Building a Business That Doesn’t Cost Me My Motherhood | My daily routine as a mom of three
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Does the thought of having kids while growing your business feel intimidating? Or perhaps you are a mom and business owner who struggles with comparison because everyone else seems to “have it all together”. Either way, you’ll feel seen, heard, and encouraged during this solo episode where Victoria opens up an honest conversation about motherhood, entrepreneurship, and what her life actually looks like behind the scenes.
Victoria answers some burning questions her community asked on Instagram about her daily routine, prioritizing health, building a flexible business, and more. This episode is a coffee chat, heart-to-heart and a reminder that we’re all just doing our best. Whether you’re catching up on laundry or out for a morning jog, this episode will remind you to embrace the season you’re in and remember that no one is perfect.
Sometimes, you don’t need another strategy or action item on your to-do list. You just need to feel seen and heard in your season of life. This episode is basically a coffee chat, heart-to-heart where Victoria shares her honest thoughts about motherhood and entrepreneurship, taking care of yourself, and what life actually looks like behind the scenes.
A Peek Into Victoria’s Life Right Now
Victoria is a mom to three little girls—a 6-year-old, 3-year-old, and 1-year-old. She started BrandWell as a side hustle 8 years ago before quitting her job, the day after she found out she was pregnant with her first. She believes children are a blessing no matter what the circumstances and understands there’s so much nuance of being a working mom.
At BrandWell, Victoria has 5-6 employees who support the business. Sometimes, she struggles with the balance of doing both motherhood and entrepreneurship, especially while her kids are so small and dependent on her.
The conversation around motherhood and entrepreneurship is often black and white. There’s the hustle harder no matter what camp, and then there’s the step away from your ambitions and return to them later camp. Victoria finds herself in the middle of the two extremes, doing everything she can to live in harmony with both.
Victoria strongly believes that having children can make you a better business owner. You find a way to work more efficiently, make necessary decisions faster (such as growing your team), and use your time wisely.
Answering Your Burning Questions about Motherhood and Entrepreneurship
The BrandWell community had lots of questions on social media around motherhood and entrepreneurship, and here are some of Victoria’s responses.
How do you build a business while building a family?
It feels intimidating to build both a business and a family at the same time, but that’s because people assume you have to do both perfectly. Instead, you learn to accept the areas that are no longer perfect and become more adaptable. This doesn’t happen right away. The faster you learn to adapt, the sooner you’ll be able to scale a successful business.
Having three kids means you’re always needed by someone. It’s really hard to find a window of peace and quiet. At the start of BrandWell, Victoria would only work on something if she had large, interrupted blocks of time. Now, she’s learned to work when she can—even if it means writing a quick sentence, closing the laptop, and returning to work later. She has to chip away at it whenever she can.
What does your daily routine look like?
Social media gives us this strange illusion that everyone else figured out some magical system that we haven’t. Victoria doesn’t have a magic system, but she does have good rhythms. Her routine changes depending on the season of life, and that’s okay. At the time of this episode, Victoria covered her summer routine while the kids were home from school.
6/6:30am - Wake Up
Usually, one of her kids wakes her up. She doesn’t always set an alarm in the summertime. Victoria usually makes an iced coffee and puts on a show for whoever is awake. Then, she’ll go back into bed or head out on the porch to read her Bible.
8:30/9am - Gym
The gym has an 8:30 or 9am childcare option, so Victoria books one of those. It’s a good rhythm to get up and out early.
Lunchtime
A babysitter comes for 4-5 hours, three days a week in the summer. Victoria will often work from her home office, hit a coffee shop, or work from the gym during that time.
If it’s a day without a babysitter, after the gym she’ll make everyone an early lunch. The baby goes down for a nap, and the big girls get some sort of activity. Many days, they’ll play with the neighbors while Victoria works for a few hours. If they’re going to utilize the TV, it would be during this window of the baby’s nap.
Mid Afternoon - Baby Wakes Up
Once the baby is up, that usually ends the workday. On rare occasions, she’ll do a little work if her husband is home early or after the kids go to bed.
Evening - Bedtimes and Quality Time as a Couple
After the workday, it’s time for dinner and hanging out as a family. Once the kids go down, Victoria and her husband are able to have uninterrupted conversations together and do something that fills their cups.
How do you prioritize your health?
With time, getting to the gym became far harder to not do than to do. It’s Victoria’s outlet and where she prays about hard things, releases stress and anxiety, and enjoys time alone. It’s important to her to have a gym that offers great childcare, because then it’s easy to go even with kids.
There’s also a strong sense of community at the gym. Motherhood can be very isolating and you have to work harder to be around community, because getting out of the house is just hard. When it comes to motherhood, you have to choose your hard—and it’s also hard to stay home and go stir crazy.
How do you juggle it all?
Victoria has no trouble admitting that she drops balls all the time. However, she rarely lets the most important ones drop. Every season asks something different of you. Sometimes your business gets more attention, sometimes your family gets more attention, and sometimes your kids are sick and you have to check out. The goal is to be intentional with where your attention goes.
You have to learn to prioritize what has the highest consequence. That’s the filter to run your entire to-do list through, especially if you have a lot of things challenging your priorities.
How do you make time for yourself?
Going to the gym is definitely one of the ways Victoria makes time for herself, and she typically goes 4-5 days per week. She also highly recommends romanticizing your life by making small, otherwise unenjoyable tasks enjoyable. Here are some ways she practices that in her life:
Morning cleanup while listening to an ocean soundscape
Lighting a candle in the middle of the day
Sipping an iced espresso while folding laundry
Making an Impact on Your Kids as a Business Owner
Victoria doesn’t want her girls remembering a mom who was constantly stressed out or unavailable, pouring herself out to the point where she had nothing left. She wants them to remember she loved her job, but she loved them way more.
She hopes they see that she has a business she built from the ground up that supports them and also supports other women. The business is not the legacy, but the people are—and they’re what will matter 5, 10, 50 years from now.
If you’re thinking of having kids someday but are intimidated by it, you will figure it out. You will learn to adapt to a new season of life, and you’ll be better for it.
Key Quotes
“The business is not the legacy, the people are.”
Victoria Marcouillier
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