March is typically my least favorite month of the year. It starts with the anniversary of my dad’s sudden and tragic passing. This time of year is still sad and heavy for me, all these years later. Then, the weather typically doesn’t get warmer despite us feeling ready for any sign of spring 💐. And then it’s honestly just LONG with no holidays to spice it up.
We’re also on our second year of a two-week spring break dynamic with our oldest son in preschool. Last year’s spring break was tough. We traveled with our 3-year-old and 6-month-old to Colorado and it was just one of those trips where we didn’t sleep at all. We missed school, ha.
So I have to say, this March was such a surprising delight. With a highly productive and grounding solo work trip to Philly, an unforgettable family trip to Mexico, many signs of a Central Park spring, and my highest cash month since becoming a mom, I am still buzzing from it all writing this!
My sister’s final month working with me. After six years working together, this was my sister Abby’s last month with my business. I shared more about this transition and our time together here.
When I started my business from a small laptop in a one-bedroom apartment (of which 3 of us occupied) years ago, I never could’ve imagined the ripple effect it’d have on those around me. Over the years, I’ve employed both of my sisters and have also been the sole provider for my family so my husband’s income could freeze while he started a new business.
Yet so often, we as women stop ourselves from chasing our dreams of success because we only focus on what it subtracts from. We feel guilty missing time with our kids to work on our business. We feel like we can’t spend personal money on our business because we feel it takes away from our family’s finances. Focus instead on what those resources can CREATE for those you love instead of what they take away from those you love.
Especially because when you deprive yourself of the success you really desire, you’re depriving those you love from the best version of you.
Work sprints continue to be my ride or die. I have an unorthodox work/life balance. Though I run a business generating cash at the million-dollar mark, I’m basically a stay-at-home mom. But I also work 30-40 hours a week, but also don’t have full-time childcare. My life is constant context switching from momming as my default to working when I have the time, but I wouldn’t trade it for this precious time with my kids.
Instead of going into an office and having my kids in daycare, I power through weeks worth of work in my “work sprints.” These are 24-48 hour sprints I do alone about every 6-8 weeks. I’ll either do a staycation or this month, I went to Philly early one morning and came back the next afternoon. These are critical for me because they allow me to totally zone in and focus, go to bed early, order room service and just totally be “off” from home demands. I can batch and plan for weeks in these small sprints and they make all the difference. I can’t recommend this enough if you’re a mom entrepreneur!
Complete overhaul of Scalable Services. This has been a year in the making but it really came to a head this month.
This time last year, I rebranded my long-time popular program, Scale Your Side Hustle® into Scalable Services. I loved that program and it had such a reflection of me in it. But after the years passed, I had outgrown working with side hustlers and my audience had too.
So we shifted the cirriculum to teach how to scale a business that can easily fall into the time-for-money trade. That’s the biggest strength of my own coaching business and it’s really the only way to have a sustainable business as a mom.
With Abby leaving, we took it even further. I hired a new support coach who shadowed me for months (I shared more here) and team member to help with the operations of it.
I did an intensive with a coach to thoroughly weed through the cirriculum with me.
And I hired a client experience specialist to help me make the customer experience unforgettable, especially in an industry of so much smoke and mirrors.
Finally, we added an in-person even component to it!
I truly think this program is the best it’s ever been!
The NY Knick’s on St. Patrick’s Day! My husband, sister-in-law and I went to the Knick’s game on St. Patrick’s Day in honor of one of my longtime clients and close friends PERFORMING IN THE HALFTIME SHOW. I felt like a proud stage mom! 😭
Mexico with the kids. We took the boys to Mexico for a week and this was a highlight of the year!
Peer-Based Mastermind. This month, I kicked off a peer-based Mastermind. The goal was to bring like-minded entrepreneurs together for in-person connection, peer-coaching, and support. I’ve spent the last few months curating and forming the group and we had our kick-off dinner this month.
I personally stopped working with my own 1:1 coach last year, not because I don’t love her (I think she’s the best in the business!). But I felt really pulled to spend my time and resources in communities and at events vs. on Zoom. It wasn’t easy to create a group that I felt would mesh well while also juggling complicated schedules but it was SO rewarding to see it come together. We kicked off with dinner outside in Little Italy on a beautiful day and it was perfect. We all talked about how important it is to never be the biggest fish in the pond and if you are, swim somewhere else.
March was my highest income month to date since becoming a mother and I’m so grateful for it.
Here’s what worked well:
Email Marketing. Emails continue to be my favorite and most lucrative form of marketing. 13/14 new clients in March came through reading, engaging with, learning from and sometimes even directly purchasing through my emails. Get a taste for my profitable emails in this bundle.
Sales Calls + Conversations. Sales calls continue to be highly converting for me and honestly a true joy. I love love love connecting with people about their dreams and vision and helping them see what it takes to get there (whether that means they work with me or not honestly)!
Paid ads. I truthfully neglected my own ads so much this month while busy revamping Scalable Services. So much so that I’ve officially hired ads help, which is something I’m very hesitant to do as it eats into your ad profit so much. But even without much testing or emphasis on the actual profitability of the ads themselves, the ads to my Passive Park Sales System continues to be an incredible lead generator.
What didn’t work:
Social media. My reel views and engagement is at an all-time low on social media. This isn’t a huge deal because I don’t rely on it for sales, and I continue posting with a consistent cadence for brand reliability and recognition. It does make me question how “worth it” it is, though!
Per my main business philosophy, my income falls into two categories:
Passive product sales.
This month, only about 12% of my income was through my passive sales. As I shared above, I really neglected my ads this month and my social media didn’t perform as well as usual.
Still, this was a totally passive five-figures that came through when on the beach in Mexico, in Central Park with my kids, and on the couch tearing up as I re-watched my father’s funeral.
Get my free 49-page Passive Sales Playbook here.
Scalable Services
My Mastermind and group program, Scalable Services carried the rest of my income.
Between the two coaching programs I have, I have four coaching calls on my calendar per month. This is the power of scalability!
Zero private clients.
Zero webinars.
But… I am opening my annual Paris Experiences this month. Keep your eyes open!
