In this candid monologue, Vicky Samios shares the realities of juggling homeschooling her children with running multiple businesses, drawing on her background as a dentist and entrepreneur. She contrasts the controllable environment of a business with the unpredictable dynamics of homeschooling, emphasizing the need for clear boundaries, adequate sleep, and intentional presence for family. Samios highlights the importance of mentorship, purposeful networking, and surrounding oneself with values‑aligned people while limiting draining friendships. She stresses that true success requires hard work, perseverance, and a willingness to visualize and become the future self one aspires to be. Throughout, she interweaves concrete examples of her children’s activities—beach clean‑ups, jiu‑jitsu, Greek lessons, drama, and nature outings—to illustrate how experiential learning and environmental stewardship fit into a balanced lifestyle. The overarching message is that sustainable success stems from self‑discipline, thoughtful community building, and placing family at the core of one’s priorities.
Chapters
Hello, Vicky Samios here from a homeschooling mom, a dentist, someone who really values education. It's been a journey, I can tell you that much. You can see all the books my kids have here. This, this is the reality of it. This is what life looks like for us now, plus a lot of fun and excitement as well. And let me tell you, our days are so different every single day. Here are some pearls of wisdom for you, to anyone thinking of Firstly, starting a business. If you're starting a business, it's easier than homeschooling your kids, I can tell you that much, because you have control over that environment. Your kids, all it takes is one child to not follow the path or follow the day's plan, and there goes your authority. But I guess I'm only in the early stages. I am just beginning. This is week 4, to be honest, of us really really focusing on what we're doing. And look, every day is really fun. We get to— well, tomorrow we get to go and clean the beach, and it's a monthly thing, and hopefully we'll be joining every month to teach the kids how to value the environment and nature and what it takes to take care of nurturing and what it takes to nurture something that is so important to all of us, because we all love the beach and we all know that our marine life need to be taken care of. And if there's litter Well, that really compromises the whole ecosystem. Now my kids will be learning about that tomorrow. That's our focus. We are living such a different life. There's no more rush, rush, rush. Look, yes, there's a stress of getting to some of our sessions. We've got jiu-jitsu, we've got, we tried ballet, didn't like ballet. We've got acro, we've got gym class, got Greek lessons. And my kids love music, so the next thing I need to book is music. They do drama, drama once a week as well, really exciting. So they're interacting with a lot of children, not missing out on socializing. And starting next week, they get to do a couple of hours of bush talk and being in a really beautiful rural environment and knowing about how to— about nature. And I don't even know what they're going to learn yet, but it's something that I wish I did more of growing up. I love spending time in nature. Which then brings me to business. Business is something that will consume you if you let it. I did it really, I did it in a very self-sacrificing manner the first couple of times, and I nearly got into the trap of doing it again in my third dental practice. Now let me explain this. When you start a business, it's gonna take all of your time. And I know right now I'm setting new boundaries for my kids at home and it's taking a lot of my time. However, I'm also running multiple businesses and I get to do that. You think I don't sleep, I sleep. Sleep is a priority. I learned that when I don't sleep, I cannot self-regulate and I cannot function the rest of the day. Now, for all of you out there, whether you are a mom, a dad, parent, grandparent, your family needs you and they need you to be present. And that's what was missing when I was doing my clinical work 24/7. The practice consumed me because I allowed it. That's the sad thing. We don't realize that we set the rules, then we start blaming other people or start saying, oh, I'm too busy, I can't, I can't go to this event or to this other school thing or to go and support my child or to Saturday soccer or whatever it is that you're missing out on every single week because you have to work. Now that's a choice. You need to realize that you have all the choices in the world and that you're living the style of life that you actually have created. No one else has done it to you. Yes, you have been programmed. The way you think, the way you feel about things is a pattern, and it's up to you to break that pattern. This is why mentorship is important. This is why you need to be in rooms where you break those habits. And there's lots of books you can read, but if you implement a big fat zero, nothing, you'll achieve nothing. Now, I am a completely different version of myself. I can tell you, my kids love me so much, they wanna be around me 24/7. I have to lock the doors and be outside in another room or outdoors so that I can do recordings. Right now, they're riding their bikes with their dad, doing physical activity and bonding. I'm so fortunate to have the support of my husband, and he's just so wonderful. In business, sometimes you're running things alone, and it can feel very isolating. Entrepreneurs are the most isolated people 'cause no one understands you. All they see is the results, the awards, the money, the lifestyle you're living, the rent you're paying, maybe the houses you've bought, the cars you've bought, but they don't know it has come with blood, sweat, and tears, honestly. Now, nothing worth it will ever come if you do not work hard. So things that are worth it require hard work. You've got to keep persevering, never give up. A lot of people give up right at the moment when they're about to have a breakthrough. And our body and brain doesn't know the difference between a breakthrough and a breakdown. Because the pressure gets to a point where you can either cool off and let the steam off, or you boil and you give up and you're like, that's it, I'm throwing everything up in the air and imploding everything. Do not do that. Change your life in a beautiful way. But the first thing you have to do is change yourself from the inside. You have to believe you are somebody else, the future you that you want to be. And there's a lot of science behind that. If I hadn't visualized or worked towards or known who I wanted to be,, and I can tell you that keeps changing and elevating every day, and who I want to be around. So now I'm looking for rooms and people that I want to be around in this new community. I'm networking, but I'm networking in a very thoughtful way and a way that will benefit all of my family. Making the right connections with the right values, with the right people around me who can teach me some stuff and I can teach them some things. So adding value to each other's lives and really enjoying spending time together. I don't need many of them. We don't need many friends in life. Maybe a couple, a couple of families. That's all I ask for. That's all I seek. And sometimes, yeah, you feel like it's better off, you're better off alone if, if the friendships just become really demanding. And yes, friendships should not be demanding. They should be based on your values and what you see as important. If you have needy friends, yeah, no, that's, that's draining. I don't want needy friends. So I think one of the hardest things that I've had to do is change my inner circle and realize that my family's my inner circle, my immediate family, my kids and my husband, and everyone else comes next. So husbands and wives, you need to realize that for yourselves, and you need to start prioritizing the most important people in your life, which is your family, not your parents, not your siblings, not your best friends. Because they're the people who look up to you and who rely on you, and you rely on them as well for emotional support and maybe monetary support and support in building a business and supporting a homeschooling like I am. So all it takes is really thoughtful decisions and communication that is crystal clear. You need to know who you are to know your needs, otherwise miscommunications happen and you're not happy.
