These days, with working from home being easier than ever, more and more moms are becoming "mompreneurs."
I'm doing a series of interviews with moms who started their own business from home, to inspire other women that they can do it too.
Today's interviewee is D'Angela Alberty. She is a trauma recovery coach, trauma-informed yoga teacher and advanced energy healer. She also does a lot of volunteer work.
I met D'Angela in a Facebook group for entrepreneurs in the Health field, and we got along well right away since we both focus a lot of our work on helping trauma survivors.
Here is what D'Angela had to say when I spoke with her.
So can you tell me for my readers a little bit about yourself and your business?
I'm D'Angela. I'm soon to be 31 and I have three young kids. They are 6, 3 and 2 and I'm a solo parent. We're survivors of domestic violence and sexual abuse. I have taken all of the experiences, everything that's happened to me and the kids and transformed that pain to empower me to open my own business. My business is called Emotional Rebirth and I help trauma survivors really detach from the story of what's happened to them and be able to find their self love again. I'm also a trauma-informed yoga teacher and I'm an advanced energy healer. I do a lot of volunteer work where I answer hotlines for domestic violence and sexual abuse, victims and survivors. I a variety of things in regards to helping trauma survivors. That's really where my passion is, and I really just want to continue to inspire others to know that everything that happened to them, doesn't have to define them for the rest of their lives.
I got myself to that place and I just want to be able to give back now.
So do you have your kids at home with you full-time? Are they in school now?
I have all my kids at home with me 24/7.
So what do you do specifically to help you with balancing work and your family?
I actively do check-ins with myself throughout the day, like making sure I'm just doing the bare minimum, the necessities. Am I drinking enough water, eating properly? Did I sleep enough? I check in with myself throughout the day while I'm taking care of the kids. That helps me regulate my emotions in order to have the strength to do all the things that is necessary to do throughout the day because while I own my own business and I do all the other outside work that I do, I still have to do the dishes and do the laundry and do all the things that come with being a parent and a grown up.
I make sure to pay attention to what my body and my brain are asking for and if it's rest then I give myself that rest.
That's a plus with having your own business. You don't have to answer to anybody, you get to call the shots and if you need rest then you take the rest. You're not in a 9 to 5 job setting where it's crucial to get things done in those specific hours. So as long as you get the work done, it doesn't really matter when you're doing it. Be sure to take care of yourself to be able to get the work done.
So do you mostly work after your kids go to bed?
I do work when they're up too and what's difficult is that, especially because my oldest has special needs and my younger two are just so young. I have to just drop everything and tend to what they need. So that takes precedence over the work that I'm doing.
I mainly try not to work when they're awake. My younger two nap, so I'll take client calls and work when they're napping and then when they're all sleeping at night. I make sure to have check-ins with my clients on Voxer while my kids are up because that form of communication is a lot easier to manage while my kids are awake. As for taking a zoom client call where I need to give my client all the attention, I will not schedule that when my kids are awake. That's just not going to be able to work for me or the client because they're paying me to give them my full attention and not to be in mom mode. As I mentioned before, I also answer phones for domestic violence and sexual abuse hotlines so I make those hours for when the kids are sleeping.
So you can do the hotline thing from home too, right?
Yeah. Everything's done remotely. Which is perfect.
And do you have any tips for other moms starting their own business? What you would tell them?
Have patience because when I first started, I just expected it all to just go great and run smoothly and everything was just going to be awesome. And it takes a while, so just be patient with yourself because you're going to get there. The more work that you put in, the more smoothly things will run, and it’s important to remember that it doesn't happen overnight. It's a process and being patient with yourself and keeping up with your self-care throughout it too is going to be huge. As much as you can, organize things. I have a planner that helps me stay organized. When you own your own business, you're able to choose when you want to work and when you want a break.
In April, I was able to go to California and still run my business, and take my kids to Disneyland, because I own my own business, and I'm not answering to anyone. So I was able to still take my clients and do all the things I needed to do while also enjoying life.
Patience, self-care and organization are what D'Angela recommends for anyone starting their own business.
We also talked about where she gets her coaching clients.
TikTok is where all my following comes from. I have clients from all over, India, Canada, the States, really from all over the world. I've gotten a few clients from Instagram, but TikTok is mainly where business takes off.
Since I first met D'Angela, I have found her to be a very inspiring person, and I hope that all of you can see that from this interview. After going through trauma herself, she has found healing and is paying it forward to help others find their healing too.
As someone else who is a domestic violence survivor, I can echo D'Angela's sentiments on the importance of self-care when you have so much to do. You can't do anything if you aren't feeling emotionally regulated yourself.
When you are a mompreneur, there is so much going on all the time with your kids and your business, it is important to take time to do what you need for yourself, so that you can keep everything running smoothly.
If you have any questions for D'Angela, leave them in the comments, and I will get back to you with her answers!
To read more about Mompreneur life, check out these other blog posts: