In this heartwarming episode, Dr. Amelia Kelley sits down with Karla Bradley and Chelsea Rizzo, the powerhouse duo behind Abundant Management and Good Morning Mama Podcast. Both are inspiring entrepreneurs and moms who share their journey of managing a household (with over a dozen children between them!) while building multiple thriving businesses. Karla and Chelsea reveal their secrets to overcoming mom guilt, building a "virtual village" for support, and finding joy in the everyday chaos. They dive into their strategies for time blocking, setting boundaries, and how they balance entrepreneurship with intentional parenting. Whether you’re an aspiring "mompreneur" or simply seeking ways to live more intentionally, this episode is packed with relatable stories, insightful advice, and lots of laughs.
Key Takeaways:
Connect with Karla and Chelsea:
Abundant Management: Website | Instagram
Abundant Academy Virtual Summit: Join Here
[00:00:00] hello everyone. Welcome to the sensitivity doctor, Dr. Amelia Kelly here, your host. And today I get to talk with two of my favorite ladies, Carla and Chelsea, who are from the abundant management business, and they have started the abundant academy and the summit that will be coming out.
[00:00:26] Today, the day that this episode is airing that I am so thrilled to be a part of. My favorite part of these ladies is their passion and their excitement for helping mothers specifically and really any parents Go out into the world and do the things that they're passionate about while also balancing their role of being parents It really is possible to do both but it demands that you take time for yourself, regulating yourself, breathing into your body, and also working through things like mom guilt and just really [00:01:00] allowing yourself to stop being so hard on yourself.
[00:01:03] So I hope you enjoyed this episode. It's very candid, very raw, very honest, and we all have different perspectives, which I thought was really beautiful. and I think you'll really recognize how much these ladies care and want to help each and every one of you listening. Enjoy.
[00:01:17] Amelia: Well, I am super excited that you ladies are here on my podcast. I've been on your podcast a handful of times. So,
[00:01:24] Karla: Yeah.
[00:01:25] Chelsea: I'm so
[00:01:26] Karla: We're glad to be here.
[00:01:27] Chelsea: for having us.
[00:01:28] Amelia: So I would love if you guys could both just take a moment to introduce yourself and maybe even a little bit about, you know, what we're doing in creating together too.
[00:01:37] I think that'd be a neat thing to get started on. So, do you wanna go first, Carla
[00:01:41] Karla: Sure, so my name is Carla Bradley and I am I would say I'm the mama of the Bradley bunch. So we have a social media page called the Bradley bunch adventures. And so some people know us from that, but I'm the mom of soon to be 10. I can't really [00:02:00] see right here. I'm sitting down, but I am due with our 10th baby in March, and we live in Flippin, Arkansas.
[00:02:08] It's a tiny town in northern Arkansas. And we're about to get snow any minute. So that's going to be interesting. My kids are coming home early from school, so you might see them in a minute. But, yeah, before I became a stay at home mom, I was working as a hospital administrator, for many years. And I loved that role.
[00:02:29] I loved Being a manager and just being in health care and all of the challenges that that, was, and then, uh, we moved here and I became a stay at home mom and my husband was done with residency. He's a neurosurgeon And I have just fully embraced this role. And I took some time to remodel campers and I did a lot of like DIY projects, learned how to use power tools and had a lot of fun with that.
[00:02:56] And then, we had our ninth baby and I [00:03:00] just felt this like hug of just focusing more on just inside the home and just being content, just being Like just being a mom, you know? And so I, I did do that. I learned how to make sourdough bread and, just kind of embraced just being a homemaker. And then, I met Chelsea not that long ago.
[00:03:21] It's not even been a year, which is crazy, but we have just, been the best pair that you could ever imagine. And we have started, Many businesses the overarching one is called abundant management and we are doing so many amazing things for women. And through that, we started a podcast called good morning mama.
[00:03:43] And we met you, we met Dr. Kelly and we have just really enjoyed meeting her. And we've just done a lot of different things with Dr. Kelly with courses and books and We've learned from her. She's been on our podcast. And so now we're on [00:04:00] her podcast, which is, which is a unique experience. But that's kind of me in a nutshell.
[00:04:05] And I'm glad to be here.
[00:04:07] Amelia: so happy you're here. And I'm actually curious, how did you guys meet? I, I don't know if I know that story.
[00:04:12] Chelsea: So I'm Chelsea and I have three babies under three and a half and I have a small business called kaya and cash and that is like an online boutique where we sell clothes. you know, infant to adult matching. So we sell them in collections that you can match with your kids of all ages and both boys and girls.
[00:04:33] And I knew that I needed influencer marketing. I always wanted a virtual village. I wanted something bigger. I was a stay at home mom. Still am. too but I, you know, I used to work in private equity. I worked all the time and then I kind of just stopped and I felt like, kind of, I don't know, I didn't, I didn't really have a place to fit.
[00:04:53] I was fulfilled and so happy to be with my kids. But I didn't have any core group of friends. I had really young little babies [00:05:00] and so I followed Carla on Instagram. I followed a bunch of these mom influencers. I knew that social media marketing was something, so I just started reaching out to social media influencers, and I had actually followed Carla for quite a while, and I had seen that her father in law had passed away, so I sent her a lemon tree not for business or anything, but just because, like, they cooked with Grampy Norm, and I was like, hey, she might like this.
[00:05:26] And she reached out to me, and then we like talked every day since literally. And we started our clothing lines together, and it just grew into businesses. So that's how we met. We met online, and then we just created like this crazy friendship. We still haven't met in person.
[00:05:43] Amelia: I was going to ask that.
[00:05:45] Yeah.
[00:05:46] Chelsea: She's in Arkansas and I'm in Florida and we have continued to start businesses together and they're thriving and like we're so we work seamlessly together. We've gotten investors. Now we have thought leaders like you. We have a big virtual [00:06:00] summit. We haven't even met in person, right? Like, but we
[00:06:03] talk
[00:06:03] Amelia: not, yet. I'll say
[00:06:04] not
[00:06:04] Chelsea: not yet.
[00:06:05] We talk almost like, I think you're probably the third most person that I speak to on a regular basis, including my husband, because we're writing books together and we're doing the summit and you're just so amazing. I love working with you. But it's been like, I don't know, it's been so funny.
[00:06:21] So that's how Carla and I met, is on the
[00:06:25] Amelia: funny too because this is not I think totally out of the world, out of this world right now because a lot of people are Reaching out and meeting and being able to like have these amazing experiences cross continental now The last book I wrote Gina Cavalier, and I have never met in person
[00:06:43] Chelsea: internet. Yeah. Really? Okay. So
[00:06:45] you're not
[00:06:46] Amelia: Yeah, I mean the first one Kendall and and I met here in Raleigh on her podcast in her house We hung out a couple times and then she moved out of the area and then kovat hit so we
[00:06:57] We
[00:06:58] haven't seen each other since. So [00:07:00] now I'm like, my wheels are turning like, Ooh, an abundant retreat.
[00:07:05] Chelsea: Ooh,
[00:07:06] Karla: heard and thought about it.
[00:07:08] Chelsea: that'd be so cool, but also how the heck would we do it?
[00:07:13] Amelia: Some
[00:07:13] Karla: we thought. We were like going with it and then we were like, wait, flying with kids and where's this going to take place? And I'm like, let's just rain it down and do a virtual summit this time.
[00:07:23] Chelsea: Yeah.
[00:07:25] Amelia: of the things too, that I have enjoyed so much about working with the two of you so far, as I think we all have like these very different energies about how we approach business
[00:07:36] and it's really good to have. Chelsea is definitely the energy she's like, she's got this endless and then Carla, I think you have this like seamless way of creatively seeing things
[00:07:49] and being able to kind of like package them.
[00:07:52] And I don't just mean that in like a marketing way, but kind of like. Creating this beautiful environment for ideas.
[00:07:59] Chelsea: [00:08:00] Yes.
[00:08:00] Amelia: really cool. I mean, it makes sense that you're, that you became so influenceable, if you will.
[00:08:09] And then I think the other day when we had met, I was like, okay, so we're going to slow down.
[00:08:14] Chelsea: Yeah! That's
[00:08:19] Amelia: energy. So can I ask the two of you then? For, you know, anyone listening, you know, moms listening, or even dads, or even, I think about even younger people who maybe don't have kids yet and are trying to manage a lot of things in their life, but how do you two specifically balance this of raising, between the two of you, almost, you know, 13 to 15 children and, you Being able to be an entrepreneur, but also balance it with being moms,
[00:08:49] Karla: I think we both love challenges and this is definitely a challenge every day. Like, even just being on a podcast, it's a challenge, but it's not [00:09:00] 1. that is a negative challenge. It's something we. thrive in And so, you know, we're building businesses, we're helping moms, we're, doing all the things, but we love it and we love the challenge of it.
[00:09:14] And of course, but we laugh about it too. We find humor in it because like, even just like an hour ago, we were on a recording for the summit and it went very well. It was so amazing. And I'm so glad we did it. yeah. But afterwards, Chelsea and I call each other and are like telling what happened behind the scenes while we're recording and the messes that are happening while we're recording and we were like, okay, I need 5 minutes and we, we just get it back together.
[00:09:45] And then we do the next thing. And so, you know, we find humor in it. We are also very good
[00:09:50] at time blocking. And so, you know, we'll, take the morning and we plan our day. And then we are intentional. We are very focused on our kids. We [00:10:00] don't talk. We just head down, we homeschool, we meal prep, we, you know, do the things we need to do.
[00:10:06] And then we jump on our calls. We work on our business and during that time, or, you know, whenever we both find time. And then, you know, the kids are awake and we're back in. We're like, okay, we're offline. We're putting our phones up. We're intentional with our kids. And so it's all about time blocking and just kind of also giving each other grace because there's been many times where.
[00:10:27] We plan something as moms and business owners, and we think it's going to go this way, but really kids have a whole nother idea. And, you know, maybe they need more attention that day, or they're just, you know, not taking a nap. And so we're like, you know, what, let's do this tomorrow, or let's do this later.
[00:10:46] And so I think that's key to.
[00:10:49] Chelsea: And I think a lot of where we've have found success and I didn't otherwise find success in other businesses that I tried to start was I tried to do things kind of [00:11:00] alone and I didn't lean really hard into the team aspect of it and Carla and I are very team oriented and just about anything we do and any call we have we find a way to do it together as best as possible or we're discussing afterwards.
[00:11:15] So being able to doing that. While it may not seem efficient from the outside, it's extremely efficient from the inside because we can ping pong back and forth. And when it comes to being on a call with kids, Sometimes I need her to take the lead and she needs to be on that same call for us to be able to serve as our client that well so I can go and do what I gotta do, come back.
[00:11:38] So we ping pong and I think I've learned how to communicate a lot better through being so close with my business partner and being able to say, these are my needs. This is where I'm insecure. This is where I'm vulnerable. This is where I'm struggling. This is where my strengths are. What do you think? And being okay with [00:12:00] an honest response and not letting ego get in that I think has really helped us be successful as well.
[00:12:06] Amelia: The thing I really love about that is it makes me think of that whole. That saying of like, it takes a village. And I think sometimes when we think about it takes a village we classically have only thought about It taking a village to raise children, but it can also take a village to like, raise our own exciting aspirations and our own passions and the things that we want and need.
[00:12:32] It's like you take that mentality of it takes a village and then you gear it towards like your business or whatever it is you want to do.
[00:12:40] Chelsea: I think you're exactly right. And I think that it has been so different,
[00:12:44] me in many ways when it comes to doing things, because we're trying to do things on a very like grander scale, right? We are step for step just like, okay, this is fed into this, this is fed into this, this continues to grow and let's just follow this trajectory.
[00:12:59] And being [00:13:00] able to like really lean into. So Carla and my friendship and also requiring that culture to maintain throughout our companies. So with clients that we work with, with any kind of business partners that we have, it's all very collaborative and understanding as well. So I think you're right, building that kind of virtual village has been really helpful just for me, even my mental health and just me feeling fulfilled and happy has been really amazing because it's.
[00:13:31] It's very isolating being a mom sometimes, especially a stay at home mom of young kids because sometimes the only person I talk to throughout the day is my husband, right? So having like my brain active with my business partner, even if we're not working on business has just been great.
[00:13:47] Amelia: I
[00:13:48] love that.
[00:13:49] Karla: Yep.
[00:13:49] Amelia: What would the two of you say then if maybe someone listening has an idea that they want to Get going that maybe doesn't necessarily call for a business [00:14:00] partner though. Like how could you Get that village support If maybe you are doing it on your own. What do you think?
[00:14:08] What do you think
[00:14:08] Karla: A few things come to mind. I would say, well, one, you could schedule a strategy call with Chelsea and I, because we love talking to other moms about their ideas and stretching their ideas. And sometimes they'll come to us like, Oh, I have an idea for a little shop. And Chelsea and I are like, okay, boom.
[00:14:28] And we like think of. Big things, and usually they end up somewhere in the middle, but we love encouraging women, brainstorming with women, and they can schedule a strategy call with us to dream and we would love to help them make their dreams come true and they can schedule that through abundant management.
[00:14:46] com. And the other thing I thought of is through our summit that we are going to be having in next week and by
[00:14:55] Amelia: well, and actually just a couple days, 'cause this is gonna come
[00:14:58] out like a [00:15:00] couple days before.
[00:15:01] Karla: yeah, and so they can register for our summit the same way they could you know, find it through our website or through our Instagram abundant management is our handle on Instagram.
[00:15:13] And they can join a community. Through the summit that we're having, that is a group of moms that all have dreams. They're all moms. They all have goals. They're all in the same boat, whether they have young kids, old kids, they're all moms, and that is one of the most rewarding parts of our business is connecting with women.
[00:15:33] And seeing that community kind of take shape and just dreaming with them. It's been really fun. So those are 2 ways that I would say to reach out to us and to be encouraged. If they have a dream.
[00:15:45] Amelia: I love that. And what were you gonna say, Chelsea, too?
[00:15:49] Chelsea: Well, just to like add on to the, summit, the reason why it even started was because we have experts. Like you on Abundant Academy, right? So we've, really, when we started [00:16:00] Abundant Academy, we wanted to create this virtual village, something that we needed, it was actually born out of like, okay, not everybody can afford to expert business coaching, or they can't afford X, Y, and Z.
[00:16:13] So let's make a course about what we knew and let's teach it. And then that grew into, Oh my gosh, Amelia, like I love listening to you. There's so much that I need to learn when it comes to like thriving after trauma or even, even ADHD is your superpower. Like there's so many things that I think would be great that maybe somebody wants to do in the privacy of their own home.
[00:16:35] Right. Or we have like faith in finance. There are certain things that they just, that you can just learn. So Abundant Academy was then born. And I think from that, like, let's have a reoccurring sense summit as best as possible. And let's just have a time where people can come together. We will help you start your year off empowered, right?
[00:16:58] The right way as [00:17:00] best you can. And even like we've structured it to where we're helping moms learn how to time block. We're helping moms learn when to be intentional with your kids, because I know time blocking was, extremely important. I was more of a task stacker, but I get very zeroed in and laser focused.
[00:17:17] That time blocking can be hard for me. It's something that I have to regularly practice. And so being kind of intentional with that and the structuring of the summit is a nice way to like, you know, move into how you want to be empowered and participate in a village. And we have like little breakout sessions and times to meet other moms because we really, really genuinely want to give moms this kind of community.
[00:17:42] You can get involved at our Instagram too. We go live and we have all kinds of things. Like we had a live podcast with you that was actually our most watched. It was extremely
[00:17:52] lively. About thriving after trauma. People had a lot of questions
[00:17:58] Karla: about this book.
[00:17:59] Amelia: And [00:18:00] now I wish I had yours now too, that I could pick up.
[00:18:02] Chelsea: I know,
[00:18:03] but we have this.
[00:18:08] Karla: learning from you. And, and, but all these things like build into each other. Cause it's like, okay, we have a podcast. We meet with amazing people now. That's like, these people should have courses. Okay. They have courses. Like, I mean, it's just, they can help more people. So I think one thing that we really love doing to piggyback on what Chelsea said is just the heart of our business is so good.
[00:18:29] And it's so like, It's genuinely wanting to help women, help moms. and so because of that, we we're doing that by, you know, like what we're doing. Like we're, you know, you have, you have courses on Abundant Academy. You're on our podcast here. We're on your podcast. Like it's all happening
[00:18:46] Chelsea: Collaborate.
[00:18:48] Karla: that's the goal of our business.
[00:18:49] Like, that's what we're, that's our mission.
[00:18:51] Amelia: do you feel like for you ladies, it's more important to have the end goal in sight, like the ultimate goal that you want, or is it [00:19:00] better to have micro goals that you're meeting?
[00:19:03] Karla: Ooh, that's a good question.
[00:19:04] I think both. Can I
[00:19:05] say
[00:19:06] Chelsea: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:19:07] Amelia: You can say both.
[00:19:08] You can say whatever you
[00:19:08] Karla: We, we have our big vision, but we also know that it's not going to look anything like that because it never does. It's always better. But it's different
[00:19:17] Chelsea: You have to have that goal to have something to work towards, right. And then be able to pivot as much as
[00:19:24] you can. You need something to work towards or else you're working towards nothing. But then I think you're right on the little goals you back into it.
[00:19:33] That's how we've
[00:19:33] Amelia: It's so interesting too, because I think this is where having community and having different types of minds. stretch each other because I've always had like a fishbowl method of business where I do something until I feel uncomfortable and then I grow and I do
[00:19:51] something until I feel uncomfortable and then I grow.
[00:19:53] That's kind of how I started my practice. It was literally, I mean I had been working in the area for 10 years already so I had kind [00:20:00] of a handful of clients that I started with, but it was me. in a room, no fax machine, no billing person. I like, I had the bear, but I barely knew what I was doing.
[00:20:10] And then I realized, Oh, I need like a billing person.
[00:20:14] This is very uncomfortable. And then I realized, Oh, I need another therapist. And then I hired two because I couldn't pick. And then it just kind of kept
[00:20:23] growing in that. way. And then every year I will reflect on. Okay, so what have I done this year and what's an area that I feel either like we've outgrown or we can expand like, like this year, my practice, we added a sand play therapy room.
[00:20:41] I don't know if you've ever heard of that.
[00:20:43] Chelsea: that on Instagram. It looked so cool.
[00:20:46] Amelia: very cool. And so every year I'll pick one like extra thing to kind of add
[00:20:51] to it. And, and you can do it in different timeframes. Obviously it could be compressed, like it could be every month. Stopping and asking, okay, [00:21:00] what's like that, that little dream I want to add on top of what I'm already doing. But it's so interesting because that's the one thing I love about you ladies is I feel like you're lit up by this like fire of imagination. And whereas I, I'm almost like, okay, where do I feel uncomfy and where do I want to expand? So I think
[00:21:17] that's where it's like need to have different kind of moms and brains working together
[00:21:22] Karla: yeah,
[00:21:23] Chelsea: Totally.
[00:21:24] Karla: agree. I think that's cool.
[00:21:25] Chelsea: And I love working with you too in the capacity that you're very detail oriented, very systematic in that way. And I can, we learn, we were just talking about it before the podcast. I'm like, ah, we stole your Google form because it was so brilliantly laid out
[00:21:41] that we're like, hey, It's going to be amazing and very like value add to people on our podcast and we even translated it to our business because I just think that there's perfect ways to learn.
[00:21:56] And I think that's another thing too, is being able to be comfortable [00:22:00] with like, Hey, that's not my strength, but, but I can find somebody whose strength it is and lean into that as opposed to having to be kind of everything to everybody. It's okay. To to be okay with your weaknesses, which I wasn't earlier.
[00:22:15] That was growth for me to be okay with that
[00:22:16] Amelia: I love that so much. I could see that. Also playing well into how do you balance your, you know, your love and your deep passion for being a mother, and then also being a business woman, because it's like you can't do everything all the time.
[00:22:31] Chelsea: Ai
[00:22:32] Karla: definitely need to give, give yourself grace in that area for sure. Because every day our to do list is not complete. Like, every day we try to get everything done that we need to get done, but we're not going to get everything done. And you just have to give yourself grace and realize that, you know. And keep your priorities, you know at the forefront of what we do because a passion or a goal could easily take over everything if you let it and you [00:23:00] need to really keep your priorities in line and set boundaries, too That's another thing is just to say Okay, my priorities, you know, you know god my husband my family And then our business and so we have to keep those priorities in line and if If something's out of whack, then nothing works well.
[00:23:19] And so we have to just kind of set boundaries and say, all right, I'm taking today. We're it's a family day. We're going to jump, jump back in hard tomorrow. And both of us are like, usually on the same boat. We're like, yeah, I feel that too. Let's, Let's do that. And so I think that's how we have to do it. But but My word of the year this year was the same as last year's intentional. But the key, I think, to all of that is to be intentional about it because because, yeah, if Chelsea and I
[00:23:47] were honest, we'd say we could work on our business all day. And it like not pay attention to any of this stuff and we'd be in our happy little bubble But none of that other stuff would be happening, but that's [00:24:00] terrible We don't want that for our lives, but our nature is to be like this is fun We're happy.
[00:24:05] We're building a business. We want to do all these things. We have big goals Let's go, but we have to be intentional to say Let's do that, but let's only do that until 1 p. m. And then we're gonna shift and focus on our other roles So
[00:24:22] Chelsea: think another piece. That helps us maintain intentionality Is we do we're very big on Like planning like the big goals backing into the smaller ones, right? So even with I and I do that in my family also So my husband and I sit down at the beginning of the year we review last year and we review what's coming up And we had to have a very serious conversation He and I and we had to be in agreement that like, okay, I'm going back to work But I'm gonna be working the hours that I that I see fit for our own business and trying to build something for us You But he needed to be on board with that [00:25:00] too because the mom guilt and the wife guilt and all of that can be extremely like it can be drowning if you let it and So learning communication is extremely important because I had to say to him, these are the things that I want to do and I want to accomplish and I'll regret if I don't try it and I'm going to try it as hard as I can cause balance as much as you try to have balance, I don't really think that's a thing.
[00:25:27] I don't think that you'll ever be fully balanced.
[00:25:30] Amelia: If you are, it's like for a moment.
[00:25:32] Karla: Yes.
[00:25:33] Chelsea: like it's always going to be like crazy work, crazy kids, crazy work, crazy kids. So for me, it's just never going to happen. I don't know if that's just my brain or what,
[00:25:43] but,
[00:25:44] Amelia: Mm hmm. We've
[00:25:45] done many a time of informal diagnosis, have
[00:25:48] we not?
[00:25:50] Chelsea: My ADHD brain
[00:25:51] Amelia: When, when I looked at your your homepage of your computer
[00:25:55] the other day,
[00:25:56] Karla: funny.
[00:25:57] Amelia: there was like 70 tabs
[00:25:59] Chelsea: like, [00:26:00] yeah, so I'm like, but those are my face holders.
[00:26:04] Karla: That's super power though. It's good.
[00:26:06] Amelia: it totally is. And it's actually something in my ADHD group we've talked about as a coping mechanism, like having things open that you're going to need quick access to.
[00:26:15] Mm hmm.
[00:26:16] Chelsea: Okay, good.
[00:26:17] So at
[00:26:18] Amelia: It just made me giggle.
[00:26:19] Chelsea: hooking. I
[00:26:21] Amelia: I absolutely love what you're saying though, about like checking in with your partner, whoever that person is, that's really supporting you in your life and letting them know what is really important to you, but then also making sure it matches up with their needs and what's important to them.
[00:26:38] And then looking at the bigger picture. How did you say it? You said backing your small goals up into your bigger goals. How did you
[00:26:45] Chelsea: I back my big goals into my little goals. So I make my
[00:26:48] little goals
[00:26:49] kind of happen. So I want to be here, right? I want to be X at X by the end of this year. How are we going to get there? It's just goes down to quarter and then [00:27:00] monthly goals. And of course that Carla says that changes by the next day.
[00:27:03] I mean like Carlin, you make a plan and God laughs, right? I mean, Carla and I thought abundant management was going to be a totally different business than it is today.
[00:27:11] And it's better.
[00:27:12] Amelia: be? I'm so curious.
[00:27:14] Chelsea: Well, we thought it was going to be helping influencers, mom influencers create their own revenue streams outside of the collaborations.
[00:27:25] And we thought we were going to be helping them with that. And we didn't even realize how applicable what we were doing was going to actually like be applicable to real, just real life moms, everyday moms want ready
[00:27:39] made businesses.
[00:27:40] Amelia: and all that.
[00:27:41] Chelsea: health, we didn't, we didn't even envision having like All of these health and wellness opportunities and like a full actual virtual village.
[00:27:52] It's like really cool being able to just tap into all of the resources that you actually need as a mom [00:28:00] is what it's turning into. And it's so cool. The, the, just the opportunities and the snowballing. So if I was too rigid or Carla was too rigid in what it is we want to accomplish. We know that we're going in that direction.
[00:28:14] Like, you know, lofty goals are there. But, they've actually, our accomplishments have been bigger than almost our goals in some aspects. Which
[00:28:22] Amelia: Mm hmm. And you also said mom guilt.
[00:28:26] Chelsea: Yeah.
[00:28:27] Amelia: I would love to hear from both of you ladies on, like, what that means to you, how you may or may not have experienced that, how you navigate it, because that is so real. wondering what you think, Carla.
[00:28:40] Karla: So the quote comes to mind that God doesn't call the equipped, he equips the called, you know, that comes to mind. And I think that that's something that all moms need to remind themself of, that on our own, like we'll never feel like, I don't think I've ever met a [00:29:00] mom. If I, if I have, it should probably, you could probably diagnose them with like narcissism,
[00:29:05] but I've never met a mom.
[00:29:07] That's like, I am the best mom in the world. I am killing it today. I have, I am like, I'm like the best mom ever. And my kids are just doing great in all aspects of life. And my, you know what I mean? Like
[00:29:20] that doesn't.
[00:29:20] Amelia: we could feel that way.
[00:29:23] Karla: but it doesn't exist. And I mean, maybe it does, but most moms always feel like they're not doing enough or they're not doing something right.
[00:29:34] Or, you know, in some area and it is a balancing act. Cause like, yeah, you might be like doing it really good, doing something really great here. And then something, you know, you might be like, Oh, I need to do better here. Or yeah, I made a home cooked meal, but you know, whatever it is. My.
[00:29:51] Amelia: But I lost my temper or
[00:29:53] Something
[00:29:54] Karla: Yeah.
[00:29:55] and you know, it's just a balancing act and you just have to give yourself grace and realize that, [00:30:00] you know, tomorrow's a new day.
[00:30:02] It's okay to tell your kids. Sorry. It's okay to let your kids, you know, know that you're figuring this out as you go to, like, you've never read it. At this stage in this role ever before and that you're doing the best that you can every day for them and kids are amazing like kids are like yeah I'm fine.
[00:30:23] I'm like, why are you saying sorry? Or, you know, like I'm fine. But I think that all moms wake up every day trying to do the best they can for their kids and that's all you can do. Just every day, wake up, try to do the best you can, give yourself grace, and And, uh, you know, don't be too hard on yourself because you're equipped for the role that you are called and you're probably doing better than you think.
[00:30:48] and our husbands and our kids are not thinking, wow, I wish that, I wish that she would do a better job washing our clothes, or wow, my, my clothes really weren't folded very good today. Like, they're [00:31:00] not going to think that. Our baseboards are dirty.
[00:31:02] No one thinks that except the mom.
[00:31:04] So, we just need to remember that.
[00:31:06] Amelia: so happy you mentioned apologizing because it really is. It's not only something that is good for us to be able to just be vulnerable and open, but
[00:31:16] it sets such a good example. It shows our kids it's okay to not only be vulnerable, but to like be with their shame. Like if they feel something, if they feel bad about something, it's healthy and it's okay to be present with that.
[00:31:30] It's okay to not be okay.
[00:31:32] Karla: Right? It's
[00:31:33] Amelia: And so I love that, I love that you lean into that. And you know, there's one other thing, and then I want to hear Chelsea's take on this too for sure. I notice with a lot of the moms that I work with who experience a lot of mom guilt, they get very stuck in evaluating how they're doing. And something that I try to do personally, I remember once it's such a funny story. I was with my best friend, we're at the zoo. This was like back when I first had my [00:32:00] daughter and she got a little cut and I pulled a bandaid out of like a bag I had. And my friend looks at me and goes, Oh my gosh, you're like doing so much because you're doing so much better at being a mom than I expected.
[00:32:13] Like it was like, but she meant it in a loving way and I think she meant it cause I was not an overly maternal person. Kid, like I was into like playing teenagers at the age of five. Like I didn't have barbie I'm, sorry. I didn't have baby dolls and stuff, you know, so
[00:32:28] it was such a funny moment, but I remember thinking You know what?
[00:32:32] Like I Actually like not asking am I doing a good job and I am I not the thing I always
[00:32:38] try to do personally Is did I take a moment?
[00:32:42] Of my
[00:32:42] day to enjoy my child
[00:32:45] Chelsea: Mm hmm.
[00:32:46] Amelia: that's what I lean into because I'm not evaluating myself. I'm not
[00:32:49] evaluating how I'm doing. I'm just, did I take A moment to be fully present
[00:32:57] and bring
[00:32:57] band aids to the zoo?
[00:32:58] Karla: [00:33:00] And I
[00:33:00] think that's true. And with kids, I think it is more about quality over quantity. Like if you are intentional and you spend a few minutes looking in their eyes, talking to them, getting on their level, playing with them that fills their cup and that means so much more to them.
[00:33:16] Your story made me laugh though. Cause I actually said something like that to Chelsea the other day. She, she, for some reason bought a. Like 400 balls, like it was like a hundred, so many balls. There were like balls everywhere.
[00:33:32] Chelsea: for The summit.
[00:33:33] Karla: Children are having so much fun with them, but it was like, there were just these little balls everywhere.
[00:33:38] And I said, Chelsea, I thought, I thought you were like a mom pro, but right now I'm questioning all of it because I have to live and learn and then never buy those again, because you're going to be thinking about them for days.
[00:33:52] Chelsea: I know.
[00:33:53] I turned it into an activity of connection. As opposed to frustration. I, but I was very frustrated. I was [00:34:00] like, I texted her back. Like I regret all my life choices
[00:34:02] Amelia: What were you doing with the balls?
[00:34:04] Chelsea: Speech anyways, I had a whole visual aide for my one of my
[00:34:10] Karla: Oh, we had a vision.
[00:34:11] Chelsea: I have a vision, and it's
[00:34:13] gonna be great in my head. And then I went to execute it, and my husband's like, What are you ta Why are you carrying a bunch of balls around?
[00:34:21] Nobody cares! I was like,
[00:34:23] okay, well, at least you're shooting to me straight. Thanks, babe.
[00:34:30] Amelia: my God. Now, where are the balls now? I feel like that's an important
[00:34:32] Chelsea: In the trash.
[00:34:33] Amelia: Okay. Okay.
[00:34:35] Chelsea: No, they're just in a box in the corner, and they'll stay there for like, 10 years, I don't know.
[00:34:40] But I think my biggest thing, like you said, is connect, like I, connection with my kids. And one of the ways that I do that, really, is I bring my kids along for the ride. So, one thing that's beautiful is being able to work from home.
[00:34:54] Amelia: Case in point.
[00:34:55] Chelsea: Yup, and have my kids with me. And I actually think I know that I [00:35:00] really admire both my mom and my stepmom quite a bit. They shared their experience. So, my mom was more of a stay at home mom. We struggled, she was a paralegal and then she would work from home and she's So smart and you know, I was able to watch her kind of do her thing in her way And then I watched my step mom who was the first female black executive at ITT aerospace Huge like accounts, it was crazy And I watched her leave the house and
[00:35:29] work hard and have
[00:35:30] her master's degree and all of that and
[00:35:32] I watched two different kind of ways, but I learned a lot
[00:35:35] of being myself.
[00:35:36] So Being able to bring my kids along with me
[00:35:40] in that and
[00:35:41] being able to say
[00:35:43] Amelia: It's gonna make a liar outta you right now.
[00:35:44] Karla: Now, because when even in abundant management and in life, we bring our kids everywhere we go. I mean, if we are doing something, I mean, my kids are at school right now, but the kids that.
[00:35:57] I have with me, they go with me and Chelsea is the same way. [00:36:00] And like, if we have a meeting and it's not during that time.
[00:36:03] Our kids are going to be there and, you know, we've never ran into a situation where people say, you know, wow, why is your child here? Or, you know, can you, can we reschedule when you don't have a child with you? It's not like that. And that's kind of the culture of abundant management too, is like, if you are a mom and you're working with us, then your kids are also welcome.
[00:36:24] And
[00:36:25] Amelia: I love that.
[00:36:26] Chelsea: So I think for me being able to connect with my kids in that way and just explain like hey I'm going to because my kids are very young so mommy's going to work During your nap time or here's your activity mommy has to go work for an hour We'll play when we get back and having that You know, five minute check in, I get down and I play on their level, makes me feel better.
[00:36:49] I know I feel a difference and I feel my kids difference if I'm dysregulated or if I feel them dysregulated and I keep trying to power through. That's where my mom guilt gets really [00:37:00] heightened. So I always need to say to Karla when I get to that point, Hey, I need a minute. I got to check in with my kids.
[00:37:06] I got to check in with myself. I got to get my heart right. I got to get my head right. I don't feel good right now. So. I need to go figure this out and then I'll be back and I think just understanding that priority because we're not gonna do any of this for any reason unless it's to better other people's lives and my kids lives.
[00:37:25] Like I'm, I'll stop if I can't handle, you know what I mean? So being able to have those boundaries in myself too. And Carla and I have had plenty of check ins where it's like, okay, if we had to leave it. Are you okay with that? If, you know, if it's too much and we can't mom to our, to how we feel fulfilled, then are you okay?
[00:37:47] Like, we just have to check in and just be really real with ourselves.
[00:37:52] The other thing with mom guilt that I think that it's important to remind moms of too is like Say you are working from [00:38:00] home or doing something That is not physically being present with your child at a moment like Right. now There's that I feel like i'm not a psychiatrist, but I feel like there's value And having a child play independently and quietly for a short, like, while we're on the podcast, I have my 5 year old coloring and playing quietly with her magnets and she can do that.
[00:38:22] Karla: And I think that that's healthy for her, but it's also healthy for me.
[00:38:26] Amelia: Yes.
[00:38:27] Karla: to to be able to do that and to know, like, I'm not here to entertain you all day. Like, you can play quietly and use your imagination and there's value in that for her too. So, I think moms need to take that guilt off of themselves that they are their only.
[00:38:43] Their child's only source of entertainment all day and that's their only job. Because you know, if you go to church or you go anywhere, go, you know, your kids need to learn how to sit and occupy and just be with their thoughts for an hour. And it's, okay. And moms need to take that off of them.
[00:38:59] And if you [00:39:00] have Multiple children, there's value in the kids playing together. And I think moms forget that too, that, you know, they think, Oh, I wasn't really, I didn't really, you know, it like talk to my child a lot today and I wasn't present. I didn't play with them. I wasn't on the floor. I didn't whatever, but they played with their sibling.
[00:39:18] All day long. And there's so much value in that too. So I'm not saying that like every day that should be the routine, but if that is a routine on some days, it's not all for nothing, there's still learning. There's still, it's, there's still value in those things.
[00:39:34] Amelia: Absolutely. And, you know, thinking about, you know, how Chelsea was saying the piece of checking in on whether you're regulated or not, and like taking those moments to breathe and it is fortunate, I will point out the obvious, it is fortunate if you are able to do a job and a passion project. That you do find fun or you know, you don't have the financial stress A lot of people listening do have [00:40:00] financial stress and it's like they have to do jobs.
[00:40:01] They don't necessarily want to do but I think everything both of you are saying still applies so far as And it may even apply more, where if you're in a job that maybe you come home feeling drained as opposed to feeling lit up. It's very normal to feel dysregulated and it's very normal to need to take a moment to breathe, to need to take that moment. And instead of leaning into mom guilt, well I should be ready to be on. as I come home, I know for me when I'm doing therapy all day, I will come home and be like ready for dinner, ready to engage. But sometimes the dream would be to come home and go upstairs and take a super hot shower first and take a deep breath and then
[00:40:50] decompress and then be in. But sometimes it doesn't happen. And so it has to be this kind of mental space of like, I will give that to myself as soon as I'm able. As soon as it's [00:41:00] available, and I also Carla, I could not agree with you more. I am The strongest advocate for teaching our kids to be bored. it's why I'm a strong proponent for not using screen time a lot.
[00:41:12] We have a lot of
[00:41:13] interesting rules around screen time in our family. We're
[00:41:16] definitely a limited screen time family. We love watching a movie. The on long
[00:41:21] trips, our kids will get this, our 10 hour trip to New York. Our kids now know they're trained. They have to make it halfway through a trip before the screens come out.
[00:41:30] Chelsea: That's
[00:41:30] all.
[00:41:31] Amelia: Five hours. No
[00:41:33] screens. Yes, and so exactly, exactly. And
[00:41:38] so, so I've noticed value in that. It is a lot of work up front, but my kids can sit in
[00:41:46] a fancy restaurant. They can sit in a church. They can sit in a wedding. They can be bored. But the great thing about boredom, that's where imagination happens.
[00:41:56] Karla: It's true.
[00:41:56] Amelia: And if we fill the space too much, we kind of [00:42:00] take that opportunity away from kids sometimes.
[00:42:03] Karla: Yeah. I agree. Yeah. I feel like we all three opened up like so many different Pandora's boxes that
[00:42:10] Amelia: people are going to listen to and be like, I want to talk all about that and like all about screens are all about working moms are all
[00:42:16] about kids playing alone. But
[00:42:18] these are, I think it's great because these are just purely authentic experiences And opinions that we're all having based on our experiences of being moms and working,
[00:42:27] Karla: Yeah, were talking about decompressing after work, it reminded me of when I was a working mom. We had six kids when I was working full time and I would use my drive, my commute, it was about 30 minutes and I would use it as a time of like, I would, I would turn all the music off and I would simply just sit in silence because all the day and everybody had 200 employees and they all needed me and it was just a lot.
[00:42:51] And I would sit for 30 minutes and not, I would just be quiet.
[00:42:55] And then I'd get
[00:42:56] home and it was like, okay, I'm ready for round 2, but that was, we, [00:43:00] moms absolutely need a minute. If
[00:43:02] Amelia: Yes.
[00:43:02] Karla: or
[00:43:03] Chelsea: Yeah.
[00:43:03] Karla: working, but Yeah.
[00:43:04] Amelia: Yes. I love that because I think sometimes we too quickly, like we jump in the car and we turn on the radio
[00:43:10] or we call a person or we're doing a to do list and it's
[00:43:13] like, sometimes there's a
[00:43:14] lot of value to quiet and you, you know, there's one other thing we didn't touch on that. I want to make sure we do really quickly and we almost got there and it's, it's, it's, the value of what it does for our kids to see us working,
[00:43:30] Chelsea: Oh
[00:43:30] Karla: yeah.
[00:43:31] Amelia: right?
[00:43:32] Karla: that the other day.
[00:43:33] Amelia: Mm-hmm
[00:43:34] Karla: Chelsea and I .
[00:43:35] Amelia: What were
[00:43:35] you
[00:43:35] Chelsea: Building a business with your teen. We have some of those teens at the Summit too, or with your child. And including them, and that's, that's my big dream. Is being able to include my kids in the business building itself. But I, I think that there is huge value in everything that you do, doing to the best of your ability, whether it be taking care of yourself, whether it be [00:44:00] working out, whether it be prioritizing sleep.
[00:44:02] I mean, my big thing is wanting to teach my kids the best habits that I know possible, so they don't have to unlearn these things when they get
[00:44:11] older. I had to unlearn certain eating habits or sleeping habits or thought processes or whatever it is. And I don't want my kids to have to unlearn that. So them seeing that it is fully possible to push yourself to the best limit, I think
[00:44:30] is while taking care of yourself and maintaining, I think is really, really critically important. I think it's really good.
[00:44:36] Amelia: And for you, Carla, what is the thing that you most hope your kids take from seeing You work and seeing You kind of put your passions into play?
[00:44:44] Karla: Well, I think that I would hope that they would take away that just because you become a mom doesn't mean that all your dreams are on hold or things are on hold that you wanted to do like you can do both. It might not look the same as if [00:45:00] I didn't have kids because I'd, you know, work more and, you know, I wouldn't have balance and, but I wouldn't be as happy.
[00:45:06] I wouldn't be as fulfilled. That that I think that's just it. I just want my kids to learn that whether it's a job outside the home or a passion that they have that they do while they are a stay at home mom, that just because you have a family and you have kids doesn't mean that those are on hold.
[00:45:23] Like, nothing ever needs to be on hold. you really can do it all. It just might. Not be on your timeline. It might be a little bit slower. It might look a little different. You might have to learn time management skills a little bit better. But you, you don't have to put things on hold just because you have kids.
[00:45:39] Amelia: I'm such a huge fan of that because too many times I think people think if I can't do everything right away, I even think of exercise. Like if I can't get to the gym and do 45 minutes to an
[00:45:50] hour, it's not worth it. Ladies. I went in this full on outfit upstairs with my hair down and did a 10 minute ride on my Peloton in between [00:46:00] appointments
[00:46:00] earlier because I was like, I'm not gonna be able to fit in exercise today.
[00:46:05] And
[00:46:05] I really needed it. So, I mean, I'm like in my business garb, like on the, on the bike. It's just like,
[00:46:11] Chelsea: Just stack the wins like that's fantastic. Just you did it. You showed up. There's something to that that has completely changed. I know last year. My big thing was consistency. And so no matter what I still I had to do. three things in my day, like no matter what. And I
[00:46:29] had to do my 30 pushups. I had to drink a gallon of water
[00:46:32] and I had to journal and it was like I had to do it and I did it and that changed my outlook and you're like, that's brilliant to be able to just, you're like, well, I have to get it in.
[00:46:43] So just go do it.
[00:46:45] Just
[00:46:45] show up as you are.
[00:46:46] Meet yourself wherever you are and do It cause you can
[00:46:49] Amelia: Yes.
[00:46:51] Karla: right.
[00:46:52] Amelia: sure. Well, ladies, I have loved having you on my podcast. I feel like, I feel like when you go to someone else's house a bunch and then finally you get [00:47:00] to host them.
[00:47:01] Chelsea: Yeah,
[00:47:01]
[00:47:01] Amelia: you could think of one last little thing that
[00:47:04] you want, or you're hoping that you know, listeners really hear
[00:47:08] something you want them to take away or something you're excited that they might learn. At the summit or just enjoying the community in general. What would that be? We'll start with you Carla
[00:47:18] Karla: Oh. I was hoping you were going to start with Chelsea so I could think of something. Right. No, I would say that I would hope that that a mom attending the summit. And just listening to us talk and following our page, I would hope that she would kind of ignite that fire of, hey, I have a passion. I have a dream.
[00:47:38] I have a hobby. Maybe I could do something with this, whether or not it even makes any money. I mean, Yeah.
[00:47:44] if it does great, but if it doesn't, you can still pursue that and do something that you enjoy, whether it's just a hobby or if it is a business, whatever it is I would hope that maybe she's inspired to start that.
[00:47:57] Chelsea: Yeah.
[00:47:59] Amelia: for sure I [00:48:00] would be if I was listening
[00:48:02] Chelsea: Yeah.
[00:48:02] Amelia: what about you
[00:48:03] Chelsea: I don't know. Carla took mine. No, I
[00:48:05] Amelia: Both of you wanted to go in a different order
[00:48:08] Chelsea: No, I think that it's just. no matter what, you deserve to be fulfilled and happy and empowered and to take care of you and just to show up for yourself and just about anything, like Karla was saying, when you do have your hobby or you have your passion ignited and you're on fire.
[00:48:28] We can help you. There's plenty of experts there. We want you to be at the summit with us. We can help you find a way to Make sure that you feel empowered and ready to take on 2025 because you definitely deserve that And I know that it took me a while to figure that out that I was really enough and worth it Just as I was the only thing I had to do was to actually Get started.
[00:48:55] And just do it. And the rest will figure itself
[00:48:57] Amelia: I Love that and
[00:48:59] for anyone who's [00:49:00] listening to this after the date of the summit Which is the 16th or the 18th
[00:49:04] of January of? 2025 there will be follow up summits every four months or so. So there's another one at the end of April So you're not too late. You can still reach out and
[00:49:15] and if I was going to give my last hope, my last hope is that I would hope that moms and dads and really anyone who wants to start something look really, really truly look at failures as stepping stones.
[00:49:28] Like I think it's such a powerful thing to, to seek out as many
[00:49:33] potential nodes as you can. To get to the yeses because if you're getting Psychology today, for instance, I was
[00:49:41] bugging them for almost four years to get on to get on their platform
[00:49:45] By the time I finally did I looked back and i'm like, oh my goodness I've been at this for like three or four years trying to get a yes out of them Yes, persistence is everything.
[00:49:54] So I hope you all enjoyed this episode. Thank you so much ladies for [00:50:00] coming And I will see you soon and be well everyone.
[00:50:03]