Your Social Media Questions Answered

KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST

• Blogs are one of the easiest ways to create content and one of the best ways to get started when it comes to content creation.
• If you’re looking for inspiration, you can use a site called answerthepublic.com. This site allows you to search for a keyword, giving you examples of other relevant topics that people have searched.
• Using Answer The Public and your own content ideas, you need to build a list of all the posts you want to write. The more detail you include, the better.
• Batching your content is key.
• When it comes to being scared about producing video content, you need to remember that your video is going to be adding value to someone’s life. If you don’t create your video, you won’t be adding that value.
• If you’re worried about nerves, run a practice private live. Whether it’s in a group or to a specific person, you may feel better after a practice run. Honesty is key, so tell people it’s the first time you’re going live.
• If you’re creating a video for social media, you need to upload it to every platform you’re on natively, as this will maximise your views.
• When sharing a video in your email, set up a landing page for you video and send your subscribers there. This will allow you to include a call to action.
• If you want to ensure you’re consistent with your social media channels, make the most of social media scheduling tools. For those that need help when it comes to motivation, appreciating and celebrating the little wins can really help.
• If you want Insta Story success, ensuring you’re consistent is important.
• Another great way to ensure you’re successful on Instagram Stories is to find a way to get people into your DM’s. Whether it’s using the question feature, putting up a poll or getting people to take part in a quiz – the more people message you, the better.

THE ONE THING YOU NEED TO REMEMBER ABOVE ALL ELSE…

It doesn’t matter if you feel fear, absolutely everyone does. It’s natural to feel nervous about putting yourself out there.

HIGHLIGHTS YOU SIMPLY CAN'T MISS

• Question #1 – Have You Got Any Tips for Starting A Blog? – 06:20
• Question #2 – How Do I Get Over the Fear of Making My First Social Media Video? – 09:32
• Question #3 – How Do I Use Social Media to Differentiate My Service in A Crowded Market? – 14:15
• Question #4 – If I’m Sharing A Video in My Email, What Link Should I Send People To? – 17:51
• Question #5 – How Do I Keep Motivated and Consistent with My Social Media Posts? 20:49
• Question #6 – You’re Always So Well Dressed, Where Do You Get Your Clothes From? 22:58
• Question #7 – What Are Your Top Insta Story Tips and Tricks? 24:29
• Question #8 – How Do I Keep Up to Date with All the Changes in Social Media? 26:25
• Question #9 – How Do You Juggle Your Work Life with Children and Travelling? 27:50

LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY'S EPISODE

• My Academy
• Answer The Public
• Hubspot
• Buffer Blog

Transcript below

Speaker 1: (00:33)

Hello and a really warm welcome to this week's episode of the podcast. How are you? Okay confession time straight away! It's the Thursday before this podcast comes out on the Monday and I'm only just recording it. You know what happens. Sometimes I get so good at batching content so far in advance and then what happens is it's like, I rest on it and I think I've got loads of content. It's absolutely fine. And then I start running out of time. And also as you'll know, cause I've talked about it on the podcast, I have been going through a launch. I've been doing masterclasses, which actually I'm doing today on the day I'm recording this and I'm launching my academy. I'm setting that up. So I have been so busy that I feel awful that I'm recording this so late. Also, I feel so bad for my team who are now going to rush to get it edited and rush to get the show notes written and then get all of the social media posts ready.

Speaker 1: (01:34)

So to Phil, to Kirsty and Sofia, I apologise profusely that I am putting you under this extra stress. I promise you this is a hiccup because we've been so busy setting up the academy. So today I've launched it, which is crazy amazing. Honestly, I've done two masterclasses so far. I've got another one at 9:00 PM. They've been amazing. I've had such awesome feedback. I love teaching. Hopefully you can tell that from the podcast. You can tell that I like talking about what I talk about and that I'm passionate about it and I end up kind of just overdelivering all the time because I want to give a really, really good value. So I've loved doing the masterclasses. I've had some great feedback. I've had people join the academy. Woo, which is amazing! And I'm gonna urge you to go and check it out because honestly I have put it up for a price that is the craziest good value.

Speaker 1: (02:33)

So basically the academy is open from now until Friday the 26th, let me double check that date. Hang on, two seconds. I know I should have had that in my head because I knew I was gonna talk about it. It is Friday, the 26th. Okay, so the academy is open until Friday, the 26th of July and then I'm closing the cart. The reason I'm doing that is because it's new and I want to go in there and love the people that are in there. I want to give them my attention. I want to make sure everything's working. I want to get some more content in there. And I want to really focus on making sure that it's amazing for when we open again and it's already amazing as it is, but even more amazing. And then we'll open again. But because this is brand new and I am having founding members, i.e. if you join the academy you're going to be the first people in there, then you're getting it at a crazy good price. So it's currently up for $29 a month, which seriously is so, so good value. You're going to be getting monthly courses all around digital marketing and social media. There's already at least four courses in that with another two coming in the next day or two. By the time you guys listen to this, um, you are also going to be getting a coaching call every single month where you can get on a zoom call with me and I'm going to be picking people to do hot seats. Or you can apply for a hot seat but we can talk specifically about your business and your problems and your issues and things that you need help with. We're also going to do Facebook Lives in a private Facebook group, just for course member.. Just for the academy members.

Speaker 1: (04:08)

So again, that's going to be great. You're gonna be able to ask me questions. I'm going to be able to do additional training and teaching. The other thing that you're going to be able to do is we're going to have a social media updates all the time, so as things change and happen, you're going to hear about it so you don't need to worry about what's working because we're going to be telling you. We have a resources centre, so in the resources centre, I'm going to put all the stuff I use. So you're going to know, if you want an email system, if you want a landing page system, all the stuff I use in there, and obviously you've got the private Facebook group, so honestly, please go and check it out. I'm going to link up to it in the show notes, but if you go to teresaheathwareing.com/academy. Man, it's a hard word to spell. Honestly, I get it wrong every single time, but it's a-c-a-d-e-m-y. So teresaheathwareing.com/academy, go check it out. Like I said, you've got till Friday the 26th to get in there and then I'm closing it. I don't have a date for reopening it yet. We're just going to see how we'd get on once I'm in there. But I would love you to come and join me in there with the others. It's going to be awesome.

(05:17)

Anyway, sales pitch over with on to today's episode! Made today's episodes a little bit different, but it actually goes in really good with the fact that I've just talked about the academy because a few weeks ago I put on social media. Would you like to ask me a question and I will answer it on the podcast and this is what today's episode's about.

Speaker 1: (05:37)

So very specific questions. We've got some great questions. I've obviously had to look at them all. Um, I haven't prepped on the answers so I'm just going to literally do it off the cuff. But I've obviously seen all the questions and I'm going to read out some questions and I'm just going to answer them and hopefully you can get some great content from it and some ideas for your business. And this is kind of what I loved most. So the one of the reasons I wanted the academy and to do the coaching calls and the live Facebook stuff, and the private Facebook group is because I love it when you tell me about your business and I get to think hard about what is it that I would recommend you do or what direction or how or what tool. That's the stuff that I love. So this episode for me is going to be so cool. I love it.

Question #1 – Have You Got Any Tips for Starting A Blog?

(06:20)

Okay, let's get on first question. This is from Sarah from Crazy Media. She asked, have you got any tips, hints or advice on starting a blog? Absolutely! Okay. So blogs are one of the easiest ways to get content out there because there's no production as such. It's not like you've got to do production on the podcast and move to iTunes or the same with creating a video. So blogs are a great way for getting started in terms of getting content out there. So the first thing that I would do is think about what is it you're actually going to talk about. So one of the websites that I recommend a lot is answerthepublic.com. It's a great website where you can put in your keywords and it will basically throw back everything that people are asking on the Internet.

Speaker 1: (07:09)

So what often happens is you think to yourself that you've got to send out content that's really high level, but actually the stuff that people are asking for is really simple. So obviously I'm guessing with Crazy Media, we're talking sort of social media or marketing. And honestly people don't want to know necessarily like amazing strategy stuff. They want the small and simple and easy. So that's the first thing I would do. I would go and see what content there is or I would go and see what suggested things you can do for content. I would then try and write as many titles for blog posts as possible. Man, this is the way that I like to work. So this might not work for you, but when I start to actually write my blog, not that I do them very often obviously because I have the podcast, I try and almost fill in.

Speaker 1: (07:56)

So if I've got four or five title suggestions, I will work on all of them at once. This sounds really odd, but basically I will have an idea of what I want to cover in each and I will make notes under each title. So for instance, if I want to write something to do something to do with Insta Stories, so it might be a total of five tools to create engaging stories and then for instance, I'll be writing down what are those five tools I'm going to talk about. Then I'll talk about the intro and write down some notes about that and then I'll do something to do with the end of it and write some notes about that. And then once I've got those sort of, I've got my head around those points, then I would probably go away and write the full proper blog post. But you might want to do some research while you're doing those bits as well. So for me, that's how I do it.

(08:42)

The second thing I do is always have a group of blog posts to start with and also have so many written in advance. There's me talking about batching content and I'm literally recording this about four days before it goes live. Uh, take my own advice again anyway, I would do that, especially if you're starting, if you can get some in the bag. Great. I would also decide on how frequent you want to do it. Personally, obviously my content's weekly, if you can, that would be amazing if you can't, twice a month or monthly. But again, I would at least try and have, you know, if it's twice a month, I would probably try and have at least six blogs written and I would start with two or three. So when you announce that you're doing a blog, you've got someone that already to look at. So I'm hoping that helps. Thank you so much for your question, Sarah.

Question #2 – How Do I Get Over the Fear of Making My First Social Media Video?

(09:29)

Okay, question number two is Magdalena. She's a virtual assistant and she's put, “How do I get over the fear of making that first video on social media?” Okay, great question. Right? The first thing that I need to say is it doesn't matter that you feel fear. I think everybody does. So don't be concerned or put off by the fact that you're scared. I still get scared every time I speak on stage. If I do a live, I get nervous. I think it's really natural to feel nervous about the fact that you're going to be putting yourself out there. So from the nerves point of view, there's a couple of things I want you to think about.

Speaker 1: (10:06)

First off, you're obviously going to be doing a video for your audience and you're virtual assistant so you might be, let's say you're going to be doing a video around how to organise yourself or how to manage something or whatever. You're going to be doing it to add value. So the first thing you've got to think is someone could be out there needing this right now and you're not giving it them because you're scared. And like I said, I totally get it, but this is how I try and think about it. By me not putting myself out there, I'm not helping someone and by me not helping someone, they're not being as successful as they could be and therefore I try and imagine I'm being selfish by not putting myself out there. So that's my first thing I would say is that honestly it is a little bit scary and I get it. Totally get it.

(10:54)

So the second thing then in terms of actually practically doing it, there's a couple of suggestions I've got for you. First off, you can do a private live video to either a personal or a group. So you could go live and just send it to someone just for a practise run. Or if you have a group that you're in or you're part of them, some sort of group for something you could ask if you could do a quick live test in there just so that you're not doing it out in the public just so that you're not feeling like you've put yourself out there immediately and you're going to mess it up. The other thing I would suggest is when you go live for the first time or when you do your first video, be totally honest and say, this is the first time I'm doing this. It's a little bit out of my comfort zone. I feel a little bit nervous, but we're going to go with it and see how it goes. I'm, you know, I want to come on to do this. This is why I'm here, so I'm really hoping you're going to find it helpful. Honestly, that's how I would start. Also, imagine you're talking to someone that you know or that it's someone that really needs your help on the other end. That helps me as well. I never read from anything, so if I do any talks, if I do presentations, like I said, I've just done my masterclasses today and I don't read and a thing, I have a very rough guide or idea of what I'm going to say. I might have some bullet points to the side of me if I'm going live or doing a video, but I certainly don't have things verbatim because I promise you I would try and read it and it would be the most unnatural thing in the world.

Speaker 1: (12:27)

It's the same with the podcast. I know roughly where I'm going with my conversation, but it's honestly the words just falling out of my mouth as I'm doing it, so it's totally, totally natural and you know what? For me, and I don't know the all my audience think this about my the way I am, but for me I really much prefer that I like someone to be human and it puts everybody else at ease because I don't know about you. If you've ever watched a video and they're so slick and so good it I almost don't relate to it as well. Whereas when I feel like they are human then it makes me feel so much better. So first things first, don't be beating yourself up that you're fearful of doing that first video. Everybody's going to. Secondly, try and practise or do a video in a safe situational place where you know you can have a practise. And thirdly, when you do do your video, say, okay, this is my first, this is a test. I've not done it before but we're going to see how it goes. Be really honest. And also if I went back and listened to episode number one of the podcasts, I would probably be mortified. And the only way I've got to where I am now, I'm not sitting there saying I'm amazing at it now .I'm certainly more relaxed about it. I certainly don't delete as many ums and ahs. I also don't delete necessarily little small mistakes when, I'm trying to think of what to say cause personally, and you might disagree, but I think it adds to the podcast. So, so now I feel like a much more relaxed, they do it much quicker, but I could have only done that by actually hit and go that very first time. So do that first video with no pressure. Don't expect it to be phenomenal. Just hit the button and do it. Thank you Magdalena, that was a great question.

Question #3 – How Do I Use Social Media to Differentiate My Service in A Crowded Market?

(14:06)

Okay, next one. This is from Gilly. She has a personal travel consultant at Not Just Travel. She writes, “As you know, I'm a personal travel consultant. How do I best use social media to differentiate my service in such a crowded holiday market?” Okay. So I think the first thing to say, Gilly is obviously it is a busy market, but then I think in lots of cases we are all up against lots of other people and not just in our industry. Social media is a very, very noisy place. So trying to stand out against anybody and anything is really tricky. Now you're in the very fortunate position that you're in an industry that people will definitely want to think about, look at, engage in their social media. Also that this is something that's applicable to so many of us. So in terms of your target audience, it's a really wide audience.

(15:03)

So a couple of ideas spring to mind. Firstly, is there particular types of travel that you are going to be really good at or you're going to be able to sort of niche down on? So for instance, are you really good at experiences? So someone who wants to do a big trip and put lots of elements together or is there a really good way of doing family travel or something that is, so that would be my first question as to whether you can identify some niches in which to kind of work in that you can become known for that type of travel or that type of person. Because sometimes when your audience is so big, it can be really tricky to kind of focus down and attract the right audience because you're trying to please everyone.

Speaker 1: (15:47)

The second thing I would suggest is about becoming an expert. It's about putting content out there that maybe others aren't doing. So for instance, how many other travel consultants out there are talking about how to find the greatest deals, how to book a holiday for this. Things you should consider if you're going away with children, things that you need to do if you're going to book a safari holiday or whatever it is. Because actually I think in the travel industry, there's not a lot of people out there putting out loads of good content. Now, you might think, and lots of people think that if you put too much content out there and you make it too easy for people, that they're going to just go and do it themselves. Well, the truth is the people who are going to do that anyway would have probably done it, you know, so they possibly weren't ever your customer.

Speaker 1: (16:33)

However, by showing you're an expert means that they're engaging in your content and they might tell someone or they might engage with someone who actually does want you to do it. Because for the amount of people that will go into themselves, there's probably a load more that will just think, “Do you know what they're saying is actually more difficult than it's worth?” I would wonder as well, could you kind of mix up how you do your content? So Gilly, because I follow you on Linkedin and I think that's a great place for you because um, obviously there's lots of business people that want to go on holiday and Linkedin is really rocking right now for everybody. If you can use Linkedin then it's definitely a really good platform at the moment. But you know, videos, you did some videos on there and they were awesome. So again, can you do it in a different way? Talking about videos. Also always content around things to make sure that you don't have an awful holiday. So the things that you want to make sure happens or the things that you want to avoid and that sort of stuff. So trying to give them an idea of the things that could potentially go wrong as well. So for me it would be all around content and keep putting it out there, keeping consistent. And like I said, your business really should and would stand out so much more than others. So I really hope that helps, Gilly.

Question #4 – If I’m Sharing A Video in My Email, What Link Should I Send People To?

(17:44)

Okay. Let's go on to the next one. So this is from Sally and she is from Treat Trunk, which is a healthy snack box for kids. So she has created a video for her business and she wants to share it via her email. So she's going to email her list and she wants to put the video or a link to the video on it, but she's asking me where should she put the link to? Should it go to Youtube or Facebook? Okay. So first off, videos are awesome. I love that you've created a video, Sally, and it's a really good and quick way to get people to see your product or your service and what you're offering. Now in terms of where to put it, I'll talk about that first and then we'll talk about the link. So for me, you want to put it everywhere but you want to put it everywhere natively, so what I mean by that is you want to put it on youtube, you want to take the same file and upload that to Facebook, take the same file, upload that to Linkedin. If you're using Linkedin, same file, take it to Twitter because if you use youtube and link everybody back to Youtube, then basically you're not going to get anywhere near as much reach your eyes on that video as you are going to if you put it all natively.

(18:52)

Let's just say for a moment that you're trying to push your youtube channel. I, I don't think you are doing this case, but if someone's listening and they are and they're thinking, but I want them to go and view it on Youtube, then what I would probably do, if you've got a video on youtube that you want people to watch and you want to use social media to advertise it, I would use a real short snippet of something really good in that video. I would upload that natively to all the other platforms. But then say go and view the rest and then link to youtube. If you just put a link into youtube and no video, then Youtube and Facebook don't like each other and they're not going to give you very good reach on it.

Speaker 1: (19:30)

So that's the first thing. I put the video everywhere. Now in terms of in an email, ideally I'd do one of two things. I'd either have a space for it on my website and send them to your website with it. Or if you haven't got a space on your website, set up a landing page using something like lead pages and send them to the landing page. Cause the other thing you really want around the video is a call to action. You want to be able to tell them to do something straight after they've watched the video or what is it you're trying to get them to do with that video. And that's really hard on Facebook or Youtube to get them to that call to action. So I definitely put it on your website. Definitely put it on there or a landing page. The other advantage to that is that you are going to be, well if it's your site, you're gonna be driving traffic to your site, which is always a good thing, but you can then put a pixel on it.

Speaker 1: (20:22)

So Facebook has a pixel, a bit of code that you can put on landing pages and you can put on your website and you can then track the people who are going to that page and watching the video and then you can remarket back to them. So if you were doing Facebook ads, you could then send them an advert based on the fact that they went to that page. So for me, definitely, definitely always a website. Okay. I hope that helps though. That was a really good question.

Question #5 – How Do I Keep Motivated and Consistent with My Social Media Posts?

(20:47)

Next one is from Jonathan and he has an art gallery called The Soden Collection and does beautiful bits of art cause I've been there. “So, how do I keep motivated and consistent with my social media posts? Um, um, this is a hard one. Now first off, keeping motivated. No, I'm not sure how easily I'm gonna be able to answer that one because I'm not sure I'm always that motivated. However, got to keep consistent. So the consistency, the thing that I would recommend is scheduling because in all honesty, if that's the only way that you can stay consistent, I would much rather you do that. Block some time out once a week. And do you know what? Do a whole weeks worth of content. I promise you once you get into it, it's not going to take you more than 30 minutes, 45 minutes. Then the thing about what Jonathan does is he has an art gallery. He's got pictures and sculptures and amazing things to look at. So actually he's never going to be short of something to say. But I would absolutely schedule stuff as you go along. So use something like Buffer, schedule all your posts in, put them in there and then that will keep that consistent because they'll be going out whether you're busy in the gallery or not. So definitely use a scheduler.

(21:58)

In terms of keeping motivated. The way I keep motivated is I or trying keep motivated is I appreciate every small little win and connection. So basically every time anybody sends me any DM, they comment on my stuff, they engage with me at all. I am over the moon with that. And I think that's what I use to keep myself motivated in terms of appreciating the fact that they're engaging with me. And that can be really hard if they're not engaging with you or you're still struggling to get some sort of eyes on your stuff. But that's probably one of the ways that I stay motivated. But also, like I said, that scheduling, using something like Buffer is a great, great tool in order to get that stuff out there. And if you've not tried it, do try out. It's, it's really good. So I hope that helps Jonathan, thank you so much. And seriously, The Soden Collection has some amazing pieces of art. Lovely place.

Question #6 – You’re Always So Well Dressed, Where Do You Get Your Clothes From?

(22:57)

Okay. The next one is, I had some funny ones which made me laugh. So Vid Pro Mum who I've had on the podcast, uh, sent me a question. “So you're always well dressed. Where do you get your clothes from?” I thought this was brilliant because what she doesn't know is I hate clothes shopping. I never have liked it. I've always struggled to find stuff that I like. I am the world's worst at it, so thank you for saying that. I always look nice, but I pretty much do everything online. I don't like going into shops. I don't like getting changed and getting all hot and sweaty. It's not nice. So I order loads of stuff online. And the other thing I do, which is so bad and so frivolous of me is sometimes I don't send it back if it's not right. So like literally I'll have stuff in cupboards with tags on and it's awful. But yeah, I tend to be like those people that if I do find something I like, I try and buy it in like two or three different colours. But I also find myself with a wardrobe full of clothes and wearing the same things over and over. And because I go on stage and because I am on camera on things, I'm really conscious of what I'm wearing because I don't want the same photo of me. And you're like, oh, she's in that dress again. So yeah. But thank you for saying but no, I'm terrible. And I literally buy the cheapest stuff. I'm not very good at buying like the, you know, the good stuff because I just, like I said, I changed my mind like the weather and yeah, don't tend to, to enjoy that process at all. But anyway, I love that question. That is so funny.

Question #7 – What Are Your Top Insta Story Tips and Tricks?

(24:25)

Okay, so next one. I've had lots of Sarah's that have asked questions. So another, Sarah, this is Sarah from Wildly Social Media. “What are your top Insta Story tips and tricks?” Okay, Sarah. I love this one because I love Instagram Stories. So first one, be consistent. I know this irritates people me saying consistent all the time, but please, honestly, it's so important to be consistent. Secondly, another thing I really like to do is, one of the ways in which you can start conversations with people is get them into the DMs. So one of the things that I would do to get people into the my DMs is using things like the questions feature, the quiz feature, the poll feature. So these are a really good way to interact with your audience because one, especially something like the poll feature where it's literally just like a tap on something, people tend to do that thing really easily. And again, the quiz ones is another really good one. So I have a great example and I'd love to take credit for it, but it wasn't my idea, but I'm going to share it. So actually in a couple of weeks we've got the very lovely Mary Hyatt going to be on and she talks us through the strategy where basically she ran a quiz and dependent on which answer they gave, she then followed up with DMs. So I really, really liked that one for Insta Stories. I think that's a great one. The other thing I love on an Insta Story is a gift. Like I think they're brilliant. I think anything kind of interactive, tagging people in. Tagging people in is another really good tip because I know everybody that tags me in and I get some amazing, lovely comments on Insta Story about the podcast, which is wonderful. But anybody who does it, I then share it on my stuff so you get seen in other places. So this is definitely a really, really good one. So those are just a few of my tips and tricks, but I do love in story and I think it's awesome.

Question #8 – How Do I Keep Up to Date with All the Changes in Social Media?

(26:21)

Okay. Uh, next one. So this one is “How do I keep up to date with all the changes in social media?” And this is from Sarah, who's a coach. Okay. So great question. Social media changes like the weather, it's a very fast moving platforms and literally one thing you do one day might work and then the day it might not. So trying to keep on top of it can be really hard work and overwhelming. Now, obviously all of the platforms have their own news newsrooms where they put out their updates and some of them will be useful and some of them will mean nothing to you and mean nothing to me. But there, they obviously are putting things like that.

Speaker 1: (27:02)

You can use something like social media examiner. They often talk about sort of the latest things. They write blog posts, but they tend to be really long form blog posts. Strangely enough in the academy, this is something that I've already mentioned, the beginning that we're going to be doing. So we're going to be putting in a kind of brief, this is what's changing and this is what's coming up. So I would find a really kind of good source. Oh, another couple of good sources are Buffer. They do good stuff. Hubspot, they do good stuff too, but it is hard to keep up to date with everything. It can be tricky. So yeah, it's a, it's a tough one. But like I said, if you wanna join the academy, which I'd love you in there, then uh, then obviously we will be giving you those updates too.

Question #9 – How Do You Juggle Your Work Life with Children and Travelling?

Speaker 1: (27:40)

Okay, last question. So this is from Louise and she's a VA. She writes, “How do you juggle home and work life with children and travelling?” I've left this the last because it's a little bit different from the others and it's a great question because it's hard. Okay. First off, not even gonna lie straight up honest. It is super, super tough. So I think generally I go through two phases. One either feel like work's awesome and I'm a terrible mother or I'm a great mother, but terrible at work. So I either feel one of those two things. It's really tricky. But let me just start by sort of explaining the home life that we have here. So I'm married to my husband, we've been together five years and he's in the military, so he travels a lot. He goes away and when he goes away, I'm here on my own with, well not on my own obviously, but I'm here without him, with my daughter.

Speaker 1: (28:37)

And my stepson, my stepdaughter's now moved out, so she did live with us for a while. So obviously my poor stepson, I always feel a bit sorry for him because he lives with us full time and obviously his dad's not here a lot of the times, so I'm the only looks after him and I say look after him. He's like 16 and he can pretty much look after himself. But obviously I'm the main adult that's around all the time. So I do always feel a bit sorry for him that you know of all the adults in his life. You know, I'm, I'm a stepmom and I'm sure he'd rather that be his dad, but it just as it is, that's this job. My husband's in the military for a long, long time, so that's the first thing that obviously he lived here full time with us.

Speaker 1: (29:16)

Then my daughter, because I'm obviously divorced from her dad, he has her every other week. So actually that helps a lot with juggling time because one of the things I do try and do is I try and divide my time in the sense of when I know she's here. I try really hard not to book anything. Obviously when I'm asked to go and speak somewhere that can obviously sometimes have an effect on it. But yeah, I try really hard not to book anything. I try really hard not to work really late. She's been here with me this week while this launch has been going on and I've had a very honest conversation with to say, “Mummy is super, super busy. I really needed to focus on this, but once this is finished, next week I'm going to free up some time and we're going to do something. What do you want to do?”

Speaker 1: (29:59)

So I try really hard not to beat myself up. The one thing that really bothers me about juggling home and work life is food. I am the worst person at finding time to plan and cook meals. So for me that's a real problem area that I really want to help sort of try and fix soon. But, but really it's about a few things. Like I said, trying to be really present when they are here and then when they are, and like the holidays, you know, she's off at the moment and saying to her, you've just got to be patient with me because Mummy has to work. And actually I try and be really positive in the sense of she can still be in her home and I'm still here and that's a very lucky thing to have, so I'm not having to shove her out to some childcare or someone else.

Speaker 1: (30:40)

So that's how I dealt with that. The travelling is really interesting. So I'll say I'm away a lot and people, I'm sure that some of my friends and other fellow mummy people from school must look at me and think I'm the devil because I can leave my daughter for so long. I think the fact that she spends a week with a dad and a week with me has certainly got me into the routine of, I have times without her, which I guess if you have your children full time sounds really odd, then obviously you're not, you're not used to that. Whereas I am already used to it. Als,. I'm very lucky that he's a really good dad and when I'm away she goes, she's with him. So He's very helpful and flexible. We are for each other and basically she will go and stay with him while I'm away and I don't worry about her at all. He's a very good dad. She's got a great stepmom and they are fabulous at looking after her. So I don't need to sit and panic. So I just crack on and do what I need to do. And I do miss that and I do Facetime her and she bribes me into getting us something every time I go away, which is starting to get a little bit expensive and silly cause it's happening quite a lot. But anyway, so that's some of the ways that I juggle. And it is hard. I'm not going to say it's not, I just think she knows, my stepson knows, my husband knows that we're all work. We're working towards something that's gonna be awesome and is going to benefit us all. So, and then just quickly, actually my husband didn't talk about him. It's all, one thing I have to be really conscious of is that I feel that my time is more valuable than his, which is really bad.

Speaker 1: (32:09)

So when he's here, obviously he's not working. So when he is at home, he's around and obviously that I don't sort of realise that, you know, just because I'm free, he has to be free type thing. So, so I do try and spend some time with him and again try and manage that time. But he's amazing cause he helps in the business. He works in the business. So often we will work here in the day and then might go to the pub in an evening. And even though we're working, we sat together and they were in a different environment and yeah, so that bit's good. That's fine. But it is tricky. It's hard work when you run your own business, try and do it all. So anyway, thank you so much for the questions that have come in. I've loved answering them, they've been great. I'm sorry to the ones I didn't get around to answer. Do please go and check out the academy. It's going to be awesome. And if you want to ask me specific questions you'll be able to do that in the academy. So it's going to be a really, really good thing. I'm super excited. Anyway, I'm going to end it there so that I can get this really quickly over to Phil and he can get it edited and then we can get cracking for Monday. So have a great week and I will see you next week!