Podcast appearances and mentions of rachel coley

Rachel Coley is an OT and mom of three kids, one of whom is autistic. She's also the founder of CanDo Kiddo, where she gives strengths-based strategies for supporting infant development. In this episode Rachel and I talk about how her OT practice has grown and changed to embrace a neurodiversity-affirming, strengths-based approach. We dive into what it means to be strengths-based with very early development, and concrete ways that schools and school-based therapists can better support neurodivergent kids at every level. 

We are with Rachel Coley to break down how you can leverage your knowledge by monetizing it.Rachel is an e-commerce entrepreneur focusing on selling digital products as she helps dozens of students do the same.Everyone has a skill that they can teach to the world. From picking the subject matter you want to teach to picking the exact method of monetizing your knowledge, pre-launch strategies, content creation, and landing pages, and more to get started.Work with Rachel here to start monetizing your skillsets!

Welcome back village! This week I got to sit down with another brilliant OT to talk what neurodiversity means, what the sensory systems are and what it could look like if every single one of us knew how our sensory systems worked. How could life be different if we knew what was helpful for us for regulation, what pulled from our withdrawals so that we we're able to self-regulate and then co-regulate with kids and learn about their nervous system. I love Rachel's take on neurodiversity and I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did!  Connect with us on:   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seed.and.sew/   Podcast page: https://voicesofyourvillage.com   Music by: https://www.bensound.com/

Rachel and I were the only two moms in our Bradley Birth class to have medicated births. This is a re release of the Top 5 most popular episode of the podcast-originally aired as episode 7. 

Parenting is a time of so much change for you and your baby, a little reliable information can go a long way towards making this new life, a good life.  Jessica Rolph is your host and she is joined by Rachel Coley in this episode of My New Life, a Lovevery podcast, to discuss the common anxiety parents share about their children reaching milestones and comparing to other children’s progress. Does it help? Does it really matter? Rachel Coley is a Pediatric Occupational Therapist and the mom behind a super informative website called CanDo Kiddo. Rachel prefers to focus on what she calls “mini-milestones”, which are all the tiny steps a baby takes to reach their objective. Tune in to learn what to do if your baby doesn’t like tummy time, how baby containers are getting in the way of natural development, and why the floor is the best place for your baby to be.    Key Takeaways: [2:51] Technology is shaping what kind of toys we are putting in front of our babies. [4:22] Why do babies need to be on the floor? [6:25] Is swaddling beneficial for a baby? [7:14] Tummy time is the baby’s first opportunity to interact with gravity. [11:15] Thinking about tummy time as a position for play is really helpful. [13:54] Milestone anxiety vs staying curious about mini-milestones. [15:30] How parents can help babies build the strength necessary to roll over.   Mentioned in this episode: Brought to you by Lovevery.com CanDo Kiddo 

Her.Dad.Died.Right.Before.Birth. Rachel Coley, a pediatric occupational therapist and the CEO of CanDoKiddo.com, shares with us her birth journeys from being a Bradley couple to having three epidural births and how the expected just took left turns to the unexpected labors. She said, "I was the Type A, high achieving, professional woman thinking I as going to design my birth...do the formula...and probably this mothering thing will go that way too." Then we had a good laugh. Rachel practiced baby bunching having 3 babies in 3.5 years as well as tandem nursing for the past 5 years. Her first pregnancy went great, but then her Dad died right before she gave birth. She talks about carrying grief and emotion into labor and how that can effect everything. She was in prodromal labor for almost 2 weeks and then found herself 21 hours into hard labor and not progressing much at 3 cms dilated. She described this part of labor as really dark, painful, lonely, and a place where her soul was being ripped open. She was physically and mentally tired. Then, a nurse/doula stepped in and in an angelic voice walked her through several contractions. She helped her process her decision to get an epidural based on new information than what she had planned for. The epidural was the perfect tool for all 3 of her births to help her feel like a warrior. This episode is jam packed with 3 birth stories and so much on playing with your newborn from CanDoKiddo. Rachel's favorite baby product is LovEvery. Use this LINK to get $10 off your subscription or a Play Gym purchase. This will show at final checkout and not in your shopping cart. We also discussed getting postpartum help in Charlotte from QueenCityNewbornCare.  Transcription, Show Notes & More: BIRTH STORY PODCAST INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/birthstorypodcast BIRTH STORY PODCAST FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/birthstorypodcast LOOKING FOR A DOULA IN CHARLOTTE, NC? HIRE MyDoulaHeidi BIRTH STORY PODCAST SHOWNOTES: Birth Story Podcast

Ayelet: So, today I would like to introduce a very special guest to you. Her name is Rachel Coley, she’s a pediatric occupational therapist, and creator of CanDo Kiddo, a really wonderful online resource for parents, caregivers of, and professionals working with infants and toddlers. She’s also the author of several books, including my personal favorite, “Begin With A Blanket.” Welcome, Rachel, thanks so much for being here on Learn With Less! Rachel: Thank you, Ayelet! I love the podcast – I’ve been enjoying it with my little one during nap times for her brother lately. The post Secret Guide To Tummy Time appeared first on Learn With Less.

When a stay-at-home mom on a budget launches a blog, her path to success is often different from the fantastical stories we tend to hear about. Success means plugging away - even when results are small and growth is slow. Success means focusing on what really matters - helping your audience and giving generously. We love the kind of success Laurie Hise represents. It's real. It's genuine. And there are no casualties along this path. If you can relate, listen on. (And even if you plan to "make it" much faster, Laurie has some crazy good Facebook tips you'll want to hear!) On The Podcast 01:26 - Meet Laurie02:07 - Mom On A Mission04:20 - Many Blogs Fail - What's Laurie's Secret?05:30 - Why Laurie dislikes "Success Stories"06:29 - Why Comfort Zones are Bad for Readers08:09 - Solve a Problem? Build a Business!09:38 - Can Low Expectations be a Good Thing?12:00 - Free Ideas for Driving Traffic14:50 - Does your Business have a Magic Word?16:33 - An Insane Commitment to Facebook18:18 - How Laurie Wins with Facebook20:38 - Scheduling Facebook Content22:50 - Laurie's Strategy for Repeat Posts24:25 - Using Facebook Groups25:10 - The Handiest Facebook Tip We’ve Ever Heard36:00 - The Obnoxious Girl Personality (and why online business sometimes requires it!)37:26 - Seeing Mom Make A Difference (Laurie’s Adorable Mom Moment) Press Play on the Podcast Player Below to Hear from Laurie Meet Laurie Laurie has been married almost 20 years (!!!) and has three kids, ages 8 to 15. She started her blog, Passionate Penny Pincher, 6 years ago on a whim. When a family illness took much of her husband’s attention, Laurie occupied her time by reading blogs. She noticed a gap in the money saving site niche and decided to start her own blog, then Publix Penny Pincher, to fill the need. Mom On A Mission Laurie has always considered herself to be a frugal woman. Around the time when her youngest child turned two, she got an itch to start working again and began dreaming up ways to bring additional income to her family. In the words of Laurie, “I knew that I wanted to earn extra income from home especially as they were getting older and heading off to school...I primarily was a stay-at-home mom. I started obsessively clipping coupons back in 2006 (folks, I was nuts), so the idea of potentially earning an income from home while telling other folks how to save intrigued me.” She read Crystal Paine’s series  How To Make Money Blogging and followed her advice. As she and her husband dealt with an illness in the family, Laurie used those late-night hours to research and start her blog. From the get-go, Laurie was passionate about donating half of her income to missions. Her husband thought the idea was crazy, but they went for it! After all these years, she still donates half of her blog’s profits to missions. Many Blogs Fail - What's Laurie's Secret? Of the twelve bloggers who began at the same time Laurie did, Laurie is the only one still working at her keyboard. What’s the trick? Consistency. Laurie has showed up to work everyday, even though she made nothing on her blog for the first few years. Why Laurie Dislikes "Success Stories" Laurie’s popular post How I Make A Full Time Income As A Stay At Home Mom + 7 Secrets To Success has encouraged many moms to pursue online (or other creative working outlets) as sources of income for their families. But the post was hard for Laurie to write. When she hears people sharing their crazy success stories, it rubs her the wrong way. Laurie sees herself as just a wife and a mom who got lucky. Even though she’s hesitant to call herself a success, she wants other moms to know that working online is possible. At the end of the day, Laurie's success is due to a lot of hard work and sacrifice. She didn't start making money overnight, but instead stayed committed and slowly grew her income over many years. Why Comfort Zones are Bad for Readers Laurie is a private person, so putting herself out there is uncomfortable. But she knows from her own experience online, that the more a blogger or influencer shares about themselves, the more she begins to know, like, and trust them.  We all feel more of a connection with people who open themselves up more. So for that reason, Laurie has reconciled her discomfort and is willing to be more transparent. When she sees income from ads or affiliate sales, she knows it is because she was able to make her readers feel at home. Helping readers connect with the information she shares is uncomfortable, but sticking with it has been rewarding. (No one ever said business was comfortable or easy!) Solve a Problem? Build a Business! Laurie shares some excellent business advice in her article How I Make A Full Time Income As A Stay At Home Mom + 7 Secrets To Success: choose a business model based on people’s needs. In Laurie’s case, she doesn’t blog simply for the sake of blogging. Originally, her blog was Publix Penny Pincher. Her goal was to create meal plans and shopping lists which coordinated with Publix weekly sales. Her site has slightly expanded its focus, but the core of her business model remains the same. Laurie thinks there is certainly space for bloggers who are simply great writers, but she knows her strength is in catering to the needs of her readers. And she has consistently met the needs of her readers for 6 years! Can Low Expectations be a Good Thing? Laurie suggests mompreneurs focus on their businesses, not the money, and set low expectations. Her advice is quite different from traditional business advice! Prior to blogging, Laurie had never made more than $7/hour. She didn’t come to the online space with years of marketing and advertising experience. Growing her blog did take a longer amount of time because Laurie was so new to business and marketing, but that meant that any monetary win (no matter how small!) was a big win. Focusing on driving traffic, not building revenue, was Laurie’s method. Free Ideas for Driving Traffic Facebook has been the greatest driver of traffic for Laurie. She has three (free!) great ideas for using Facebook. Give your page a lot of attention. Laurie says that she ‘babies’ her Facebook page and constantly keeps track of what posts perform well and which ones don't. Join Facebook share groups. You can find Facebook groups related to your niche (or create your own!) and the bloggers inside share each other's posts each week. Everyone's content gets a boost and exposure to new audiences. (Rachel Coley of CandoKiddo also uses this method!) Ask for a share. Occasionally Laurie sends her best posts to other bloggers and ask them for a share. She says that some of them allow you to post to their wall, and each week they'll take a look at the best posts there and share them with their Facebook audience. Does your Business have a Magic Word?  Though her content posts are excellent performers on Facebook, Laurie's page has a few magic words as well. When these words are included in a post, Facebook chooses to show those posts to a large volume of people. For example, Starbucks is a magic word on Laurie's Facebook page. Those deals spread like wildfire! (We understand!) Because of her niche, Goodwill is another ‘magic word’ that drives a lot of traffic from Facebook to her site. Although recently Laurie noticed that a Goodwill post did very well one day but when she re-posted the next day, she heard crickets. It’s all about the right people seeing your post at the right time. (Isn’t that Facebook algorithm pesky!) An Insane Commitment to Facebook Laurie’s Facebook page shows the work she puts into it. Her recipe roundup posts (like this one) get tons of shares! One of Laurie’s recent Facebook posts, from Money Saving Mom, has 1,415 shares. Impressive! But Laurie’s schedule is intense. She has chosen not to outsource Facebook posting and commits to posting around the clock (except from about 1:15am - 5:15am) every day. How Laurie Wins with Facebook If we decided to start posting every hour on our Brilliant Business Mom Facebook page (with just 4500 fans) it would be crazytown! As a deal blogger, Laurie is already posting 15-20 deals on her site each day. There’s already a lot of content going around. So she didn’t necessarily need to get her readers used to seeing an intense posting schedule, they already were. Laurie’s Facebook posting strategy is the most unique we’ve heard! Here are the highlights: Laurie shares a new Facebook post about every 40-50 mins. She shares content from other people more than her own. It’s another piece of counterintuitive business advice, but it’s working. Laurie has found that Facebook doesn’t like her own content as much as other people’s. So the more Laurie shares content outside of her own site, the more Facebook increases her page reach. By gaining increased reach, Laurie then has the ability to reach more and more people with her own content each week too! (It's a win-win really!) Use Facebook like a curator. Laurie thinks of Facebook as a way to share content that will truly help her readers. She doesn’t see herself as the star of the show, and Facebook seems to like that! In fact, she finds that only about 50% of her posts on Facebook are from her blog. Facebook has changed, but don’t write it off! Yes, Facebook's algorithm means that not everyone will see your posts, but if you can build a sizeable audience on the platform, you will still see sizeable traffic too! And, let's face it, not everyone sees our Instagram posts or our pins either! Making any form of social media work takes commitment and strategy. Laurie's Facebook Scheduling System Laurie’s scheduling system is a bit willy nilly. She sets up posts using Facebook’s built-in scheduler. This is another strategy Facebook seems to favor over outside scheduling apps. She has a simple spreadsheet that tells her how many times to post categories of her own content (recipes, deals, etc.) and how many times to post other people’s links. She likes sharing content from other bloggers who are doing well, and has appreciated other bloggers doing the same for her. That altruistic outlook builds a strong community and is a win/win for everyone! Laurie's Strategy for Repeat Posts Laurie has a detailed system for figuring out when and how often to repost her own content. On the day her blog post goes live, she’ll share it once. (Say, at 2pm.) Then, she’ll share the post in a day or two at a different time. (Say, the next day around dinner - 6pm.) She finds that nighttime, weekend mornings, and once in an afternoon are especially good times. She usually waits 24-48 hours between reposts. If the post does well, she will save the post as one to use again. (Usually in a month or so.) The Handiest Facebook Tip We’ve Ever Heard When it comes to sharing content from others, how does Laurie find and curate all of those other posts? It sounds like it would be a time-consuming process! But Laurie has a handy tip that makes Facebook sharing much easier! Laurie has made a point to like the pages of the popular bloggers in her niche so that she'll see the posts they share.  Finding the Facebook ‘Save Link’ Tool On A Phone: On Laurie’s phone, she sees an arrow in the top right hand corner of a link. The options are to: hide unfollow report post save link   Beth Anne couldn’t quite find the ‘save link’ option, but maybe her phone needs updating :) Finding the Facebook ‘Save Link’ Tool On A Desktop: When Sarah looked for the same arrow, she visited Facebook as herself (not a Brilliant Business Moms page admin) and saw these options: report save link embed Finding Facebook Saved Links It’s easy to access these saved links for posting later! On a Phone: Hit ‘More’ On The Lower Right Corner Scroll Down Until You See The ‘Saved’ Bookmarklet Tap ‘Saved’ And Your Saved Posts Will Appear On a Desktop: Visit Your Newsfeed On The Left Hand Side Column, Scroll Down Until You See The ‘Saved’ Bookmarklet Click ‘Saved’ And Your Saved Posts Will Appear Under Each Saved Post Is A ‘Share’ Option   As far as Laurie can tell, your links will be saved as long as you want to access them. We think this tip is a brilliant way to store excellent content shared by you and others. And as smart as Facebook is, we have a hunch you’ll likely start to see similar posts in your news feed. The Obnoxious Girl Personality (and why online business sometimes requires it!) The sensationalized aspects of Pinterest marketing don’t come easily to Laurie! The all caps and superlative language feel obnoxious and a bit soul-selling. But, ultimately, Passionate Penny Pincher is a business and Laurie has to make business decisions. For example, her team was spending a lot of time on a  ‘Kroger Coupon Matchup’ series but seeing little results. A quick title change to ‘7 Deals You Need To Get At Kroger Today’ and the series took off! Laurie asks herself, “Is this (decision) worth giving up  control over to get the traffic?” She admits the balance is a struggle, but she also has a strong center of knowing what is and isn’t worth the time she’s investing away from family to make her blog work. Seeing Mom Make A Difference (Laurie’s Adorable Mom Moment) Despite the great success of Passionate Penny Pincher, Laurie’s family life hasn’t changed a great deal. All of their money, minus the half that goes toward missions, goes to savings. Her kids see that Laurie works hard, but they still live on a frugal budget. One day, Laurie’s kids were able to see just how much her mom's business makes an impact. Eating at a restaurant, their family came across a reader who thanked Laurie for her blog as they were able to adopt a child thanks to the money they saved. A few days later, Laurie’s daughter came up to her and said, “Mom, you’re helping people. You helped those people get their little girl!” What a sweet way for her daughter to recognize Laurie’s work! Find Laurie Online! PassionatePennyPincher.comTwitter: @PPennyPincherFacebook: Passionate Penny PincherInstagram: Passionate Penny PincherPinterest: Passionate Penny Pincher

What if you could expand your business by putting yourself in a box and reaching more people? It may sound like science fiction, but in many ways, Lisa has found a way to do this very thing! It comes as no surprise that a professional organizer and productivity nut would find many unique ways to reach more people without spending more time to do it. On the Podcast 00:54 - 9 Businesses with One Thing in Common04:03 - Becoming a Pro06:12 - There are a Million Ways to Monetize!08:16 - Lisa in a Box!10:29 - 3 Keys to Lisa's Success13:22 - Think Outside the Box with Outsourcing19:12 - Validation as Mamapreneurs21:17 - Organization for Mamapreneurs23:55 - The Sunday Basket25:40 - How Blogging Brings Clarity30:54 - A Simple Method for Efficient Blogging35:19 - Paying for Emails?40:45 - Bloggers can Sell on Etsy too!42:20 - Lisa's App47:01 - Lisa's Awesome Mom Moment Press play on the podcast player below to hear Lisa's best organization tips and to learn how she helps more people in less time with her business, Organize365. 9 Businesses with One Thing in Common Lisa comes from a long line of entrepreneurs. Her great-grandmother went to college well before that was the norm for women and ultimately owned her own floral shop! Her dad's side of the family had a similar bent towards owning their own businesses. There was never any question that Lisa would go to college, but she knew that in the end she'd be an entrepreneur. Lisa viewed college not as a way to get her ideal job (she could create that all on her own!) but to get her MRS. degree. Yep, she knows it's not politically correct and confesses that she should have come of age in the fifties! Lisa was a teacher before she had kids, but she also did direct sales. Once her children came along, she quit her teaching but continued on with direct sales. She then added tutoring, cleaning houses, and scrapbooking to her list of entrepreneurial endeavors! Lisa's business ventures got so crazy that at one point she had 9 schedule C's on her tax return! (My head is spinning just thinking about it!) Finally, in 2012 after a really rough time period for her immediate and extended family, Lisa sat down to think about what she really wanted to do. She knew she was great at sales, but the question was, what did she want to sell? Where did her gifts and passions lie? Lisa found the common thread in all of her business pursuits: organization! She got her teaching job because her co-teacher was so disorganized they needed Lisa to come in and organize the classroom. She then went on to organize the whole school! Lisa's scrapbooking business was so productive for her and her clients because she helped them get organized first. Lisa even wrote an e-book on direct sales called: How to Organize the Business of Direct Sales. She had it! Lisa starting a professional organizing business and launched her website Organize365 in January of 2012. Becoming a Pro Lisa knew she was good at teaching and coaching, so she used that skill to create great content on her blog that would help others. Even though she was passionate about helping others get organized, Lisa still hadn't realized she was "expert enough" to call herself a professional and get clients. Instead, she was making money by doing direct sales and hosting parties for organizational supplies. Lisa's house parties were huge, and she couldn't figure out why so many people wanted to attend just to buy some plastic bins! Her friend said, "Everyone wants to know what a professional organizer has to say!" It finally dawned on Lisa that she was a pro at this, and she'd better start acting like it. In April of 2012 Lisa started doing professional organizing full-time and her business was profitable right away. In January of 2013, Lisa added her first team member to her in-home organizing team. In the Fall of 2013, she hired another person to work in her business, and she's hired several other team members since then. There are a Million Ways to Monetize! It's easy to look at other bloggers and think that replicating their business model will work for us. This isn't always the case! We each have different strengths, different tools at our disposal, and a different audience we're serving. Lisa quickly grew her in-person organization business, but she wanted to monetize her blog too. She saw lots of bloggers making money from couponing, advertising, and working with brands. She tried these methods a bit, but they didn't seem to work well for Lisa's audience or her skill set. She realized that she's better as a teacher, so she created more e-books to sell. In 2012, Lisa wrote 10 steps to organize paper. Next, she wrote an e-book about her Sunday basket. Then Lisa got the rights back to her first published book called the ABC's of the Bible. Continuing with her model of teaching, Lisa added a podcast just over a year ago.(In true Lisa-style, she couldn't have just one, Lisa has 3! Successful Direct Sales, Organize365, and Professional Organizer's Think Tank.) And finally, Lisa maintained her skill at direct sales, but she took a different, more modern approach. Rather than host home parties and assembling teams of sales people, Lisa used these great companies as affiliates on her blog. Lisa in a Box! If you're a great teacher or coach, I bet some of your clients have wished they could package you up in a box, order you online, and have you right there with them! Well, Lisa has done just that with her first physical product! It's called Get All Your Papers Organized in One Weekend.  Lisa combines the knowledge you need to get started, the motivation in the form of her walking you through each step via audio CD, and the tools needed shipped right to you. There are quick-start guides so you don't have to read the full e-books if you don't want to, 3 sets of slash pockets and 2 ONE clips (both of these are a big part of Lisa's organizational system, so you don't have to hunt them down at the store), Sunday planning printables, and Organize 365 printables. Could you come up with a way to help your long-distance customers by packaging yourself in a box? I bet you could! 3 Keys to Lisa's Success Lisa points to 3 key strategies that help her grow her business and keep it profitable. Create a team! Lisa has several great team members who work for her. One person edits everything Lisa does. (She confessed that she can't spell and doesn't understand the rules of grammar!) Then Lisa hired someone to take over her Pinterest account. Can you believe that Lisa hasn't pinned a single thing from her account that has over 20,000 followers? Lisa hired someone to do all of that for her! Lisa also has someone who does everything for her podcast. She'll sit down and record 5 episodes in two hours, then send them off to Amanda who edits and does everything else! Find your money-maker. For Lisa, being a professional organizer has been the most profitable endeavor, and she was able to make money quickly. That one profitable branch of her business can easily fund everything else she's done Whatever you focus on expands! You can't focus on 10 things at once, so you'll have to pick which aspects of your business you want to grow the most. Right now she's focusing on her paper organizing kit, so of course, that's what's making the most money right now.Lisa focuses on one big thing each month and then four smaller things. For example, next week Lisa is focused on getting her products into the Amazon store and figuring out shipping. Next week, she'll work on her 31 organizing videos for October. She's uploading them directly to Facebook each day to see if she can grow her Facebook following from 7,000 to 20,000 fans. In November, Lisa won't focus on Facebook as much. She likes to go really deep on a tiny thing and then analyze things a few months later to see what aspects of her business are worth the continued investment. (Lisa's strategy for managing her time and new business ventures sounds so similar to Rachel Coley's. Sarah and I both agree that it's a great approach, and we use it for our business too! We can't do it all.. as much as we'd like to!) Think Outside the Box with Outsourcing Lisa highly recommends the book, Virtual Freedom by Chris Ducker. In the book, Chris tells readers to make 3 lists. Write down the things you hate doing. (This could be cutting the grass, cleaning your house, or editing your blog posts.) Write down the things you're struggling to do on your own. (Perhaps building your website or designing your logo.) Write down the things you feel, as a business owner, that you shouldn't be doing on a day-to-day basis. (Chris says this list is the most important! It could be editing your photos or posting on social media. Maybe it's shipping your orders out the door. Even if you enjoy doing these things, your time may be better spent elsewhere to grow your business.) Lisa is a productivity nut! She wants to squeeze an extra task out of the hour and an extra minute out of every hour! Lisa says that mompreneurs often miss important things they can outsource that would give them more time for their business. She has a list of 10 household tasks you can outsource. You might feel guilty about this at first, but you have to think outside the box. If you outsource cleaning your house for $60-120 a week, you'd save yourself 5 hours a week of work. So Lisa looks at it this way: can she make at least $120 in that 5 hours of extra time? The answer for her is an absolute yes because she can work with a home organization client for $300 during that time. Ask yourself, "How much does it cost me to do that task, and how much does it cost someone else to do that task?" Another creative outsourcing solution: Lisa says, "don't outsource your parenting," but she does recommend getting help with the kids when they're little. Lisa used to hire a nanny on Wednesdays from 8 AM to 6 PM. Lisa was able to get 10 hours of productive, quiet work time for just $120. That was totally worth it! And in 10 hours of dedicated time, Lisa was able to plow through a ton of work versus working every naptime for 1.5 hours each day and feeling like you're not getting anywhere. If you don't have any funds for a sitter, consider swapping with a friend. You take her kids one day a week, and she takes yours on another. Then, you both get dedicated work time, and your kids have fun with their friends! How to make the most of your work time: Lisa recommends creating a work basket. As you think of tasks to do for your business, write them down and put them in your work basket. If you think of something to tell your business partner, just write it down and put it in the basket. Emails you have to respond to? Put them in the work basket! Then, when you've got your dedicated chunk of time, you know just what to tackle without getting sidetracked or distracted. You can plow through those little to-do's much faster than you realize when they're all in one place waiting for you. Validation as Mamapreneurs Another important mental aspect of having a dedicated time to work is that it gives your job some validation. It's earned a place on your calendar. You've made room for it. It's not just a casual gig anymore. Sarah and I had our own esoteric discussion here about validation as Mamapreneurs. When Sarah filled out the paperwork for her daughter's orthodontist appointment, she put homemaker as her occupation. But she thought to herself today, "I should put self-employed!" I agree, and I laughed and confessed that I've put "self-employed" on every bit of paperwork I get the moment we decided to launch our podcast! It often takes quite a while (and maybe it will never happen!) for others to recognize your home business as valid, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't recognize it as such. (It's valid, brilliant business mom! We believe in you!) Organization for Mamapreneurs Lisa says it's so important for Mamapreneurs to write down their biggest goal for the week, and then no more than 3 top goals for each day for the home and for their business. She's created a free printable for you to try to organize those top tasks as well as get your week organized each Sunday! When you start planning your top goals, you'll realize that email and social media don't often make the list, but without a plan, those tasks easily creep into the first place spot each day. Lisa also blocks off one work day each week to spend 6-8 hours on something that will grow her business to another level. So, for example, getting her products on Amazon, or creating new videos or a new product. The Sunday Basket Lisa's main method for organizing paper involves something called, "The Sunday Basket. It's a basket, box or bag that you keep on your kitchen counter. Every bit of paper that you receive, along with other simple to-do's goes into this basket. For example, a bill that doesn't need to be paid right that second, paperwork from the kids' school, an item to return to Walmart. On Sunday after the kids are in bed, take out every single thing, touch it and ask, "can this wait until next Sunday or does it need to be done this week?" Everything that must be done that week should have a plan for action. In this way, all of your paperwork and to-do's are in one, manageable place, and you only tackle the things that need to be tackled, without forgetting anything along the way. How Blogging Brings Clarity Once you start blogging regularly, you'll quickly realize that it can clarify what you're good at and what your readers respond to. Lisa quickly realized that she was constantly talking about organizing paperwork, and her audience really responded. A bonus of this is that Lisa ranks really high in Google for terms related to organizing paper because no one talks about it! People discuss going paperless or they simply pretend all that paper doesn't exist. Lisa has dug deep when it comes to organizing paper. Here's what she recommends: Gather up every piece of paper from your whole house. The papers on your nightstand. Your kids' art work, receipts...everything! Put it all into a laundry basket (or two!) Lisa says that people generally start with 2 full laundry baskets and by week 6-8 of organizing their paper they get their Sunday Basket down to a manageable size. Tackle a new paper challenge with Lisa each week. She'll walk you through all the different items you'll find in your basket: what to do with cash, projects, receipts, and more. Keep going. Lisa gets that no one wants to do paper! It's hard for her to get clients to do it even when she's standing right there with them! But if you can get a handle on the kitchen counter paperwork, you'll feel like Supermom! It's worth it!   A Simple Method for Efficient Blogging When Lisa started blogging in January of 2012, all she knew was that she needed to be consistent, she needed to have a niche, and she needed to create content. She came up with the idea of a series in order to be consistent and help others get organized right along with her. The challenge is called: 40 Weeks, One Whole House. Lisa divided her house into 40 zones, and she tackled a different zone each week. The next year, Lisa did the challenge with her readers again, but this time she hired a professional photographer to take better photos of her work. The year after that, Lisa did the 40-week challenge again but this time she added a podcast so her readers could hear her talking as though she was right there with them helping them organize their homes.Lisa says it takes going through the challenge about 3 times to really make your home look great! Sarah and I both LOVED this genius strategy of creating awesome, helpful content but just adding a bit more each year. Lisa says there are only so many ways you can organize a laundry room. So rather than write 16 fluffy blog posts on the topic, she writes one killer post that motivates her readers to take action.Is there an insanely helpful series you can create for your readers and then repeat on your blog, year-after-year? Paying for Emails? This year, Lisa decided to offer her 40-week challenge as an email auto-responder series as an added help for her readers. The problem was, she was using Mailchimp, and when she received new participants, they could start at week 1, but they couldn't skip ahead and join the whole group of challengers if they wanted to.Lisa decided to switch to InfusionSoft which offers both options for a new subscriber. Then, no matter where someone signed up, everyone will be back at week 1 together the next Fall. Because Infusionsoft is quite expensive, Lisa knew she had to justify this expense. She charges a one-time fee of $40 for the 40-week email series. Once you pay for the series, you'll get it forever until you unsubscribe.Lisa knew if she could sell just 5-10 of these email subscriptions each month, that would pay for Infusionsoft. She's more than met that goal! She's not getting hundreds of sales, but the people who do sign up really love it. Everything they need for each week's challenge is all in one place, and they just click the link in their inbox. Bloggers can Sell on Etsy too! Lisa's not a handmade maven, but she does have a lot of digital products (and a physical one now too!) that she wanted to sell all in one place. Lisa decided to open an Etsy shop as the hub for her products.Her shop, Organize365, has been open since May of 2014 and she's had over 700 sales to date. Some of Lisa's products cost over $90 too! If you're a blogger struggling to create a beautiful storefront for your products, consider opening an Etsy shop and linking right to it from your blog. It's so easy to get started, and Etsy makes the shopper experience a bit more user-friendly and streamlined than many of the cheaper apps you could use on your own site. If you're a coach or expert in a given field, Etsy can be the perfect place to make more passive income. Lisa took all of her coaching and teaching knowledge and turned it into digital products. Not everyone can afford to use her as a coach, and not everyone lives close enough to have Lisa organize their home in person, but with digital products and Etsy, Lisa can serve her audience in more ways. Lisa's App Lisa is always looking for ways to better serve her audience and make life easier for them. In the Spring of 2015, she decided to have an app developed for her 40-week organizing challenge. Lisa paid $2,000 for the app and pays $50/month for hosting. Her app is available for both android and ios. Inside the app, Lisa's challengers can find the podcast and blog post related to that week's challenge without searching and without being distracted by all the other content on her site. The coolest thing about this app? Lisa can send out push notifications whenever she wants! She can tell people, "hey it's week four, tell me if you're going to sell or donate your items this week!" Their app will show a red circle to let them know there's something new to see. From the app, Lisa's challengers can link straight into her Facebook group and chat with each other. LIsa says, "it's so hard to organize your house by yourself. The community aspect really helps." How's the app going? Lisa says she has about 3,000 users right now, and they're equally split between android and ios. She's still not sure if the app itself will be a revenue generator or not. At this point, she doesn't charge for it. Right now, the app is just serving her current audience better and allowing her to connect with them in a new way. Lisa believes that all of the 3,000 users were people who were already on her email list or listening to her podcast. They haven't found her organically at this point, but the app has only been out for 6 weeks. We can't wait to see how the app continues to grow and serve her audience! What a cool idea! Lisa's Awesome Mom Moment When your teenage son respects what you do, you know you're on the right track! Tune in to hear what Lisa's son told her recently! Stay in Touch with Lisa! Lisa has created a special page just for Brilliant Business Moms Listeners. It has the Sunday basket printables to help you organize your week and a checklist for anyone interested in becoming a professional organizer.Head to Organize365.com/brilliant Other links mentioned in the episode:  Our super secret freebies page for our email subscribers.

Doesn't it seem like the best ideas for our business often come at the craziest times? Sarah and I started the podcast in the midst of Chris coming home from deployment, us leaving for a trip to Spain, and Sarah and her husband Mike re-doing their kitchen...themselves. Before that, our Etsy shop, The Amateur Naturalist launched just months before Chris and I brought Holden home from India. Rachel's business started in the midst of a crazy time as well. She had a newborn at home! And not long after Rowan was past the newborn stage, Rachel became pregnant with her second child. Learn how Rachel nurtures both a baby and a business - with incredible results on both fronts :) On the Podcast 02:15 - Nurturing a Business and a Baby04:49 - 4 Strategies for Exponential Growth09:27 - 1 Year...Is it Enough?12:58 - Fits & Spurts -a Realistic Strategy for Moms20:51 - Making the Business More Passive24:53 - The Rule Breaker27:54 - How to Schedule Life Around Baby and Business32:45 - Can a Solopreneur take Maternity Leave?36:52 - The Question that Will Give your Business Clarity43:19 - Rachel's Adorable Mom Moment Press Play on the Podcast Player Below to Hear Rachel's Story Nurturing a Business and a Baby  As a pediatric occupational therapist, when Rachel's first baby, Rowan, was born, she immediately started putting her skills and knowledge to work. Rachel knows just how important those first few months and years can be for a child's development, and she didn't want to miss out on a second with Rowan. Rachel began coming up with great activities she could do with Rowan to help him grow, learn, and develop. And she started doing these creative activities when Rowan was a newborn! Rachel didn't expect to become a stay-at-home Mamapreneur but when she shared on her personal Facebook account what she and Rowan were up to, her friends were so impressed. Many other parents found her posts and activities really helpful, and they begged her to start a blog or write a book so they could learn more. Even in the midst of a crazy season, Rachel took this positive feedback as a good sign and she jumped in!She launched her blog, CandoKiddo.com in September 2014 and her Etsy shop, CanDoKiddo.Etsy.com in November of 2014.  Rachel's first book, Begin with a Blanket 4 Strategies for Exponential Growth  Less than a year into blogging, Rachel gets over 100,000 pageviews on her blog each month. She contributes her blog growth to several factors. 1. Building Online Relationships. Rachel says that the old school business model views other people in our niche as competition, but that's not how it works online. You have to have the mindset that everyone is on your team. Finding supportive online communities has been key to Rachel's growth. In some of her online communities, Rachel feels intimidated by the bigger bloggers who belong there, but she's forced herself to push past that. Rachel makes a point of continually checking into her favorite online communities - asking questions, offering help, and connecting. In this way, when something big is going on for Rachel, like a book launch, she's reaching out to ask for help from people who know her and her content. 2. Facebook Promotion. Rachel is part of the Kid Blogger Network , which has official share days for everyone's Facebook page. Rachel spends about 1.5 hours each week sharing her blog content on other blogger's facebook pages. The work has paid off - since Facebook is the highest referrer of traffic for CanDoKiddo.com. 3. Pinterest Group Boards. Rachel finds group boards within her niche of kids' blogs, parenting, and activities and pins her content in those places. Group boards often have quite a large number of followers, and if the right people see your post, it can get pinned and re-pinned over and over - generating a steady stream of traffic over the long-term. 4. Guest Posting. Rachel guest posts strategically and views it not just as a way to get more traffic, but as a way to establish a long-term relationship with another blogger. In this way, Rachel and another kids' blogger can mutually send each other traffic, ask questions of each other, and help each other out.  1 Year...Is it Enough?  Rachel's blog, CandoKiddo.com focuses just on developmental activities during infancy. Once a child is over a year old, Rachel really doesn't have much to say. Clearly, as a pediatric OT, Rachel could cover way more than the first year of life, but she's chosen a very narrow niche for two important reasons. 1. Be Known for Something Specific. There are millions of kids' activities bloggers or parenting bloggers, but Rachel is now known as the baby activities girl. That very clear identity makes it easier for other people to talk about Rachel and pass her site onto others. Think about it - when you're chatting with someone about their upcoming wedding or their new baby, do you send them to the most general sites on those topics, or do you have a light bulb moment in the middle of the conversation: "I know just the site for you! Check out this lady's blog - she features vintage weddings just like the one you're thinking of having!" Be known and remembered by defining what your brand is all about - and what it's not. 2. Create valuable content. Rachel's narrow niche helps guide her content. She knows she'll only focus on informative posts for a baby's first year of life. And when it comes to writing content, Rachel chooses quality over quantity. She writes really long blog posts so she can go in-depth and bring as much helpful information to the table as she can. Again, Rachel sets herself apart and has become the go-to girl for Developmental Content for Babies.  Fits & Spurts -a Realistic Strategy for Moms  With all the blog posts, podcasts, books, and other content on growing an online business, actually implementing the advice we hear can be overwhelming. We simply can't do it all. Especially when we're in the season that Rachel is in - a baby at home, one more on the way, and zero childcare help. Rachel uses the fits and spurts strategy to ensure she makes progress without getting overwhelmed. Essentially, every month Rachel will pick a new item in her business to focus on. One month, she focused on her email list and created some great opt-ins along with an autoresponder series. Another month, it was her Etsy shop and optimizing it for SEO. Recently, Rachel took a month to write her new book, Simple Play: Easy Fun for Babies.She said it was like pulling teeth to force herself to just write and not spend all her time Google Amazon marketing strategies. She told herself over and over, "Close the Google window. That's for next month! Keep writing!" Rachel says that at least once a month she has to remind herself that she can't do it all. She'll hit a wall, feel burned out and exhausted, and remember to just focus on the task at hand and relax about everything else for the month. A lot of the Fits and Spurts Strategy relies on trusting that the hard work Rachel did last month, or several months ago, will carry her through.  Making the Business More Passive  Rachel doesn't sell her books on her own site, and she admits that decision is largely based on pregnancy. She doesn't want the hassle of an additional sales channel and additional orders coming in that she's responsible to fulfill. With selling on Etsy, Rachel has to have boxes and gift wrap on hand, package her orders, and make trips to the post office. Now, Rachel is shifting her focus to selling on Amazon so that product fulfillment is taken out of her hands and home. Rachel is excited to see how her Amazon sales will shake out. So far on Etsy, 35% of her book sales are for her paperback version, and 65% are for the e-book. On Amazon, Rachel has the added option of bundling her two paperback books together. The best part? Rachel won't have to ship any of those orders herself! We can't wait to see how this makes the business more do-able with two babies at home.  Rule Breaker  Surprisingly enough, our sweet, southern guest could aptly be called Rachel the Rule Breaker. She doesn't believe in following every expert's advice to succeed in business. Below are several online business rules Rachel has broken...and it hasn't hurt her one bit. 1. Post on social media constantly. Rachel knows many bloggers who have pins going out on Pinterest every hour of every day and others who post to their Facebook page 30 times per day. She's tried these strategies and hated it. She was on social media 24/7 and the joy of blogging was lost. Rachel posts 2-3 times per day on Facebook, and she's very selective about what she shares. It has to be something very helpful within the baby niche, otherwise, she simply won't share it. Her engagement is great, and she doesn't feel like she's missing out by not posting 20 times or more per day. 2. Be controversial. Many parenting bloggers tell you that you should share topics on your Facebook page or blog that spark debate. This gets people talking and engaged. Rachel intentionally steers clear of hot button issues. Instead, she focuses on creating a positive, helpful, encouraging environment for parents, and her audience appreciates this. If they want a debate, there are plenty of places they can go online. 3. Write short blog posts, and write often. Rachel consistently blows through recommended word counts with her blog posts, and she writes less often to make sure each post is insanely helpful and informative. 4. Use an editorial calendar. Nope. Rachel doesn't do this either. Instead, she has a long list of blog posts she wants to write, and which ones she writes each week is determined by what she has time for. Some take quite a bit longer than others. (Isn't this the perfect strategy for a mom with little ones... we don't have guaranteed hours, so we have to be flexible.)  How to Schedule Life Around Baby and Business  Rachel says her work schedule has changed as her son's needs and her needs have changed. Early on, Rowan napped twice a day, and Rachel spent about 90% of nap time working on her business. Then, after Rowan goes to bed, Rachel works about 4 nights per week - clocking in about 3 hours on each of those nights. In the beginning of motherhood, Rachel also suffered from postpartum insomnia. So she'd be up at 4 AM while Rowan slept til 7:00. She could easily complete several hours of work before he woke up. Now that Rowan is older and naptime has decreased, Rachel's not able to work as much during the day. And during her first trimester of her second pregnancy, Rachel used that time to nap herself. It's what she needed! So she essentially cut her work time in half for a season. While Rachel's schedule continues to change based on the season and her family's needs, overall she says she works about 20-25 hours per week. That's quite a lot for someone who's a full-time mom with zero help.How does Rachel stay productive during those tight windows of work time? She highlights naptimes on her planner and writes down what she'll work on during any given naptime. Then she writes a list of things she can accomplish while Rowan is awake - such as housework, exercise, or cooking. Rachel says Rowan is pretty good at playing by himself since he's been so accustomed to fun activities from a young age. One caveat: Rachel doesn't review her list at the end of the day. Inevitably, she doesn't get everything done, so rather than dwell on what didn't get done, she lets that go and starts fresh with another day. Rachel with Soon-to-be big brother Rowan   Can a Solopreneur take Maternity Leave?  Rachel plans to have a maternity leave from her online career when her second baby is born in November. How will she swing it? The goal is for Rachel to not write any new blog posts for 6-8 weeks. She feels fine about m aintaining social media at some level, though. Right now, during Rachel's second trimester she's working hard to build up extra blog posts and reach out to online connections to get other bloggers guest posting on her site. In this way, she'll have built up a library of posts to use when she's out on leave. Another smart idea from Rachel: She's training her audience now to get accustomed to just one blog post from her so it won't be a huge shock when the baby is born. In addition, paring back her posts now allows her to use the time she would've spent each week writing post #2 and instead writing a post that will get scheduled several months from now.  The Question that Will Give your Business Clarity  A few months ago, Rachel starting finding some quiet time to sit down and reflect on what matters most to her in her business. Rather than spin her wheels indefinitely, she wants to strike a balance between work and family life, and that requires discerning the most important aspects of her business and leaving the rest behind. Rachel asks herself this question to get clarity: If I walked completely away from my business, what would I miss?Rachel quickly realized that she wouldn't miss making her play blankets or shipping Etsy orders. She's ok with letting those things go. However, she would really miss the personal connections she's made with parents who ask her questions and connect with her online. She loves helping parents and being accessible to them - so she wants to grow her business in ways that reflect this mission. Rachel's advice for other Mamapreneurs: Take some time for self reflection. Think about what's working in your business and what's not working. What makes you feel great about your business and what doesn't? And most of all, what would you miss if you walked away today? Keep that in mind as you move forward.  Rachel's Adorable Mom Moment  Rachel's mom moment was both hilarious and adorable. You'll have to tune in to hear about the prank 13 month-old Rowan pulled on his Mama!  Stay in touch with Rachel!  CandoKiddo.comCanDoKiddo.Etsy.com Rachel's Books: Begin with a Blanket: Creative Play for InfantsSimple Play: Easy fun for Babies

Rachel Coley joins me on today's episode to talk about her Can Do Kiddo project, which is focused on inspiring you with fun, creative ways to play with your young baby. Just why is play so crucial to your little one's physical, cognitive, and sensory development? That's just what Rachel shared – so be sure […] The post BBL 049: How Play Makes a Healthier Baby with Rachel Coley appeared first on Natural Birth and Baby Care.com.

Rachel Coley joins me on today's episode to talk about her Can Do Kiddo project, which is focused on inspiring you with fun, creative ways to play with your young baby. Just why is play so crucial to your little one's physical, cognitive, and sensory development? That's just what Rachel shared – so be sure […] The post BBL 049: How Play Makes a Healthier Baby with Rachel Coley appeared first on Natural Birth and Baby Care.com.