I Became Pregnant While Trying to Run a Business: Thoughts and New Perspectives

​Hey everybody, and welcome back to another episode of the BeabossCoaching podcast. My name is Beatriz and I am your host, and this is season four, episode five. Here with Beabosscoaching, as you know, or if you've heard any other of the episodes of this season, we, you know, that we've been weaving in the theme of expansion into, into the episodes and it's been a topic and a theme that we have talked about with our guest in the show and even the solo episodes kind of incorporating and how it fits into entrepreneurship.

Last solo episode, it was in last week. Last week was an episode with Erika Dox-Martinez. If you haven't checked that out, you absolutely must go check that out. But the week before that, we had a solo episode where I announced my pregnancy and it was really nice to let it out and let people know. I haven't really, to be honest, I haven't really.

I plastered it anywhere on social media. The people in my life that are important know, of course, and all the, my community but social media, I don't know, like I just feel this weird feeling or just hesitancy maybe to post it, but eventually I will. But today I kind of wanna talk about, basically I'll be interviewing myself today.

And I wanna talk about how becoming pregnant has shifted my entrepreneurship journey. And I wanna talk about how that. Shift in creating a new identity as a mom or a future mom has really impacted my perspective and how I approach. Business or how I wanna build my business. So that's where, that's what I wanna talk about today.

I'm sure that a lot of people out there have experienced what it is to be a mom and an entrepreneur and for me, I am experienced. Firsthand, right? Because it is something that is in the future. Like I'm not a full as mom yet, but I, I'm thinking about how that is going to impact my, my approach into my business.

And but. It's already impacted me in so many ways, and I wanna talk about that and how I've been managing that. So for anybody who is managing big shifts in their life while also trying to continue and follow along the path of their entrepreneurship journey, I encourage you to listen to this episode and, and I hope that it's valuable. Okay, so number one, and I have these questions here that I kind of wrote and reflected on. And one of the first questions that I wanna talk about is how becoming pregnant has influenced my perspective on my business and growth. And I wanna say that. It has really allowed me to.

Take a step back and to essentially figure out new ways for me to live in this new reality of mine before becoming a mother or before becoming pregnant. I. Was spending a lot of time in my business doing everything myself. I'm a solopreneur. I do the podcast. I do, I did my newsletter. I had a newsletter that I was managing and putting out every week.

I had a blog once a month that I put out on my website as well as on LinkedIn. I did all of my social media content. I even sat started a a YouTube channel and that. All of that was my attempt at creating multiple ways that people can find me online and get a sense of who I am and what I talk about and how I coach in in my business, how I approach my time with my clients.

And I was even planning a membership launch, which the minute I found out I was pregnant, pretty much halted. And so. It halted because I think I really needed time to understand what this meant for me and how do I approach my business while also trying to take care of myself and not overexert myself because it was a really big toll on my body and not feeling guilty about.

Taking my time to really think about what this means for self care and not feeling guilty, pausing. My operations for my business, I tried to go on with the regular operations that I was doing, and it was just, just not sustainable for me any anymore, especially in the first trimester. It was very difficult to do that, and at that point I, I realized that I, I.

You know, my perspective has always been to continue to take care of yourself in your entrepreneurship journey. Remember to, to continue to pause and to be reflective and mindful of the things that you're doing as you're building from scratch. And and, and I really took that to heart. And I think during that time though you know, it was just finding the scraps of energy.

To do anything for my business, whether that was recording or planning this podcast or even writing a newsletter. And I made a decision to only focus on building out this podcast and creating this piece and making this piece. The one that I gave my commitment to and my energy to with the limited amount of energy that I had, and I had to let go of my newsletter and I had to let go of my YouTube channel and I had to let go of the blog and every, most of.

Pretty much my social media content and planning and strategies. It was just all focused on this podcast because, as you know, podcast requires coordination, requires recording and requires editing. It requires show notes, it requires a whole production, and I was doing it all on my own. So I decided to.

Put my energy into the one thing that I actually do enjoy and that I know takes the most energy. But that would continue to still feed my soul and also be a, a peace within be a boss coaching that, that I can give my time to. So that's what I decided on and I had to. Give myself grace and I had to constantly, constantly remind myself, myself, but also have others remind me, primarily my therapist and my husband and like those close to me that I was growing a whole as baby.

And to remember that when I felt feelings of guilt. Around my limited capacity and my inability to, to work at the same level that I was working at before, I had to remember that I was doing so much more, which is grow a baby, which is a lot, and it takes a, a big toll. And so the way that my.

Perspective has changed on business and growth is to finally put all of the tools in place that I've always, that I've learned throughout my, my journey my self-care journey, but also my mindset journey, my healing journey, and to really put those into practice and to have. Ways for me to remember that these tools are not just tools to practice every now and then.

It's like tools that you practice every single day, especially when big shifts happen. And that was I had to basically drink my own medicine and. Let go of, it was hard to let go of the newsletter. It was hard to let go of the blog and all these things that I used to do and just focus on one thing.

'cause I thought that I could do it right? Like I've been able to do it, why can't I do it now? But the circumstances were different and I was under a different reality. So. That's what I had to remember is make making hard decisions and sticking to those decisions and when you have the guilt or shame about not being able to do what you used to be able to do.

For your business that things are different and that you're okay and that you're constantly evolving and that I was literally expanding, like, 'cause we were talking about expansion, right? Throughout this entire season we're talking about expansion. And that expansion in that time would look like, what it looked like for me is creating new breakthroughs.

And that new breakthrough is finding new ways of time. Managing my, of managing my time, finding new ways. To manage my energy and that that was okay and that there would still be. Momentum and steps moving forward in terms of business. I honestly , I was like, this is going to be a slow season.

It's not going to be one where I have all these clients coming in and all this revenue coming in. No, I was. Going to pause on this membership that I was planning. I was going to pause on receiving new clients and the only thing that I wanted to sustain was the podcast. And I'll continue to, I would still through that wanna continue growing my social media or newsletter and presence.

But primarily it is not so much to get clients because I just didn't know how I would. Approach my time with my clients. And so I thought that I knew that this would be a season of not, of, of not growth in terms of revenue, but in terms of audience, in terms of community, and that's what I wanted to focus on.

So that's how that changed for me. Number two is really looking at new strengths and skills that I've gained through, through this experience and how they've benefited my entrepreneurship journey. And I alluded to this in the previous question, but I. Again, I've had all these tools and so it's not so much that I've learned new tools, it's that I've really learned how to apply them and how to trust my ability to make the decisions that I'm needed to make, even if they're hard, and the strengths and skills that I've learned throughout my entire journey.

I have really been about mindset and being able to regulate my body and find ways to do things that are still scary. But also regulate when those moments are present. We know how to regulate my nervous system so that I can continue growing in that sense. And so the strengths and skills that I've learned in this process has mostly just been how to apply them, how to, how we can talk about them in theory, but what does it look like from a day-to-day perspective?

To apply mindfulness or to apply regulating your nervous system or to apply your time management skills, and I. Knew that in this new reality, I had to let go of what my daily routine was before and know that my daily routine now is forever changed and will. Always be forever changed and that it will continue to evolve.

It's not just that I'm growing a baby, my energy is lacking and I'm fatigued, but now in the future, there's gonna be a baby. So that's gonna be a new different, a new reality from even what I am experiencing now.

And so it, it's really breaking through, understanding that there's a new reality to get used to a new way of doing things, and understanding that those things evolving are okay.

Things are never gonna, like I used to think, oh, once I pop out this baby, things are gonna go back to normal. I know they're not gonna go back to normal or ever go back to the way I used to do things. Now it's about going with the flow, going with the changes, and getting used to the ever the, the constant changes that are gonna be happening in, business and in life.

You just, you just never know what could happen. Right. And now there's a new. Human that I gotta take care of a new baby. And I know that everything, a lot of things can be unpredictable. So. Is learning how to ride the waves of change and accepting that it's not about wanting to go back to past realities or way that I used to do things, but finding new ways to do things with my new circumstance.

All right, Joan. And last, last but not least 'cause I am running out of breath. But the last question is how do you see your entrepreneurial journey evolving in the coming months or years as you navigate both roles, mom role, entrepreneurial role, and I, this question obviously is still. A question I'm reflecting on and thinking about, and I do.

What's interesting about this question for me is that I have lately been feeling this surge of. Motivation where I am so excited to finally, after this baby comes out and the baby's here, I feel like now I will have my energy back and my, I'll be able to run again. For example, I, I'm a runner. I love running and I just haven't been able to run at the capacity that I used to, and so I'm so excited to get back into it, to the point where I want to.

Sign up for a marathon. And do a whole marathon after I pop this baby, right? So I feel this sense of motivation that I'll be able to do it, that I'll be able to not just have my energy back, but I'll be able to manage everything. I'll be Supermom. I'll have a baby and I'll be able to run my business and perhaps even work part-time.

'cause that is actually one thing that I do plan on, on doing is, is going back to work at least part-time. And I'm excited for that. I'm excited to. Figure out what that's gonna look like and how I'm gonna do it, but I have this, this sense that I will be able to do it. Whereas before, I think I have always been stuck in this mindset of there's just a lot to do and think about how do I manage it all?

And for the most part, I've. I try different things and different systems and strategies for how to manage everything that I wanna do within my business, and all of a sudden I have this newfound mindset and earn energy where I have a sense that I'll be able to figure that out and know how to do that.

So now I won't just be able to continue now to run my business. And go back to the way that I, maybe not the way that I used to do things before, but find new ways to do things and continue to grow it in the sense where now I have new clients and whatnot, but I, I don't know, like something just feels.

Motivating to know that I'm gonna have a baby. And of course part of that is also knowing that I have support. I have the greatest husband who is like the greatest support. I don't, I would never be able to do this without her. Maybe I could, but it's, it's nice to know that I do have someone that I can lean on and support me.

He's just been in the most incredible partner throughout this whole. Experience before, during, and after pregnancy. And and I have my family, thankfully, who's here with me, who are excited to meet the baby and pitch in when they need to or help me out with raising him. And I. I'm excited to lean on my community and lean on my partner, and lean on my family to navigate this new reality, to raise my child, to build my business, to go back to work part-time and find ways for me to feel fulfilled and joyous while also providing for my family.

And so. It's, it's just, I'm really excited. I don't know if it's just hormones, me being d Lulu, I don't know. 'cause who knows how I will feel when the baby is literally here in about a few months. A few months. But that's how I feel in this moment. And so that's the way that my, that's how I've been able to.

See my entrepreneurial journey evolve and how I see it evolving in the future. And I will let you know. I'll keep you updated with how that's going, and hopefully you continue to come back to the Beabosscoaching podcast for. For some updates to learn more about entrepreneurship from women of color, from badass women of color BIPOC folks who have gone through so much in their journeys.

And and we continue to build community.

I will keep you updated. We don't know if that's how it actually, if that's how it actually will unfold, but I, I have faith and hopefully that is the case and I am excited about this motivation that I feel and sense of. Newness and sense of, of possibility essentially.

But that is how that is going as of now. Okay. Thank you so much for sticking around with me and being with me with this solol episode. I'd like to leave you with a question because it's a. A practice that I want to have you journal about or reflect on as you move throughout the week in your journey.

So I wanna leave you with this question, and the question is, how can you redefine success as you experience big shifts or new realities in your journey? Let me know. Let. Perhaps send me an email, come over to Instagram and send me a dm. I'm at Bebo Coaching. I'm also on LinkedIn.

Or you come to the show notes so you can see all the different ways that you can connect with me. Thank you again so much for sticking around. Come visit us@viabosscoaching.com. My website is still up. It's still up and running. So if you come visit it, yeah, fill out a form.

Be part of my newsletter. 'cause I promise it will be coming back. But I. I'm excited to continue this podcast, this journey. And don't forget to tune in every Monday for new episodes. Next week we have a new guest as well again, talking about the theme of expansion and their particular entrepreneurship journey.

Excited for you to continue listening to these stories. Have a great rest of your week, and I will see you next time. Bye.