In this Business Blast podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews Lauren Golden, founder of The Free Mama movement, which helps mothers transition from traditional 9‑to‑5 jobs to freelance work from home. Lauren shares a pivotal personal story about a miscarriage that shattered her perfectionist mindset and taught her that waiting for the "perfect time" stalls progress. She outlines her core expertise: guiding moms to freelance and emphasizing productivity through prioritization, urging listeners to stop labeling themselves as "busy" and instead focus on actions that move them toward their goals. Lauren offers broader business advice, championing lifelong learning, mentorship, and the importance of investing in coaches. She advises her younger self to become comfortable with discomfort, highlighting the necessity of hard work and confronting fear. On happiness, she asserts it is a 100 % choice, independent of external achievements. Lauren discusses the book The One Thing by Gary Keller, emphasizing the power of simplifying focus to achieve extraordinary results. Her favorite quote, Henry Ford’s “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right,” illustrates the impact of mindset on outcomes. The episode concludes with information on how to connect with Lauren online via Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn (@LaurenGoldenFreeMama) and her website thefreemama.com.
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Welcome to the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner, and today I have Lauren Golden with us. She's the founder of the Free Mama and the Free Mama movement. So welcome to the show, Lauren.
Thank you so much for having me.
Of course, thank you for joining us, and, uh, we'll dive into the first question. The first question that I have is, what's the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Yes, so I am what I lovingly refer to as a recovering perfectionist. So let's just say that that meant I spent a large portion of my life planning and watching and waiting and honestly not doing a whole lot of doing, right? I was sitting back, I was waiting for, you know, me to be smart enough for that perfect time to quit my job, to launch a business, and thinking that if it was all perfect, it would go really smoothly, right? But it actually was something sad that happened in my life, unfortunately, that was kind of my wake-up call. And it was when I had a miscarriage. This was in between my second and third babies that I have now that I got kind of a big divine slap in the face. And I realized that we cannot plan out our own lives. We can only live it, right? So there is no perfect time to to do anything that you wanna do, you have to decide that you're gonna take action and then you have to do it. And anything less than that is really just stalling in my opinion.
Thank you for sharing that story. I appreciate it. Yeah. The next question I have is what's the most valuable piece of information we should know that is within your expertise or industry?
So I teach moms how to ditch their 9 to 5 to make money from home freelancing. And I could spend the entire podcast talking about best practices when it comes to running a freelancing business. But for anybody who wants to anything new to their plate. The other expertise I have has to do with productivity. So I think busy is a really dirty word. My advice to you, the most valuable piece of information I can provide to you is to stop saying that you're busy, because what you're really putting out into the world is that that is not something that you prioritize. When you say you're too busy something to do something, you're saying you don't prioritize that thing. And that's okay. But I think it's really important that we start to own that. So hone in on those things that you really need to get done that are gonna move you forward in your life towards your goals. And those are the things that you should be focusing your energy on if you want to be more productive and more efficient.
And it might tie in, but what's your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry specific.
Yeah, so be a lifelong learner. Always try to get better at what it is that you already do well. Don't get comfortable. Invest in yourself with coaches and mentors. That's like the biggest thing ever, but make sure you are seeking out somebody who's already accomplished whatever it is that you want to accomplish.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
It would be to get comfortable being uncomfortable. Anything that you want to do that you don't already know how to do, or anything you want to have that you don't already have, is going to require hard work. Anything lofty you want is going to require you to face your fears pretty much every single day, and to choose to do the really hard things in spite of those fears.
And in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?
So I believe that happiness is 100% a choice. So while things, people, accomplishments, you know, accolades, all these things can add to our happiness, they can't create it. So the tough love answer is that if you want to be happier, then wake up and declare it for yourself and go be happy.
And what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
So I actually recently read this book. It is called The One Thing. It is by Gary Keller. And like its title, it reminded me that as human beings, we really tend to overcomplicate things, right? Our relationships, our health, our to-do lists, our businesses, pretty much everything we face, we tend to overcomplicate as human beings. But if we always come back to that one thing, that one thing that really matters, we can achieve extraordinary things. So keep it simple. It is simple. It's just for a lot of us, it's not necessarily easy, right?
And what is your favorite quote and why?
My favorite quote is, "Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're right." And that is Henry Ford. And to me, it just shows the power, both good and bad, that our mindsets can have over us, right? Over our actions, over our accomplishments, over our failures. I believe that self-confidence combined with a few other ingredients can make pretty much anything possible.
Yes. Thank you so much for coming on, Lauren. So much value in this episode. And the last question I have before we let you go is where's the best place for people to find you online?
Awesome. I'd love to connect with you guys. You can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn @LaurenGoldenFreeMama or at thefreemama.com.
Perfect. Thanks again, Lauren. We really appreciate it.
No problem. Thank you.
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