support system is everything. Chelsea’s mom stepping in one day a week made all the difference in maintaining her sanity and productivity.

- Embrace Inconsistent Progress: Perfectionists, this one’s for you - progress isn’t linear when you’re a new parent. Learning to be okay with that is a superpower.

- Realistic Expectations: Set achievable daily goals and celebrate small victories to maintain motivation and avoid burnout while managing a newborn and a major work project.

- Adaptable Planning: Create flexible plans that can shift with your newborn’s unpredictable schedule.

- Ruthless Efficiency: Become a time management ninja. When you’ve got limited windows to work, every minute counts.

Connect with Chelsea Cole

Website | Instagram