The Classy Career Girl Podcast

How to Build a Business That Fits Your Life (Start With Your Life First) What if you built your business around the life you actually want—instead of building your life around your business? In this special training from inside my CLASS membership, I'm sharing why one of the most important things you can do when starting or growing a business is to start with your life first. Before you decide what to sell, how much to charge, or which business model to follow, get clear on what you want your days, schedule, priorities, income, and family life to look like. In this episode, you'll learn: Why your life vision should come before your business plan How to choose a business model that supports your priorities Why career fulfillment and life fulfillment should work together How to stop building a business that requires you to sacrifice the life you wanted it to create How to think differently about success, flexibility, and growth Plus, Career Coach Certification starts tomorrow, and our pricing is increasing. If you've been considering becoming a Certified Career Coach, I highly recommend applying for the Fall cohort now. You can complete Certification in as little as 90 days, but you currently have up to one year to graduate. Apply for Career Coach Certification: www.classycareergirl.com/certification Watch the free Career Coach training: www.classycareergirl.com/coachwebinar

What if you could actually look forward to Monday? If your career looks good on paper but doesn't feel like the right fit anymore, this episode is your mini career clarity class. I'm walking you through 4 practical steps to get clear on what you want next — without quitting your job or having your entire future figured out. In this episode, you'll learn: How to identify the "career clues" showing you what needs to change The simple Money-Out Test I use to help determine whether you need to redesign your career or make a bigger change How to design your career around the life you actually want How to run a small 30-day career experiment instead of making a huge leap How your existing experience could become the foundation for your next career or business You don't have to start over. You may already have years of experience, skills and knowledge that can lead you toward work that gives you more purpose, flexibility and freedom. FREE TRAINING: Break Free From the Wrong Career Join me live on September 9 at 7 PM Eastern for a free training where I'll show you how to take the experience you already have and turn it into a flexible, profitable career coaching business. Register at https://www.classycareergirl.com/breakfree

If I could go back and talk to myself before becoming a working mom, there are a few things I would want her to know. Have patience. Give yourself grace. Keep moving toward your vision. And know that working fewer hours doesn't mean you're less ambitious or productive. In fact, one of the biggest lessons I've learned is that cutting my work hours actually made me more focused, efficient, and happier. In this final episode of the Working Mom's Survival Guide series, I'm sharing what I wish I had known about balancing motherhood, work, business, and the life I actually wanted to create. We'll talk about: ✨ Why fewer work hours can actually make you more productive ✨ How to identify what really deserves your time ✨ Why systems at home AND at work are essential ✨ The simple phone changes that helped me become more present with my kids ✨ Why you don't need to check email, Slack, or social media all day ✨ How your 5–10 year vision can help you through overwhelming seasons ✨ Why taking a break can make you a better mom and business owner One of the best changes I ever made was removing work apps, email, and social media from my phone and creating specific times to check them instead. Because when work is done, I want to actually be DONE. You don't have to be available to everyone all the time. You don't have to do everything. And you don't have to sacrifice being present with your family in order to build meaningful work. Give yourself grace. Keep creating systems that support the life you want. And remember WHY you're doing all of this in the first place. Your action step: Ask yourself what is distracting you from being present with your family. Is there an app you need to remove—or a boundary you need to create—so you can truly log off?

If you constantly feel like you're putting out fires at work and at home, you may not need to work harder — you may need better systems. In Part 4 of the Working Mom's Survival Guide, I'm sharing one of the biggest changes I made after having my third daughter: creating simple systems and routines to eliminate as much last-minute stress as possible. Instead of relying on myself to remember everything, scrambling to meet deadlines, or constantly answering questions from my team, I started asking: How can I create a system so this is easier next time? In this episode, we'll talk about: → Identifying the areas creating the most stress at home and work → Creating systems for meals, groceries, laundry and cleaning → Batching work and content ahead of time → Delegating tasks instead of doing everything yourself → Creating processes so your team doesn't always need you → Building routines around your kids and family → Protecting your energy and scheduling what fills you back up → Creating boundaries when you work from home → Turning recurring stress into a repeatable system Your home doesn't have to be perfect. Your business doesn't have to be perfect. And YOU don't have to do everything. The goal is to notice what keeps creating unnecessary stress and build a simple system that makes it easier next time. Your challenge: Identify the top three areas causing last-minute stress in your life right now — and decide what system you can create for each one. And if you want to see how I plan my weeks, months and priorities as a busy mom and business owner, grab my free planning guide at ClassyCareerGirl.com/freeplan.

What if you didn't need eight uninterrupted hours to make meaningful progress? In Part 3 of the Working Mom's Survival Guide, I'm sharing how to restructure your work around the life you actually want — instead of constantly trying to squeeze your life around your work. Because 15 minutes really does add up. In this episode, you'll learn how to: → Make progress even when you only have 15–30 minutes → Use timers and deadlines to get more done in less time → Create simple daily routines for recurring tasks → Identify your best times to work → Stop expecting yourself to do everything → Build more fun and breathing room into your days → Create a weekly work calendar that works for you AND your family You don't have to sit at a desk for eight hours a day to be productive. And you don't have to wait until you have the "perfect" schedule to pursue the work that matters to you. The goal is to get creative, focus on what matters most, and restructure your work in a way that supports your life. Go at your own perfect pace. ❤️ And if you want to see how I plan my weeks, months and priorities as a busy mom and business owner, grab my free planning guide at ClassyCareerGirl.com/freeplan.