βWhitnee, how do you do it all?β
This is the question I get asked most.
And sometimes I laugh when people ask me this because I’m not doing it all. I’m just doing the things that matter most to me.
Still, I know what they’re referring to is that I’ve got a big job. I also run The Savvy Working Mom. I’ve got two littles, a husband, a house, and a personal life. I travel. I got a lot going. And still, I’m thriving and they want to know how to make that happen. I will give you my two secrets to making that happen.
The first is the help of other mothers.
I realized when I wanted to grow The Savvy Working Mom, but also continue as an employed person myself, that I needed help and support.
So I started hiring freelancers and those freelancers all happened to be women who work and also have children. Yes, they happen to be working moms.
And let me tell you why I love hiring working moms:
πͺβ No one can time manage like a mother.
πͺβ No one can delegate like a mother.
πͺβ No one can communicate like a mother.
πͺβ No one can prioritize like a mother.
πͺβ No one can innovate like a mother.
Moms bring an amazing set of transferable skills to their jobs. And I love using those skills because they make my business better.
And I know that there are three moms out there who know exactly what I’m talking about.
ββ Anya Hawthorne, my sister-in-law, who’s a professor and also has a soap business.
ββ Janelle Swing, who is the first freelancer that I ever hired to support me and is still helping me amazingly grow my business.
ββ Latoya Jordan, a former colleague of mine.
These moms and all the other moms that I work with show me each and every day how important the transferable skills of motherhood are in excelling in what they do.
And to every mom reading this, you need to know that the transferable skills you have, the ability to delegate, communicate, prioritize, and manage crises are extremely helpful, not only at home but also in your work.
And to any hiring managers out thereβ¦
You need to know that if you see on someone’s resume that they’re a mom, they’re going to bring these amazing transferable skills to their jobs with them and it’s only going to benefit you and your company.
The second secret is if you’re a mom like me who needs help at home, then use care.com.
I use care.com when we relocated from Brooklyn to Salt Lake City because we didn’t have any family here and I needed someone I could depend on and trust to watch my kids. And through them, I found someone to help me with that.
I also needed someone to help me clean the house and didn’t know anyone. I didn’t know who to ask. Care.com turned out to be a great resource to help me hire someone to help with the house as well.
And I’ve got some good news. There is a special going on right now. You can get 20% off the annual membership of care.com if you use the code UPWORKMOM.
Take Action
You know I love action, so I’m going to ask you to do two things.
The first is if you’re a mom, think about all the transferable skills that you have and that you can bring to work into your jobs with you and start communicating them.
Second, if you need some help, if you need some support at home, go to care.com and make that happen.