How to Build Multiple Successful Businesses Even if You Have Kids with Alyssa Morton

0:01Light that, Sparkfire Nation, JLD here, and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire, brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network with great shows like Content is Profit. Today, we'll be breaking down how to build multiple businesses, even if you have kids. To drop these value bombs, I have brought Alyssa Morton into EO Fire Studios. Alyssa is a highly respected serial entrepreneur, mother of two toddlers, a wife, podcast host, and bestselling author. She works with women and mothers to create successful businesses. And today, Fire Nation, we'll talk about what's the most important element to start and grow a business when you're raising kids.

0:39We'll talk about limiting mindsets. We'll talk about time management and head trash and so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Alyssa and our sponsors. The Product Boss, hosted by Jacqueline and Mina, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. The Product Boss helps you take your physical product sales and strategy to the next level to create your dream life. With episodes like, Can I Have a Successful Product Business as a Side Hustle? Listen to The Product Boss wherever you get your podcasts. Alyssa, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with.

1:24What's up, Fire Nation? So this might be a hot take, but I think a lot of people when they're starting their business or dreaming about quitting their job up to go full time in their business, believe that it can take years of working harder and more hours to be successful. But I believe that in shifting your mindset, surrounding yourself with people that are just a couple steps ahead of you and hiring the right coaches and mentors, you're actually able to speed up that timeline to achieve your goals quicker than you might have ever imagined. Fire Nation, I'm a big believer that we are all standing upon the shoulders of giants.

1:54We need to learn from those who have come before us. and hey, if they're just a couple steps ahead, like you can learn so much from them. If you're just a couple steps ahead from other people, they can learn so much from you. It's an ongoing process. And we're talking about building multiple successful businesses, even if you have kids, Fire Nation, imagine that. And Fire Nation, frankly, is exposed to a lot of high-level entrepreneurs on Entrepreneurs on Fire. And it can seem a bit intimidating, Alyssa, when they're just getting started, especially if they're a parent as well. So let's talk about the most important element to both start and grow a business while raising kids.

2:35Your mindset is everything when you're starting your business, especially when you have kids, because your inputs are your outputs. And if you're surrounding yourself with people that are saying like, you have to be realistic, like it's not possible for you to have kids, you're going to adapt that mindset. But if you're surrounding yourself with podcasts that are telling you that it is possible, if you're surrounding yourself with other women or men that are doing it while they're raising their families, you're gonna see a whole new world of possibility that you can actually do it too. Fire Nation, the possibilities are endless if you don't have a limiting mindset.

3:11And that's what I wanna talk about next, Alyssa, is limiting mindsets. Talk about some limiting mindsets that parents face when they start their journey. Let's get specific. So the biggest one that always comes up is the time management piece, because a lot of times, especially when you have young kids like me, I've got a one-year-old and a two-year-old, and I started my business with a six-month-old, and I was pregnant at the time, and then it went into two under two. So time management seems like a really big limiting belief, and it can seem like a really valid excuse, but that's what it is.

3:45It's an excuse. I talk about this a lot in my book, It's the idea of time mismanagement because there's actually a lot more time in the day than we give us credit for. But it's how are you actually using that time? Like, are you spending that time watching Netflix? Are you spending that time, you know, like going out to eat where you could be saving that time at home making dinners and then working on your goals? So mindset around like the time management piece is really big and key because you actually have a lot more time at night than you think you do. And you're going to have to make sacrifices.

4:15Like that's not like that's something that you're going to have to do. You know, it might be three days a week that you're working from eight to 11 o 'clock at night and sacrificing a little bit of sleep to be able to work on your goals and move the needle in your business. But if that's what's important to you and you're committed to it, you can see it happen. Fire Nation, don't tell me that it's important to you to get to financial freedom and fulfillment and to create the life that you want and then not be willing to sacrifice to get there. Because that's the reality that all successful people had to face and decisions that they had to make.

4:46And that limiting mindset, that is so, so real. I mean, we've all heard about how the four-minute mile was impossible to break. Then somebody broke it, and that same year, like 19 people or something ran an under four-minute mile because that fake mindset, limiting belief, was broken. And just like with Entrepreneurs on Fire, everybody, my mentor, my coach, my mastermind leader, said, John, a daily podcast cannot be done. You will never have enough time in the world to do a daily podcast. Fire Nation, I spend five hours a week recording interviews, one day per week, back to back. I'm doing it right now with Alyssa.

5:27I have six other interviews today, back to back, and that's five hours a week. I do a daily interview podcast when people said it couldn't be done with all of the days and all of the hours in a week. That was a limiting mindset and that needs to be shattered. So I want to get specific with you, Alyssa. What were some of your specific struggles that you experienced when starting your business with a six month old and another on the way? Yeah. So like a lot of those same, you know, struggles that I think everybody faces, like lack of sleep, like my toddler, she's two and a half years now and she still is like a newborn.

6:09Like she doesn't sleep at all throughout the night. Right. So like that can feel like it's a really big struggle when you're trying to build your business too. And like, especially like you don't have time to shower, like all of these other things that come up as a new parent. So when I was building my business, like what it looked like is I was working until two o 'clock in the morning, like with a baby on my boob, like trying to build my funnels and like the backend processes and just trying to make a sacrifice. And I figured, you know what, even if I was working a little slower than, you know, somebody next to me might be typing, like at least I was still moving the needle on my goal.

6:42And now like what it looks like is they're in daycare and I'm working probably the same number of hours that a normal nine to five person is working, except I'm doing it while building multiple businesses and I'm able to book events and I'm taking phone calls and I actually have the flexibility to be able to call out or, you know, like rearrange my schedule. Like, whereas you like working a nine to five, like probably have a lot more difficulty doing that. So like this week, for example, I had a toddler, my youngest this T-link and she's got a molar coming through. She had a fever. She wasn't at school the first three days of the week.

7:14So I had to rearrange my schedule. And thankfully, being an entrepreneur gave me the flexibility to do that. So that's one of the main struggles is really trying to figure out how to maximize your time and rearrange the schedule and catch up. But you can do it. I want people to have that real life example that they can do it. And that's what I want to talk about next because you share what some of your struggles were when you started out, you know, your business with a six month old and another one on the way. You gave a little glimpse into what life looks like now. Talk more about that. Talk about your life now, maybe even sprinkle in an example or two from some people that you've helped as well get to where they want to be with their life balance.

7:56I wrote a book. I have the podcast. I've got quite a few different businesses that I run, like that are event-based and a personal brand. So on a day-to-day, like having a really systemized routine helps me to be able to make sure that I'm getting everything done and moving the needle in my businesses. And then with my kids, I'm really making sure that I'm prioritizing quality time so that I'm able to maximize, you know, those hours like that they're home from school. We're reading books, we're going to the park, we're playing games, and we're able to actually have the best of both worlds by bringing in more income than we've ever had in our life, like when we were working those like nine to five jobs and those dead end jobs and being able to spend time with our kids and create quality memories and know this is what we're working toward.

8:38Fire Nation, I think those last words are so key. What are you working toward? Is this really ability to have like this short term dedication to these long term ideal? I mean, I'm not going to lie. I grinded my flipping face off for the first couple of years of my business to get to where I'm at now, spending five hours a week on Entrepreneurs on Fire, the actual podcast. Of course, I'm doing other things in the business. We have a lot of different things we have going on, but on the actual podcast itself, which used to take up all my time and all of the time that I had, now it takes me five hours per week.

9:14So what is your ability for that, just that willingness for that long-term gratification that is going to come? You need to be willing to delay that gratification at the beginning to create the life that you want to create, and then it can come to you like it came to Alyssa, like it's come to me, like it's come to so many others. Now, we're going to talk specifically about time management and some other important topics when we get back from thinking our sponsors. We all want the same things for our business. More leads, faster sales, and better insights so we can serve our customers at the highest level.

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11:43That's T-I-D-I-O.com slash fire. Tidio.com slash fire. Fire Nation, we are back. And Alyssa, time management is very often everybody's biggest struggle. Not just parents. We're talking everybody. Let's talk about some of the best ways to transition into entrepreneurship with the mastering of time management. I'm sure everybody's day looks different. Some people, they might be relying on their income from their nine-to-five job, and that means that they have to really try and build the side hustles, what we call it. But if you have the freedom like I did, my husband was the breadwinner, and I was able to actually quit my job and go full into the business and funnel all of the money that we were making from our business into growing more business.

12:33So those are some of the sacrifices that we had to make like while actually like building the business is making sure that we're able to invest in it and then making sure that we have the dedicated time to be able to do that. So if there's somebody that is trying to build that side hustle, they're working full time, they've got their kids, they're just trying to figure out how they can create little pockets of time. First piece is you want to make sure that you're not distracted because distracted time is time wasted. You need to make sure that you're going to remove your phone because I know like I get sucked into my phone all the time.

13:02Like I throw it across the room. So I'm able to just focus dead on on my task. Even if it's half an hour on a dedicated test, that's undistracted, you're going to see so much moving on that goal that you're working on, whether it's the business or a podcast or a book or whatever you're working toward. The second piece, I want to make sure that you're doing a time audit to see exactly what you're doing to spend your time on. Like, are you again, like watching Netflix at night, are you reading a book or are you actually using that time to move the needle on your goals. It doesn't have to be every day.

13:32You can sacrifice three days a week to work on your goals, but the more often you're able to do that, the better so that you're actually able to see progress. And the last piece, I really want to make sure that you're prioritizing your self-care because as a mom or as a parent, you're going to get sucked into all of the needs of your child and it's really easy to do that. So I want you to make sure that you're taking some time, even if it's five minutes in the morning before they wake up, so that you're filling your own cup so that you have more to give throughout the day, more energy to give to your kids, more energy to give to your job or your business and your goals.

14:04Fire Nation, I want to double down on that last point that Alyssa made, self-care. I mean, you don't even have to have kids that need to realize this is super important. But when you do, I mean, of course, it even becomes more critical because you seem to have less time. But man, I looked up at 36 years old and I did not like what was looking back at me in the mirror. I was like, man, I don't feel like I look good. I don't feel good. Like I'm not the healthy version that I want to be of myself. My energy is low. You know, my enthusiasm seems to be kind of struggling. I can't dig, you know, deep and really kind of pull out what I want to pull out when it comes to, you know, being excited and fired up and enthusiastic.

14:42Like I just kind of feel like I was missing something. And, you know, that's why I've dedicated literally the last seven years of my life to optimal health, optimal wellness. And you've heard me say this before. In fact, I said this on yesterday's episode, if you were listening, that the healthy person wants a thousand things. They want a thousand things. Why, why wouldn't they? They're healthy. They're bopping around. Life is great. The unhealthy person wants one, wants one thing, and that's to become healthy. And Fire Nation, believe me, you are serving your kids best if you have kids, if you're healthy, because you are able then to serve them in the best way.

15:15And if you don't have kids, which I, you know, don't at this time of speaking and did not definitely at 36 years old, it's still you owe to yourself because you're not giving yourself and serving yourself in the best capacity if you're not healthy. So think about self-care. Now, Alyssa, you wrote an Amazon bestseller that helps other moms start their first business and get out of their own head trash, those limiting beliefs. Tell us more. Yeah. So it's the Mompreneur's Guide to Getting Out of Your Head, Ditching the Mom Guilt and building successful business, because those are the three most important pieces that come up as you're a mom and trying to build your business.

15:53If you've got young kids, especially because there's so much guilt that comes in, like as you're building this business of yours, you're going to feel like you're supposed to be with them. You're going to feel like you should be making dinner. You feel like when you are doing those things that you should be working, there's a never ending to do list, right? Like it just keeps growing. So in my book, I break down all the limiting beliefs that come up, like my story, like the way that it impacted me in each of those beliefs, how I shifted them and how you can shift them. And it comes with a complimentary workbook that you're able to work through every single one in the process.

16:23And by the end of it, you're able to actually implement these things in building your business. Give Fire Nation a final thought. Like, what do you want to make sure that our listeners walk away with from this conversation that we had here today? Give us the call to action about the best way that we can get your book in our pockets, the audio book, the actual written version, or whatever they prefer, any other call to action you have, and then we'll say goodbye. You can get the book. It's on Amazon. It's called Welcome to the Room Mama. And you could get the Kindle. You could get the paperback right on there.

16:55And I just want everybody to walk away knowing that you can make small steps, like small action, and it's going to move the needle on your goals. Even if it takes a little longer, even if you're working, even if you have kids, like you can do all of these things. It's all in your mindset, the way that you think about them. people that you surround yourself with. It's going to really put the positive inputs in you to feel like you can do it and give you the real life proof that you can take action today. That every minute that you're prolonging it is just, you're not going to see the results that you're looking for.

17:25So start small, start now, and you can do it. There's proof. Fire Nation, you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with, and you've been hanging out with AM and JLD today. So keep up that heat. and for links to everything that we talked about, visit eofire.com, type Alyssa in the search bar. The show notes page will pop right up. And Alyssa, one more time, give us that URL. Alyssamorton.com or on Amazon, they can go to welcome to the room mama. Alyssa, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation today. For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side.

18:02Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Alyssa for sponsoring today's episode. and Fire Nation. Over the last decade, I've interviewed more than 3 ,000 of the world's most successful entrepreneurs, and I've created a revolutionary 17-step roadmap to your financial freedom and fulfillment. I put it all into my first traditionally published book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success, personally endorsed by Seth Godin and Gary Vaynerchuk. The Common Path to Uncommon Success is the step-by-step guidance that you need to achieve the lifestyle of your dreams, visit UncommonSuccessBook.com and I'll catch you there or I'll catch you on the flip side.

18:44The Product Boss, hosted by Jacqueline and Mina, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. The Product Boss helps you take your physical product sales and strategy to the next level to create your dream life. With episodes like, Can I Have a Successful Product Business as a Side Hustle? Listen to The Product Boss wherever you get your podcasts.