The Unbalanced Scale
People constantly ask me “Janae, how do you do it all?” This is in reference to being a mom and being a business owner, How do I balance the scales?
Photo By Danny Murtagh
So let’s get into it!
My Scales Are Unbalanced
Guess what? I have learned to be ok with that. When Oliver was in the stage of infancy, he slept, breastfed, snuggled on me. Getting work done was not harder during his first year so I felt as if I was leaning into this superwomen position by conquering it all! Ollie was on zooms, at shoots, at potlucks, at filmings. He fit right in as the ACO boss baby! As we entered toddler hood, I could not get my footing. Oliver was more demanding, needed more supervision, and needed his curiosity nurtured. I was struggling with getting anything substantial accomplished and mentally beat myself up about this. I was too tired to work after bedtime and Oliver is an early bird just like his mom.
“I stopped leaning into this idea that moms are superheroes and took a long look at how I could tip the scales just slightly.”
Now, my priority will always be being a mom! I am also a multifaceted woman who loves her business and really wants to dive into growing our sister companies. I have a vision and kids have always been a part of that. So after realizing that I was losing the battle of time when it came to work I decided I needed to make my business work for me! Which meant tearing the whole thing down! Or at least matching that energy level.
Making My Business Work For Me
The first thing I did was write down my operations schedule and duties. I sat down outlined everything in my business then I highlighted what tasks had to be done by me. what tasks could be automated, and what needed to be outsourced to another human being, Then I started automating and outsourcing
Next I wanted to find a way to communicate that we are multifaceted business. Our sister companies were very separate from our marketing efforts with Auden & Company. I explored many options but I settled on Auden & Company being the umbrella that Auden Creative Co (Branding), Creatively Stocked(BIPOC stock images), and Auden Creative Network (Career Development NonProfit)
Then I dived into our offerings, pricing, & clientele. I determined what revenue goals we needed to hit and how could we do that. I turned our inquiry process into a client application. I slimmed down what we offered by establishing core offerings and add ons.
After I spent majority of the year finding clarity, I put my family on a schedule for Oliver. With the base time commitment being 4 hours. Tuesday is my regular 8 hour day after handing Oliver off to grandma. I made Wednesday my mommy day. A day of household things because Oliver tends to cling after being away for a long period of time. I constantly evaluate the evolving schedules based on Olivers development, the season, my support system. My businesses needed to be able to function without me putting in a 10 hour day!
Then I rebuilt my business to reflect where I am as a human!
