Startup Parent

#060 — Why to Join a Mastermind (And How to Start Your Own)

It’s tough enough for entrepreneurs to carry the psychological weight of being the key decision-maker in their business, but things are further complicated if you also happen to be a new parent. Now you’re under immense pressure to make good choices when you are functioning at less than 100%. How do you exercise the best possible judgement when you are sleep-deprived, and a tiny human is making regular demands on your time and attention?

There is a lot of cultural pressure to figure it all out on your own, but here’s the secret: You don’t have to. You can build communities of people around you and support each other in the decision-making process. You can connect with other new parents and entrepreneurs and puzzle it out together by way of a mastermind group.

Today, I’m sharing the working definition of a mastermind, its basic structure, and the myriad of benefits such groups can provide. In addition, I discuss the pros and cons of starting your own versus investing in a paid group. Listen in as I walk you thought the step-by-step process of launching a mastermind and learn the inestimable value of a community dedicated to mutual growth and improvement.

FULL SHOW NOTES:

Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at http://www.startuppregnant.com/060.

EPISODE SPONSOR & SPECIAL OFFER

Thank you to the sponsor of this episode: Acuity Scheduling. Acuity functions as an online assistant, helping to organize your schedule and collect client information. Take advantage of Acuity’s 45-day free trial for Startup Pregnant listeners at https://acuityscheduling.com/startuppregnant.

All of our sponsor offers are available on our website for you to grab the perks and discounts offered to podcast listeners: http://startuppregnant.com/sponsors.

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

• ‘Why You Should Join a Mastermind’ in Forbes
• Do You Have Your Own Personal Board of Advisors?
• Taylor Pearson on Masterminds
• The Law of Success in Sixteen Lessons by Napoleon Hill
• Zoom
• Google Hangouts
• The Startup Pregnant Mastermind

THE STARTUP PREGNANT PODCAST & HOST

• Startup Pregnant
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• Sponsor the Podcast
• Email [email protected]

#059 — Postpartum Recovery: Healing, Being a New Mom, and Nutritional Health

We place a lot of emphasis on planning for the perfect birth and making sure that our bodies are healthy during pregnancy. But what do we need to recover after the baby arrives? What are the nutritional demands on us as new moms? How can we best prepare for the postpartum experience?

Despite being more prepared than the average woman, Registered Dietician and Nutritionist Lily Nichols was still blindsided by how long it took to recover postpartum. And she had a lot of questions about whether what she was experiencing was normal.

Today, Lily joins me to share her postpartum journey, discussing her extreme caution around physical exertion and the value in consulting a pelvic floor physical therapist for guidance. I ask her about the nutrients new moms need to heal damaged tissue and meet the energy demands of breastfeeding, and Lily offers her advice on postpartum prep by way of frozen dinners, meal delivery, or family members who like to cook. Listen in for insight on engaging a support system of other new moms and contacting the right professionals for reassurance as necessary.

FULL SHOW NOTES:

Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at http://www.startuppregnant.com/059.

EPISODE SPONSOR & SPECIAL OFFER

Community makes all the difference. So, at Startup Pregnant, we are launching a mastermind program for women who are interested in going deeper around questions about parenting, motherhood, and business. To learn more and apply for the beta version starting in June, go to https://startuppregnant.com/mastermind.

All of our sponsor offers are available on our website for you to grab the perks and discounts offered to podcast listeners: http://startuppregnant.com/sponsors.

LEARN MORE ABOUT LILY NICHOLS

Lily Nichols is a Registered Dietician and Nutritionist and Certified Diabetes Educator with a passion for evidence-based nutrition. Her work draws from the current scientific literature as well as the wisdom of traditional cultures, and her expertise in prenatal nutrition makes her a well-respected consultant and speaker in the field. Lily’s latest book, Real Food for Pregnancy, is #1 in the Pregnancy and Childbirth category on Amazon.

• Real Food for Pregnancy
• Lily’s Website
• Lily on Facebook
• Lily on Twitter
• Lily on Instagram

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

• Real Food for Pregnancy by Lily Nichols
• Lily on Startup Pregnant EP043
• Katy Bowman
• Preparing for the First 30 Days Postpartum

THE STARTUP PREGNANT PODCAST & HOST

• Startup Pregnant
• Startup Pregnant Newsletter
• Email [email protected]

#058 — Differences Of Opinion

Put two people in a room together for any length of time, and you’re going to encounter differences of opinion. Engage in any partnership—business, personal or parent-child—and differing experiences will eventually manifest a misalignment of wants and needs.

My husband and I encountered one such misalignment around checking in via text message during the workday: I’m a fan. It doesn’t cross his mind. Neither of us is right or wrong, here. We’re just different. The question becomes, is there a creative way to make us both happy?

Today, I’m sharing this case study in differences of opinion, describing the brilliant solution my husband conceived to address both our needs. I also discuss the value of getting clear on what you want and owning it rather than apologizing for it. Listen in for my five tenets of problem-solving and learn how to find creative solutions that provide the most happiness and satisfaction for everyone involved.

FULL SHOW NOTES:

Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at http://www.startuppregnant.com/058. 

EPISODE SPONSOR & SPECIAL OFFER

Community makes all the difference. So, at Startup Pregnant, we are launching a mastermind program for women who are interested in going deeper around questions about parenting, motherhood and business. To learn more and apply for the beta version starting in June, go to https://startuppregnant.com/mastermind.

All of our sponsor offers are available on our website for you to grab the perks and discounts offered to podcast listeners: http://startuppregnant.com/sponsors.

THE STARTUP PREGNANT PODCAST & HOST

• Startup Pregnant
• Startup Pregnant on Facebook
• Startup Pregnant on Instagram
• Startup Pregnant on Twitter
• Sponsor the Podcast
• Email [email protected]

#057 — A See-What-Sticks Approach to Product Development & Parenting

‘It’s okay to just try something and see where it goes and see where it sticks, and it doesn’t have to be perfect when you launch it into the world. It’s never going to be perfect. It’s always going to be a work in progress.’

When Michele Hansen and her husband started planning for the birth of their daughter, they quickly realized that the high cost of daycare—a whopping $24K per year—was going to require an additional income stream. 

So, they created an app called Open Nearby as a side project. In the course of building that business, Michele and her husband uncovered a need in the market for geocoding software that translates addresses into latitude and longitude coordinates. They built that product too.

Four years later, Geocodio has grown to become Michele’s full-time gig. She has adopted a see-what-sticks approach to business, using jobs-to-be-done interviews with customers to improve their product and initiating meetups to support fellow entrepreneurs AND combat the loneliness of working from home. And the whole process happened organically.

Today, Michele sits down with me to explain how the expense of daycare inspired her entrepreneurial journey. She offers insight around how being a parent has made her more efficient with the use of her time and how Geocodio grew from a side project to become her full-time work. I ask Michele what it means to be a ‘product person,’ and she discusses the value of customer feedback in making business decisions. Listen in as Michele shares her efforts to help during Hurricane Harvey by creating a disaster relief map and her work-in-progress approach to entrepreneurship and parenting.

FULL SHOW NOTES

Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at http://www.startuppregnant.com/057.

EPISODE SPONSOR & SPECIAL OFFER

Thank you to the sponsor of this episode: Aeroflow Breastpumps. They are dedicated to making the hassle of getting your breast pump a little bit easier—actually, a lot easier! Head to www.aeroflowbreastpumps.com/startup to have them help you qualify for a free breast pump through insurance.

All of our sponsor offers are available on our website for you to grab the perks and discounts offered to podcast listeners: http://startuppregnant.com/sponsors.

LEARN MORE ABOUT MICHELE HANSEN

Michele Hansen is the co-founder of Geocodio, a software product that supports high volume geocoding. Prior to becoming a full-time entrepreneur, Michele worked in financial services and political consulting, serving as Product Development Manager for The Motley Fool as well as Technical Project Manager for Engage, LLC. She helped organize the DC Jobs to be Done Meetup for the purpose of supporting businesses in her areas of expertise—product development and customer discovery.

• Geocodio
• Geocodio on Twitter
• Michele on Medium
• Michele on Twitter

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

• DC Jobs to be Done Meetup
• Intercom
• Michele’s Hansen Post on Medium

THE STARTUP PREGNANT PODCA

#056 — Honoring Mother’s Day 

Following Mother’s Day, I’d like to take a moment to honor the profound experience that is parenting—the unparalleled demands on your time, the general nonstop-ness of it all. Being a mom is overwhelming in the best way, and it qualifies as one of the biggest and messiest and strangest things I have ever done.

So many women—and men—deserve recognition on Mother’s Day, and today I am celebrating all of the people who love and nurture our children. Listen in as I offer my gratitude to everyone who shares in the responsibility of providing for growing humans and acknowledge the women who cannot have children or choose not to.

Parenting is life changing-ly difficult, so to those of you who are dedicating the time to grow, to raise, to provide for a new life: Thank you.

FULL SHOW NOTES:

Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at http://www.startuppregnant.com/056.

EPISODE SPONSOR & SPECIAL OFFER

Community makes all the difference. So, at Startup Pregnant, we are launching a mastermind program for women who are interested in going deeper around questions about parenting, motherhood and business. To learn more and apply for the beta version starting in June, go to https://startuppregnant.com/mastermind.

All of our sponsor offers are available on our website for you to grab the perks and discounts offered to podcast listeners: http://startuppregnant.com/sponsors.

THE STARTUP PREGNANT PODCAST & HOST

• Startup Pregnant
• Startup Pregnant on Facebook
• Startup Pregnant on Instagram
• Startup Pregnant on Twitter
• Sponsor the Podcast
• Email [email protected]

#055 — Fitting Your Business Around Your Life

Laura Roeder founded her startup, Meet Edgar, while she was pregnant. She took three months off during Edgar’s first year—and came back part-time for the first year of her son’s life. Laura chose entrepreneurship because of the freedom and flexibility it affords her to choose sane work hours and make time for her family.

Today, Laura joins me to share her parallel parenting and startup journey. She explains why she chose to self-fund Meet Edgar and the benefits of the SaaS model. I ask Laura about her company’s parental leave policy, and she describes the boundaries around work hours she has set for herself AND her team. Listen in as Laura gets real about how parenting didn’t come naturally to her and get her advice for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at http://www.startuppregnant.com/055.

Thank you to the sponsor of this episode: Acuity Scheduling. Acuity functions as an online assistant, helping to organize your schedule and collect client information. Take advantage of Acuity’s 45-day free trial for Startup Pregnant listeners at https://acuityscheduling.com/startuppregnant.

All of our sponsor offers are available on our website for you to grab the perks and discounts offered to podcast listeners: http://startuppregnant.com/sponsors.

Laura Roeder is the founder and CEO of the social media automation tool Meet Edgar. Laura started freelancing at 22, and she founded LKR Social Media in 2009 to teach business owners how to harness the power of social media marketing. She was named one of the top 100 entrepreneurs under 30 three times—in 2011, 2013 and 2014. Laura launched Edgar in 2014, and the startup hit $1M in revenue within 11 months. Today, Edgar helps thousands of subscribers share their best evergreen content on social, and the company is worth $4M.

#054 — Connection, Friendship and Kindred Spirits

If you’re busy with work, busy with your kids, busy with life—it can be tough to prioritize friendship. And social media complicates things by making it seem like you’re in touch when you’re not actually connecting.

I have developed an approach that combines connection with a gratitude practice, a simple proactive approach to reaching out that has helped me rekindle old friendships and bounce back from the bad days when I’m feeling isolated.

Today, I’m sharing the two scripts I’ve designed for reestablishing friendships. I explain why it’s important to ask for specific advice and approach the practice with sincerity. Listen in and learn to stop scrolling and start making authentic connections!

FULL SHOW NOTES:

Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at http://www.startuppregnant.com/054.

EPISODE SPONSOR & SPECIAL OFFER

Community makes all the difference. So, at Startup Pregnant, we are launching a mastermind program for women who are interested in going deeper around questions about parenting, motherhood and business. To learn more and apply for the beta version starting in June, go to https://startuppregnant.com/mastermind.

All of our sponsor offers are available on our website for you to grab the perks and discounts offered to podcast listeners: http://startuppregnant.com/sponsors.

 
RESOURCES 

• News Feed Eradicator for Facebook

THE STARTUP PREGNANT PODCAST & HOST

• Startup Pregnant
• Startup Pregnant on Facebook
• Startup Pregnant on Instagram
• Startup Pregnant on Twitter
• Sponsor the Podcast
• Email [email protected]

#053 — Masterminds, Creative Risks and the Fuck It List

Positive psychology asks us to focus on what’s right with us. What are your strengths? What are your values? What do you want?

But what if you’re not sure what’s right with you? We all have built-in negativity bias, so it’s a whole lot easier to identify what we don’t like about our lives, what we’re not satisfied with, than it is to define what is going well.

Alex Jamieson has your back. She’s designed The Fuck It List, a strategy giving you permission to honor the negativity bias and get all of the things you hate about your life down on paper. Then she flips the script and guides you in replacing the bad with a positive alternative, crafting a life focused on what you truly care about.

Today, Alex joins me to share the fundamentals of positive psychology and explain how she used its principles to create The Fuck It List. She discusses her life as a mom, describing her son’s sweetness and her own efforts to be more thoughtful of her actions. I ask Alex about her ability to set powerful boundaries, to take creative risks, and to build relationships with communities of women. Listen in for Alex’s insight around the value of masterminds in supporting women through change and learn to say fuck it as you work toward a life you love!

FULL SHOW NOTES: 

Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at http://www.startuppregnant.com/053.

EPISODE SPONSOR & SPECIAL OFFER

Community makes all the difference. So, at Startup Pregnant, we are launching a mastermind program for women who are interested in going deeper around questions about parenting, motherhood and business. To learn more and apply for the beta version starting in June, go to https://startuppregnant.com/mastermind.

All of our sponsor offers are available on our website for you to grab the perks and discounts offered to podcast listeners: http://startuppregnant.com/sponsors.

LEARN MORE ABOUT ALEX JAMIESON

Alex Jamieson is a best-selling author, functional nutrition and positive psychology coach, and ‘cravings whisperer.’ She has been featured on Oprah, The Today Show, and Dr. Oz, among many others, and she was the co-creator of the Oscar-nominated documentary Super Size Me. Alex’s podcast, Her Rules Radio, debuted at #1 on iTunes, and her latest book, Women, Food & Desire, was the #1 New Release in Spirituality and Self-Help on Amazon. 

• Alex’s Website
• Her Rules Radio
• Alex on Facebook
• Alex on Instagram
• Alex on Twitter
• Alex on Pinterest

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

• The Fuck It List
• Women, Food, and Desire: Honor Your Cravings, Embrace Your Desires, Reclaim Your Body by Alexandra Jamieson
• Super Size Me
• Books by Alex Jamieson

THE STARTUP PREGNANT PODCAST & HOST

• Startup Pregnant

#052 — It's Okay If Your Baby Cries

The sound of your baby crying? It’s intense. And when it’s your first child, chances are instinct has you scrambling to get to your kiddo immediately and take care of whatever it is that ails them.

But here’s the thing: You’re not just responsible for taking care of your new baby. You’re also responsible for taking care of you, and if that means your crying baby has to wait a minute or two while you finish washing your hair, it’s going to be okay.

Today, I’m sharing the advice I got from my friend Lindsay around crying babies and ‘fourth children’—advice that’s given me a lot of comfort as a new mom. Listen in as I share my approach to acknowledging my son’s not-so-subtle demands for attention while still making time for moments of self-care.

FULL SHOW NOTES

Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at http://www.startuppregnant.com/052.

RESOURCES

• ‘The Pause’ on Startup Pregnant
• Bringing Up Bébé by Pamela Druckerman

 
THE STARTUP PREGNANT PODCAST & HOST

• Startup Pregnant
• Startup Pregnant on Facebook
• Startup Pregnant on Instagram
• Startup Pregnant on Twitter
• Sponsor the Podcast
• Email [email protected]

#051 — Postpartum Depression, Daycare and Whether or Not to Be a Parent

What if you’re doing everything right—exercising, eating right, self-care and meditation—and you’re still not okay? After Kathleen Shannon gave birth to her son, Fox, she was doing all the things, using every strategy in the Emotional Resilience toolkit, and on the outside, she appeared to have it all together. But she just didn’t. Though she didn’t realize it at the time, Kathleen was suffering from postpartum depression.

After a visit to an insightful midwife, Kathleen learned that extreme sleep deprivation had her battery running dangerously low. And the fact that nothing else was working meant that something deeper was happening. The midwife prescribed anti-anxiety medication, and it saved Kathleen.

Today, Kathleen joins me to share her messy parenting journey, discussing her challenge in deciding whether to be a mom in the first place and her struggle with postpartum depression and anxiety. She offers insight around the beauty of daycare, explaining why she views it as an investment and how it has expanded her son’s capacity for love. I ask Kathleen about her work with Braid Creative and Being Boss, and she describes what branding is and when you should initiate the process. Listen in for Kathleen’s advice on managing mental health like a boss and learn how parenting influences her work—and vice versa.

FULL SHOW NOTES

Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at http://www.startuppregnant.com/051.

EPISODE SPONSOR & SPECIAL OFFER

Thank you to the sponsor of this episode: Aeroflow Breastpumps. They are dedicated to making the hassle of getting your breast pump a little bit easier—actually, a lot easier! Head to www.aeroflowbreastpumps.com/startup to have them help you qualify for a free breast pump through insurance. 

All of our sponsor offers are available on our website for you to grab the perks and discounts offered to podcast listeners: http://startuppregnant.com/sponsors.

LEARN MORE ABOUT KATHLEEN SHANNON

Kathleen Shannon is the co-founder of Braid Creative and Consulting, a boutique branding agency that helps creative entrepreneurs position themselves as experts and blend more of who they are into the work they do. She is also the co-founder of Being Boss, a popular podcast and coaching resource for creative entrepreneurs, and co-author of the new book, Being Boss: Take Control of Your Work & Live Life on Your Own Terms.

• Braid Creative
• Being Boss
• Being Boss Podcast
• Kathleen on Instagram
• Kathleen on Twitter

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

• Being Boss: Take Control of Your Work & Live Life on Your Own Terms by Kathleen Shannon and Emily Thompson
• ‘One OKC Mom’s Child Care Journey’ in Metro Family Magazine

THE STARTUP PREGNANT PODCAST & HOST

• Startup Pregnant
• Startup Pregnant Newsletter
• Email