Grab yourself a healthy lunch and listen in to my free teleseminar that’s all about easy ways to take care of yourself and your family’s wellbeing!

My interview with LaSara Firefox takes place at Noon ET today. Why not sit back, relax and learn some strategies to make you feel better? You can listen via the web or call in live to the show, and if you’re not available to join us for lunch today, a podcast recording will be ready for you to listen when it works with your schedule.

Here’s the link with all the info and listening options:

http://tinyurl.com/ks9tnl

I hope you’ll join us!

I decided it was time to house my blog inside my own website, so I will no longer be making updates here. Please update your bookmarks with my new blog url:

http://www.mombizcoach.com/blog

Look forward to connecting with you there!

Take care,

Lara Galloway
The Mom Biz Coach

Are you thinking that only “big businesses” looking for funding need to develop plans?

Or maybe you’re so stressed out, overwhlemed and busy that you can’t handle any sort of plan since you’re so busy putting out fires.

Well, any of these options makes you a very normal mom entrepreneur. But it’s hard to underestimate the value of having a plan for your business. Think focus. Think milestones. Think actions that actually lead to results. Think about finally getting what you want in life, rather than running as fast as you can from work to sporting events to client meetings to the dinner table.

I just interviewed Melodie Lane of the One Page Business Plan Company on my Blog Talk Radio show, and she shared several simple ideas and great resources to help mom entrepreneurs create a business plan that includes all aspects of their lives and business.

You can listen to the show, which is part of my WoMEN: What Mom Entrepreneurs Need teleseminar series, here.

Guest post by Michele Dortch of IntegratedMother.com

What do you do?

It’s a simple question that comes up frequently for business women. Yet motherhood makes the answer complex.

Before children, you probably responded to this question with your career profession, “I’m an HR Manager.” Once children enter the picture, your heart wants to lead with, “I’m a mother,” but your head advises you to lead with something perceived as more credible first, especially if you’re at a business function.

If you’re like most success-driven women, you want to make a contribution to something meaningful. You also closely attribute what you do to your significance and importance. Becoming a mother complicates what you perceive as important – my career or my children? As a result the simple question, “What do you do?” transforms into the more difficult question, “Who are you?”

The transition from working woman to working mother is a period of significant change, yet few women recognize the change or actively do anything to bridge the gap between the two phases of life. Somewhere in between meaning, significance and importance is lost making the new question, “Who are you?” harder to answer.

The key to understanding the importance of knowing who you are can be explained by considering a metaphor; your life is like a computer.

When you first bought your computer, it was installed with a specific operating system (OS) as well as a variety of software applications. Technology advances rapidly, so before you know it you have to upgrade to a new OS to run new software applications, otherwise the computer will crash. This is exactly how motherhood works.

Before children, you operated from a specific set of values and beliefs (your OS) and pursued certain life goals (your software applications). You found confidence, importance and significance because new goals were handled by your OS with ease. Then one day, you added a radically new software application (children) and this required a major upgrade to your OS. But, you got busy and forgot to upgrade, so today you’re running on a patched up OS that’s often buggy and experiences full-system crashes periodically.

Sound familiar? If so, it’s time to upgrade your OS. Here are some basic steps to get you started:

• Clarify your values and beliefs. What are the 3-5 words or short phrases that describe who you are? If you’re having trouble determining your values, ask people around you for 3-5 words or short phrases that describe you.
• Establish your mission. A personal mission is a statement of purpose that provides direction and clarifies your reason for being. It’s a must-have for all working moms.
• Beta test and work out the bugs. Begin to actively use your mission statement. The ideal approach is to use it as a planning tool. As you plan your week, focus on activity that is aligned with your mission.

Once you complete these steps you’ll be well on your way toward upgrading your OS and before long, you’ll find greater ease and confidence answering the question, “What do you do?”

http://www.integratedmother.com/blog/the-toughest-question-working-moms-face/

Simple technique. Wonder if it works?

One of the simplest and most effective things I’ve done for my business is to finally sit down and write a business plan. I avoided doing this for three years. I had all sorts of reasons why I didn’t think it was necessary, and I had even more ideas about how hard it would be to do. Silly me.

I can’t wait to interview Melodie Lane, National Marketing Manager from the “One Page Business Plan” Company for my next teleseminar in the WoMEN: What Mom Entrepreneurs Need teleseminar series. This will be the third installment in the WoMEN series, and it will take place next Tuesday, April 28th, at Noon ET on my BlogTalkRadio show.

I had the good fortune of meeting Melodie on twitter (no surprise there!). Here’s a little background on her so you will know where she’s coming from and a picture of her with her four fabulous boys:

Three and a half years ago, Melodie was launching her last business as an independent project manager and attended a local workshop on how to write a “One Page Business Plan.” There she met Jim Horan, founder and CEO of the “One Page Business Plan.” Jim became her first client and dear friend. Today, Melodie is an integral part of the company as the National Marketing Manager. She loves doing this job within the sisterhood of moms and enjoys the opportunities the company provides her to do what she is passionate about-helping people turn their ideas into thriving businesses. She has also built two successful businesses from the ground up and considers herself an entrepreneur at heart. Melodie is a busy, single mom living in Pleasant Hill, CA with her four boys.

The “One Page Business Plan” Company is an international consulting firm with over 450 consultants. They specialize in helping business owners “re-think” their businesses and then help them construct extraordinarily clear and concise strategic business plans-on a single page. The original “One Page Business Plan” book has been an Amazon.com best seller for over 11 years. Their next book, due out this summer, is the “One Page Business Plan for Women in Business.”

What do you do?

Well, Alisa Bowman of www.projecthappilyeverafter.com wrote a smart post about this topic today. Whether you’re letting a “no” cause you to stop in your relationship, in your pursuit of your dreams, or in your business deals, you are certainly missing out on some possibilities that exist for you if you’re willing to see no as a “detour” rather than the end.

Here’s the link to her post: http://www.projecthappilyeverafter.com/2009/04/dont-take-no-for-an-answer/

What do you do when you hear “No!”? How do you keep from quitting, getting derailed, giving up or getting stuck?

As you know by now, I’ve put together a fabulous and FREE teleseminar series for working moms called: “WoMEN: What Mom Entrepreneurs Need.” Our next topic in the series is something every mompreneur I know needs–some advice, tips, and clever ways to get the support we need from our partner or spouse. Running a business and raising a family is not easy, and it’s near impossible if you’ve got a struggle with your partner going on.

I’ve found just the gal to help us figure out how to make this better.

On Tuesday, April 14th at Noon ET, I’m pleased to welcome Alisa Bowman from “Project Happily Ever After” as my guest expert for the teleseminar entitled: “How to Make Your Marriage Work With Your Business.” 

Her approach to marriage, parenthood, career and friendships has been described as “disarmingly honest.” Her fresh take on life includes mentioning what others deem unmentionable.  From bikini waxes to second honeymoons, the silent treatment to power struggles (both with 2 year olds and 42 year olds), she is able to masterfully blend the helpful with the hilarious. Alisa speaks at college events and conferences. She has appeared in Better Homes and Gardens, Women’s Health and American Baby. She has also been interviewed on large websites such as Glamour.com, various newspapers and a guest on regional radio and television news shows. Alisa has authored and co-authored or ghosted more than 20 books, including 5 New York Times Best sellers. Alisa currently lives happily ever after (most of the time) with her husband, daughter and dog in Emmaus, PA.

I hope you’ll join us for this fun, wise and honest look at how we mom entrepreneurs can get the support we need from our relationships. Here are the details:

What: “Make Your Marriage Work With Your Business” teleseminar, the second teleseminar in the “WoMEN: What Mom Entrepreneurs Need” series, hosted by Lara Galloway, The Mom Biz Coach with Guest Expert Alisa Bowman

When: Tuesday, April 14th, from Noon – 1pm ET

Where: On your computer or your phone via www.blogtalkradio.com/MomBizCoach (click on the link to listen via webcast) or call (347) 838-9199 to listen and ask questions during the live show!

Tell your girlfriends to join you! I promise you’ll find some great nuggets of wisdom, some funny things to laugh about, and a few actions you can take immediately to improve your relationship.

Do you have a question or topic you’d like to hear addressed during the teleseminar by Lara or Alisa? Just leave a comment below.

Most of the mom entrepreneurs I’ve coached spent a lot of time thinking about hiring me before actually doing so. They weren’t exactly sure what life coaching is all about, or what we actually do in a coaching relationship. Some of my clients admitted to feeling embarrassed about hiring a coach to support them, almost like it meant they were a failure at being able to do what they wanted to do in life.

On my radio show today I’m going to tell you exactly what hiring a life coach can do to support your business. If you want to be successful on your own terms, create a business that works even when you don’t, get the buy-in and support you need from your spouse and your family, figure out how to get more clients and make more money without working around the clock, and understand how to spend quality time with your kids (especially while they’re young!), tune in to today’s show. I’ll be addressing these issues and more.

Details for the show: Go to www.blogtalkradio.com/mombizcoach. The Mom Biz Coach Audio Blog airs at 11:30 am ET for 15 minutes. If you can’t make it live, you can listen to the show at your convenience since it will be immediately archived in the “On-Demand” episodes listed on my show page at the above link.

Do you have questions about how a life coach could support you? Are you wondering what a coach actually does? I’d be happy to answer your questions if you leave a comment below.