623. How to Buy Back Your Time as a Product-Based Business Owner

Hi, I'm Jacqueline Snyder and this is the Product Boss podcast. I've helped launch and grow thousands of product based businesses, even one of my own. And over the last 20 years, I've seen behind the scenes of businesses just like yours. Whether they are makers, manufacturers, artists or food and beverage businesses. I have spent so many hours studying it all. I've discovered what makes them successful, what mistakes they could have avoided, how did they turn their ideas into successful business, and what are the strategies that they have used to make more sales and be discovered by more customers. And this is what this show is all about. Whether you're just starting out or you're looking to become a million dollar product boss, I'm here to give you the permission to chase your dreams, no matter how big or small. All you need is the right mindset, a little courage, strategy and support, and you too can be the next million dollar product boss. Let's do this. The other thing that's been hard for me to do is to release the expectation on myself that I should and can do everything at once. So this came up for me when my kids were little. I remember with my son, you know, I didn't, I wasn't running the Product Boss and designer consulting co op, I just had designer consulting co op and I was running Cuffs Couture. And so, you know, I had a team and I was bicoastal with my husband. But so I, you know, I was with my son a lot and I think I took off maybe six weeks from maternity leave and we ended up getting a nanny and I was able to afford it even though I wasn't. Cause I feel like the amount I was making per hour was basically what I was paying the nanny. Um, but it was allowing me to grow the business. So I, you know, I spent my time at home. It was my first kid and then I had a nanny for a long time until he was old enough to go to preschool. Now then I had my second kid. Oh, second kids and third kids and fifth kids. I had her and we were bicoastal. At this point we were living between New York and la. Um, my son was in school. I now had, you know, my businesses were growing. We were bicoastal. There was a lot happening. I have her and we're traveling a lot. And now I've got two kids, which is just a lot, A lot. And as I was just starting the Product Boss, I remember being coached by a mentor that I was working with in a mastermind that I was in and talking to her about my. My time and my capacity and what I can do. And she's like. She's like, hire for the help that you can afford. She's like, maybe you put your daughter into daycare before you can grow this company. And I was like, what? Like, no. Like, my son was with me until X year, like, months. And, you know, I don't want to do this to her. Like, so young. Da, da da. But the thing is, is that we were alone. Like, we were on the east Coast. We didn't have support and family. We didn't have all the people we could call on, even though it was already uncomfortable. I'd call my mom and my sister, but we didn't have all that support. And so she's like, if you want to grow your business, then you need to outsource some things so that you can focus on growing the business so that you can buy back your time, right? Like, you can have enough money to hire a team to run the company for you so you can pick your kids up from school so that you, you know, can get this thing on its feet, and then you can be with your kids when they need you to be with them, especially when they're older. So. So I remember crying the night before I sent my daughter to daycare at my son's preschool. Just hysterical. I was like, God, she's going so young, like, messing her up. But I feel alone, and I can't grow this business and all the things. And it felt like a stretch for money and just all the stuff. I just remember walking her into daycare. She's little, she's walking. She was so advanced. And like, my son, I had to, like, sit outside, you know, the room, and if he cried, like, separation anxiety, all this stuff. My daughter, she literally was like, peace out, mama. She took her teacher's hand twice, turned around, smiled, waved. I just remember it. And, like, she walked off in her little tiny booties, and that was it. And I picked her up, and she'd basically taken over the preschool. She's like, boss of her class, and she loved it, and she thrived. And so I had the time between dropping my kids off at preschool and daycare to the time I was picking them up to stay really focused to being focused on the business I wanted to build. And then when they were home with me, I was able to be focused on them because I know I put in my hours. So. So I bring all of this up because so many of us are using these words like balance and juggle, but we Feel tired and stressed and stretched too thin, trying to be all the things to all the people. And I think that one of the biggest changes that we are making as women in our generation and what we're gonna pass down to our daughters is very different than what a lot of us experienced growing up. We may have had parents that were like my son says he was like a latchkey kid for a big part. Cuz his mom was a teacher at his high school so she would have to stay day later. So even though his mom was at the school, like you know, he'd have to come home and get himself snack and whatever. Remember latchkey? They'd all always talk about like latchkey kids because you're either like a kid that came home on your own or you had a stay at home parent. Maybe your parent was a teacher and they, you know, didn't work during the summers and they were with you. Or maybe your parent was career focused and had a career and they worked all the time. Or maybe they didn't have the privilege to just have one job and they had to be in multiple jobs, right? Work nights, work days, work weekends, work. All the things. We all have very different examples of parenting and the model in which raised us. Hey, product boss. Okay, so you know that I am on a mission to empower women all over the world to build product based businesses that give them the security and freedom to build their dream business, which will also lead to the life of their dreams. So I know that I can help you do this by teaching you how to nail the core four foundational pillars of a standout business. And it's going to turn your business into something that feels like it's kind of struggling along or limping along to standing out in a crowded market and getting more customers. So I am so excited to invite you to join my free masterclass, your four step playbook to stand out in a crowded market and get more customers so that you can grow your business no matter where you sell. In just 90 minutes, I'm going to teach you the core four foundational pieces your business might be missing. How to stop wasting time and money on things that don't work and what to focus on instead. I mean, these are proven ways to build an audience that buys from you and that tells their friends about you. So what I want to do is I want to unlock what can be blocking you from growing a profitable business and how you can turn it around pretty instantly. All you have to do is come join me inside of this totally free masterclass. Head to the productboss.com standout to get access again. That's the productboss.com standout. Now back to the show. And so for me, even though, you know, part of my story is like, I wish my mom knew how to make her own money, I was also raised with a stay at home mom. So for me that how do I be a quote unquote good mom if I'm working and I'm not with my kids all the time, right? Or good mom if I'm not making dinners for them every night? Because that's just what I was raised in versus this new way. Like we're all kind of making our own paths now. There's not a lot of, like we're all individually creating our own pathway to show what it looks like. My husband is amazing right now. He's primary parent, he picks the kids up, he takes them to sports, he makes dinner. There were a lot of years where I made dinner and I did bath time and I went where he needed to be, right? There was a lot of years of different versions of what we do. My kids have seen both. But the first part of it is, is giving ourselves permission to do things differently than how we saw them historically or how we were raised. Be able to outsource, ask for help, pay for help if we need it, if we need child care, to give ourselves permission for that to happen. Um, at some point I had someone picking my kids up from school after because when my husband was working and I was working, we were able to afford someone who picked my kids up from after from school, brought them home, gave them snack, made them do their homework, sometimes prep dinner and sometimes didn't. And then I was able to come home and be with my kids instead of being like having to cut my day early. I know other people, especially people in my mastermind, one of them is like, I work and I get done at 2:30 or 3:00 clock every day and I pick up my kids every day. It's something she wants to do. So you really want to figure out and align what you want in your life, what aligns best with you and then how you can solve for that. Because we're all problem solvers. But it's not going to be us doing it all by ourselves. It's not, it can't. There's never been a time that, especially as women, we have been able to be business owners that can do anything we want in our business. We can generate any kind of revenue that we want. Maybe we're Business owners and have full time jobs. Maybe we're business owners, full time jobs and raising a family, or we're a caregiver to an elderly parent or a grandparent, or we have, you know, our pets that are our number one and we need to get home, we need to walk them. Like, whatever it is that you are, you're able to pave your own path. But how can you outsource, get help, pay for the things that will help move you along further? And I think that's such a big part of us releasing the expectations on ourself and feeling overwhelmed and stressed and like, we can't do it all because we have some expectations. Expectation that we can, but how? Right? And this is a generalization, but I'm just gonna say it. Men don't do it all by themselves. I always use one of our, like, mascots in my mastermind. Used to be Don Draper of Mad Men. Why? Because Don Draper got to be Don Draper. He got to come to work and be the boss and be the creative and be the visionary. He did not have to think about getting gifts for his wife or his mistress because he had a secretary for that. This is in the show. This is not me, but right. He had a secretary for that. He didn't have to worry about child rearing or feeding his children or getting them to school. He had a wife for that. He actually, in fact, got to get home and she had a scotch waiting for him. Right. That's like the 1950s scenario of, like, the, you know, Americana whatever. Right? That's just basically what Mad Men was. But I like to use it as an example of we, as women can have our Don Draper energy as well. Because as we start to earn money, as we start to create our own, not only safety and security, but. But we start to build wealth through our businesses, we also earn the right and the ability to get help where we need it. Right. One of the first things that I did without hiring a human was using an app to do my laundry when I lived in New York and New Jersey. So they. I'd shove it all in a bag, I'd order somebody, they'd come, they'd pick it up from my front door, they'd go do it, and they'd bring it back. Because who really loves laundry? If you are that person, send me a DM that you love laundry. A lot of us don't love laundry. And just because we work at home doesn't mean that we should be the ones doing the laundry either. So it wasn't that expensive. And it was so much more worth my time to not have laundry stacking up and to have someone take it. And for like 40 bucks, it's like fluff and fold. Bring it back folded better than I would ever do. It was a relief and worth every dollar. To this day, I still, I don't know the last time I've gone into a grocery store. It's very rare because I use Instacart and I use it for so many different things. I use it for, like, I have to go get a gift for my kids. I might go on Instacart and order something from Target. I've ordered stuff from Sephora. Sephora. I've had Sephora delivered to friends houses when they've been sick. My daugh daughter had a birthday party. She had three birthday parties in a weekend. I ordered the same product from Sephora delivered to my house on Instacart. I just had to put it in gift bags and that's it. I had someone do my gift shopping. Just like Don Draper may have had his secretary and said, I have Instacart doordash. I may not have an assistant that can run and get me coffee or a smoothie while I'm in meetings all day. But you know what? I do have doordash. So I say all this because at first it's hard to spend. It's like, well, I could just do it myself or I'm just going to do this. And. And some of us, you know, like, my husband will not order food and he will just make his own food at home. It's something that he, like, prioritizes and brings with him. Me, I'm like, I just need it. Like, there's just other priorities for me. So you can choose what works for you and what doesn't work for you. Hey, thanks so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed it. Now, if you want to dig deeper into this topic or hear more, you can listen to the full episode by clicking the link in the show notes. Remember, friend, you've got this and I'll see you in the next episode.