Riley Podcast

The podcast host, Jeanne Ann, interviews her 14-year-old son, Riley, about what it's like growing up with parents who own their own beauty business. Riley mentions that it was nice always having a parent at home and not needing daycare or after-school programs. He also enjoyed meeting new clients and going on vacations. Riley doesn't see any negatives to his parents owning their own business and encourages other moms to pursue their own businesses. Jeanne Ann shares three tips for balancing work and family: prioritize your schedule around family, set boundaries with clients, and have open conversations with your family about your business goals. Welcome to the Beauty Pro Elite Podcast. I'm your host Jeanne Ann Kenning and my mission is to help beauty business owners create a dynamic business they can be proud of with marketing, mindset, finance, and social health so you can start attracting those dream clients and building a brand you always wanted and deserve. If you are ready to explode your beauty biz then this is the place for you. It's time to get started. All right welcome to the podcast. I'm so excited Beauty Pro Elite with Jeanne Ann to have a special guest here today. This is, well you can't see him, but my son Riley is here. Say hello Riley. Hello. And Riley is 14 on Friday so April 12th and I thought it'd be really interesting to bring in a child and ask him a few questions about what it's like to have a mom who owns her own beauty business or owns her own beauty business and what that was like growing up and all that fun stuff. So let's get started. Do you, what was your first memory that you had of me owning a beauty business? Do you remember when it was, when you were little? Not really. You don't remember? Not really? I remember when you started doing like lashes. You remember when I started? Yeah, not like, yeah kind of. And what did you, what did you think about it? I don't know I thought it'd be cool at your home all the time. Yeah and so you thought it'd be cool because I was home all the time. So when I got busier, right, and started to get a lot of clients, what was it like having a mom who, you know, owned her own business and was home all the time? What was that like for you? I don't know, I guess it was nice to always know where you are or something like that. You always knew where I was. What else? You got off the bus? Did you have to go to daycare? No. Never? Nothing like that. No daycare, after school things or anything. Yeah, and so that's nice too as well, right? And you got to, did you, and what did you think about all the clients you got to meet? I don't know, they're all nice. Yeah, right? Like that was fun. You got to meet lots of new clients and, and explore like different, meeting new people and stuff like that. So that's kind of cool, right? Yeah. Are you really impressed to be here right now? Sure. And so you're now 14, so you've pretty much only known your whole life, both your parents owning their own businesses, right? And how does, how is that different than other kids that go to school? For, with that, like I'll rephrase that. How is that different than your friends that you go to school with? Do they, are their parents not home till five o'clock? Are they, are their parents working all the time? That's like different because you guys are always home, there's no daycare or anything like you said. Yeah. Like after school, like YMCA or anything. Yeah. And do you like being, having like somebody here all the time? Yeah, I guess. Yeah. You guess? Would you prefer to have a little, a little bit of alone time every once in a while? Yeah. And, you know, other things too, like your parents, like any field trips, we could always go with you on field trips. Well, I was the field trip person, right? When you were growing up. And what else? Things like making sure that, you know, if there was a snow day or anything like that, do you go anywhere on a snow day? No, you just stay here, right? So, describe to me, put you on the spot. Stop playing with the chair. Are you nervous? This is, we're all family here. These ladies would love you. So, describe to me what it was like to grow up in a house as a child with being, having parents who own their own businesses. What are the good things about it? I don't know, there's always like a person here. It's more like, always like stay home on snow days, or like any field trips or anything, like what you said, you can always come to them or something like that. Yeah. You got to go on a lot of vacations. It didn't really matter if there was school or not, at least it took you, right? Now, is there anything that's maybe a negative about parents owning their own business? No, not really that I can think of. No, even when it's like busy season or anything like that, is it hard? No. No, you didn't, you didn't have any memory of that? And so, I'll probably let you go soon, because I know you're like agony, but just to wrap it up, if you, you're now 14, you've been living in a house with two people that own businesses your whole life, what would you say to moms who are feeling bad because they're working their own business or having a hard time because they feel like they're not doing enough for your kids? I don't know, I guess your kids would like it because there's always an adult in the house or something. Yeah. And that your kids appreciate it, right? And they, and they're lucky. Are they lucky? Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Yeah. So a lot of moms feel bad, because maybe they feel like, oh, I started my own business, and it's a little bit hard. I'm not as home as much or anything like that. But there are a lot of positives to it, too, as well, right? Yeah. And do you, and you proved in our short conversation, that even though there are some negatives, like sometimes there's long hours or stuff like that, you just see positive out of the whole thing. You don't remember any negatives growing up? No, not that I can think of. Yeah, well, there you go. Well, thank you, Riley, for coming on. I know it was like horrible torture for you. But I think you're going to give moms a lot of inspiration to go out and just do their own thing, right? And be able to be their own boss. It's really important. Right? All right. All right, so I'm back. And now I'm alone. So I just wanted to bring him on, to really emphasize to you ladies, that when we're going through it, the mom guilt is like, so huge. Like, there was a lot of times where I, when we were scaling or expanding or doing anything like that, that I felt like I wasn't around very much. Or that I was working very much. And it's interesting, he just proved the point that I wanted him to prove on his own, that even though we think that we are failing, they just see the positives, right? He kept bringing up that somebody was always home, right? That somebody was there for before and after, that he didn't have to go to daycare. Like, those are valid points straight from a child's mouth, right? Like, if that doesn't give you motivation, I don't know what else I can tell you. But it is definitely an interesting perspective. So I want to give you kind of three tips that worked for me and my beauty business as a working mom of two children. I have two children now, they're 14 and 23. But when I was in the thick of it, they were like, 10 and 2. No, would have been like 12 and 2. Like, it was a lot, right? So I wanted to give you kind of like some things that I developed over time that works for me. And that obviously, where I thought I was failing, I was not, which is really super sweet to hear from him. So number one, your schedule. We constantly look at our schedule, like we have to work our schedule and around our business, right? It should be the opposite. You should always try to figure out a way to work your schedule around your family, okay? Those years that you have with your children, you cannot get them back. Once they're past, they're gone, right? We can't rewind the clock. So the before and after schools and the field trips and all that stuff, you want to be there. Snow days, like, you know, it's funny that he brought that up because snow days around here, a lot of parents freak out because they have to go to work. So what do you do with your kids when there's a snow day, right? We never strip a beat. We're just like, okay, somebody's always around. So what I did when I was in full service mode was I would put him on the bus and I would work usually nine to three with clients. Then I would have a hard stop from three until seven. When I say hard stop, hard stop to me is phone is off, no communication, that sort of thing. And then from there, I would sometimes take clients from seven until 10. That works for me. I liked doing the night. It gave me that balance. Like, I didn't want to miss that three to six period because I didn't want to come home and like be like rushing to make dinner and then put him to bed. And then I have the night. Like, what's the point in that, right? I don't care to watch TV. So I was like, you know what, this works for me. So really analyze what works for you. Maybe you work three 10-hour days and then you take two days off. Like, whatever is working for you and what you want, that's what you need to do first. It's schedule your life first, then work out when your business would work. People will come to you. I'm going to tell you a story about the very first time I got my lashes put on was 12 years ago. And I went to this girl's family. And I'll never forget, like, I was just so amazed by her because she was like, I wasn't, I just started to come into the beauty industry. I was like new. And I'm like, all over the place, working Sundays and nights and all this stuff. And I'm like, how are you only working nine to four every day? Like, I was just so enthralled with her. And she was like, well, that's when I'm open. And I was like, well, it can't be that simple. And she's like, if people want to come and see me, they'll come and see me on their lunch. They'll come and see me, you know, they'll leave work, whatever. And I was like, can it really be that simple? And it was, it was that simple. It's just sometimes when we get in a state of desperation, we expand beyond our boundaries a little bit. And then that in turn, allows us to open up our calendar and all that stuff when we don't want to. Okay, so that's number one. Number two, you constantly need to have open conversations with your family, your spouse, your children, about what you're building this for. I talk a lot in all my training programs and group programs about vision and mission and values and like, why are you building this business, right? So if you communicate that to your children, like, I am building this business because I want to be able to buy a house in Guatemala and spend six months a year there, right? If they understand your why, I want to be able to be here for you when you get home from school, I want to be able to only work four days a week, whatever it is, it's going to alleviate the pressure because they're going to start to understand why mommy's working, right? The other thing that, so there's that. So establishing your vision and your why. And finally, the last thing that I think was such a great blessing for me and for Riley, not so much Joseph, my oldest, because he was older, but Riley really, he was always around, in shop, always around, talking to clients, you know, immerse them in your business, talk about it, show them, let them meet your clients. Like, if your clients don't like it, and that's, this is your family, and this is what you want, oh, well, they'll find somewhere else, right? This is like, and he was well behaved. So, but it gave him a sense of confidence and conversational skills that as he's grown up, I've realized have really like, he'll talk to anybody. Like, it doesn't matter to him, right? So, that has brought a lot of skills to as well. And he, they feel a part of what you're building, right? Like, I'm building something for this family, right? And they understand it. So, I guess my imparting advice is, we all feel that mom guilt. And we all want to be in 10 different places at once, or feel like we have to be in 10 places at once. The key to the whole thing is communication, really scheduling yourself around what is important to you. I can run through really quickly how I do my schedule, because I think it will be a valuable piece of information. So, usually about three or four days before a new month, I'll sit down with my calendar, and I'll be like, okay, what are my non-negotiables? So, trips I have coming up, events, that school event, any important birthdays, anniversaries, whatever, right? They go on the schedule first. They are non-negotiable, okay? If there's one thing that this life has taught me, it's family comes first, no matter what. Okay? So, they need to go on the schedule first. So, Riley's birthday is on Friday, so I've walked the whole day. Those sorts of things, right? Then, you're going to put in things that are non-negotiable for you on your schedule. I walk every day. Breathwork. So, I always schedule my breathwork before my clients. Why? Because I can't show up as the best version of myself unless I have taken care of myself first, right? I can't give all my energy and love and compassion and guidance to a client if I don't feel good inside, right? So, that's why I don't mind scheduling, you know, my hair appointments, nail appointments, facial, lashes, whatever, first. Because if that's what's going to make me feel good to then show up for a client in the best possible manner, I'm going to do it, right? Instead, what most people do is they're squeezing in nail appointments in between this and that. It's like, this is something for you, right? So, whatever is important. Then, I'm going to block the blocks of when I'm available. So, I have a girl who helps me and most of my clients are on a regular basis, but I'll put the blocks of when I'm available, right? So, now the business is working around my life, not vice versa, okay? Y'all, I can't even tell you how many times like in Joseph's life when I was working for somebody else that I would rush home an hour and a half drive. It's a lot. And rush in the house at 630 or 7, try to make dinner and get him to bed, you know, at 7 o'clock or 8 o'clock, you know, and miss, like, only see him at maybe a short dinner or bedtime. Like, I did that for like 7 or 8 years, maybe even 9 years. It's hard and I know the feeling all too well because I used to do it and I just didn't know how to get out of it. Like, I just was like, I'm on this crazy pendulum. How do I get out of this? And then the beauty industry was thrown in my lap and it turned into this big, massive blessing that not only did my teenage son now get to experience all of us being here because my husband's also self-employed. But, you know, if we were in shop or whatever, they were welcome to come. Like, this is why I opened my business. It's so that my children got more of me, not less of me. Right? That's why we go into our own business. It's so that we can have freedom and time. Right? So, don't be afraid to establish that boundary on your schedule and really show up for your family. You only have these crucial years with these kids and then they grow up. My oldest is almost 24 and I can tell you when they leave and they go out on their own, it's an eye-opener. You're like, they're gone. Right? So, take that time that you need right now with the children that are in your house and really nurture that. And be proud of yourself that you can own your own business that can give you that. Right? Entrepreneurship is a really hard, hard thing. It's difficult. It's a lot of ups and downs. It messes with your head. It's so hard. But as you can hear from, I'm going to cry just thinking about it, from Riley's reactions and the questions that I was asking him, the positive outweighs the negative by like a landslide. Like, he's going to grow up and say, my parents were always there. You know, my parents were always there for us before and after. Like, I never missed that. If it was a snow day, he'd come to shop or he'd stay home with Mike or whatever. Like, you can't put a price on that. So, if that's the life that you are dreaming about to have for your family, it's what you need to fight for. It's so worth it. Right? To be there and just to have that. Right? I want to go fishing. I want to do this. I'm like, okay, whatever. Like, it doesn't even faze me. Right? Anymore. So, hopefully you enjoyed that. He was really nervous, poor Bean. But I wanted to share that because I wanted to see what he would say to you and give you an honest perspective straight from the child's mouth. Okay? So, I'll see you next week on the next episode. We have a surprise guest and I'll see you then. Take care. Transcribed by https://otter.ai Edited by https://otter.ai