Biz Shiz with Shani Timms
Biz Shiz is the podcast for open & honest chats about the REAL SHIZ that goes on in biz.
This is THE business podcast for Soul-Led entrepreneurs who are ready to do business differently. I am here to help you bridge the gap between old school business & modern day spirituality, where we weave the WooWoo, ToDo & the delulu.
On this podcast, we share the real shit around money, magic, business, energetics and so much more.
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Biz Shiz with Shani Timms
Baby Proof Biz feat. Jessie Williams (Ledlin) from Millions to Motherhood : Navigating the Identity Shifts & Surrendering to The Season You're In
I am SO excited to share this episode today with the amazing Jessie Ledlin (Williams).
If you're new to Jessie's work, she is a mindset and business coach, and has a no BS approach to helping her clients raise their standards... and this episode is exactly that. An honest and real conversation about the hard sh*t in motherhood and business, and how Jessie has been navigating this first year of balancing biz and baby.
We dive into the identity shifts that have been unfolding during motherhood, and also the systems she's put in place to support her growing business. We openly discusses the vulnerable conversations and mindset shifts that have strengthened her marriage and business during this time of her life.
We dive in to:
- Addressing feelings of jealousy or resentment when your partner's life seems less changed by parenthood
- Jessie's tips on building a business that can thrive even when you’re not working full-time.
- How she shifted from one-to-one coaching to scalable group programs and trained her team to handle sales whilst she was on mat leave.
- Jessie reveals the power of tough, vulnerable conversations with your partner – and how this can lead to a stronger, more supportive relationship (and business too!)
- Learn how Jessie embraces both her drive and the limitations of motherhood. We chat about the art of surrendering to the season and celebrating the wins along the way.
- The power of simple daily rituals (like nourishing meals and morning sunlight) to stay grounded and energised, adapting them as her baby grows.
- Navigating financial dynamics and independence as a parent entrepreneur
- The importance of taking adequate time off during postpartum, and giving yourself space to adjust to this new life.
About Jessie:
Known for her bold, no-BS approach, Jessie challenges societal norms and empowers her clients to raise their standards, break unhealthy patterns, and create thriving relationships, businesses, and lives.
Connect With Jessie:
Instagram : @jessiewilliams
Website : www.jessiewilliams.com.au
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Or over at @shani_timms for all things podcast, business & life.
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Welcome to Baby Proof Biz, a BizShiz mini podcast series for the woman who wants to balance business and motherhood, you know you're in the right place if you want to bake sourdough and build success, if you want to have the wholesome family life and the wealthy business life, and if you want to be a crunchy craft mom and a successful CEO. My name is Sharni Timms. I'm a brand and business coach and soon-to-be mama, and my intention for this podcast miniseries is to bring you expansive conversations around business and motherhood that give you practical insights, tools and takeaways to help you have more than just a business, whether you have a family or wanting to start a family or anywhere in between, or maybe you're eight and a half months pregnant, like me. Wherever you are in your journey, welcome to Baby Proof Biz and I hope you enjoy the show.
Speaker 1:Jessie Ledlund, welcome to the Biz Shiz podcast. Thank you for having me. I'm very excited, I'm so excited to have you here. We were just having a little chat off air that you were running on literally like minimal sleep at the moment and going from probably you know, I don't even know how much sleep you're getting at night, but little. So we're just going to say like come as you are. There may be forgotten trains of thought, but that is so fine.
Speaker 2:I love that you added that little disclaimer in for everyone, because, yeah, we were just having a chat about my brain's not operating at its full capacity, but that's fine, we'll go with the flow.
Speaker 1:I'm like I have baby brain right now, so I'm like.
Speaker 1:I get it. I'll probably miss my train of thought so many times. I'm super excited to chat to you today because I've been following your journey for quite some time now and I really saw how much you and your partner, oscar, like put into this journey of not just conception but also setting up your businesses for this stage that you're in now, of like balancing business and motherhood, and also relationships, which I'm really excited to chat to you more about today as well. So why don't we start? Do you want to tell us a little bit about your businesses? I know you've got multiple businesses and your partner as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's going to sound like a little bit of a bag full of all mixed goodies, but so my main business is my coaching and education company and that's primarily focused on mindset, but that does extend to other areas in terms of business relationships and things like that.
Speaker 2:I am in the process of starting up another company as well, called Motherbase, which will be all focused on motherhood education and, I guess, disrupting the industry in the sense of I feel like there's a lot of places which like validate mothers and I think that's really needed where women can go to get support and things like that. But this is more going to be mothers who want to be held to a high standard, want to operate at their fullest potential and are willing to see uncomfortable parts of themselves in order to fulfill that. And then my husband his primary business is he's a property developer, so he develops commercial property, so offices, warehouses, things like that and he also is a co-founder and director of a vodka-based company so an RTD drink called G-Up, and he also has his hands in a couple of little other, I guess, private pies.
Speaker 1:I love it. Call it that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So, safe to say, you guys are very busy even without a baby in the mix. Yes, so talk us about your beautiful little boy, romeo. Is he one yet or is he coming up to his first?
Speaker 2:He's 10 and a half months, so he's we're starting to talk about. Oh my gosh, he's going to be one. What do we do? But yeah, he's not there. He's not quite there yet.
Speaker 1:And how was that transition for you? Kind of going from like you've always been so career driven and focused and like business has been such a big part of your life. How did you find this transition into motherhood Because obviously it can be such a huge identity shift for us where we've been like, okay, we're the business owner and now you know we're the mom. What did this like look like for you?
Speaker 2:It's interesting because I thought the hardest shift was going to be, you know, the career and the motherhood battle, and I feel like I've navigated that pretty well and, mind you, like there's always going to be some level of processing and things like that. But I think the hardest thing that I didn't expect that I'd heard people speak about, but it doesn't matter how much you hear about it before becoming a mom it hits different, like once your baby's earthside and that's like a grieving of your past self and it was more actually just like being able to do things how I did them when I did them in the way I did them, um, and having to re-adapt to a level of like sacrifice from love, if that makes sense. And I say that because sacrifice often often is used in a negative way and I don't believe that it always has to be. But yeah, so it was even. Just like I used to love getting up really early in the mornings, going straight to the gym I would do a group class at this gym that I loved and things like that.
Speaker 2:And in this current season, like that's not possible. Like my husband gets up and he goes to work very early. He's some mornings he's left before I've even woken up, so I can't just like go and do that gym class or something like that. And we are. I'm very lucky that we do have a nanny who works part-time, but it's like you know, she's got set hours, so everything is going from. You know, you hear people say baby's going to fit within our lifestyle and like, yes, to an extent, but also there's an extent that that's impossible. So I think, like you know, used to having my mornings for me, training how I wanted, when I wanted, like all those kinds of things. And now it's a level of like it's kind of like Romeo's. It's Romeo season and I'm just here to support that. Yeah.
Speaker 1:It really does shift from like it being about us, like me as the maiden, to us as the family, yeah, and I think it's such a huge shift for us to go through as women. It's like, you know, I'm feeling it now as I'm, as I'm kind of like moving through my pregnancy. It's like, oh, it's not just about me and I'm going to have to be flexible and adaptable. You guys obviously do so much work on your mindset, like what have been some like really like empowering sort of like mindset shifts that you've had to make as you've kind of navigated into this season, maybe like on a personal level and then also a relationship level as well.
Speaker 2:I think. So stuff we had to work through, I guess on a relationship level was me having these two conflicting parts where I have like the conscious self-awareness of like knowing better, but then having the wounded feeling that operates under the subconscious and in my relationship. That was a level of and this isn't the right word but resentment, or not even resentment jealousy of my husband in that, you know, he's got all his own stuff to navigate right In terms of like he's never felt more, like he has to provide even more now that he's a father, and things like that. But I was watching after baby came. He still would get up in the morning, he would still go to work, he would still go to gym, he would still go get his haircut, he would still. So it was like seeing him have much little, I say, and like take that with a grain of salt, but that his life had changed.
Speaker 2:Meanwhile I haven't had my hair, my, my, as we said, my baby's 10 months. I haven't had my hair done once since he's been here, because everything for me now is okay. This is time away from Romeo. Is that worth it? And if it's not worth it, I'm not going to do it.
Speaker 2:So there's some things where, for example, I was, I get my nails done and that makes me feel good enough that I'm willing to, you know, spend an hour away to get my nails done and feel really good, but haven't had my brows done, haven't had my hair done and all of these things that I used to do my gym changing, my day-to-day changing, and so a level of like jealousy, and I bought that up and spoke about that with him and so we kind of like I wouldn't even say it was necessarily like mindset work per se, but it was a whole new level of navigating reality with compromise and meeting each other in the middle of him, just being like, yeah, like that would be hard, Like I can see how you're feeling that.
Speaker 2:And the mindset shift I guess, if there was one that he supported me with is because I was feeling like you know, if you're going to go to gym, you're just going to say, hey, babe, I'm going to go to the gym, I'll be home at this time, I said, but for me, if I want to go to gym, I have to ask you. I have to say, hey, babe, I want to go to gym. So I'm like I feel this level of jealousy that you tell me what you're doing. He said to me you actually need to get out of the mindset that you need to ask and you just need to tell me back.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, that's so good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I noticed in that moment how uncomfortable that felt for me. And he said tell me. If it's a Saturday, say, hey, babe, I'm going to the gym at 12. I need you to watch Romeo. He's like I'm Romeo's dad. If you're going to the gym, gym, it's my job to watch him yeah, I'll do it.
Speaker 2:And and then I realized how I was benefiting off having this story that my husband gets to and I have to ask to when the truth was.
Speaker 2:I felt uncomfortable putting that expectation on him because if you know all the conditioning around like the roles and things like that, so there was mindset stuff for me to work through in terms of feeling safe to actually do that and feel like I could take that time and take that space, so some things like that.
Speaker 2:And then the other ones were, as I said, like grieving my past self and I think having this really beautiful and it's kind of hard to explain.
Speaker 2:But balance between I can do everything and it's not my season to do everything, like in a way that I have done everything I can, to not be a victim, not feel anything in terms of the season of motherhood I'm in and really empowering myself to feel like I can be a present mother, I can be a powerful businesswoman, I can focus on my health, I can build new friendships. I can do everything in this current season with this equilibrium of understanding, like I do have a level of limitations, but it's about how do I acknowledge the limitations in a way that I don't feel victim to them, I feel empowered by them, which happens through surrender and looking at, I chose this season of motherhood, I chose to be Romeo's mom, I chose to want to be a mom, and that there is a level of him coming first right now, and I think that's really, really important, of like knowing it is such a short term season and the older they get, the less they depend on you.
Speaker 1:I think there's so many things that I want to say. First off, I think you're in your absolute best season. You look fucking amazing.
Speaker 2:I'm like every post you do.
Speaker 1:I'm like Jesus, I'm like motherhood is just doing things for you. So, preface with that, and I think it's such a huge thing that we go through like this, this identity shift of like we're not who we were and it's like, even as you were saying, you know the conversations that you were having with Oscar it's like and I know you've spoken about this it's like having these hard conversations that are really fucking uncomfortable and like bring shit up for us are going to mean it's an easier relationship down the track and like I know you've posted about this Can you kind of talk about this as a bit of a premise, because I think it's something that so many people shy away from is really hard conversations, but in fact it's the conversations need to have to kind of propel us forward. So I'd love to hear your take.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So the way I look at it is, if you continue to have easy conversations in your relationship now, it's going to set you up to have a harder relationship later, or you do the hard now and it actually sets you up to have an easy relationship later. So the easy can come in two ways. Easy can be surface level, shallow conversations, and that is you know just how was your day and you know sweeping things under the rug and never really talking about anything, never speaking about desires, whether it's like in the bedroom, what you want in your business, how you want your lifestyle to look, your goals in life, and things like that. But easy can also be bringing things forward, but in a way that's void of any responsibility, so that can be blamed. So it's very easy to point fingers. It's easy to say you're not doing this, you're not picking up the slack here. So sometimes people think they're having hard conversations because they're speaking up, but the way in which they're bringing forward that conversation, it's actually not very hard because it doesn't require a level of vulnerability at all.
Speaker 2:Being able to have a hard conversation to me is opening up a conversation where you've you somewhat fear the response, not because of what you expect from your partner.
Speaker 2:Because, but because there's so much vulnerability there where you're embarrassed to say it, you're ashamed to admit it, you're scared to speak up about it, you're, you're um, you open yourself up to being exposed to rejection, shame, like all of those potential things that could come forward in that conversation. But when you have those hard conversations and you bring things up with your partner that do feel really, really vulnerable but they, you know, touch on important topics what ends up happening is you are able to meet in compromise, your partner hears you, you make changes, you problem solve together, and that ultimately leads to a reduction in friction in the relationship, because there's no longer resentment there, more of your needs are being met, there's changes in character and behavior, you're both working on things, and so this reduced friction leads to, you know, more stability and ease and lightness in the relationship. So I think the more you have these hard conversations, it ends up leading to a relationship that actually feels quite effortless long term.
Speaker 1:And it just sounds like you're a team and it's like you're going in the same direction. It's like you're not, like you know butting heads with each other. So I know you're all here for spilling the tea. What are some really hard conversations that you guys have had to have you know over the past 10 months that you know you're willing to share, of course, yeah, so I guess that one that I shared earlier.
Speaker 2:It's funny because in hindsight it doesn't sound like it was hard, but I vividly remember where we were, how we had the conversation, how we were feeling, and I remember we were in Bali at the time and we were both just like swimming in the pool and my heart was racing and I'm like I need to talk to him about what I'm feeling and I was so afraid that and it's funny because you know the conscious versus unconscious mind logically, consciously, I knew that my partner is a safe ground, regulated human who wouldn't have a response. But that wounded version that comes in is afraid of your partner, deflecting, saying you're wrong, attacking, leading to conflict and argument Like how dare you think that? Like, you know that response. So I remember thinking how the hell am I going to tell my husband that I low-key, am jealous or resentful, that his life hasn't changed and mine has, like in the most simplest term. And I remember saying to him like my heart is racing right now, and after we had that conversation and he held me so safely and just like it wasn't even a big deal to the point, he was just like that's fine, like what do you need. What's the compromise? And even one of the things we came from from that was he spoke about he's like cool, let's get the nanny to do a few more hours. At the time I think she was doing like 10 hours a week and we just spoke about her doing a few more so I had time not just to work but also to go to the gym and do those kind of things. So that's what I mean by the problem solving you come with a problem and then it leads to a solution that you can both meet each other in the middle. And then it also came to the solution of my partner telling me that I need to tell him when he's watching us on more and things.
Speaker 2:Um, we've also navigated conversations, even around like business and stuff like that. As you know, you've even alluded to, I'm very career focused, very business focused, very passionate and things like that, and I have navigated this equally like kind of navigated between wanting to go business, business, business, business, business and simultaneously just really wanting to be present with my son, and I'm kind of in, like I said before, you can do everything but also you kind of can't. It's this two-way street and you know I'm wanting to build up mother base and do all these new things. And it's like we've got our nanny X amount of hours a week I have, so many hours I can build something and building a new business. It requires work, it requires presence, it requires effort and focus and all of that kind of stuff. And me also, I'm not willing to give up more hours with my son right now, like I'm not. You know we could get a nanny to come in and do more hours, but it's like but do I want that? It's like their hours I'm taking away from Romeo. So just balancing even what it looks like for him to step up and provide.
Speaker 2:And so one of the things I said to him was I wanted to be able to slow down a little bit, especially with, like, private client work and stuff, which it's obviously your high ticket offerings and things, but it's just not what I want to focus on. And having the conversation with him of, like, what does it look like, if I do decide to step back, for you to financially step forward and how is that going to feel, you know, and even though it's not necessarily nothing's changed, like I actually haven't stepped away from my business and I haven't closed that down. Something we spoke about that would feel good for me is reducing the pressure that I have to show up for my business, so kind of like being able to like I want to show up for my business. So kind of like being able to like I want to show up for my business from overflow, not from like I have to keep working to financially contribute. And so up until recently I would say in maybe like the last two months, like anything of Romeo's I would kind of just pay for it. Like any groceries, any clothes, any anything for him I would just buy it, unless it was like a really big ticket item, like we were buying him a crib or something like my husband will kind of get that. And we actually don't have a shared bank account, which a lot of people find really interesting. So this is now it's probably making more sense why this conversation is kind of coming forward.
Speaker 2:But so we came to an agreeance that he kind of got me a card linked to his account and he said absolutely anything for Romeo, you put it on this card, like do not anything you spend, spend on yourself, do not buy a single thing for Romeo on your own card and that was a whole new level of, again, we're married but we don't have joint bank accounts because, like I've never felt, like neither of us felt like we needed it, like we're both very, in a very good financial position. It's never really conversation we've needed to have, and so going into this level of, for the first time, somewhat being financially dependent on my husband was like a whole new feeling of I was like whoa, this is like a whole new feeling of vulnerability. And then that opened up. If I did decide to shut down my business which I won't, mind you, but if I did like just using it for self-awareness work, if I did, how would I feel? Entirely being like a stay-at-home mum not making any money and there's stuff there how would you feel?
Speaker 1:Yeah, like uncomfortable as shit, to be honest.
Speaker 2:And like I don't have to work, like my husband is very financially well off, I'm doing very phenomenally in his businesses and I'm very privileged that I don't need to work, but still being in a position where he would entirely financially fund our lifestyle, like that would bring stuff up for me. So, yeah, it's been definitely interesting and I feel like the gift in Romeo is it's brought us so much closer because it's allowed us to see all of the ways in which we were still having a level of independence and it's kind of dissolved that line a little bit and brought me definitely into more dependence on him, but from a place of like love and overflow and commitment and things like that. So all of the things like we've worked through, like it's brought us so much closer as a team and it's been amazing for our marriage.
Speaker 1:I think it's so like I resonate with so much that you said there especially the part around, like I've always been someone who's made my own money and it's like in this season to actually surrender, to be like fuck, like I'm actually not the person who's going to be making the money for you know X amount of time that scares the shit out of me because I'm like I'm actually having to depend on someone else.
Speaker 1:You know, and I trust my partner so much and you know, I know he's going to be amazing, but it's a really like kind of scary thing to do. Yeah, I don't even have a question there. I just wanted to just echo that and be like yeah, I hear you, and it's, we also at the moment like have separate accounts and we're just kind of starting to join things. But it's also a bit scary. I'm like, do I need to ask you to like put a payment through? It's like it feels so. I'm sure he's like just freaking, do it, but it's this weird thing of like oh, I feel like I have to ask everything, you know.
Speaker 2:I had the same thing with my husband when he gave me the card and I said do you want to give me an amount that I need to check in? So like I'll, I'll just buy whatever, but if something's over a thousand dollars, I ask you first, and he was like no, no, yeah. He was like I trust you to spend money on what we need and not be ridiculous Like he's like if you're purchasing something, I trust this because we need it, or like it's whatever. He's like no, don't ask me.
Speaker 1:But I remember feeling like I was like you can give me a limit, like it's so funny how we think and they're probably like shut up, just like, just do your thing, yeah. Um, jessie, I want to swing back to business for a minute, cause I know like you were super intentional with your business and your team, like setting up for you know this. Um, I'm not sure how much time you actually took off when you had Romeo. Talk us through like what you were doing and like you know the things you were putting in place before you had Romeo.
Speaker 2:Yep. So before he came, the main focus was on making my business and the revenue we were developing for my business from as scalable sources as possible. So, for example, a one-to-one client isn't scalable because it requires my time, my energy and I'm transacting with one client versus if I run a program. Whether there's 50 people in the program or 150 people in the program, the workload's the same. So that was the first thing was reducing my one-to-one clientele and really scaling up my group offerings and building more brand awareness around them and building more brand awareness around them. The second thing was coming up with more replicable, kind of like launch phases and running programs. So what that moved from was I started moving from a live business model because, as I said, 50 people, 150, the work's the same, right. But I used to run the rounds live, record the content every time, which still somewhat, is a call in my calendar every week, re-recording the content, re-uploading the content, all that kind of work. And I moved to the course is the course. I've already pre-recorded all the content and when we run it, we just drip feed that same content. The next time we run it, we just drip feed that same content. I'm like, why am I doing these calls over and over and over and over and over, saying the same shit, saying the same thing over and over? I'm like the the and there's sometimes where running something live, it does have a bit of a different energy, depending on it. Like business, I don't feel like it's needed. The discovery code, which is like my signature mindset course, like sometimes when I go through life, I will go through live, it feels like a very immersive journey where we're working through together. So you know, that can be cool, but it doesn't need to be done like that. So that meant that we didn't need to keep recording, re-uploading, taking notes. It just meant we just switch things on and off, on off, on off. So that became easier.
Speaker 2:And then the next thing that was really good for me because I thought about what's going to be the biggest impact that if I, that would lead to reduction in business revenue if I was offline and it was selling, like actively selling on my Instagram stories and things like that. So I actually trained my team to be able to sell for me and we had rules around that in terms of I was like you know, don't create original content or things like that. Like you can't storytell for me, because how do you do that? Or you can't create original content, because that's not your concept. But what we?
Speaker 2:What we did was I created all the copy for the foundations and then they would just reword and repurpose or literally just post and repeat, posting what I'd already posted. So, and then we just created a schedule in that. So I would kind of create all the original content and then it would be their job to just change the order or just repost things on a schedule. So they would have like a plan of you know, on Monday we're selling the discovery code and on Wednesday we're selling ready launch sell and things like that. So they just followed and they would just log in my Instagram posts and and get out, cause I manage all DMS and things like that myself.
Speaker 2:Um, but even that, like if DMS didn't really get managed or whatever it's like, is my business going to fall to the ground? No, but it's like, okay, if I completely go mute and don't sell, that's a problem. And I didn't want to have to be sitting there in my newborn bubble Like I've got to sell on my stories today. Like that just didn't feel good. So it felt really empowering to kind of like get my team onto doing that, and then the final thing that we did was we focused on streamlining, efficiency and productivity, so I got my team to audit everything they were doing on. I think it's called toggle. Have have you heard of Toggle?
Speaker 1:No, but tell us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like. I'm pretty sure it's called Toggle, unless my brain just made that up, but it's an app that tracks everything that your team do and work on in like minutes. So it can be like they spent 12 minutes responding to emails. They spent this long and we went through all of that and looked at where they were spending the most time. Was that priority? Could we outsource that, could we streamline that and things. So we even started getting more AI apps, using ChatGPT, more looking at where we could be working smarter, not harder, in the business as well. So that was really cool. And then we even just like audited the performance, made lead generation things for the business, and then we worked out what can go and it's not really going to create a lot of change to the business and what needs to stay. So one of the things was the year before Romeo came.
Speaker 2:I was doing weekly podcast episodes. You know, proper sitting down, filming, recording, high quality camera going to. They were getting sent to a production team to produce them, all that kind of stuff and I just said, like the podcast has got to go, like I've got to take pressure on myself. I don't want to think about coming back postpartum and I'm podcasting, whereas, like my second one, I might feel entirely different. I might just be like, hey, we're going to shut off video but I'm going to just sit down with a mic and record. But I think every person in every If I sat with it and I was like I'm there and I've got a newborn baby what within my business feels like heavy to have as an obligation or responsibility, I'm going to solve that. And solving it was either let's get rid of it, let's outsource it, let's streamline it or let's like make it replicable or something along those lines. So that's really where I spent a lot of my focus.
Speaker 1:So good, selfishly miss the podcast. I totally get it, but I'm like selfishly, definitely missing it. It'll come back. It'll do. Yeah, it will. I feel like there's so much. You're a projector right In human design, aren't you? I am, yeah, I'm like this is efficiency to the next level. I'm like I'm a projector too and I'm like literally getting off on everything you say. I'm like, yes, so what are you like in hindsight? What? What really really worked well? Like what and kind of what surprised you in? Like did you see sales drop a little bit? Like how did it kind of look in that respect?
Speaker 2:um, so, I would say, um, what worked well was everything that oh, how do I explain it? Everything that we planned like worked well. So the team, they stuck to the sales schedule. They could sell things like that. I mean, there were a couple of things where, like, I would just screenshot and say this aesthetic is ugly, don't use that color again, don't use that emoji again, don't like that, like little things like that. But for the most part, like they got it, they understood, all of that went well.
Speaker 2:What I didn't account for was and again, this is really hard to articulate, but it's like no one can build your business like you can. So, for example, when I'm in my business and I sell, I can see, okay, I got a lot of click-throughs but low conversions. Okay, well, that tells me that the sales copy is working really well, but something's on the sales page isn't converting. And I can go in and I can then recheck the sales page. I'm like, okay, that's off, that needs to be redone, that needs to move, that button's not big enough, that needs to change color. Like I can go into the micro details and whilst my team were really good at ticking the tasks they were designated to do, they maybe didn't have the level of eye to be able to spot patterns and things like that and then solve them.
Speaker 2:So we did see a slight reduction in sales for a period of time and even though we kept getting, what I looked at when I looked at the data later was that content was performing really well but the sales pages weren't.
Speaker 2:And then I went back and you know, when I came back in, I like screenshot some stuff on sales pages and I was like I can see why that's not converting. I can see why that's not converting this and I'm more split test, so I'll go into, like again, as I said, like I'll have the eye to go hey, let's create two sales pages, let's have one really short logistics like this. Let's have long, let's sell this one here and link this one here. See what one converts better, like so I think, just having that real business eye to be able to catch things and move and go, which now I am training my team to be able to do that. So that's probably what I miss. They were able to execute what I'd asked them to do, but it was like where we probably fell short was beyond execution into kind of like initiative and data analysis and then being able to make adjustments based off that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, which I think as a business owner, it's like you do look through that lens at your business. You're like, of course I'm going to look at the stats and like see what's working, what's not, but it's like when you are an employee, employee, employee, employee brain fart you don't always look through that lens.
Speaker 1:You're like this is a task, I do it. Let's get it done. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Thank you for sharing that. I feel like that's really yeah, I'm really grateful you shared that, because it can be really expansive for people who have a team as well. Yeah, to even even set that as a standard. Be like I don't want you to just work in it, I want you to be like foreseeing things and, like you know, critically thinking and all that. So I love, um, I'm just trying to think what we haven't covered, cause there's so there's so many things that I want to, I want to chat to with you. What do you feel like as, like, maybe family or postpartum? Do you wish you kind of spent more time preparing Like? I know we've covered business lens, but anything lens lens.
Speaker 2:I think that I wish I took more time off um how much time did you take off like two weeks okay, yeah yeah, yeah, um, and when I say two weeks, I didn't come back full, at my full workload.
Speaker 2:I kind of came back where, you know, I had two weeks of my team like almost like not even speaking to me, like giving me space, sort of thing, unless it was like highly urgent.
Speaker 2:But it was like everything was pre-planned, pre-scheduled, pre, so it was like they didn't really need to chat to me and so when I came back, it was like just creating a bit more content, reviewing things for them, answering their question, and then it came more, more, more, more, more, more.
Speaker 2:But because of that, I feel like I found postpartum harder, because I had this feeling of like and I'm going to use quite exaggerated terms because sometimes it's easy to explain, but it wasn't this intense but like felt like I couldn't breathe, let's say, with the demands of this little human, how much they needed me, because I couldn't get time to do things and it's like I shouldn't have been doing those things.
Speaker 2:So it was, let's just say, like my son had so many issues postpartum, which was really unfortunate, but and it made our breastfeeding journey really, really hard and things like that. But let's just say, as an example, is you know him cluster feeding and because he had like oral ties and things like that long story. But sometimes he would take up to one hour for a feed and I would be sitting there in that one hour being feeling like a level of just like come on, like are you going to be finished feeding soon, like I've got things to do, like you know things like that, and I wish I could have just been there and not needed to feel like I had somewhere else to be or something else to do, and so it's not necessarily like a family thing, it's that's. That's really the only. The only thing that I regret is just like putting myself in a position where I couldn't just be fully present.
Speaker 1:How much time do you wish that you took?
Speaker 2:I wish.
Speaker 2:I honestly like I wish I paused my business for three months in a way and I take that with a grain of salt because I never would have paused it but I wish I would have come with the mindset of, like, I'm OK if I make no money for three months, whereas, like I went so into the business career focus that I was like what does it look like to sustain revenue with me off?
Speaker 2:And that was the goal. And whilst I would have liked to have kept that a goal, I would have also liked to balance that with like, but I'm not going to do X, y, z to maintain that it's like that's the ideal scenario. But also, if it requires me to do this, this and this, it's out. And so I wish I took kind of like three months of really showing myself grace and even, like you know, for those that are going to have a baby or plan on breastfeeding and things like that, the first 12 weeks is really where you establish your supply as well. So I feel like that time really needs to be focused on being there, being present, establishing, regulating your supply, all that kind of stuff. And you go through a big transition, kind of, after that 12 week mark, so I feel like that would have been a good amount of time.
Speaker 1:I think that's what I'm thinking I'd love to do three months and it's like that's like off off, and then it's just like I can gradually kind of bring things back as I'm ready for it. And again, I always say I'm like we can have the plan. I'm like the plan will probably hit the fan and you'll just be, like you know, picking up the pieces. But I always think I'm like I'd much prefer have a plan than no plan and like try to figure it out as you go. I know you're a sucker for like a ritual and habits that are really supporting you and I've seen this on your Instagram what is really supporting you in this season? That is almost just like so ingrained in what you do now.
Speaker 2:Not so much a ritual, but in terms of just like ingrained ease is just like how I eat. That is supporting my season so much because, as I said, like there's a level of like. You can't always go to the gym when you want, or be here or do whatever, but every single time you make a meal, that's something that you have control over, you know. So I can empower myself through something I can control and I can do it to my best, because that's what that's kind of the feeling that I miss, this version of me that would like go have a cold plunge or go to the gym or, like you know, do my best, and so now it's like every single meal I make I can do my best to nourish my body and things like that.
Speaker 2:So that feels like something kind of like ingrained rituals. Part of my day is just like every meal nourishing myself. Other things is I am huge for natural light in the eyes first thing in the morning, for just like a bazillion reasons. But so that will either be we've got like we actually live kind of like across from the beach so we have like ocean views. So we'll either go out on the balcony I'll sit with my coffee, I bring out this big, huge, fluffy blanket and just like cover the balcony, so the whole balcony is just a giant blanket basically, and my son will come out there and just like play with these blocks and I'll sit my coffee and I just like got the sound of the ocean and the cars and like that feels really nice, getting light in the eyes. Or and or I will go for a walk with him first thing. I walk with him every day, so even if I do the balcony thing first, it's followed by a walk, but I'll either start my day with one of those, so just like a walk with my son getting in nature. It's him and me time. So even if it's a day where he's going to be watched by the nanny, I know that I've been really present with him in the morning. I've got him outside, I've got me outside. So I think just like more time outside, more time in nature, and things like that are really, really good. And then the other rituals, like change, so, and you'll find this, but you'll have, you'll find a ritual and it will be like your ritual for like a week or two weeks and then your baby changes in development or needs or whatever, and then you're on a new one. And that's been the biggest thing where.
Speaker 2:I'll give you an example I was in this season and it's ironically kind of back in it, but I remember when my son was really little, there was this season where, like, we were surrendering to car naps and so there was this ritual that every nap I would just pop him in the car, we would go for a drive, he would fall asleep and I would just park up at the beach and do work on my laptop and then all of a sudden, it's like he wasn't into the car. I could, I would he wanted, like contact naps, and so I was in my contact napping season and things like that. So what I have found to be the most beneficial thing is being is finding a ritual, but being adaptable to finding a new one. And it's like, keep something consistent. That's like, oh, this feels really good in this season, um, but then when your season changes, just find something else.
Speaker 2:So it might be oh, I religiously go to the park and my son plays and I do work on my laptop. Or now we're in the season where we're in the car. Now we're in the season where we're contact napping and he's in a bouncer and I'm on the walking pad, you know. So I went through a huge walking pad thing where it was a ritual, where I felt so good to have him in the carrier sleeping on my chairs, me just walking, doing work. That's, we're not there right now, like we say goodbye to that ritual.
Speaker 1:It's done.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I think like they just change week to week or month to month, based on his development and needs, which I think, as a business owner, you're so set up for that anyway.
Speaker 1:It's like you have to be so agile as a business owner. So it's like you just this is just you know skills transferring into motherhood Absolutely. And it's so funny because I remember like we've kind of been on a similar journey not that you'd know this, but I used to be like vegan and all the things, and then it was like my iron was so low, my hair was falling out, and then I like fully, was just like I'm eating all the meat breakfast, lunch and dinner, and it's like oysters in pregnancy. And, yeah, I love that you and Romeo are doing like the sunlight first thing, because that's just like a grounding ritual which I'm like obsessed with, as we said so many reasons. Um, so I'm like, yeah, I love like there's so many parallels there. I feel like that is all my questions. Is there anything you feel like mums like need to know, or you know, people who are even preparing for this season need to know. It could be a resource, a book, anything, um.
Speaker 2:I mean books I love would be anything by Rhea Dempsey, like Birth With Confidence was one of my favorites, like I feel like that was the most impactful for me, having the birth experience I wanted, um, but yeah, gentle parenting, gentle mothering, is another good one.
Speaker 2:But I would say, when it comes to motherhood and this is my approach and so you can take it or leave it but I think in order to really feel like you're thriving in motherhood, you need to find the balance between always calling yourself out and being honest about where you can raise the bar.
Speaker 2:Do better, make better choices for yourself, your health, your body, your baby, and simultaneously surrender to your limitations, not from a place of, like, being a victim, but just like acknowledging the season and like letting that be beautiful and being able to show yourself grace when you can't, um, do what you thought you could do.
Speaker 2:And I think that's the biggest struggle is, like a lot of moms will say, oh, I can't, because that's too hard, and so they fall so into that default, thinking that then, all of a sudden, it's too hard to go to the gym, it's too hard to eat well, these too hot, and then all of a sudden, like their health is declining mentally, physically, in every single way, or they clutch so tightly to wanting to everything to be the best. And you know, for example, have you had the terminology crunchy mom, yeah, yeah. So it's like you know, the standard crunchy mom which, like I would say, I navigate a lot of those values. But someone is so paranoid about not traumatizing their child, being a conscious parent, like food, chemical, like, so that that they actually just like derail their life and end up living in anxiety because they're so clutch to the plan and they can't surrender. So, I think, find what balance looks like for you in terms of holding high standards and doing better, without letting it run your life to the point that it consumes you.
Speaker 1:I love and I've seen this through. You know everything that you do. It's like Romeo isn't your like excuse, he's your reason. And it's like I know you speak about this as well, but it's just so beautiful to see you, as an expander, doing that Cause. It's like you do see that rhetoric of like oh, it's like you know I can't, you know I've got to look after the kids and do this, but what I'm seeing in you is like you. Just it's like, yes, romeo comes first, but your needs equally comes first. And it's like you. It's that, it's that dance about. You know, I still want to live my life but also be an amazing mother at the same time. So, taking a moment to celebrate you and just like thanking you for being an expander and also like you nailed that that was like zero sleep and you spoke so beautifully, so I so appreciate you coming on and taking the time. Tell us how we can find all the thing. You've obviously got Motherbase. You've got your amazing coaching business. How can we connect?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, as people would have heard, having me introduced as Jessie Ledland, because that is my married name, but my key business does operate under my maiden name, so Jessie Williams. So you can find me at Jessie Williams on Instagram and then, yeah, I run courses, programs and things like that, as I said, predominantly in the mindset space, and then we also have Motherbase, or you can find. You can kind of have a look at what we're going on on my website as well, which is wwwjessiewilmscomau, and I do have a look at what we're going on on my website as well, which is wwwjessiewilmscomau, and I do have a podcast that I'm MIA from, but the Jessie Williams podcast, so that's easy to find too.
Speaker 1:And there's so much, there's so many episodes there you can dive into. Well, thank you so much for your time. I know I got so much out of it and I know the listeners are going to get so much out of it too. So yeah, thank you so much, Jessie.
