The Growing Pains Podcast
Growing a business and a family? Join host Alyson Caffrey as she interviews mompreneurs who have scaled businesses and juggled life at home. Having it all may seem like a pipedream, but we are making it happen every day. Tune in and fold time in that carpool line!
The Growing Pains Podcast
Why Doing Things Differently Bring the Most Success? with Holly Haynes
Embark on a heartfelt journey with Holly Haynes as we navigate the tumultuous yet rewarding synergy of entrepreneurship and motherhood. Holly brings to the table her profound experience of molding a seven-figure business with the clay of corporate strategy, all while nurturing her twin girls and sustaining a full-time corporate career. This episode is a treasure chest brimming with wisdom on how to intertwine the delicate threads of your work and life tapestry, and an uplifting testament to the beauty of being unique in the business realm.
Holly is a Business Strategist, helping female entrepreneurs grow to multi-6-figures without relying on social algorithms. With 20 years of business consulting experience, including Fortune 500 companies, she built her own 7-figure business while working full-time. Now, she runs her strategic coaching business, the Crush the Rush Planner company, and hosts the Crush the Rush podcast.
Topics covered in this episode:
- Holly's journey of starting her business while raising twin daughters.
- The importance of creating a supportive community.
- Involving children in the entrepreneurial journey.
- Exploring different scheduling and productivity techniques.
- Consistency and the challenges of maintaining a podcast.
- Embracing doing things differently.
CONNECT WITH HOLLY:
https://www.hollymariehaynes.com/
https://www.instagram.com/thehollymariehaynes
CEO Week Challenge https://www.hollymariehaynes.com/ceoweek
Crush the Rush Podcast series https://www.hollymariehaynes.com/social
RESOURCES FROM ALYSON:
The Kid-Proof Business Checklist
https://alysoncaffrey.com/checklist
Maternity Leave Planning Guide
https://www.mastermaternityleave.com/guide
Are you juggling the challenges of running a business while raising your little ones? Do you crave more ease in balancing your professional ambitions with the demands of parenthood? Well, sit tight, you're in the right place and in good company. I'm your host, alison Caffrey, and I understand the growing pains that come with building a business while nurturing a growing household. As the founder of Master Maternity Leave and Operations Agency, I've walked the walk as an operator, strategic coach and fractional COO for growing companies to define, create and optimize the way they operate. And, like many of you, I'm also a proud mom of two very energetic boys. On Growing Pains, we save space for parents to share about the intricacies of running a business and raising a family. I'll be sitting down with fellow mompreneurs, and dads too, who are pursuing success in their businesses, all while being wildly present at home. They'll share vulnerably about challenges, give guidance and joke a little bit about bodily functions. Think of this as a soft spot to land when you feel like your ambitions are starting to become just a little overwhelming. I'm thrilled you're here with me and can't wait to share this exciting journey with you. Welcome to Growing Pains.
Speaker 1:Welcome back to the Growing Pains podcast. I'm your host, alison Kaffrey and today I sit down with Holly Haynes from Crush the Rush. We had such a cool conversation and Holly is the mom to twin girls they're 10 now but she tells us the story about how she was starting her company and raising two little babies and doing all the things. We talk about integration of work and life. We talk about being different and why. That's totally cool.
Speaker 1:But let me read you a little bit of what makes Holly so interesting to listen to. She helps female entrepreneurs create simple, scalable offers and systems to grow multi-six figures without relying on the social media algorithm. I mean, can you be more different than that? And an industry-led expert she was featured in Thrive an entrepreneur, and she's also an author. She's got 20 years of business consulting background with Fortune 500 companies.
Speaker 1:Holly built her now seven figure business while working full time and retiring herself and her husband. So she and her husband and she talks about this on the podcast now work together in the company, which is so, so cool. So Holly now runs her strategic coaching business, the Crush the Rush Planner Company, and hosts the top 100 Crush the Rush podcast, which I was recently featured on I'll leave that in the show notes while raising her twin daughters with her husband in Columbus, ohio. I hope you guys get so much value out of this wonderful conversation I had with Holly. I will see you inside, holly, welcome. Welcome to Growing Pains. I am so excited to have you here, I know.
Speaker 2:I'm so excited too. I feel like we have so much to talk about.
Speaker 1:Oh, we sure do so. For those listening, I was just on Holly's podcast and we recorded just last week or maybe it was a week before, I can't remember time is so crazy, but it was very, very recently and we were just talking before we press record that this is going to make for a really great episode, because we're totally like on the same page on all things. But, holly, I want to give listeners a little bit about your background, so can you tell us a little bit about your business and the family that you have at home?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so my name is Holly Haynes, I'm in Columbus, Ohio. My business is four years old, which is crazy to me, but we have been able to build. We just hit seven figures in four years and my husband and I built our business together while I was working full time, and I share that. I don't really care about the number, I share it because it's really created this like sense of community and family and freedom behind the scenes. That, I think, is a little bit different than maybe what I see a lot of times.
Speaker 2:But my background is I had a 22 year corporate strategy career, so I was working for like the big five consulting firms like traveling, going into big companies I always say like helping them solve like really messy problems, organizing things for them and really towards the end of my career, was into customer experience. So how do we create a customer experience that really helps businesses become more profitable? And I had this idea in January of 2020, before the pandemic, before all the things changed that like, oh, maybe it would be cool if I taught this to like female business owners, because that would be more way more impactful. And so I actually hired a business coach before I had a business and started a podcast called Crush the Rush and then everything sort of came out of that like very organically, from sharing and just coming from a place of I think I have this expertise. If I can share it in a way that helps other business owners, let's see what happens, and that's kind of how we got to where we are today.
Speaker 1:That's super exciting. I love hearing that good people doing great business have early success. Like you just hear so many of the stories of the snake oil salesman. Business owners feel so icky and nobody wants to close deals because it's like you know. You really know that you're selling. You know crap behind the scenes. But when was the business so? When did you have your kiddos? I'm assuming your kiddos are older, right, then you're yeah well.
Speaker 2:I like to say that I mean, I feel like I'm old, so I'm 45. We had my twins. When we're surprised which could be a whole episode in itself Not surprised that we were pregnant, like surprised that we had twins when I was 35. So when I started this whole like business I'm still going to work and try to build a business they were in kindergarten during the pandemic, so it was, like I always say, like I've only had a business when, like, my kids were really little. It's like a world crisis, financial. I don't even know what's happening in the world now, so I'm used to like it being unstable. I guess. Oh my gosh, how old are the twins now?
Speaker 1:They're 10, almost 11. So crazy. So you guys find out that you're pregnant with twins. Do you have twins in your family?
Speaker 2:No, not even like well, so everybody I've asked like has no awareness of any twins ever. I did, however, find out that, like, if you get pregnant after age 35, your chances of twins almost double. And then there's like these weird facts, that like if you're tall or I don't know, and I was like, well, maybe that's a thing. The craziest story, though, is I mean, I never even thought that we would have twins, and right before you know, like when you go to the doctor, it's like your 10 week appointment or 12 week appointment, and they like confirm everything. I had a dream the night before that it was twins, and I remember, like telling my husband I'm like well, I feel like I'm going to be disappointed, right Cause I like, but I didn't really know if we wanted twins. And then, when we were at the doctor, he was like well, there's a reason you're so sick. And I was like, oh my God, I had this dream, so it was a total surprise.
Speaker 1:So that is so wild. I remember when we were pregnant with my first um Steve, my husband was like you know, it'd be super cool if it was twins. And I was like why? And he was like, well, you know, you just like get it done. I has two kids. I was like, but I have to grow two babies and then deliver two babies.
Speaker 2:I was like so, like no yeah, I mean, my first reaction was this is going to be really cool. And then I think like an hour later, I remember we were like driving from the doctors and we were like okay, let's just go to whole foods and like get some lunch and like try to process this, and I had like a full meltdown. I was like we need a bigger house. We don't have a big enough car. Like how do you even like carry two babies I don't even know? So, yeah, that is so tough.
Speaker 1:I'd imagine like breastfeeding was double hard. Was that something that you struggled with early on?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so at the beginning I mean I tried to do like the tandem where you feed two babies at one time, and it was really really hard for me. I was in the hospital for seven days because I had lost a lot of blood and so I wasn't. I just didn't produce like the amount of milk that you needed for two babies. So I did breastfeed, but then we had to supplement with formula and then, like it's hard to like tandem breastfeed two babies and then also have like a normal, normal-ish sleeping schedule. So I did like a ton of pumping, like I would pump so that my husband could help feed, and then we'd like swap in formula and then swap back breast milk. So it was a whole thing.
Speaker 2:I wish that I could say it was like an enjoyable experience. Like sometimes I feel guilty because I didn't love it, because it was just so hard, because I see other parents now like with this like magical newborn and I'm like. But there was two like how do you even like logistically do this? And so I think there was like a lot of guilt around. This isn't working the way that I thought that it would. I mean, I think it still worked, obviously, but it was very different. It was a very different experience.
Speaker 1:It's tough. I can totally relate with that guilt and I had one kiddo and it was so hard for me and we we did the same thing. I almost felt like I was irrationally tied to, like the fact that my worth as a mom was like how much breast milk I could produce.
Speaker 1:And it's interesting, like I don't know if you had this experience, holly, but I was like I knew that that was wrong. Like in my, like my regular brain, not my primate brain. I knew that that was totally wrong but, for whatever reason, it was almost like I was hovering above myself. I was getting so emotionally tied to how much I was producing. Was that similar?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I feel like it gives me anxiety, like talking about it now, cause it's like there's nothing that you could do, like you can, only you. I mean it is what it is, and so I I almost felt like I was failing, but then there was also two which made it so much harder. And then it's like, well, you know, you want to make sure that each baby got equal breast milk, so it was this whole measuring thing. Cause I don't. I'm like, well, what if one kid like, oh my gosh, better than the other kid, and it's my fault because it was like a whole? It was a whole thing. We had lots of like clipboards and charts and all kinds of stuff.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, it's so wild what we put ourselves through as moms. And so how does the? How does the business look today with the kids? How are you? How are you guys doing business? Look today with the kids, how are you, how are you guys doing and how is your involvement?
Speaker 2:I guess, between like being mom and being business owner. Yeah, so I will say it's interesting. When I first started my business, I felt like I had to keep it completely separate from our family and so I would like work my regular job, go be a mom, and then I would like work my business in the evening or the morning, and everything was like very compartmentalized and it was really really stressful because there are times when like that doesn't work, like those, you know, something goes crazy at work or the kids get sick, like it just didn't flow, and so, very slowly, I just like started to open up more to my husband and I was like, hey, like I think this has some legs, and I had to like slow down, to like educate him on what we were doing or what I was doing, because neither one of us grew up with any sort of entrepreneurship in our family. Like I would say the word funnel or something, and he would be like I don't know what you're talking about. Or I would be like, hey, I want to join this, like you know, five figure program, and then people react like you were paying what for what, and so it was this whole like educational piece that I feel like was a really big game changer, because I was like, well, if I can do this, then it leads to this, or if I can do this, then it will like benefit our family this way. And so I feel like our sort of transition point is when I started to just open up a little bit more. Now it's like fully integrated.
Speaker 2:I ended up leaving my corporate job and we sort of had this like agreement that we were going to give it one year. We're two and a half years in now, but I knew that I didn't want to leave my corporate job and wake up every day and be like I have to make this amount of money today, cause I knew that would feel really, really stressful. So again, it was like having this like open agreement of this is what I'm going to work on, this is our plan, this is what it looks like, and really starting to involve him. So now he I mean we joke that he works for me we have a planner like a physical planner and he handles that and like all the logistics for that. He also handles like all of our customer services emails, so like if you lose your password or things like that, he does all of our finances, taxes. I'm trying to think of other projects, but we kind of just, you know, flipped it and was like we need to treat it like a business. So we have like a operations meeting once a week, we have like a quarterly review he jokes that he doesn't get a raise enough but it's like a whole thing. Like I was like we have to treat this like seriously, like this is a real business, but also having like very open conversations of like okay, I'm working on this today, this is what we're going to do. And then I would say, from a family perspective, I think the biggest thing again for me was communicating. This is what I'm doing and when. So, like today, as an example, like I have this podcast interview.
Speaker 2:Then my kids get home from the bus. I'm free, like when, when they're home, I take them to dance. But then I have a call at seven o'clock tonight. Now most people will be like well, why would you do a call at night? And it's like well, I want to take my girls to dance class, I want to get them off the bus. A lot of my clients work full-time, so if I can do an hour call at seven o'clock at night, I can still get them off the bus, take them to. I can even do bedtime at that time and I'm not like missing anything. And so it's really like it's very much integrated, like everything sort of like flows together. It's not life or business or insert, whatever the thing is, it's all kind of like intertwined.
Speaker 1:That's such a critical thing to figure out and I don't think anybody ever has it figured out entirely because of seasons of business. There are seasons of um, you know, parenthood and seasons that your kids go through and just life in general, um, but I found that, like when we were really committed to integrating life and business, like what you're talking about, that's when things started feeling a little bit lighter.
Speaker 1:You know it, almost like you like shared the load a little bit and I want to maybe talk a little bit about just like your husband's support, because my husband similarly has no experience with, like the our world of running a digital company and like fully remote, fully distributed, joining a mastermind is like something that was like totally foreign to him and I remember like, like bringing him into the fold on this and it was almost like another level of connection that I felt like we could now share, because he was like being brought into my world. So how was that like for you and your husband, especially having those conversations about like leaving work, right, cause that's, that's probably scary for a lot of people, I mean in general, right, probably scary for you, probably scary for him. He was like I want to support, but I don't really, I don't really know. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I think it's interesting and we were talking about this before we hit record. So we decided when my twins were born that my husband was going to stay home with the girls. So we were already sort of in this situation where, like you have to have some sort of predictable income. So entrepreneurship for me like always sort of felt like well, that's maybe a bonus, or is this really going to work out? I don't really know. So when we started having these open conversations, I was like you know, I think the best thing is is that you are like fully integrated in this and we like make this decision as a family. So I actually took him to a mastermind retreat with our friend Liz. He came with me and I had him like sit through all the things.
Speaker 2:I mean, he, I don't think he knew one word that people were saying, again, it's like a foreign language. And we spent the weekend together. We actually brought my kids. My mom came and watched the kids and I was like, okay, let's make this like into a thing. You guys enjoy yourselves, we're going to go off. And I remember him like pulling me aside and he was like I actually think you could do this. So it was actually him that thought before I did that we could like make it into something more. And I think it's because he saw other families do it and I don. It's because he saw other families do it and I don't feel like you see that very often.
Speaker 2:So we were sort of talking about that before we recorded, and we always joke that our neighbors are like what do you guys do all day, like? And so I feel like it's just not. It's. I don't want to say it's not normal, but it's not normal and we just didn't see it. And so sometimes seeing is believing, and so I feel like that was a really important step.
Speaker 2:And then the other side of it is we started planning life first. So I was like well, can you imagine if I didn't have to take PTO? Like we could start traveling or we could like we're really into like flowers and growing dahlias, and so I was like we can have a flower garden and I could like help you at, you know, in the afternoon instead of at seven o'clock at night. And so we started creating these like business calendars where we would plan out what we wanted to do as a family first, and then we would like layer in these like okay, well, let's launch our mastermind here, let's do this here, and it, regardless of what happened from a business perspective, it created this like oh, this is like way better than what we were doing before, and so I feel like that, like feeling and momentum is what helped, kept us going.
Speaker 1:I don't know if that even answers your question. No, it's such a great story and such a great invitation for the new phase of what your life was like. Steve and I truthfully have had the same conversation about our neighbors. Just a couple of days ago we were outside pushing the kids on the swings at about four o'clock. Both of us and our neighbor had like family over and they were looking on and I was like I wonder if they just think that like we're unemployed, like I don't know why it was like the first thing I thought I was like maybe they just think we don't do anything.
Speaker 1:And it was just an interesting moment there, because then, yeah, you, you do, you measure your worth, and I remember I did in the early years of the business. I remembered, as I was trying to figure out, you know, like what my brand was and what I was really trying to say and what problems I really solved. And trying to articulate that to others, like outside of our kind of entrepreneurial sphere, was really challenging, because then they'd try to equate it to something that they knew and it was just so, so different. So I even felt like in the early stages I almost felt like judged by even friends and family, right, like onlookers, friends and family, so like how was that for you guys? Did you guys feel like outside of your immediate family, there was acceptance or was there a little bit of judgment, a little bit of both, I mean.
Speaker 2:I don't even think my immediate family knows what we do. If I'm being honest, like I think my mom thinks I sell planners and I'm like, well, you don't make any money really off of a planner, so no, we don't do that. I mean we do, but there's other things. So I I do think there's this like big question of like what do you do all day? And then I feel like there's you flip it and they're like, oh well, you have so much time, like of course you could do that, and it's like, well, no we actually have to do things.
Speaker 2:And so I feel like I mean, I think there's definitely some judgment, but I feel like everyone kind of does that. But also I feel like we have to constantly be like what we're doing is okay, because it's not normal. And so I think sometimes when you're having like a hard day, you're like oh, but like why are we doing things so differently? But then I like go back to like the experience at the mastermind retreat or I look at our calendar and I'm like okay, like it's, it's fine, it's okay to do things differently. And I honestly feel like that's become part of my messaging, like I always say like let's do business different, like do what makes you feel good.
Speaker 2:You don't have to like be in a box of. I have to work nine to five, or originally I was like I'm just going to get a different job that gives me more flexibility so that I can do both my business and have, you know, some sort of income. And so I feel like it's just looking at it in a way of like we're not like um, what's that show? It was the show on HBO, I think it was called weeds or something, and it was like these, like cookie cutter houses and they panned like the suburbs and it was like everyone was like a copycat and I was like you don't, you don't have to be like a copycat of everyone else.
Speaker 1:Ooh it's a tough one. Yeah, we we long to be accepted, though Right, and so for a lot of us, when we grow up, acceptance means conforming. I can remember I don't know if you did this in high school, but we'd be like going to a party and I'd be like I'm going to wear a jean skirt. Like, are you going?
Speaker 2:to do that too.
Speaker 1:So, like, how was there a moment, or are there continuous moments, where you're like no, if it means different, that means I should move in that direction.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I like to be part of a community. I mean I like to fit in. I don't really like being different and I feel like this is why this has been so like I don't want to say challenging, but it's been like a definite like growth moment for like us and our family. So I think it's a mix of it's okay for us to be different, because I can see the outcome and not everyone else sees that Right, like we're not like sharing all the behind the scenes. But I think the other thing that I've tried really hard to do is to create like my own community.
Speaker 2:Like I deliberately reached out to people that I didn't know, that like live in Columbus, that were also entrepreneurs and was like I need friends that I can see in person, that do something similar to me, so that I can like if I'm having a bad day, or like why are we doing this I can see in person, that do something similar to me, so that I can like if I'm having a bad day, or like why are we doing this? I can have a conversation. Like we just went to dinner last night. We do like quarterly dinners.
Speaker 2:There's like five of us and we all have different businesses, but it's like, hey, you're like what's your husband think of this, or how are your kids reacting to this, and it's so. It's nice to like create that community where you are similar but also know that it's different than maybe what 90% of the population is doing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we say this all the time at operations agency my, my managed services company but we say try to get into as many categories of 1% as you can. Right, like be tried to be 1% like as the guidepost, and I think it's really really hard to go against, particularly people who you love. Right, like people that are your family, people that are your friends and they probably just want the best for you. Right, they're probably like trying to understand and it's really really hard without being able to like truly invite them into your space. Like you can't invite everybody that is in your family to masterminds with our friend Liz Like those are incredible and they're super exclusive and fun and empowering, but like it's so, so, so hard.
Speaker 1:So how have you invited your girls into this? I'm actually super, um, interesting because our kids are little. They don't really know like they know that mommy goes upstairs and works and like whenever we're up here they're like so excited to be on the keyboard. But we really haven't invited them into like what it means to build a company, work for yourself take some.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this part's actually been fun because I feel like when I started, like I said, they were in kindergarten. So I mean I have like pictures of where I was like working on my podcast and they were like coloring in the background because we were like in the middle of the pandemic and it's like OK, like this is what it is. We don't really have a choice. But it's sort of evolved from there where a lot of times it's just like communicating what we're doing. But there are some fun things we've been able to involve them in.
Speaker 2:So like I host a mastermind and we actually do it at our house once a year and so like they're here, like they're involved in, like they greet people at the door or I'll have them like hand out different cards or whatever, or, um, I mean I've interviewed my husband on the podcast a couple of times.
Speaker 2:But, like for the girls, we also have like a planner and so they like love packing it and they love like putting it in the mailbox and those are like super tangible things. But I also think they like my husband I obviously talk about we joke like we use Kajabi, which is like a platform for courses, and like they know what Kajabi is, they know what ConvertKit is and like, so they are like getting an education on if they wanted to start their own business, they could, and it's really interesting because when they have free time now they're super creative and creating their own businesses Like they're. That's what they're doing in their like playtime, like my daughter, catherine, created like a soap business over the weekend and they like are making bookmarks for their neighbors, and so it's been cool to see like they see me be creative and so they're like incorporating that into their world a little bit.
Speaker 1:Are they always on the same page with their ideas, or are they very different?
Speaker 2:No, they look exactly the same but they have very different like levels of creativity. Like Savannah is very mathematical and like analytical and Catherine is like really creative, and so it's really interesting to see like Catherine will always come up with the ideas and then Savannah will be like the project manager, and then I can see her like really wanting to like come up with the idea, but it's like her brain doesn't work that way, so it's like easier for her to execute it. So it's really interesting to see that. But I think the most fun is when I have clients at the house and I can like see them interact. But also I think my clients can see like oh, this is real. Like your family is like really involved in your business, like they know, hey, it's launch week, or mommy has a podcast, or you know, a lot of times they they know like my clients and they're my client's kids, and so there's like this big sort of circle where everyone's integrated.
Speaker 1:That takes integrating family online life or in business to a whole new level.
Speaker 1:I feel like when you can get your clients, kids and families, significant others, involved. It's just so special. You end up like doing life together right, instead of just doing business. We have very dear friends, Cody and Christy Birch. They live out in Colorado Springs and, like we always say, like we do life with them, like they've been clients of mine, I've been clients of theirs, it's we, we know each other's families, birthday gifts, the whole nine Like we love these people and it's so incredibly special when we get to collaborate on some of those projects together over the years of knowing each other. I love that you have that community. So I want to think through knowing each other. I love that you have that community, so I want to think through. So you were in, you were in um corporate doing customer experience. Has that felt like it's carried into the way that you approach community now?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I feel like that's actually the mistake I made at the beginning of business is I thought that I should teach something else, like I originally like if you go back and listen to my old podcast, I'm teaching like time blocking, and I mean it was kind of this like productivity feel.
Speaker 2:And then I was like wait, I have all this experience with like really big companies, like maybe I should lean that way, and so we kind of like, you know, once you get started, you sort of like pivot and learn. And so we actually pivoted way more into the strategy and I feel like when I started leaning into that and my experience working with big companies and like lessons learned, that's when I really start to started to see growth because I mean, if you do something for 20 years, you can talk about it. And I always like I always tell my clients like if you can talk about something without any notes, like that's what you should talk about, because it's just like ingrained in you, and so that was actually a really big lesson learned. I feel like I made it more complicated at the beginning. I was trying to like do something different, not to say that you can't do something different, but if you like it right and you're, and you've done it for a long time, like maybe it's just a different way of doing it or a different audience.
Speaker 1:That's super interesting. I personally love the community feel that some businesses create. Frankly, I haven't really invested or dove into that on my end, like me creating a community. I feel like the season of life that I'm in is so challenging with the little dudes. They've just gotten to the point like we flew just recently down to Disney world and then before that we went out to Colorado for a while and they have, like just recently gotten to the point where, like, traveling is still hectic but like a lot easier than it was when they were very, very little and yeah, so community so important.
Speaker 1:I've been a part of some amazing communities in my journey of business growth and over the years and I can definitely say that it's been a true accelerator and every single time even you know some of them I feel like they were like maybe a little before my time or a little after my time, but like for the most part, everything has been some of them. I feel like they were like maybe a little before my time or a little after my time, but like for the most part, everything has been so incredible Like I can usually tie lots of growth to joining those types of communities. So what's next for you guys. What's exciting, what's, I guess, for the rest?
Speaker 2:of the team. That's really interesting. I feel like this year that question has been really hard for me, if I'm being honest, because I feel like I never thought that I would leave my job and then I never thought that we've been able to like build the product suite that we've been able to build, and so my goal initially this year I mean we're a couple of months in was to not create anything new and just like kind of let the dust settle, which feels very not normal to me, like I feel like I'm always like I'm an Enneagram three, like, if you're into human design, like a manifesting generator, I'm always like let's go, let's go, let's go. And so it's been interesting to just like take a breath for a minute and then I think you know I we talk about like business and life, and I feel like I wanted this year to be more life focused.
Speaker 2:So I mean you kind of have to like prioritize what's coming first, you know, and, and you go back and forth and I feel like this year, like our goal is to not take the summer off, but like get ahead so that you know the podcast is recorded, I'm not launching anything Like I've got, you know, some quality time, finally I can just go to the pool and not worry about meetings or anything like that, and so it's. I feel like it's like slowing down to speed up maybe, but I don't know what that speed up looks like. I just want to make sure that I'm being really intentional and I feel like we're finally knock on wood to a place where we can like do that and see what comes out of it. So I don't really know, which just makes me uncomfortable to say.
Speaker 1:But it's a cool season, I'll say this, and I released my book, the Sabbatical Method, last year, so it's about taking time off from your business. I'm like thinking strategically what is that next thing? What does my role in the business look like? And I think over the years I forgot that piece. I was always building something, launching something. Building something, launching something and a lot of it was because, like I hadn't fulfilled, like, the income requirements that I really needed for the business. I did what, not what you did. I left and I was just like I'm going to figure this out, and so it was a little crazier and I definitely needed to work harder in the early years. But then I only found that once business had reached a certain success point, it really wasn't about how much time I spent in the business. It was about how much time I didn't spend in the business. Yeah Right.
Speaker 1:And so I'm excited for this summer, for you especially to like slowing things down. Kids are out of school, you know you can spend some good quality time, some good warm weather. We take a month off every single year with the kids since they've been born and that's been super cool because even just like my, my thought around how long a business year is, like your 12 month plan. The last three years it's been my 11 month plan, yeah, and so it's just so interesting to think about, like you were saying, just thinking differently and, and you know, exploring things differently. Like this could be a season for you where you're like from now on, I only plan in 11 months or I only plan in nine months increments, cause I want to take one month, you know, every single, every four months or whatever. So it's so interesting. Our four day work week came out of a rest time for me. I was like nobody wants to work on Fridays and if they do, maybe they just want to jump up and like we just do no meetings on on Fridays.
Speaker 2:If they want to do the same thing. We do know I do no meetings on Monday and Friday, and then I was like, well, this is really fun. So the last week of every month I also have no meetings for the full week, and that has been like a game changer. Usually that means two or three meetings because I'll like add something, but it's something that I'm like intentionally saying yes to, and so I feel like it's going back to like well, let's just challenge the schedule that like you think you had, and like how condensed can you make it?
Speaker 1:I love it, I love it, I love it. I'm a big time batcher. Do you still find that like productivity bleeds into a lot of the ways and reasons like why this company has grown so quickly?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we batch a lot and I am a huge content repurposer. So, as someone that also has a podcast, that's like our growth lever. And then we've dug into the strategy behind that so much that I think it turns into like 24 pieces of content now or something like we've just taken it and been like how can we maximize this? So that you know it's me talking, which is what I like to do and then how do we like make that work for us? And so almost all of our stuff is like batched and planned and it's taken a minute to get there, but I love that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's so awesome. It's an art form. Sure, repurposing to like repurposing Well, I think you've seen I mean you have, I'm sure, seen so many crappy videos out there and it's so tough to just like weed out sometimes some of the good content from the bad. But it's a, it's an art form for sure. I, uh I loved our chats and, um, I just I love the community. I think one of the big reasons why growing pains exists is because I was missing kind of that outlet in my early like motherhood journey. And having a business feels lonely sometimes. Yeah, but, holly, as folks are listening and they want to get in touch with you, they want to learn more about your communities, about what you guys are up to and what's next after this nice down summer with your family. Where can they, where can they reach out?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I would say the best thing is to listen to the podcast. It's called Crush the Rush. You can go to hollymurrayhainescom and find it there, and I'm really open. We do two episodes a week. One is with you know, an amazing guest, like Allie and others every Friday is me and I like go behind the scenes and I share what's working and what's not working and like what we're doing as a family and how we take time off, and so that's been a really fun way to get personal, I think, to really just understand like how things are working. And I think it's just powerful because you can like hear. You know you hear our voices and so you can hear like the emotion and the inflection and it's been really fun to share it there.
Speaker 1:Oh man, I love podcasting, I really do. I had a solo show, like in the early years of operations agency, and then I shut it down, um, but then when I was really I feel like feeling lonely in early stage motherhood and entrepreneurship, I was like I gotta do an interview based podcast. I mean this is just the way. I mean I can't be flying out to events and doing the whole thing. I was breastfeeding and it was just so hard. I remember I was like I'm going to do this, I'm going to start a show, and I just appreciate, first of all, the consistency. I feel like so many people like want to start a show and they don't, or they do and it goes seven episodes. I think that's like the the max for like lots of people.
Speaker 2:It's like, yeah, like one season.
Speaker 1:It's so tough to keep doing it and keep being consistent, but I appreciate you creating these communities where people feel accepted and female business owners can get the resources that they need. Um, is there anything that you want to leave moms who are running businesses perhaps in the thick of it? Um, you know anything you want to leave them with?
Speaker 2:yeah, I mean we were talking about this before we hit record and I feel like you know, I one of the things I always put in my emails, or I'll always say, is like it's okay to do things differently. So like, if you are feeling called that you want to like teach something and it's different than like what the other 50 people are doing, like do it. Or if you are feeling called to like do something different with your kids, do it. I feel like life is so much better when you feel aligned with what you're teaching and what you're doing and like who you're surrounded with. And I think sometimes we get stuck in this like bubble of well, you know Sally and you know Sarah are not doing these things, and that makes me feel weird. And so it's like I have a friend who has a podcast called Emotionally Uncomfortable and I'm like I feel like if I'm emotionally uncomfortable, I'm probably doing the right thing.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I love that. Is that Heather Chauvin emotionally uncomfortable? Yeah, great podcast.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's so good.
Speaker 1:So many times I've listened and, like, consumed her content. She's excellent. Definitely I'll link all of that stuff in the show notes probably our episode on crush because I loved our conversation. Stuff in the show notes, probably our episode on Crush the Rush because I loved our conversation and, seriously, guys, anybody listening who wants to learn a lot about growing a business and managing family, integrating life super awesome conversation, holly. Thank you so much for joining me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode of Growing Pains. I know that you have so many things vying for your attention right now, so I am so grateful that you just spent the last hour or so with me. So I hear all the time from mompreneurs Allie, allie. What systems do I need to have in place in order to thrive in business and in parenthood? If you go over to alisoncaffreycom slash checklist, you can grab my kid proof business checklist and it will get you started in the right direction around making sure that you build a business that doesn't steal all of the time away from your family. If you loved today's episode, I would be so, so, so honored if you would leave a review on the podcast. It helps us reach even more incredible mompreneurs just like you and give them the resources they need to be wildly successful in business and wildly present at home with their families. Thanks so much again and I'll see you next time. Thank you.