Mom Owned and Operated

Repurposing Life & Content with Becky Ogden

October 11, 2022 Rita Suzanne Season 3 Episode 38
Mom Owned and Operated
Repurposing Life & Content with Becky Ogden
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Show Notes Transcript

In this episode of the Mom Owned and Operated podcast, Rita Suzanne and Becky Ogden discuss raising a family, running a business and remembering yourself.

Becky Ogden will take the golden content you have just siting online collecting digital dust, give it a rinse and a fresh shine.  She considers herself something of a miner who finds those nuggets inside your golden content and works her magic on them to create new pieces of content that perfectly match your voice and easily support your message.  

That repurposed content helps you save time, show up consistently online, build that "know-like-and-trust" factor, expand your audience, generate interest in your offers, and drive traffic where you want it to go.

When she's not mining for golden content, Becky is both a homeschooling mom who has graduated two of her three kids and a Coast Guard mom.

You can find Becky on her website, on Facebook, and on LinkedIn.

Grab the free gift from Becky - E.A.S.E. into Repurposing Your Content: A 4 Step Process


Listen to more interviews by visiting momownedandoperated.com and apply to work with Rita at ritasuzanne.com/apply/

Rita Suzanne
Transform your business into a predictable income machine by crafting an irresistible brand.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

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Listen to more interviews by visiting momownedandoperated.com and apply to work with Rita at ritasuzanne.com/apply/

SPEAKERS

Rita Suzanne, Becky Ogden

Rita Suzanne  00:01

Welcome to the mom owned and operated Podcast, the podcast about moms and for moms, where we have candid conversations about running a business, raising a family, and remembering ourselves. I'm your host, Rita Suzanne, a single mom of four, digital strategist and provider of no nonsense business strategies and tactics. Hi, this is Rita Suzanne. And today I have my guest Becky with me, Becky, I'm so excited to chat with you. Please tell everyone a little bit more about you, your business and your family. Ah, me my business and my family. i Hey. So thanks for having me on. This is really, this is really fun. And an honor. I love these kinds of interviews. So me I live in Arizona.

Becky Ogden  00:52

Let's see here. I have been a homeschooler. Since 2003. The year that my oldest child turned five, I was started homeschooling because he is one of those super smart, like really, really smart kids who would be trouble in school if he was born. And so I kept him home because he didn't make the cut off to start kindergarten that year. And I was sick and tired of preschool and I took it year by year. You know, my second child at the time was almost to third child was not even a thought at the moment. But yeah, so I started off, you know, as a stay at home mom. And I was that for many, many years. moved to Arizona in 2006. And had my last kid in 2008. See here hear so business, I repurpose content. Now I was a freelance writer in my 20s and 30s. And then as my older two kids got older, I started teaching writing classes for for them and homeschool peers. I'm still doing that with my youngest. And that's still super fun, but it's not scalable in a way that I want to scale. And so I started looking at, you know, what are my other talents and and how else can I do things? And so I started thinking, Okay, I'm going to I'm going to be a copywriter because you know, I mean, I was a freelance writer I could copyright I love to write, I figured out very fast that I don't like to write for other people. I was like, Oh no. And happened across repurposing content quite by accident. As I was chatting with the JD wildflower, she's a branding specialist. And she's like, she's got all this content and no time to do anything with it and put it out there. I don't want to let me take a look at it, and see what I can do with it. And I took apart a piece of her content and gave her back a couple pieces. And she's like, Hey, that's really cool. Can you do that again, and I'm like, Hey, that was really fun. Yeah, I can do that again. And that's how I have that's how I came across what I do now.

Rita Suzanne  03:08

I love it. So I know the last time that we spoke, we were talking about maybe how many pieces of content you could take from one video. So I know it varies on probably the length of the video. But what is like an average for

Becky Ogden  03:24

repurposing it does, it does vary by video and not only that, but by what somebody say like you can have a half an hour video where somebody it gives no value at all be really hard for us to do much with it. But with an average business owners, you know, like a like a half hour training. If you are doing you know putting out a piece of content and by piece of content, you know short form or long you know longer form, I can give you a couple of weeks of content you know you get some get a get a bunch of reels or stories or whatever, you know, whatever they're called on on the various social media channels list the tiny little micro clips, and then the slightly longer you know the three to five minute clips and then if the original video is long enough, then you can actually do longer form you know, take 10 minute or 15 minute excerpts out of there as well. And but what I really like to do is take that video and turn it around and give somebody text based stuff. I mean the video the video clips are easy to do. The text based stuff is a little bit harder and a little bit more fun with my writing and editorial background. And that is very heavily dependent upon what the material is what I can turn around and give them I've done lead magnets I've done social media posts. Those are easy. I've done just short passages for like Twitter. some blog posts, it just kind of kind of really depends on on what I've seen in front of me, I don't make any decisions about what I'm going to do with it until I look at the transcript.

Rita Suzanne  05:12

So are you okay? So you're not transcribing it, you're basically taking the transcript and just kind of reworking it to whatever you feel fits best with the content.

Becky Ogden  05:24

Yeah, I will, I, when I get content from somebody, it's, if it's video, I want the video because I want to watch it. But I also will transcribe it transcribed. And then I take that transcript, and I'm working directly from the transcript. Because you know, the way that the way that you hear and listen is not the way that you read and comprehend material in a written format. And so I polish things up, I take things from one section that match with things from another and I'll, you know, edit it and you know, make it make it cool, depending on whatever it is, you know, step by step trainings, make good lead magnets, kind of stream of consciousness thoughts, make good social, social media posts. But I have to see the transcript before I can make any decisions about what I think I can do with it.

Rita Suzanne  06:20

I like that, because it's really customized to the content versus just saying, Listen, I'm going to take this video, and I'm going to turn it into a blog post for you. And that might be really challenging, because it isn't blog post worthy content.

Becky Ogden  06:36

Yeah, yeah, definitely. And I don't work with anybody until I look at a piece of their content, you can't hire me and tell you give me some information about your business and give me a piece of your content, I will look through it, and make sure that I can do something with it. And that I want to because, you know, like, I'm not repurposing content for the CEO of Pornhub, for example, you know, that's I find that morally objectionable, and I won't work with somebody like that. But, you know, I want to make sure that I can do something with it. And something that I think that when you get it back from me, you'll go, wow, that's really cool. If I don't think I can do that, then I then I will decline a call and tell you why. You know, this piece of content I don't think I can do enough with because whatever the reason is, or, Hey, you know, I just, I don't like your business. Not gonna work with you. You know, so that hasn't happened. But I think

Rita Suzanne  07:33

it's important to have the standards of who you would be willing to work with, and, and looking at that prior to even getting on a call with them. Because a lot of people they don't have that they will literally work with everybody. And I think that oftentimes, it really waters down your services when you do stuff like that. And so it's good to have these standards of practice versus just Okay, I will work with whoever pays me money.

Becky Ogden  08:05

Yeah. And I additionally, I want to know that, that you're going to be fun for me to work with, you know, if if I think that we are going to have a hard time working together. I don't want to work with you either. And you don't want to work with me, you know? Really? Right, exactly.

Rita Suzanne  08:23

And I think it's important for people to know that, you know, when you're taking that content, from video to text, it's really good for SEO for your website. And just for other like to vary how people are consuming, right? Because a lot of times, I know as moms, I find it hard sometimes to even sit down and watch a video or even listen to a podcast because I'm on the move. And I do listen to them, but I don't as much as I would like to. Because I'm constantly you know, doing something else. And I need to focus and so if I want to find information, sometimes I'll go read it, even though I prefer audio and like that's my preferred way of putting out content, but I will consume as a reader.

Becky Ogden  09:13

It's great. I always appreciate the coaches who offer all three modalities, you know, they have video, they have the audio and they have the text, it makes things so much better. I've working with somebody repurposing your content and so I'm going through her program at the same time. And she I don't like video to consume as as a consumer, I'm not a big fan of video. I like to read things in general. But so but with her stuff, she's got video and she's got the transcript. She has done a good job with the transcript in that she's cleaned it up and made it you know, reader friendly because you and I would have a hard time following this conversation if we were just you know, reading it but I having having them both there as options is a great thing. Because if I don't feel like reading, or I'm like, Oh, this is like, heavy material, I think maybe I would rather I would rather listen, or watch or whatever, then I, you know, I've got both options there. So I think that's a great thing. And repurposing allows you to do that to give that option to your people. And so you're not missing anybody.

Rita Suzanne  10:28

Yeah, that's why when I first started this podcast, I was doing the video, and obviously extracting the audio, and then the written as well. But it just became so much to, to process. And it took so long to get everything out. I was just like, I'm not going to do I'm not going to continue to do this. So then we just switched to audio and written. But like you said, it does take time to go through the transcript and, you know, make sure that it's legible, and, you know, readable and, and I designed in disaster. And sometimes, you know, some things slip through. But

Becky Ogden  11:11

yeah, yeah, we

Rita Suzanne  11:13

know what it's supposed to say. But it says something else. And he just, he's over it.

Becky Ogden  11:18

Yes. Yeah, definitely. What do you think

Rita Suzanne  11:21

is one of the main reasons why business owners should repurpose their content? Because I know that a lot of people don't they just keep on creating and creating and creating,

Becky Ogden  11:32

that's why keep them from having to spend that time in constant content creation. But also, you know, when you've got a piece of great content, if you don't repurpose it, it's like, it's like wasted effort. I mean, why why wouldn't you want to take that apart and leverage it? And, you know, let me say that you can repurpose any piece of long form content, it doesn't have to be video, you can repurpose, you know, an audio, you can repurpose a piece of text. Text is as easy to work with for repurposing as audio is as long as you have enough of it. So, you know, don't don't overlook those, you know, books and long, you know, what a pillar posts, pillar blog posts for repurposing as well.

Rita Suzanne  12:26

Yeah, I think those are really important. The pillar posts, like if you have your main categories, and some people probably won't know what that means. But if you have your main categories, then you have your like, post up front, that's really supporting and pulling all the content and, you know, backlinking, which, again, great for your SEO. So, you know, if you're focusing in on particular subjects, it's really good to have that pillar post up front. And you know, it's like, I have one, I think it's like, I don't know everything about branding or something on my, you know, on there. And then every time I would write or create something, I would just go in and add a sentence or a paragraph about the new thing, and then link it back to where it would go. And, yeah, I think that it's important for people to do that every single time. But

Becky Ogden  13:19

really, in strategy, not everybody bothers. The other thing that people overlook a lot of times is keeping a content library, you know, so that you can easily and quickly find your content. So, I mean, that that's something I'm working on building for myself is my own content library, because I don't have ready and easy access to the stuff that I've done, either. Are you saying

Rita Suzanne  13:45

like, I think I know what you're saying, I have a airtable of every single blog post every single page, all of my affiliate links, like all the stuff in that air table, base or whatever is that what you're saying like every time a new page go in as added here or a spreadsheet or something like that, like that,

Becky Ogden  14:09

like for me with my with the hot seat interviews that I do on my FaceBook page or my LinkedIn page, what I what I will be doing with those is downloading them from Facebook and sticking them into a, you know, just a Google spreadsheet with the you know, who it was the date that it was the topic that they covered and the URL that it's posted on my page and then also a link to uploading the video itself into Google Drive with it properly labeled, so that I could go back and find that video very quickly and easily. And then when I repurpose it. Then the same thing you know, each clip would go in that same folder for that particular piece of content so I have ready and easy access to it. Because guess what you can you can leverage it more than once, you know, but you might forget about it right? Well, yeah, you're on, you're gonna get tired of your own message long before anybody else's, because your audience realistically isn't seeing most of your content. So in six months, I could go back and pull out something from you know, somebody's interview and share it again, or some piece of content I did, and share it again, maybe make a little tweak, or maybe the the text, you know, lead in to a video clip would be different the next time I share it, or something like that. But yes, having ready access to your content, and knowing exactly what your content is, especially when it's video, you know, is a good thing to do. And I don't think a lot of people do it.

Rita Suzanne  15:47

Right. And I think that's a great idea, because that's, that, that's even steps ahead of what I'm doing. And I think that that's brilliant to put it in there. Because, you know, like, I was saying, like, I might forget that I created. This happened to me, I have made a bunch of freebies, right. And one time, I was like, Oh, I'm gonna do a, you know, a vault for like to house all my freebies, I'm going through this stuff. And I'm like, why? I don't even remember making this. You know, so I think that that's super important, because, and I would probably go as far as like, you know, categorizing it. So like, if I wanted to go into this particular, you know, content pillar, the it might be easier to find if it was based on subject and stuff like that.

Becky Ogden  16:35

Yeah. Yep, definitely. But that's a work in progress. You know, that's, if you I mean, the idea of doing that, when you have a ton of content is completely overwhelming, right? Yeah. But so maybe instead of worrying about that, you just start with where you are, and start doing it going forward. And then you can allocate maybe, I mean, bearable maybe 10 or 15 minutes a week, to go back through your old content, and just okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna take care of this piece of content and get this loaded this week, I'll take this,

Rita Suzanne  17:10

or delegate it out to

Becky Ogden  17:11

someone or delegate it out. Yeah, I Yeah, definitely. But I, I I have a hard time delegating? I mean, I think a lot of people do, but I'm not sure that I want I would want somebody rooting around in my computer is the thing right now from, you know, for me, I want to make sure that I have control over over that aspect. But yes, I mean, if you've got a team that you trust, absolutely, that would be a great task to, to delegate to somebody else.

Rita Suzanne  17:39

Yeah, well, you could, you know, just give them access to these particular folders and be like, go take these things out, you know,

Becky Ogden  17:46

to find them, they'd have, you know, see, that's the problem is, you know, it's sending them on a fishing expedition, how do they know which ones I actually want? And which ones I care about? And how are they going to know to label them in a way that makes sense to me this, since they didn't want they weren't the one doing the interview? Do they know how I would label that? And I can't tell them? Because I'll have you know, I'd have to go back and oh, yeah, I remember this person talked about this,

Rita Suzanne  18:14

why people don't delegate Becky, they are too afraid to let somebody else take their stuff. And I've gotten to a point now where I'm like, listen, take it all Do you know, and let me see it. And then I'm gonna get feedback, right? And I'm just like, I because I cannot continue to do all of the things, right. It's, I think that it's important, but if you're not ready, then you're not ready, you know, to delegate that stuff. But there should be you know, other things that I'm sure that you do delegate and have help with.

Becky Ogden  18:47

I think if you get a get a standard operating procedure down for, you know, for the content library creation, I you know, you can easily delegate the stuff that you are going to do, because then then you've got that in mind. And you can go okay, I know, I'm gonna have Jane on my, on my Hot Seat tomorrow. I know she's going to be talking about basket weaving. So Sally VA, when this video is done, I need you to upload it into my into Jane's Google Drive folder here and label it Jane 10. What is today the 610 722 basket weaving and you know, so that I can you know, then I can tell exactly what that is. And that's super simple, but to have somebody go back through my archives, and try to do that would be like, Yeah, well,

Rita Suzanne  19:43

I do agree the old stuff would be kind of questionable because maybe you don't even want to you know, maybe right now you're paying somebody to do that. But yeah, I think I love that. You know, that's a very valid point. So any other Reasons why you think that people are not repurposing.

Becky Ogden  20:03

Because it takes time it takes it can take a lot of time, especially if you are taking it taking video and repurposing it into text. It can cleaning up, cleaning up a transcript takes a lot of time. And it's boring for a lot of people like I mean, it brings out my my editor, word nerd kind of personality, and I enjoy it, but it's boring for most people. Then, you know, there's some software that can do some some of these things, you know, they can pull extract, video clips and everything cool, right. But there's something intuitive about pulling out text from a video and framing it. I mean, I just I don't think I don't know of a software that can do that. But I also don't know of a software that would be able to do that as well as a as well as a person can do that.

Rita Suzanne  21:01

On text in the end, yeah, you're getting the value. What like, what is the message in here?

Becky Ogden  21:07

Yeah, like one of my, one of my clients that I worked with, she's like, I had, I felt like I was all over the place. You know, you. I was just rambling. And you made me make sense. You know, because I was able to pull things from different parts of that transcript and edit them for clarity. And it was still her words,

Rita Suzanne  21:29

but cleaned up. Right. Right. Without without the runaround.

Becky Ogden  21:35

Right. Yeah. So that's hard for me, but it's boring for a lot of people.

Rita Suzanne  21:41

Well, I know. But I would say that it's probably you know, as long as it's something that you enjoy, and it's probably educational, right? You get to learn a lot.

Becky Ogden  21:49

Oh, gosh, yes. Yes.

Rita Suzanne  21:53

And for someone who is like an avid learner, I'm an avid learner. So I am constantly trying to learn new things. So I would get the appeal of it. But I could see how it would be mundane after a while.

Becky Ogden  22:05

Yeah, for some, for some people. Yes, it would be mundane. Plus, if that's not if that's not your jam, then it's taking you away from what is your jam, whereas it is my jam. So it's not taking me away from doing doing stuff, you know, that I that I want to do? So? Yeah, I think and

Rita Suzanne  22:23

I think that's the main reason why I started delegating more and more, because I find it hard to come up with content when I'm constantly in the administrative tasks, right? And like, marketing, and sales are what I'm supposed to focus on. And if I can't come up with content, because I'm so my brain is so tired, then it's not something I need to focus on.

Becky Ogden  22:48

Well, and repurposing your best stuff makes it so you don't have to come up with new content as well. Right? So

Rita Suzanne  22:54

yep, yeah, that's true. So let's talk about the title of this episode, which is repurposing your life and content. What made you come up with that title?

Becky Ogden  23:08

I mean, I'm sort of in a repurposing phase of my life, myself. So this is where this is where we dive into the the more personal aspect of my story and how I you know, the the things that might be applicable to other moms who are working on the building a business at the same time as they're being a mom and so. So I, like I said, was a stay at home mom for many, many years. And then a, my family was hit with a mental health crisis. And suddenly, that this man that I've loved all of my adult life, not not kidding 30 years, was debilitated with a horrendous depression. And he was self medicating with alcohol. And the, his, his mental health and instability was so terrible that we separated physically, because I just I, he was erratic and unpredictable, and therefore dangerous. And the man that I married, never would have dreamed of being you know, that guy, but I wasn't dealing with that guy anymore. I had to deal with the reality of the situation in front of me and who he was at the time and take care of our kids. You know, all of a sudden, my commitment to him was, you know, overshadowed by what our kids actually needed. And so, I was in a situation where I'm like, Okay, now I have to take care of the kids in the house and I don't have his support at all. All right, so I ramped up my teaching and tutoring because it was fun. What I was what I was knowing what I was what I knew what I was doing at the time, it was easy to ramp up. I'm relatively and maybe less so now because I don't have my older to anymore but I was very high profile in the homeschooling community here in the Phoenix area in Arizona. Probably still am. But I'm not nearly as active in the homeschooling community anymore now that I only have one and she's not a big Joiner. But, you know, so I still I still get inquiries from people, even though I haven't advertised in a long time about teaching and tutoring writing, because nobody wants to teach your kids writing, right. But when I did that, it's very time dependent. Like I have to teach her tutor during the day. I can't work at night when that's my best hours of the day. And it also was taking my time and attention away from my daughter, my youngest, who is the only one who's still a minor. And I, you know, she she'd already experienced so much. She's not getting the best of me and I know it. And it's terrible. And so I was like this, this sucks. How do I how do I get out of this? How can I how can I change this? Who do I need to become in order to make things different? Okay, I can scale this teaching or tutoring. Well, that involves hiring other people and there's no way that I can be sure that they're any good. I don't want to do that. And I you know, so Okay, shoot. At the same time, my dad and I were starting to dive into copywriting together. And you know, my dad, you know, growing up, if he was home, I was next to him, you know, he, he was okay, I never know when this is going to happen.

Rita Suzanne  27:07

Okay, it's okay, Becky.

Becky Ogden  27:10

So, then you just kind

Rita Suzanne  27:13

of repurpose your life by starting, you know, into copywriting. And then that led you more into the repurposing.

Becky Ogden  27:24

You sort of after my dad died, I was like, I don't want to do any of it.

Rita Suzanne  27:35

But just take care of your daughter and yourself.

Becky Ogden  27:38

Right? Oh, it took a long time to get back into that writing. Um, but eventually I did. And I and I did a couple of projects for people. And I was like, this sucks. You both you know, and, and in the meantime, I had also dealt with to suicidal crises from this, this man that I've loved all of my life. And, you know, I'm just, I'm overwhelmed with all sorts of things. And so I'm having to turn myself into somebody that I, you know, somebody different than I was before. Um, so I, I was like, Okay, what am I going to do? How am I going to do this, and I came across repurposing, and so I have just been building that out, making some tweaks and changes to, to my offers and building some momentum I came, I returned to doing kind of what you're what you're doing here with the unscripted interviews, I started doing those on my Facebook page and on my LinkedIn page, because I used to do these all the time as a, as a freelance writer in my 20s and 30s. Before you know, the Internet was much of a thing. And I interview people and pitch articles to magazines and stuff. But yeah, that's that's kind of how I ended up where I am. You know, I'm, I'm a little bit emotionally dysregulated clearly, these days.

Rita Suzanne  29:14

Well, you know, I think that that happens, you know, we're, you're going through a whole lot, and I, you know, I can certainly understand and relate to, to what's going on, and I'm sure that anybody who's listening would I mean, just appreciate your honesty. And, you know, just, you know, what's, what has happened. It's a lot to go through, especially, you know, with someone who you've loved for so

Becky Ogden  29:42

long. Yeah, you know, talking about my dad, I always it's always a gamble, because I never know, whether, you know, it's about 20% of the time I can get screw talking about him like, you know, cool, you know, it's just, you know, whatever. And the other 80% of the time what happened happens. But I don't know ahead of time, when I'm getting gearing up getting ready to say something about him. I don't know what's going to happen. So it's super unsettling, you know, to, to just go okay, well, we're gonna get ready to talk about my dad open up my mouth, and then all of a sudden I'm just blubbering. It's like, really? Cool. That's awesome. Thanks. And my dad would be like, really? Becky, are you serious? You know, I'm not here, you know, get on with it. Right? So I just, that's what I ultimately ended up doing was, you know, I mean, like, my dad, would I strive to do what I know would make him proud. Yeah, giving up on something that we were doing together would not make him proud of me.

Rita Suzanne  30:45

Well, and now you're, you're independent, you're taking care of yourself and your daughter and doing the things that you need to do that are healthy for the both of you. And yeah, it's hard. And I, you know, and I get it. And I think that a lot of people don't realize how hard it is to run your own business. Right? They think that, Oh, it's so easy.

Becky Ogden  31:07

No, these overnight success stories are 10 years in the making, or whatever, yeah, help you make your first $5,000 online, yes. But they don't tell you everything that you need to do before you make that first $5,000 online or whatnot. And that's all it's like, Cool. Awesome. And that's why I

Rita Suzanne  31:26

like to be really honest with people about, you know, the journeys and everything like that, as you know, like, that's the reason why I started this because I have felt so disconnected from other people. And, you know, so in, especially moms, a lot of my friends were, you know, just women without kids, and, and, or not entrepreneurs, so they didn't really understand the struggles that I was going through. And so one day, I was just like, how are other moms doing this? How are they? How come they can do this? And I can't, why am I you know, like, what am I missing? And so that's why I started interviewing other moms, because I love to hear how they're, you know, how they're able to do it. And just like being honest and raw with it, because it is hard. It's hard every day is another thing. And you know, you might have one great day, and then the next day is like, wow.

Becky Ogden  32:25

How I do it is a lot of help, you know, a lot of help my with my older too. You know, my son stayed home after high school for an extra two years while their dad was unstable, because he didn't want to leave me and his sisters. In that situation, you know, I never asked him to do that. But that is the kind of man that he is. He has since enlisted in the Coast Guard. And and you know, he's had to he's on his second duty station now on stuff, he lives on the other side of the country. But, you know, his help was invaluable. My oldest daughter is still living at home. You know, she's working full time, she's engaged, and they're working on buying a house. And so she'll be out really soon. But, you know, a lot of their help. My youngest daughter spends a lot of time at her best friend's house. And I'm fortunate that you know, her best friend's and only child and my my youngest is essentially an only child because she's so much younger than her siblings. And so her best friend's parents love her. And so she gets to go spend time, you know, I'd rather have her with them than have her home, doing nothing or getting into trouble online or whatever. You know, I'd rather have her go where she's got some friends and something to do. But I mean, it's a lot of help. And she's older. You know, she's 13 When I was when I first started working, and that was just tiny bits. She was two. And it was teaching and tutoring. And I had to do that around. Okay, well, when is her dad going to be home to watch her? What about Okay, can I can I leave her with 12 year old brother? How many hours can I feasibly stay away? You know, and it was that juggling act. I mean, like women who are working like lots of little kids hats off to you because I couldn't do it. I mean, I guess I could if I had to write I mean, I said that

Rita Suzanne  34:19

about homeschoolers, I'm like, I'm heroes, because there is no way I would want to homeschool. And, you know, try to run a business and you know, with my kids here all the time. I just think you know, of course, everybody got a glimpse into it with a COVID No, no.

Becky Ogden  34:38

The same. The you got the worst vision of what homeschooling actually

Rita Suzanne  34:47

it has opened my eyes because I would never want to I just, you know, for me, it's just not a good thing. And that's why I think anybody who's homeschooling like, it's definitely you know, I I know that it has to be, it has to be tough, you know, you don't get a break from your kids like

Becky Ogden  35:04

we do. Yeah, it's hard when they're when they're small, significantly less so when they're when they're older. But, you know, in reality, you know, with, with the homeschooling community, you know, pre and post, you know, now post COVID Now that things are returning to sort of normal, you know, you're doing stuff you're out that, you know, you're, you're engaged, you know, it's not, it's not like you're trapped at home. 24/7. But, you know, I am an unschoolers. And so, that's the only way that I know of that, to balance. Homeschooling with building a business, I go insane if I was trying to keep up with the, with the school calendar all the time,

Rita Suzanne  35:45

right, their curriculum is, it was a lot. And you know, so my kids are older, too. My youngest is 12. And then my oldest is 15. So my 12 year old, he still loves to interrupt me constantly. So I just don't know how I would be able to get through it. But I love the idea of homeschooling. I just think for me being you know, a single mom is just is just not happening.

Becky Ogden  36:14

You know, what's interesting about about being a mom and and being a business owner in the in the post COVID world now. There's a one of my Facebook friends, Monica, and actually, she'd be a great guest. I'll connect you guys, but but she is she does. We have some overlap and what we do, but what she what she primarily does, I don't really love to do and what I primarily do, she doesn't really love to do, but you know, whatever. Anyway, so she had this, she was doing this training, that was stellar in her group, but her baby was super fussy. And so she's like, you know, she's like, Hold on, I'm gonna have to go grab my baby, she grabs her baby, she puts her blanket over baby, and she's sitting there nursing her baby, while she's given this training and stuff. It's like, oh, yeah, COVID opened our eyes to the fact that business owners aren't just business owners, you know. And so this overlap now between personal life and professional life is a lot more accepted. And so I think it's easier now.

Rita Suzanne  37:15

I agree with that. I remember when I first started, which was in 2014, and I was doing a presentation in somebody else's Facebook group. And my sons were really young. And I had told them, you know, just sit out here and watch TV until I'm done. And then we'll, you know, I had said, Something I'll come out with, you know, whatever, whatever I had promised. And I'm at the very end of the presentation. Now, mind you, this is a group of all women, right? And so but in my mind, it was unprofessional. Right? Because I think that that's what I thought that everyone would think. So at the very end, my kids come busting in the room, they're dancing behind me. They're yelling, they're laughing,

Becky Ogden  37:57

they dressed.

Rita Suzanne  37:59

They were luckily. And everybody was like, oh my god, they're so cute. There's a you know, but in my mind, I was just like, oh, no, but luckily, you know, they're, they're telling me oh, it's okay. But I I love now. Like, I've interviewed moms who've had their toddler sitting on their laps, you know, and I think that that's wonderful, you know, because we shouldn't have to feel like we're being unprofessional if our kids are around.

Becky Ogden  38:29

Yeah, yeah. You know, I remember years and years ago, my oldest daughter was a toddler potty training. And, you know, my husband was working from home at the time, he was a he was with New York Life. And he's on the phone. And we hear this, daddy, I you know, why? First of all, why don't you call for mommy. But what is the person on the other another spawned off angry, but realistically speaking, I mean, that's, that's what, that's what being a parent and working from home is. That's, that's the reality.

Rita Suzanne  39:08

Yeah, I think that I mean, that is definitely a positive that came out of all this, the ability to work at home, and, like, a lot of people are still doing the half on half off, which I think is really nice, because it gives you a little more flexibility. I know, my boss would have never allowed me to work half on, you know, like to work virtually. But I'm sure now it's accepted, you know, back at that place. And then you know, having your kids you know, being visible in your business, you know, so I think those are definitely positives that came out of all of this. And then the cleanliness little people are a lot cleaner now. So that's a plus. Yeah, I'm a little OCD. So like having that in there is is a nice thing. You know, seeing, like, you know, when you're out in public so that he tell me, this is our last question. And it's my favorite because it's always about self care. So, you know, as moms, we start to forget a little bit about ourselves. And then as business owners, we forget a little bit more, and we start neglecting ourselves. So I always ask, what are you doing for self care? Like, what are you doing to remember yourself?

Becky Ogden  40:29

Okay, well, my kids are older, so that these kinds of things are much easier to do when your kids are older, I hit the hiking trail. You know, I'm like, Okay, I have time to check out time time for a mental health break, and I go hit the hiking trail, or, you know, like, my oldest daughter is one of my very best friends. And so we, you know, I'll go in into a room or whatever, and I'll flop on her floor, and she'll flop down next to me, and we'll just chat, and have, you know, have that fun. I mean, she's 20. And so, you know, I've been very, very fortunate with my kids that I have great relationships with them. And, you know, my older two are, you know, I've transitioned out of mom role and now it's more friend role. And that's, that's super fun. So I'm chatting with my, my kids hanging out with my oldest daughter. You know, my youngest daughter, I love very much, but she's, I'm still in mom mode with her, you know, major, so

Rita Suzanne  41:27

you can well, I

Becky Ogden  41:28

love teenagers, teenagers are awesome, I think. But I can't. It's not appropriate, right now, for me to relate to her more like, I'd relate to, you know, my oldest daughter as an adult, it's, it's fine now. But you know, I'll do that I've got a couple of girlfriends that, you know, I'm like, Hey, let's let's, you know, get in loser. Let's go, let's go for a ride, let's go grab a fro yo, or something like that, you know. But really, I mean, my favorite thing is, is go hit the hiking trail.

Rita Suzanne  42:02

I love that I always talk about how much I loved hiking when I lived in California, in Southern California, I would go daily, daily, and I would go early. And I would sometimes have to go at night, but I loved it. And now living in Ohio, it's just not the same, you know, like, I hike up a mountain. And I get to the top and I get to take a picture and I have so many breathtaking photos from when I was living in California. But now in Ohio, I equate it to walking in the woods until you get back to your car. You know, it's not there's nothing to see, you know, like, there has no point of payoff there.

Becky Ogden  42:49

Well, so Phoenix desert hikes. They're not the most scenic either, unless you can appreciate desert beauty. There's, there's something really different about the desert that, you know, you drive an hour and a half north of Phoenix into flat into Prescott, or you know, two hours north into Flagstaff, it's completely different terrain. You know, looking at forest land and stuff like that, it gets snow up there and everything. So you'll get different, much different hiking experiences there. But for me, I just don't even care. I just I just need, you know, the fresh air, the wind the dirt underneath my feet, and to be left alone, like I hide by myself.

Rita Suzanne  43:36

That is whenever I want to go outside, my kids always like to tag along with me. They're right there beside me. And you know, I honestly, I feel so grateful that my kids, all of them love to be around me. I have like a little gang. Whenever we go into the store, they're literally all surrounding me fighting over who's going to be next to me. I am so blessed that my kids love me so much. You know? It's definitely it's exhausting. You know?

Becky Ogden  44:06

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Right. My oldest, you know, is active duty Coast Guard. He's stationed over on the other side of the country from from where I am. And, you know, I get a lot of people on the Coast Guard moms page, you know, my kid never talks to me or whatever. I'm like, I don't pick up the phone when my son calls unless I've got a solid hour to talk. Because this this kid will just he is a talker to his mommy. He doesn't necessarily talk a lot to a lot of people. But he will talk and talk and talk. And you know, that's not a bad problem to have.

Rita Suzanne  44:41

No, they're communicating. My son he holds all in until nighttime when everybody comes in here. And he tells me all about his video games and he's telling me this or that and he's just pacing the floor telling me and I'm like, okay, okay,

Becky Ogden  44:58

cool. Yeah, yeah. But you know, one day with boys, they, somebody's going to supplant you as a as the Queen in their lives, you know. And I want that for my son, I want him to find somebody that loves him as much or more than I do. But when that happens, he's going to have less time for me. So I'm going to enjoy the hell out of our two hour conversations every time and but if I can't talk to him for that long, like, I'm not picking up the phone, I'll be I text him back. And I'd be like, is it important? And he'd be like, no, just calling Chaka, I'll call you later.

Rita Suzanne  45:34

Right, right. Let me finish this, and then we will, because you want to make time for him and get him the stuff that he needs. Okay, Becky. So where can everyone find you online? Where are you at?

Becky Ogden  45:46

Okay, so my website is content with ease.com. And I am active on Facebook. And it's kind of starting to get active again on LinkedIn. So I, I mean, LinkedIn is kind of an intriguing platform, I had started on LinkedIn a while back and showed it to build out a Facebook group. And then I decided I hate my Facebook group. I don't want to work there anymore. And so I archived it. And now so I'm back on on LinkedIn again. So I've

Rita Suzanne  46:16

heard a lot of people getting back on LinkedIn. And I did, I, you know, I try to be everywhere. Because, you know, some people say don't, you know, try to be everywhere that, you know, there's too controversial opinions. But I feel like you should be everywhere. And that doesn't mean that I spent all my time everywhere, it just means that I have content everywhere, right? So that I'm easily found. But yeah, I got on there after the recommendation of somebody else. And she was, you know, she just loves it. And, and I like it, too, I think it's good.

Becky Ogden  46:55

It's a different, it's a different vibe than Facebook, for sure. You know, as far as the the be everywhere with repurpose content, it makes it really easy to be everywhere. However, I always caution people, and I'm taking this advice myself, don't show up where you don't have the bandwidth to engage. And I don't have the bandwidth to engage on other platforms right now. But that doesn't mean that I won't keep this right. You know, all of this, repurpose content. And as soon as I do have the team, or the bandwidth to start showing up on other on other platforms, I will, because it's important, I think, and then I'll have all this other content that I can leverage on there. And it'd be no big deal. Right?

Rita Suzanne  47:34

I mean, I do feel like you should try to grow one platform primarily, right. So I do agree with that, like spend a majority of your time on this on growing this long platform. But in my opinion, I think like it just just like, you can't escape her. She's everywhere.

Becky Ogden  47:53

Yeah, and that comes down to personal bandwidth, you know, what do you have the, you know, the ability to do, like, I shut my Facebook group down, because I just didn't have the personal bandwidth for it anymore. I was like this, this is dumb. It's soul sucking. And I don't like it. And so I'm gonna start it and

Rita Suzanne  48:11

therefore you, right, I mean, and, you know, I have two assistants. And so you know, like, that's why I say, you know, it really, like you said, it depends on your bandwidth. If I'm, you know, delegating a lot of my time, and I and my main focus is on these things, then, you know, like, if that's the main purpose do that in, everybody's different. I like to say, you know, there's no one size fits, all right. We're all different. Every business is different. Every mom is different. And you know, so we just have to do what works best for our particular bandwidth and ability at this time. So thank you, Becky, so much for joining us. It's been such a pleasure. I've loved it.

Becky Ogden  48:53

Thank you for having me. Yeah, this was really fun. I love I love these. So that's great.

Rita Suzanne  49:00

And there you have it. I want to encourage you to remember that being a mom who runs her own business is not easy. We all struggle, but just keep moving forward. And don't forget to make time for yourself. As moms we are usually the first thing to go to the bottom of the list. If your business is overwhelming you and you need real solutions, not just some sugar coated suggestions apply to work with me at ritasuzanne.com/apply