Mom Owned and Operated
Candid conversations with and for moms about the real deal of raising a family, running a business, and remembering yourself.
Tired of the fluff and just want real talk about what it takes to succeed as a mompreneur? Then you've come to the right place.
Join your host, business growth strategist Rita Suzanne, as she dives into the nitty-gritty of building a business while raising a family. With over 10 years of experience helping women entrepreneurs thrive, Rita knows what it takes to make it all work.
In each episode, Rita sits down with inspiring mom business owners to uncover the strategies, mindsets, and tactics that are actually making a difference in their lives and businesses.
Tune in and discover the secrets to building a successful business without sacrificing your family or yourself.
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Mom Owned and Operated
Juggling Business and Babies with Rebecca Schor
In this episode of the Mom Owned and Operated podcast, Rita Suzanne and Rebecca Schor discuss raising a family, running a business and remembering yourself.
Rebecca Schor is a wife, boy Mama, and a passionate photographer turned business coach for Mamas. When Rebecca became a Mama in 2022, she realized just how HARD it was to try to manage ALL of the things as a Mama and entrepreneur.
Determined not to sacrifice precious time with her newborn son (and learning a lot of hard lessons along the way), she meticulously optimized her business, slashing work hours while boosting profitability. This resulted in Rebecca being able to be more present with her son, witnessing all of his special milestones during his first year.
Rebecca continues to strive to build her business around her life, not the other way around and made it her mission to help other Mama entrepreneurs do the same. That is why she founded Mama in Biz in 2024, a community to support Mama business owners with 1-on-1 mentoring, monthly virtual Mama meetups and resources to help you THRIVE in both business and life!
We were never meant to do it all alone, and we don't have to! Follow @mamainbiz on Instagram! You can connect with Rebecca on her website and Instagram.
Send a text message! Email, if you want a reply though. ;)
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P.S. You can find more interviews at momownedandoperated.com and learn about working with Rita at ritasuzanne.com/apply/
Hi, this is Mom Owned and Operated. I'm Rita, suzanne, and today I have my guest Rebecca with me. Rebecca, please tell everyone all about you, your business and your family.
Speaker 2:Yes, hi Rita, thank you so much for having me on the podcast. I'm so excited to meet you and chat with you today. So I am a wife and a mama to an almost two-year-old boy. He'll be two in September. I've been a business owner for the past 13 years.
Speaker 2:I started out in the photography industry. I was a full-time wedding photographer for seven years and then I still do some weddings, but after I had my son in 2022, I cut back big time on the weddings just because I was doing like up to 20 weddings a year and I didn't want to be away from my son that often. I also started coaching in 2021. So the year before my son was born and I started out just coaching other photographers in my industry that I knew and really fell in love with helping other business owners, but I didn't know exactly like the specific niche, the specific like person that I wanted to help. I kind of felt like it wasn't exactly photographers.
Speaker 2:And then, after my son was born, I had kind of a rough transition into motherhood and just figuring out like how to balance motherhood and being a business owner and that was what really kind of grew or ignited my passion, I should say, for coaching and I knew that I wanted to help other mama business owners because I felt like there wasn't really a ton of support out there, especially for new moms. So that was where the idea for my business, mama and Biz, was born and I decided at the beginning of this year to go all in on that, so just launched our new website a couple months ago. And Mama and Biz is essentially a community one on one, coaching and education, helping mamas and expecting mama business owners.
Speaker 1:Nice, and what do you guys?
Speaker 2:what do you do for the mom business owner? Yeah, so the one-on-one coaching. That is my goal, for that is to help moms identify exactly where they're wasting their time in their business. Because when I became a mom, I realized like there was a lot of tasks that I thought were urgent that actually were not, that I was actually like wasting my time on. So I actually went through and kind of streamlined things and deleted a lot of things that I was doing in my business. So essentially, my goal is to help moms do the same thing so that they're not spending so much time in my business. So, essentially, my goal is to help moms do the same thing so that they're not spending so much time in their business and they have more time to spend with their babies. That's the goal.
Speaker 2:I also started a monthly, a free virtual social hour for mama business owners. That's just where we come together to support each other, ask each other questions. We come together to support each other, ask each other questions, bounce ideas off of each other, whether it be about business or motherhood, because as business owners, we have a unique set of challenges on top of, like, the challenges that come with motherhood. So that's why I wanted to create just a community where we can come together and support each other for that and I actually started on top of so. We have a social hour for moms, and then I decided to start one for expecting moms. So because they have a whole, nother unique set of challenges.
Speaker 2:That was something I learned when I was pregnant. I had no idea, like, how to set my business up for maternity leave and everyone was asking me, like when is your maternity leave going to start, when is it going to end? And I was like I don't know, am I supposed to be like doing that? And I was like I don't know, am I supposed to be like doing that? And let me tell you, I had a rude awakening when my son was born and I can get into that more if you want, if you want me to.
Speaker 1:I think that any time like whether you work for corporate or even like, have your own business I think maternity leave is really a struggle for everyone, right? Because you're in the midst of all these emotions and you don't even know what's going on. So I was working in corporate when I had my sons. But tell us, like, what is it like to try to run a business and try to figure out maternity leave at the same time?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So basically the difference between having a maternity leave as a business owner and as like a corporate employee is you don't really have to worry about that. As a corporate employee, it's all kind of set up for you. You can just you know and walk out of the office and say I'll see you back in three months or however long. But as a business owner, all of the responsibility and everything leading up to the birth of your child and just setting your business up to make sure it can run on autopilot, all of that is up to you.
Speaker 2:So there's a lot that goes into actually going through your business, whether it be if you have a team, being able to delegate all of the tasks that you do in your business to your team, or if you're a solopreneur as I was at the time a full-time wedding photographer when I had my son looking into hiring, help and being able to delegate tasks or outsourcing tasks and really, just like I said, going through streamlining, optimizing, setting up automations where you can for everything in your business, because that's the last thing that you should be worrying about. When you're a new mom, you're bringing home your newborn baby, you know, you're learning. It's a major, major life change, if not the biggest life change that you'll ever go through, and you're learning how to do a million different things. You're recovering from birth and having to worry about answering emails or clients or whatever else it may be, should be the last thing that you have to worry about.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so what type of things do you help them figure out, like how long they can take off, or like how to streamline things and kind of optimize it, like what level of support are you providing?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So, starting out, I would have them go through everything in your entire business. Just make a list, maybe make a brain dump, of just all the tasks that you do, because a lot of times we do things in our business without without even thinking about it. Thinking about it, our brains just kind of go on autopilot, right? So really getting specific, looking at every little thing that you do, because you can't figure out, like if you're going to streamline, if you're going to pass it off to someone else. You can't really figure that out until you get the full picture of exactly what it is you do in your business.
Speaker 2:The next step I would say would be thinking about finances. You know that's something that's important, that a lot of people definitely worry about when it comes to maternity leave and as a business owner, again, that's all on you to make sure you won't necessarily get a paid maternity leave. So that's up to you to make sure that, whether it be just figuring out, if there's ways you can save up to take however many weeks or months off that you plan, if there's ways to maybe set up a stream of passive income in your business so that you still have some money coming in while you're snuggling with your baby and not having to worry about that. Another thing I always recommend is picking a start date and an end date. Now, this was something I was guilty with. I was bad with when it came to my maternity leave.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I say that with quotation marks, because I didn't actually set up a maternity leave for myself, but I did write a date down in my calendar and I said like this is when my maternity leave was going to start. But the mistake I made was writing it down in pencil. Okay, so make sure you write it down in pen or Sharpie and highlight it, underline it, because I normally write everything down in pencil, because I normally write everything down in pencil. I'm still a paper old school paper planner kind of person. But the problem was I kept erasing it and pushing it back and I was like, oh, I can fit a couple more projects in, a couple more things in. And turns out my son actually came a month early and I had, I actually had several weddings planned that I thought I was going to photograph after he came and that was a whole nother mess to have to deal with. So, as far as the start date, I would recommend planning at least a month, if not two months, before your actual due date, just to plan for the unexpected.
Speaker 1:I mean, you could have like a backup or some backup person to cover for you, probably in your situation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Luckily, I did have the foresight to actually get a backup person. That was one thing I did plan for and I was very thankful for that, because I was literally in the waiting room of labor and delivery like texting my clients like I'm not going to be able to do the wedding. But yeah, luckily I did have a backup person that was able to step in. So thinking about that as well is important. So thinking about that as well is important.
Speaker 1:It's really hard, I think, to think these things through when you're in the midst of pregnancy and, like I said, the hormones and all of the day to day aspects of your business. So I feel like having someone else come in and kind of work through some of these things with you would definitely be helpful, and so I love that you offer this and offer the support to other moms for your support group, for the moms what are the normal kid ages for the um, the babies and mothers in there?
Speaker 2:Um, yeah, the ages range all the way from newborn up to teenage to sometimes young adults, which is cool, because it's nice to be able to talk with moms at all stages of you know, children with at all different ages, and that's why I wanted to start doing one for expecting mamas too, and expecting moms are also encouraged to come to the one that's just for all moms, because it gives them an opportunity to speak with other moms that have been in their shoes, you know, ask for advice on whatever they might need. It's just a really cool way to connect.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that anytime you can kind of network and support one another, especially moms, it's very important.
Speaker 1:And being pregnant, I just remember when I had my second son, I was able to stay home from work for about 18 months and one of the things that I did is I created a meetup group and I was living in California at the time, so I was able to go on walks a lot, and so I created this meetup group where we would it was me and moms and we would just go for stroller walks with our kids and then we would walk and talk and we would end up at the park so our kids could play.
Speaker 1:And I had relationships with those moms for years after the fact, and I'm still in touch with a couple of them, even you know my oldest is 15 now. So you know, I think that it's really important to have that support because if I wouldn't have created that meetup group, I wouldn't have had anybody at that time to relate to, because all of my support system everybody I knew was at work. You know they were all working their own jobs or you know they just weren't able to like be at home like I was. So I love that you're able to do that, even if it's, you know, virtual or whatever.
Speaker 2:Yeah, community is so important because being a business owner can be isolating. You know a lot of times we're working by ourselves in our office, we don't have like coworkers to converse with, and motherhood can be very isolating too. You know just a lot of the times you're at home with your baby and by the end of the day, or with your toddler, and at the end of the day it's like can I speak to an adult please? So that's why, yeah, I totally believe in community 100%.
Speaker 1:So one of the things that I've started talking about is just pivoting away from that is talking about one of the I like to kind of focus in on what tools or software are you using in your business that's kind of helping you maintain your sanity while working. You know, as a mom business owner, you know this could be like a project management tool or anything else that maybe it's helping you organize some of your things. Whatever the case is, like what is one of your favorite tools? It could be an app, whatever the case is.
Speaker 2:I would say probably my favorite tool is Toggle. It's T-O-G-G-L and that is a time tracking software platform, whatever you want to call it, and that has been a game changer for me. I started using that after I became a mom and basically it doesn't take any extra time, just when, when I sit down to work, I start the timer. You can type in like what you're working on. You can add clients if it's client work, and then you just end it when you're done. And I have been tracking that and it just made me realize that was how I realized I was wasting a lot of time at my business. It also just keeps me more accountable because I'm like, and more focused because I'm like okay, the timer's running, I should not be scrolling Instagram right now. That's not what I said I was working on, so let me get back to what I was working on.
Speaker 1:But, yeah, I wish I would have tracked more time when I first started so that I could have realized, especially with client projects, what I was spending time on back then, because back then I did like long drawn out projects versus like now I do daily projects. But yeah, I wish I would have known. Then I would have been able to see like how much time I was actually wasting or even putting in on these these long projects. It would have been a game changer for me. It was just really hard for me at the time to do it, and so now I love hearing that they have these other resources that are maybe probably much easier to use than some of the stuff that was out there back then use than some of the stuff that was out there back then. So, are you listening to or reading anything amazing that you'd love to share? It doesn't have to be business related, but do you have any good books that you're listening to?
Speaker 2:Yes, I am actually reading a book. It's called the 4-8 Principle by Tommy Newberry, I believe. It's a book that I've had on my shelf for years. You can see, like all the books behind me, I'm an avid book collector but I can't say I always finish them. So it's a book that I've had for years and I just decided to grab a book off the shelf to start something new and started getting into it. I'm about halfway in now and it has been actually really amazing. It is based on the Bible scripture Philippians 4.8. And basically the premise of that is all about just thinking positively, like always seeing the glass as half full. And yeah, it's really. It's just been very positive and I'm excited to keep reading that.
Speaker 1:I love it. Okay, so, as I mentioned to you before starting, like, one thing that I love to focus in on is self-care, and the reason why is just because I wasn't able to take care of myself for a short period of time, and, as moms, you know, we sometimes will neglect ourselves, and so I would love to know, rebecca, what are you doing for you? That's only for you.
Speaker 2:I would say, setting aside even if it's just 10 minutes a day to take time for myself, take time to just breathe and reset. I really started getting into yoga Actually fun side note I recently became a certified yoga instructor as well as if I'm not like busy enough already, but that has always been another passion of mine and something that just really helps with stress relief, something I really leaned on while I was pregnant and after becoming a mom. So, yeah, I love to do yoga for self-care and the stress relief.
Speaker 1:I love it. So where can everyone find you online? Where are you at?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so my website is Mama and Biz and it's spelled B-I-Z dot co. You can find me on Instagram at Mama and Biz, and, yeah, those are the two main places. I am in the process of creating a Facebook community, so if you want to follow me on Instagram, I'll be sharing the details to the community as well pretty soon. That's something that I wanted to create because after our social hours, we have that once a month, but I just thought it would be nice to actually have a place to go, so we're not just speaking once a month and, if we have questions or just want to chat, a place to be able to do that all the time.
Speaker 1:So Love it, and so the link for that will also be on your website. But everything will be in the show notes and I'm sure by the time this episode airs you will be live with that. So I'll have the link for it and we'll include it. And I just want to thank you so much. It's been such a pleasure, Thank you so much, rita, this has been great.
