Happy Mom Handbook
Episode #98: Welcome to the She Builds Show! Today we have the pleasure of introducing you to a remarkable power couple – Megan and Erik Hammond. This dynamic duo has dedicated the past 14 years to not only building successful businesses but also nurturing their family, all while homeschooling their three daughters. Their journey is an inspiring testament to what’s possible when you blend family life with professional excellence.
Megan and Erik bring a unique perspective to the table. They understand the intricate dance between family life and career aspirations, and they’re passionate about helping moms take charge of their lives, achieve their dreams, and become the best versions of themselves.
In this episode, we’ll dive into their story, exploring the challenges they’ve faced and the lessons they’ve learned along the way. Megan and Erik’s journey is a masterclass in work-life balance and the art of harmonizing family and professional success.
But that’s not all. Together, they’ve co-authored “The Happy Mom Handbook,” a comprehensive guide filled with practical advice, real-life examples, and easy-to-follow tips. This handbook is a treasure trove for moms seeking to infuse happiness and success into their lives.
Join us as we sit down with Megan and Erik Hammond to unpack their incredible journey, gain insights into their strategies for family and business success, and discover how they’re on a mission to empower families to not just survive but thrive. It’s a conversation filled with inspiration and actionable takeaways that you won’t want to miss.
Tune in and find the happiness you truly deserve.
ABOUT MEGAN AND ERIK HAMMOND:
Meet Megan and Erik Hammond, the dynamic duo devoted to helping families achieve their goals. Having successfully built multiple businesses over the past 14 years, while homeschooling their three daughters, Megan and Erik know what it takes to balance family life and professional success. They have a passion for empowering moms to take control of their lives, achieve their dreams, and become the best versions of themselves.
Together, they wrote “The Happy Mom Handbook,” a comprehensive guide for moms seeking to create happiness and success in their lives through practical advice, real-life examples, and easy-to-follow tips. Join Megan and Erik on their mission to help families thrive, and discover the happiness that you deserve.
CONNECT WITH MEGAN AND ERIK:
• Website: https://www.happymomhandbook.com/free-a
• Website: https://www.journeytofulfillment.com/inner-circle-jtf
WAYS TO CONNECT WITH STEFANIE…
• Website: https://shebuildshomes.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shebuildsbetter
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shebuilds.homes
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/shebuildsshow
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:
0:01 Welcome to the She Builds Show.
0:03 I’m your host, Stefanie Olson, a licensed general contractor who builds new construction, renovates and designs your vision today.
0:12 More than ever.
0:13 We need raw, authentic women who are willing to rise above society’s norms, break those glass ceilings and encourage each other to boldly build the life we were meant to live.
0:24 So, honey, what are you building?
0:27 Well, welcome to the She Build Show.
0:29 We have Erik and Megan Hammond.
0:31 Thanks.
0:32 We’re happy to be here.
0:33 Excited for it.
0:34 Absolutely.
0:35 You guys are.
0:37 They just told me that they are in the process of moving but tell me kind of like what your purpose, your mission.
0:43 A little bit of like what you guys are about.
0:45 I know I don’t want to spoil the book that you guys have written and what you’ve done.
0:50 So just maybe kind of introduce yourselves and tell us what is important to you.
0:54 My name’s Megan.
0:55 I am a mom of three girls, 6, 8 and 12.
1:00 And up here in Washington right now, we home school our girls and so we’re busy with that.
1:06 I think a little bit about why we started.
1:10 This was you know, it kind of went back to COVID when everything, you know, shut down and everyone’s lives were turned upside down and it just got super stressful in a lot of areas and a, for a lot of people and we kind of had to come up with, I don’t know, new ways of doing things and, you know, home school and how to deal with that while trying to still be, you know, sane and happy and everything else.
1:43 I think a lot of it came from just learning how to take time for ourselves, and well, you know, speaking for myself, taking time for myself while trying to keep everything together and home school and life.
1:55 And that’s kind of what got us to where we are today.
1:58 And like you said, the, the book that we wrote and everything like that.
2:02 That’s kind of, I don’t know, my purpose is just letting women know like, yeah, you know, you wear many different hats, but always remember to take time for yourself and tell the audience the name of your book.
2:16 It’s the Happy Mom handbook.
2:17 We wanted to kind of make it more of a reference point than it is a novel.
2:21 Obviously, there’s a lot of stories in there and you can read it front to back, but it’s kind of more of a, hey, here’s what I’m stuck with today.
2:27 Let me kind of work through some stuff and read this and open up some things in my life that maybe I haven’t thought about before.
2:32 It is a handbook.
2:33 It is a tool, you know, you can over and over and one thing I realized is you read books over and over, you’ll realize they kind of speak to you in a different way.
2:41 And so that’s kind of why we gave it that title.
2:44 I love it.
2:44 And it’s actually like a really important topic to me.
2:47 You know, currently in my life, there’s been a lot of stress and a lot of hard again and I’m just curious, like, what prompted you to be, you know, feeling like, you know, you’re in a place where you could help other people with maybe the journey or the information that you gathered, like what made you want to either create it or share it and like, what types of things would, you know, if they were, if somebody was going to read the book, what types of things would they find in there?
3:19 You know, that may be because I’m sure it has a lot to do with your personal life and what you’ve been through and what works for you and either probably from failing and not doing it well and then trying to figure out and doing it well.
3:30 So what prompted that?
3:32 I think Megan’s going to jump in here but let me just back up for a second.
3:34 Megan mentioned home school.
3:36 We were like, let’s have kids and do home school like that was not on our agenda at not at all.
3:41 It was, we’re in the middle of building our house in California.
3:45 And we started like three months before COVID came in and our contractors like you got to leave the house because we literally tore it down to the studs like you could see through the house like the wind would blow, there’s no roof anything.
3:55 And so they’re like, you got to leave this house.
3:58 We have a travel trailer like, oh, this will be great.
4:00 We’ll travel around and go on all these camping trips and just make it fun.
4:03 The girls will be in school all day.
4:05 It’s not going to be tight like we can survive for a few months and then like a week after we moved in, they’re like, ok COVID hit and everything shut down like nobody was making doors, nobody was sipping drywall or tile or any of this stuff.
4:21 And so we literally had to just like lock down and they’re like schools like here’s your kids.
4:24 Good luck, right?
4:25 You guys have been through this before.
4:27 And so I think that’s what Megan’s like, we just got this thrown into our lap and so many people that we talked to or moms that Megan had known are like, how are you guys dealing with this?
4:37 And what are you guys doing to deal with?
4:39 You know, are you just sitting in front of Netflix all day or hoping that they figure it out or like, how are you doing this?
4:44 And so I think just kind of trial and error is as Megan will probably talk about is just figuring this out and having people come to us and say, how can you help us?
4:52 And it just, it felt great to kind of come up with solutions with them and work through a lot of these challenges with them.
4:59 Oh, that’s awesome.
5:00 I think that’s kind of where it starts.
5:02 I’m, I do a lot better when I know what’s going on and I know what I’m doing and I have a schedule and so that time of life was, it was super stressful for me just because I couldn’t control any of it.
5:18 And like schooling was, you know, as hard as the teachers were trying, you know, this is hard for them, and they were doing all that they could with the resources that they had, and it was just stressful, and I had a really hard time in that time of life because that everything was so out of my control.
5:39I’m the one who will figure out how to get something done.
5:43 If I don’t like how, it’s going or I don’t have control of the situation, I’ll figure out how to get control of that situation so that I can make a plan, make a schedule and then life just does a lot better.
5:57 And my girls are like that.
5:59 They, they thrive on schedules and so, like life for everyone was just kind of crazy.
6:04 And so we just, with our personalities and all of his classes and coaching stuff that he’s had over, you know, the last 20 years, like, we kind of put all of that together and tried different things, bits and pieces.
6:18 Yeah, of course, we failed a ton and, I mean, we’re still failing on a lot of things, and we just keep trying new things and we, like Eric said, we had a lot of people or a lot of friends and stuff.
6:28 Say, what are you doing for this or how are you doing that?
6:31 Maybe we looked like we had it more put together than some people, even though like on the outside, the outside of it look like it.
6:41 But I’m like, you have no idea.
6:42 We’re living in a travel trailer, and we have a, you know, poured body in our front yard and it’s just a disaster.
6:51 But I’m glad they thought that we looked like we had some of our stuff together.
6:55 And so I think a lot of it for us is just, it was a lot of trial and error and things that we’ve learned over the years.
7:03 And so being able to help people that are friends that were coming to us and I did have a few people be like, you know, you, you, you used to really just write a book about this because, like, it’d be interesting to have and that’s kind of what got our thought process started, kind of like, you know, like a handbook and, hey, I’m having a problem with this.
7:21 Well, go here and read this.
7:23 Like he said, it’s not a novel.
7:24 It’s just kind of like how to get through certain things.
7:27 What do you think are the top three, like, most important things that you share in the handbook.
7:35 What’s most important to you?
7:37 They can touch on the first one really?
7:39 Just taking time for herself.
7:40 I think, you know, a lot of time people just give that up, right?
7:43 Like the more busy people get, the more stuff that comes up, they just kind of punt themselves and take care of everybody else in their family and a lot of those awesome moms and dads out there do that.
7:53 And so if you can take time and, and we use the analogy like when you’re on the airplane, right?
7:57 They talk about the oxygen mask coming down.
7:59 It doesn’t say help everybody else out first.
8:01 It doesn’t say put your neighbor’s mask on, it says put yours on, save yourself first and then you can help other people.
8:06 And so when you start taking care of yourself first and prioritizing your life and your needs, not that you’re the only one that matters, obviously, but you have to make sure that you’re OK to help everybody else out in their life as well.
8:17 And so we talk a lot about that.
8:19 Just self-care, self-love, you know, making sure that you have the time to get done the things in your life that are important to you, whether it’s, you know, going to get a pedicure for the day or a massage or just like shutting the door and just saying I need 10 minutes, you know, I need, I just need to do my own thing for a moment.
8:33 Just go do something else.
8:34 I’ll be right with you.
8:35 But this is what I need to do.
8:37 And so I think self-care is probably a big one.
8:39 What would be I would for you.
8:41 I think that one that we talk quite a bit about is schedules and prioritizing what’s important.
8:50 I used to be the one who would, like, have, you know, the 20 to do list that had nothing, like, maybe three things got done, you know, because other things would always come up.
9:02 And for me it was super frustrating because I’d look at my list and I’d be like; I only did like three things today.
9:08 That was kind of a waste.
9:10 I don’t know.
9:10 I just wasn’t like, well, that was an awesome day.
9:13 Then I heard on a podcast a while ago and, and it spoke to me, like, choose three things, do the three things the most that have to get done, like, you know, and so I have those three things working out is one of them, like, I need to work out every day if I don’t, my girls can even vouch for this.
9:34 They’ll be like, you didn’t work out today.
9:36 Like, no, I didn’t.
9:37 And so you better, better watch out.
9:41 You’re going to be a little stressful today.
9:43 And so like everyone knows that I need to work out.
9:45 It’s great because they can let me do that even if it’s like 20 minutes and I can just, you know, go for a quick walk or most of the time we work out together just because I need someone to like, push me to do it.
9:57 And so like, that’s one of the main things like for me and then I have two others, you know, things that I need to get done that day.
10:03 And so I think just like prioritizing and scheduling and figuring out how that works best for you.
10:09 But instead of just like flying by the seat of your pants every day I have found, and I know a lot of people, it’s super helpful to have that instead of just like, well, we’re just going to see like what today brings and then go from there.
10:23 That’s another one that’s big for me just because my life runs a lot smoother.
10:28 Yeah, having a top priority and not, yeah, and being organized.
10:32 What did so obviously school went back in session.
10:36 What was the like deciding factor to continue?
10:40 Because, you know, our family homeschooled.
10:42 I think everybody homeschooled during COVID, we actually, like, left the school and home school.
10:47 I like, created a program and homeschooled, homeschooled.
10:51 And I mean, I loved it.
10:54 I went to school to be a teacher and like, I was like, this is my jam.
10:58 Like I loved it.
11:00 Yeah, I was like, let’s make some bed and let’s, you know, let’s do home school.
11:06 What was the decision for you guys to continue on that path?
11:09 Because I’m guessing they were in school obviously before COVID.
11:13 And why did you guys continue, you know, home school and was their opposition with your kids?
11:20 Actually?
11:21 Surprisingly, no, there was not, there was no kickback each year.
11:26 We have a little, you know, meeting like, hey, it’s that time of year again to decide what we want to do.
11:33 Are you guys still good with home school?
11:36 Do you still enjoy it?
11:37 Are you still learning?
11:38 Is it working out for everyone?
11:40 And you know, we do the pros and the cons and my older one, she was in third grade when COVID hit and the other two, you know, were kindergarten and not in school.
11:52 They don’t know really how school, you know, real schoolwork, but I lay it out.
11:58 I’m like, here’s, you know, if you did go to school, like, here’s your schedule and how it would be and stuff like that.
12:03 And so they do, you know, each year it’s like, yeah, I still want to do that.
12:07 I think for us it was the scheduling we liked and being able to, you know, to be in charge of their learning and being able to focus more on their strengths and, you know, learning and pulling that in to help them be more excited about, you know, different things and, you know, it’s just worked well, like they’ve enjoyed it, they academically do really well on the one on one or, you know, if it’s, if I’m working with two of them at the same time.
12:41 Yeah, there’s a specific, like home school program that you use or are you part of like a, a home school program where you live?
12:49 What’s the details of that?
12:50 Yeah.
12:50 We’re a part of a charter school who has like an in person, a flex system and then actual home school.
12:58 And so we’re, yeah, we’re a part of the charter school, home school, which is great because we have a teacher that’s over us.
13:03 Who if I do have questions or I’m stuck with something or we need help with, you know, tutoring or whatnot, I can reach out to her.
13:11 And that’s awesome.
13:12 I’m very fortunate that we have that opportunity.
13:15 And so I do have like, I’m very eclectic, I think in our curriculum we’re not just like one stop shop.
13:25 It’s like we’ll use this, and we’ll use this, and we’ll do that.
13:27 I think just like the years go on.
13:29 You kind of go.
13:30 Ok.
13:30 Well, this, like, hole needs to be filled and this really fits that.
13:34 That’s kind of what it seems like that from the moms that had been home schooling a long time that they really just like a teacher because they built over the years going.
13:44 Ok.
13:44 I like this better.
13:45 I don’t, I didn’t like that, or the kids didn’t like that.
13:48 Yeah, exactly.
13:49 And it’s worked and it’s fun too because you can see what they’re interested in and kind of go further down those rabbit holes with them.
13:56 I remember when I was in school, you’d finally find a subject that you’re into and then the next week it was, well, we got to move on to this one because that’s, we’re doing history.
14:03 Yeah.
14:03 Yeah.
14:07 What is your, I’m just curious, kind of like what your day looks like with the kids because, like, when we were doing home school it’s really, like, just school doesn’t take that long.
14:18 We, you know, it’s not a nine-hour day of, like, schoolwork.
14:23 I’m just curious, kind of like, because you’re a scheduler, what your day looks like.
14:29 The girls were just writing out their weekly schedule yesterday.
14:32 And we, you know, we bought my two older ones, like a, a planner that’s time blocked out, I think every 30 minutes.
14:39 That they can start learning how to do that because they both are like, hey, it’s 10 30 what should I be doing?
14:47 And I’m like, you’re old enough to be writing your own schedule and following it.
14:52 It’s great.
14:53 We, I mean, we get up at seven and work out, start working out by like 7:27, 7:30.
14:59 Usually till, what, 8:15, 8:30 right now, since we’re at my parents’ farm, we have farm chores that we have to do in the morning, which some days can be really quick.
15:12 Other days it could be like an hour of feeding and cleaning or taking care of an animal that’s, you know, has something that needs to be taken care of.
15:20 We usually start school by like, between nine and 10 and then I work with my youngest till I say like 11:30 but it usually ends up like noon.
15:35 From like, 10 to noon, I’m working with her, doing her math and reading and just other little things while helping with random questions and stuff like that.
15:47 And the other two are doing their morning work, the stuff that they can do in their own hybrid classes too.
15:54 Yeah.
15:55 Yeah, they do online science classes through this outschool.com.
16:01 It’s an online platform with thousands of classes you can take just with teachers from all over the place.
16:07 I mean, we’ve taken karate on there during COVID, which was interesting.
16:13 We’ve done some cooking classes, science, social study, art.
16:18 And so they, I have no desire to do science with them.
16:22 And I’m not exciting and fun to do it.
16:24 I enjoy it, but I’m not one to teach it.
16:26 And so we’ve found some teachers on there that are amazing.
16:30 One of them does social studies there once a week.
16:32 And then my oldest has a math through the charter school that she does.
16:36 She has a teacher that she’s accountable to for math, which is awesome because that takes it off me.
16:42 And so we’re probably done like around two or three with all of our school stuff and piano.
16:50 We kind of wrap that in where they have their half an hour, 45 minutes of piano practice.
16:56 My older two, they can do a lot on their own after lunch.
16:59 I do math and reading with my middle daughter.
17:01 That’s usually an hour, maybe an hour and a half.
17:05 And then anything else that I have to do with my older one, usually we’re doing social studies this year together and so we usually spend like half an hour on that, maybe three times a week.
17:16 Yeah, we’re probably done around 2-3, maybe 3:30 at the latest on Sundays if it was just kind of a crazy day.
17:24 I love it.
17:25 And are you guys, are you, are either of you working or are, is this your, you know, kind of like, what’s your, you know, other balancing things that you guys have going on in your life.
17:37 We’ve both worked together on and off over the last 17 years of our marriage.
17:40 Quite a bit.
17:41 Lots of different things have been real estate, full time real estate agent.
17:44 We’ve flipped houses.
17:45 We have rental properties.
17:46 I’ve coached real estate agents before we have a marketing company that helps generate leads for small businesses.
17:52 Our daughters and I started an Etsy business about two years ago.
17:55 We sell stuff on Etsy.
17:56 Just, yeah, a whole handful of different things.
17:59 It’s fun because it’s fluid and it’s just different every day.
18:02 And, yeah.
18:03 Do you guys still do real estate stuff?
18:07 We do, I mean, we sell our own rental properties and I still consult with real estate agents.
18:10 I don’t sell full time anymore.
18:12 We sold our team about five years ago and I just got kind of burn out of doing the everyday realtor, gig that gets kind of tearing.
18:20 What agency?
18:21 Where are you with?
18:22 Keller Williams.
18:23 Yeah.
18:23 Keller Williams, cool.
18:25 I’m a KW agent.
18:28 I didn’t know that.
18:28 Yeah.
18:30 No, it’s good.
18:30 But I do understand the burnout for sure.
18:34 We were selling 250 homes a year, you know, seven days a week.
18:38 It was just a lot like we would remodel probably 70% of the homes that we worked on.
18:42 It was just always something going on all the time and after 56 plus years of doing that, I just like, ok, something’s got to change because I’m missing life with family and we don’t ever get to go anywhere and it’s just something that had to change.
18:57 Tell me about that decision.
18:58 I’m just curious as to like what, you know, like why people make, I guess I just, I’m on this topic because for me, for my own personal life, for my husband, we, you know, we’re going through that like, rub of like, why the hell is everybody just chasing this invisible thing?
19:19 And I heard, Brene Brown, I’m listening to her book, The Gifts of imperfection.
19:24 I don’t know if you’ve read that book but it’s phenomenal and she’s like, everyone’s self-worth is equal to their net worth.
19:31 Oh, that’s good.
19:32 Yeah.
19:32 And how we, I guess a culture as a generation or whatever just think that like, if, like, our net worth is big enough high enough, we have enough rental properties or we have enough passive income, like all of this stuff, like, and then we forget that like, we need to live and be with their family and like, create and, you know, actually be these humans that are connected to the people in our families and I think it’s a scary and courageous decision to stop doing something that actually from the outside world gives you value.
20:12 You’re definitely looked at differently when you say you work from home, and you hang out with your kids a lot versus I’m at the office 24 7.
20:18 Grinding it out.
20:19 Right.
20:20 Yeah.
20:20 And like, why is that?
20:22 It’s so not accepted and judged, but it’s like, actually I think a lot of people that are judging, you know, maybe you guys from that perspective, maybe they have it wrong.
20:35 Because y’all are raising some pretty cool kids, I bet.
20:39 Yeah.
20:40 I came from a family, my dad worked at the same job for 47 years and he had a successful career.
20:49 He ended up kind of being forced into retirement because the younger part of the company is like, we want all the old guys out and we need to, like, have some young blood in here.
20:57 But, you know, he was like, get a job stick with it, work every day.
21:00 That’s your thing.
21:02 And so when I got out of college, I was like, I got to find that job that I’m willing to do for the next 50 years.
21:06 And it sucked, you know, and I looked at my life back then.
21:08 I was like, hey, I’m making good money, but is this what I want to do?
21:11 I kept reading all these other books about real estate and house flipping and just other things that I was interested in.
21:15 And Megan kept saying like, why don’t you try this and try that?
21:18 And I was like, I was just tired of him just being like, what if just, yeah, like I knew he was unhappy where at his job and all the books he was reading and all the classes he was taking and I was like, just do it like, holy cow.
21:35 You are driving me crazy.
21:37 Just do it.
21:38 It was a little bit of like analysis paralysis, you know, the burn in the hand thing.
21:44 Like you get nervous about a new situation, what’s going to happen?
21:48 This is like 08 and I won’t get, I mean, there’s a whole long story, I won’t get into all this, but we were trying to get into the house flipping.
21:56 I ended up getting laid off my full-time job back in 09 when the economy crashed back.
22:00 Then it was like the best thing that could ever happen.
22:02 Such a good job that I was in, but I would have never left had I not been one of 520 people.
22:08 All those people out there that think that getting fired or not is like losing something in your life.
22:14 He just said, it was the best thing that happened to him.
22:17 And I guarantee in that moment that is not what you thought.
22:20 No, no, I’m going to cry at night like what’s wrong with that?
22:24 But like you could have never seen that there would ever be anything outside of that.
22:29 And like things happen in our life to pull us back, I think, to the center of who we really want to be.
22:34 And sometimes they’re tragic and sometimes they really suck.
22:37 Yeah, I did.
22:38 You know, and, and trying to find a job when everybody in that industry has been laid off is impossible.
22:44 And I literally went nine months with no work.
22:46 And I just, it was, it was so hard on me emotionally, physically, like, just, I didn’t know what to do, you know.
22:52 And luckily Megan super supportive and we came together and figured things out and that’s when we decided, look, I don’t ever want to count on somebody else giving me a paycheck every week.
23:00 I got to figure out how to make my own dollar and it just opened my eyes and it gave me so much confidence in, in doing what I can do.
23:06 And so basically for the last 15 years we’ve been on our own and it’s been awesome ever since then.
23:11 And there have been moments where I’ve realized I do get too carried away and work and do spend too much time doing that thing.
23:18 And I realized like when you look at YouTube and Instagram, it’s either I work 24 7 or maybe it’s like 80 whatever, you know, like how many hours a day they work or else they travel, and they don’t work at all.
23:29 There’s this like, weird like, yeah, where’s the middle ground?
23:32 Yeah.
23:33 It’s weird.
23:34 Yeah.
23:34 I don’t know.
23:35 But anyway, but then I realized, like, my dad and I didn’t have the greatest relationship growing up, you know, he was gone all the time.
23:41 He worked his butt off and gave us a ton, like, of opportunities and just, like, you know.
23:47 Yeah.
23:48 Yeah.
23:48 Yeah.
23:49 Financially.
23:50 Yeah.
23:50 And support.
23:51 I mean, I wasn’t driving, like, awesome cars or anything.
23:54 I had a 30-year-old car when I was in high school or whatever.
23:56 But, like, yeah, but he taught me to work, which is good.
24:01 But then I realized, like, we just didn’t have a relationship and I never saw him, like, he’d take a day off or two once a year and we’d go, like, on a ski trip or something.
24:07 But then I wouldn’t see him for, like, 50 more weeks, you know.
24:09 And I didn’t want to be that dad and I had three girls and I realized, like, being a girl that is so different, and they need you and they want to paint your toenails and they want you to, like, cuddle with them and they want to talk to you about their cats and all that kind of stuff.
24:24 And so I realized, like, I want to be there with them and I want to do things with them and that’s when we started a business with them and that’s when I’ve started talking to them about books that I’m reading and talking about coaching and just involving them in my life in a way that maybe most parents don’t.
24:39 And I think that’s when home school started, like, making sense because we could do things together.
24:43 You know, like that’s the business we do together, we pack boxes together, we market together, we go to the store and buy stuff together and they’d come to conferences with me and, and it’s just fun to, like, involve the whole family in this rather than just me being the guy who goes to work to bring home for everybody else and how much more impact you’re having on them.
25:01 I love that like this, like the ability for us at, at this time of our lives for like you to be able to do something like that and like, be able to raise, you know, both of you be able to raise your girls in that fashion and have it be ok.
25:16 You know, like where, like your dad, if your dad had even had that desire in his heart to do that, like, he would never be like, it would never be ok.
25:24 You know, like, and I’m sure he probably did like everybody does where they’re just like, this is the true of who I am but everything else tells me I can’t do that, or it’s so buried.
25:35 You have, you can’t even listen to it.
25:37 I just think it’s amazing to meet people that aren’t afraid to like, step into who they really want to be and that it, it doesn’t look like how everybody else thinks it should look and you probably, I’m sure people say stuff but it’s like you get to just be who you are and like, when you get to raise your kids in a way where you’re pouring into them.
26:04 I feel like there’s nothing more satisfying than like your Children learning how to run a business or creating something and seeing it come to fruition, those are things that they would have never experienced, you know, had you guys just went to work every single day.
26:20 I think that’s so cool.
26:21 Exactly.
26:23 Yeah, I think that’s the punchline of our book.
26:25 Just be happy.
26:27 You don’t have to fit into the cog of life that everybody maybe has set up around you.
26:31 Like be who you are, find what makes you happy and live that life and don’t worry about the judgment or how people are going to look at you or maybe you didn’t make $100 million in your life.
26:39 Make what you need to do to be happy in life and have the needs that you have met.
26:45 Wake up and be confident in who you are in the book that I was just telling you about with Brene Brown.
26:52 She lists set 10 pillars, number seven was like play and rest.
26:57 And she said to make a, a joy and meaning list for your family.
27:03 What are the things that bring you joy and meaning to your family?
27:07 And you know, she listed things like taking naps, not having an overly scheduled Children with their extracurricular activities, you know, cooking together, just having time to play or, you know, like, and they made this list of all these things that make up what mean brings joy and meaning to their life.
27:28 And then they compared it to the list that shows what all of the goals and accomplishments and material things that they want.
27:36 We want the bigger house, we want the, you know, the boat, we want the thing in wherever and both of them, they just don’t align and that they actually dropped off all of the things from their like goals and accomplishment list and just focused on the joy and meaning list and it sounds like that’s kind of like what you, I don’t know if that’s like aligns with what you guys are, like, not saying that like, we can’t be successful or do things in our life, but it’s not everything.
28:03 Yeah.
28:04 Yeah.
28:04 I don’t know if you’re familiar with Gary V talks about that too.
28:07 You know, people drive a car, they can’t afford, they live in a house, they can’t afford, they travel to places they can’t afford.
28:13 Then they work a job to support these things that they don’t love.
28:17 And so it’s like this circle of like misery because you’re, yeah.
28:20 But if you just found out the things that actually make you excited in life and happy and realize maybe I don’t need all this money to do that thing.
28:28 But if I wake up again, you, you realize that you accomplish your goals and you’re able to do the thing that you want to do, that’s when you win.
28:35 Yeah, absolutely.
28:36 I love it.
28:37 Where can people find you?
28:39 I don’t know if you still do coaching or like, where can they get your book?
28:42 I would just love for you to be able to, you know, people to be able to find you access the stuff that you guys have done.
28:48 Yeah.
28:49 When we put our book out there, we’re like, obviously we could sell it on Amazon, but Amazon gets enough of our money.
28:53 We wanted to give it away for free.
28:54 And that’s why we’ve been trying to get on all these podcasts with people and talk to your listeners and just share this book with all the moms out there who need it because you don’t need to go buy another 10 or $20 book.
29:04 We’re giving it away for free, which is our gift to your listeners.
29:07 They can just go to our website, which is Happy Mom handbook dot com and I’m sure you’ll put it in the show notes, they can check it out, but it’s free there so you can get it.
29:14 It’s an eBook, check it out if you want to buy the real thing, it’s in print copy on Amazon as well.
29:18 But check it out.
29:19 It’s a good book that I think will help you kind of open your eyes to some of the things that maybe you’ve been missing, that the, the world is probably shut out from you.
29:26 And if you want to follow us on Instagram, we try to post a lot of uplifting and positive like you can do it content.
29:31 We’ll probably put the link for this as well, but it’s JTF coaching.
29:35 So awesome.
29:36 Well, thank you guys.
29:37 It’s been such a pleasure to meet you and to learn about you and your life and happy.
29:41 I hope moving goes well, I don’t know.
29:45 I feel like when does it go?
29:46 Well, I don’t know.
29:47 I just hope it, hope it goes swiftly and quickly and you know, nothing gets broken.
29:55 All right, you guys.
29:56 Well, thanks so much and have an awesome day.
29:59 Thank you.
30:00 You too.
30:00 You’re welcome.
30:01 Take care.
30:03 Thanks for joining me today on the She Builds Show.
30:05 My name is Stefanie Olson.
30:07 My hope is that this episode leaves you feeling empowered and ready to boldly take that step into building the life that you envision 12 by four at a time.
30:16 And if you can do me a quick favor, please leave me a five-star review on iTunes.
30:20 I get giddy over reading the reviews each week and I will choose one special person to win some She build swag.
30:27 Make sure you add your name to the review, and I’ll reach out if you’re the winner.
30:30 Thanks again for hanging out.
30:32 Be sure to visit me at theshebuildsshow.com or you can ask me questions and share with me what you’re building.