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The Level Up Creators podcast is for digital creators ready to take their business to the next level. You'll learn valuable strategies and hear engaging stories from industry pros and digital creators who have walked the path of scaling up.
Whether you're tired of tap dancing for the algorithm or seeking to build real wealth - without the burnout - this podcast offers proven methods and practical advice to help you elevate your business, on your terms. Join us!
Amanda (00:00)
Hey, hey, you're listening to the Level Up Creators podcast. Amanda Northcutt here, founder and CEO. We help creators and digital thought leaders like you turn your knowledge and experience into rock solid recurring revenue. And we're so glad you're here. Welcome. Today, my guest is serial entrepreneur, Lonnie Brown. Lonnie is an entrepreneur, blogger, speaker, and founder and CEO of Wholesome Nest, a 16 plus year veteran business owner of multiple businesses, mom of three, wife,
and nonprofit board member. Lonnie knows exactly how hard it is to juggle a hectic daily life while still maintaining your sense of self and purpose.
specialist, professional organizer and systems expert, she helps modern career oriented moms reduce overwhelm in motherhood by helping them detox and declutter their lives using simple systems and habits. Often asked, how do you do it all? Lonnie is passionate about guilt free motherhood, helping mothers live a holistic and productive life as the best versions of themselves. Welcome Lonnie.
Loni Brown (01:03)
Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.
Amanda (01:06)
I'm so excited to have this conversation with you. You are such an expert. You have such a wealth of knowledge and expertise. You and I have known each other for several months now, and I've really just enjoyed getting to know you. And you are such a genuine individual. And so many, not only moms, but parents who work with young kids at home and are balancing so many things and keeping all the plates spinning, we so desperately need what you have to share. So this is going to be a really, really great conversation. So welcome to all of our listeners. And then...
Lonnie, if you could share just a little bit more about yourself, your background, all the hats that you wear on any given day as a founder, content creator, mom, marketer, consultant, I could go on. But seriously, share just whatever you'd like to share.
Loni Brown (01:48)
Okay, great. So yes, I've been a business owner for 16 years. I currently own two businesses. My first business is a virtual staffing and HR consulting company. And so I started that business 16 years ago. I can't believe it's been that long. And now I have a whole team that kind of runs the day -to -day of that business. And I started a new business in 2019.
Wholesome Nest and this business has had a lot of evolutions as you know businesses do but we basically serve new moms and it's sort of like content education and coaching and mentorship all kind of wrapped in one so we do a lot of free content on our blog and then we have paid you know products and services as well. I'm also a mom of three.
Amanda (02:36)
Awesome. Yeah.
Loni Brown (02:38)
I have a bonus son who is 17 years old. He's graduating high school next week, which is crazy. And then I have two biological daughters, ages six and three. So I am in the thick of just toddler and kid stuff.
Amanda (02:55)
No kidding, well said. And it's so great because I know that you actually are walking the walk. You're not just talking the talk, right? And you specialize in helping new moms with careers, find their grooves, achieve balance, ditch the mom guilt, and essentially kind of like not lose themselves in their children. Is that fair to say, first of all?
Loni Brown (03:14)
Yes, absolutely.
Amanda (03:15)
Cool. My gosh, you have such an impressive professional resume. You have experience, connections, and options. I mean, there's so many things you could have done. Why are you so passionate about this one topic?
Loni Brown (03:30)
Yeah, so it's not really just based on my own personal experience. It's really just what I've been seeing happen. I just feel like society is failing mothers right now. And I'm gonna just share some quick stats for those of you who are like data junkies like I am. But so over one million moms, actually some sources say this number is closer to two million.
But between one and 2 million moms have left the workforce since the pandemic, which is crazy. These are like professional, you know, women just gone. 46 % of highly skilled women leave the workforce after they become a mom. 72 % of working mothers don't feel supported in the workplace. This is all done by a Harris Poll study. This is back in March of 2022. So this is all like new information.
And then 42 % of mothers were diagnosed with either anxiety or depression in 2022. And then finally, 66 % of working parents in the US suffer from parental burnout. So for me, this is sad. Like these stats make me sad. And I think the world thrives when moms thrive. I think companies thrive.
when women thrive, right? Our companies need women in them. There's so many stats and research to show that companies are more profitable and just overall more successful when women are in the company, right? That's undisputed. And so the fact that so many working moms are leaving the workforce is just sad to me. And I learned with my own experience, and I actually stopped this right when it was happening, but...
There's just like something happens. I call it like an invisible plague for moms that when you become a mother, all of a sudden you just sacrifice yourself. You sacrifice your health, you sacrifice your wellbeing, you sacrifice your career, you sacrifice your goals. I mean, you basically just sacrifice yourself for everyone else. Moms take care of everyone else except themselves. And I just don't think it should be that way. I think there's a way for moms to still be good mothers.
and also pursue their goals and their own interests at the same time. I don't think it's something that we have to put on hold and wait until the kids are grown up. So that's why I'm so passionate about it. I lost my father when I was 20 years old. He was only 50. And so I, it's very, very conscious and aware for me that like tomorrow's not promised. I know that's so cliche, but like I don't, I knew early on, I didn't want to put my life on hold.
Amanda (06:22)
my gosh, I didn't know that about your father. I'm so sorry you lost him at such a young age. But yeah, I mean, that will leave a deep impression on you. But yeah, we are not promised tomorrow. I mean, I think that's hitting the nail on the head. And man, our society is so upside down from what it should be and from what the data shows us. I mean, obviously, we live in the United States of America and we are very big on capitalism here. And the data does show.
women run companies are more successful, like the Fortune 500 level, and the more diverse the company is, the more profitable and successful they are. And so it's like we've created these massive disincentives in the way that our society is run to help drive our GDP ultimately. Like you would think that you would be able to make the argument with the data at this point, and the trickle down effects from that would be sufficient to change things, but they're not. So that's why it's so important to have people like...
you who are helping bring that reality to bear where women can be successful and find balance and be good mothers. There's so many different ways we can take this podcast. I'm so passionate about the topic and very frustrated. I'm sitting here like stewing based on those statistics. It's been a minute since I've reviewed all those. And yeah, so many of those women who left the workforce during the pandemic or directly after have not returned. And so companies suffer. So let's talk about...
Practical stuff. So how do you help extremely overwhelmed new moms do all of these things again practically speaking?
Loni Brown (08:01)
Yeah, so a lot of what I put together and how I help moms, it's based on my own experience, but it's also based on what I've learned in matressants. So I've gone through a matressants certification. And so for those who might not know this term, this term has actually been around since the seventies, but it kind of died and went away. Like, and to me, I just think how ironic that a term that is, you know, supposed to help moms.
like died off in the seventies, right? Like it's just, it's just sad. But anyway, it was like resurrected so to speak in the last like five years. And I believe that this term will be like a household term that like everyone knows and you know, 10 years from now, but essentially, matressence is like adolescence. And so we all know what adolescence is. It's that transition from when a child becomes an adult, it's those awkward,
like preteen and teenager stage of life where it's hormonal, there are physical changes, psychological changes, social changes, right? All of this like awkward stage of adolescence, right? And that's what adolescence means. And when a child becomes an adult, no one is like, you should go back to being yourself before you went through adolescence, right? Like that's like not a thing, right? We give it so much grace.
to teenagers because they're going through this very awkward stage. Well, matressence is like adolescence. And it is the term that describes the transition from a woman to become a mother. And it's the same thing. It's hormonal, it's physical, it's psychological, it's social, it's cultural, right? It's all of these changes that happen with a mom. But society doesn't give mothers the same grace as they do teenagers.
because it's just like, you're a mom. You're expected to be able to handle all this and like to do it all. But no, if you think about all of those, I mean, literally brain chemistry, like your brain changes, your hormones change, like almost for forever. Like, yes, you go back a little bit, right? You don't have all of the same hormones. They'll go down a little bit, but it's still like you're forever changed. There's no going back to like pre -birth, right? You're never gonna be the same. So why do we expect moms to bounce back so quickly? And...
why don't we help them and support them more during this crazy transition? And so that's this area of matressence. And I think it's so fascinating because even when I became a mom, which was just like seven years ago, like I, you heard of like moms that just enjoy motherhood and everything is amazing. And it's just like kudos to those moms, right? And then you hear about the moms that,
are like they have postpartum depression and they are like clinically depressed and they need to see like a medical doctor or therapist or psychologist or psychiatrist to get through it, right? And those are like the two ends of the spectrum. You're either like really happy or you're like, you're like clinically depressed. But, matressence really covers this kind of middle area where it's just like, you might not be happy and enjoying every second of motherhood and you also might not be clinically depressed, but you're like,
not enjoying motherhood 100 % of the time. You feel like you're going crazy. You rage, you're angry, you resent your partner. There's all these things that are happening that used to make moms feel like they were crazy, that they were the only ones going through this. And now we know it's just part of matressence. This is just part of that awkward stage of transition. And so now we can normalize this and we don't have to feel bad about it and we don't have to feel judged about it and we can talk about it.
more freely and transparency and transparent because it's a real thing. So that is how I kind of help and educate mothers so that they feel better and they don't feel like they're going crazy. And I take them on this journey of really understanding who they are, understanding who they were before they were a mom and understanding.
they are now that they are a mom and really understanding for them what does success and motherhood looks like. So I have this 5D method. It's 5Ds. It's discover. So this is like, who are you? Right? Who are you at your core? What are those like personal values that you hold for yourself? I'm a personality assessment junkie. I don't know if you are, but I've taken all of them. And
Amanda (12:32)
Yes. Yes.
Loni Brown (12:36)
And I just learned, I'm Colby certified by the way, Colby is like one of my favorite, favorite assessments, but like I just learned so much about myself when I take a lot of these different assessments and they all assess different things. So this is kind of like that discovery phase of just like rediscovering who you are and also creating your like new identity as a mom. So that's discover. And then we have declutter because...
When you become a new mom, like you just have so much going on. You have new physical clutter, because all the baby things, right? You just have no time to like keep a tidy organized home, right? So there's just a lot of like physical clutter in your home space. It just comes naturally from being a mom. And if you own a business, like, I mean, it's just, it's just a lot, right? And I'm really fascinated between the link between physical clutter and mental clutter, because they kind of go together, right? and so,
like actually decluttering physically actually helps you release some mental clutter that you have going on too. So declutter, we do declutter the physical space, declutter the mental space, then it's detox. And this is my background. I am a toxins expert. I learned when I was like in my twenties about environmental toxins and how they impact our health. And for small children, it's really important. So we detox our environment. We detox the negative thoughts in our mind.
Amanda (13:35)
Yes.
Loni Brown (14:01)
So that's that next stage. Then we design, right? We need to, because like, because women in general, but also moms, because they tend to put their own goals on hold, put their own careers on hold, they kind of lose their identity and they lose their life, so to speak, when they're in the child, you know, child raising years. And so design is how can you design your life to support your goals, which...
probably are both career and family and home oriented. How can you design your life to cohesively exist altogether? That's that stage. And then the final stage is just dominate, right? This is just all the systems, everything to manage all of the work that you've done to create this beautiful life that you are pursuing for yourself. So that's kind of our system and how we work with moms.
Amanda (14:54)
Wow. And I was not aware of matressence until I came to know you. And so I feel like you could put this entire category of knowledge into a giant bucket of stuff we don't get taught in school. I have no idea and like are not prepared to deal with in actual real life. So, man, I so agree with you in terms of everything you just said. In particular, I feel in my bones when my house is cluttered, like I can't...
function. I can't be productive at work or be my best self or show up as my best self to my husband and my son if the house is a wreck. And so I think that's such an important element. And I'm very type A, very organized person. And so that sort of like stands out to me. But I love systems as well. And do you ever a little bit of a sidebar, but do you ever find in your client work like resistance to implementing systems? Do systems ever initially feel
restrictive or like, it's another thing to manage to anyone you present this to.
Loni Brown (16:00)
Yes, yes, absolutely. So many people are resistant to systems. One, because when they think of systems, they think it's very rigid, very constraining. And then also they think it's a lot to implement and put in place. But that's if you're looking at systems in this really big, huge way. I mean,
Everything's a system if we think about it, right? If you, you know, just how you shop for groceries is a system, right? You probably make your list of what you need to buy. You figure out what grocery store you're gonna go to. Maybe you need to go to two grocery stores, because, you know, one grocery store doesn't have one thing, and that's what you do. That's your system, right? So everyone has systems. It's just whether or not those systems are optimized and whether or not they're efficient and whether or not they...
you know, take up a lot of mental energy. So I always tell people, don't be afraid of systems, because you already have systems. Most of your systems are probably in your head or they're on, you know, a piece of Post -it Note paper. So think about systems as just how you do things, how you do things. And the better your system is, the more efficient it is, the more organized it is, and the less of your mental energy, energy you need. One thing that I've learned as a mom is that,
the amount of mental load that we get once we become a mom is it's like exponentially higher than like most other people. And that's just, and actually there's brain science and neuroscience to actually show that your brain changes to be able to carry a higher mental load, which is fascinating to me, but it still impacts us. It impacts our productivity. It impacts our sanity, mental, like all of it, right? So,
The more that you can have your systems kind of carry that mental load for you, the easier it is and the more time you have for yourself. Because most of my moms say they don't have time. They don't have time to pursue their goals. They don't have time to create a business. They don't have time, you know, for to work out or to get exercise. And so I like to think of systems as the way to help us free up time and mental energy to be able to focus on ourselves. I'm going to cough.
Amanda (18:23)
Yes, they're like shortcuts and it can be.
Loni Brown (18:27)
Sorry. Had to cough there.
Amanda (18:28)
Very good. That was a good time to pause. Okay, we'll pause for just a second. Yeah, I love that. Couldn't have said it better myself. And I mean, systems can be as simple as a checklist. I mean, just so, so, so simple, but you're absolutely right about the importance of reducing the mental clutter and burden of everyday life. If you can turn that into a system, you can also delegate it at some point, which is really important to run a household and a business and all sorts of things. But...
I kind of lobbed myself a softball with this question to help us transition to kind of like the business side of things. But I know you and I are so big on standard operating procedures, checklists, the ways of doing things, so that things get done with excellence and consistency over and over and over again. And they are easy to delegate and move from person to person if you need to. And so I mean, I use SOPs in my life just as much as I do in running our business. And it helps us be so much more efficient and helps us also abide by line.
One of the ways that I use the 80 -20 rule, it's like you should be spending 80 % of the time doing the things that only you can do. 20%, everybody has to deal with administrative crap on some level and that's true in life and in work and everywhere. But anyway, I could drone on and on about SOPs, but if you think they're gonna be a big hurdle, one, Lonnie's already made a whole bunch. She's got this whole notion with operating system, all these checklists and things built out for you, which is super, super cool.
But it's a little bit of investment at the beginning and then it's done and it's so much more efficient from there forward. And so I like to kind of rip the band -aid off approach where you just, you set it up and then it just works, right? So, okay, moving from the business, like what the business is and does and why you do it and why you're so passionate about it and why you're so amazing at it. Let's talk about like your 16 years of experience. I mean, you have such, again, like depth and wealth of knowledge.
And I know that a lot of people listening are identifying with like this situation of motherhood or parenting and trying to run a business. And so what are some of the biggest challenges that you faced over the years?
Loni Brown (20:42)
So for me, it's, well, I mean, trying to do it all in my business, I learned early on that like that's just not gonna be sustainable. And this was even before I became a mom. So trying to do everything in the business was definitely a challenge. So I had to stop that like right away. And also I found that when you don't do everything in your business, it frees you up to do the things that not only energize you,
and give you joy, but also are the needle moving things in the business, right? The things that you like that actually can grow your business and bring success to the business. So like you said, we're always gonna have to do a little bit of things that we just don't want to, but I agree, 80 % of it should be in your genius zone, so to speak, or actually moving the business forward. So that was a challenge early on that I definitely quickly solved for.
Amanda (21:28)
Mm -hmm, yeah.
Loni Brown (21:39)
But for me, I mean, my theme, even over the last 16 years, audience building has been very challenging for me. It was something that I never learned to do and therefore never became good at it. When I first started my business 16 years ago, this sounds like, this makes me sound really old, but like there was like no social media back then. I think Facebook was like barely becoming a thing and it was only for college. Like.
Amanda (22:01)
Facebook.
Loni Brown (22:05)
It was only for college kids, right? Like there was like my space, but nobody used that for like business building, right? So, so LinkedIn was starting, it was like just barely started to become a thing. And so the way that I grew my business when I first started was I cold called. So I just like, I found companies and I cold called into them to try to get a meeting. And that's how I built my business. And initially, and then as we went on,
Amanda (22:06)
Yep. No.
Loni Brown (22:33)
I really worked a referral network. So I didn't really, with that business, I never really had to build an audience to even really market all that well. I built the seven -figure business just through relationships and cold calling, which you could do back then. And so when I started this second business in...
2019 and I was targeting moms. I mean, you can't just cold call moms. I mean, I guess you could, but like it's hard, right? And it's so I, I, in 2019, I really needed to become a new business owner and really learn what is audience building, what is digital marketing. And I had to market and grow a business in a very different way. And it was really uncomfortable for me. It kind of still is uncomfortable for me. So that's been one of the, you know,
challenging things that I've experienced. And then, and then finally, my last point, what I'll say about this is in the beginning, I found that I got swayed a lot based on internet ads, things that would show up into my feed, hearing about different success stories. And so I tried to build a business based on what all these gurus were saying, based on what all these marketers were saying.
And I really found myself just going in so many directions and just getting really distracted and just not having a lot of success. And in hindsight, I wish I would have just started with myself and understood my strengths and what I was good at and what I enjoyed. And also the type of business that I wanted to build for the lifestyle that I wanted to have.
Amanda (24:00)
Hmm.
Loni Brown (24:24)
I wish I would have known that and I think it would have saved me so many of these challenges and setbacks and pivots in my second business because I just was just so swayed by all that's out there. And honestly, what I learned is that every type of business could be successful, right? There's no only one type of business that can be successful. You can do e -commerce, you can do...
a blog, you can become an influencer on social media, you can have a high ticket business, you can have a low ticket business, you can sell digital products, you can sell services, you can consult. It all can work, right? It all can work. If you execute and if you surround yourself with people that are doing it, like you can make any kind of business work these days, right? And so I wish I just really would have known that initially. It would have just saved me a lot of time.
Amanda (25:03)
Mm -hmm.
I think that answer is going to parley nicely into my next question. We're going to dig a little bit deeper on that. So like I said at the beginning, you and I have known each other for several months now. And one of the things that I've admired about you from the first time we met is you are constantly putting in the work to level up your business acumen and refine your skills. It's a vulnerable process to continually step up to the plate like you do. And frankly,
not very many people are kind of up for that personal and professional growth. So first of all, how do you have the discipline and follow through to pursue business mastery in the way that you do, especially with tech?
Loni Brown (26:01)
Yes. So I consider myself a professional learner. I am always learning and growing. I don't think it ever ends. And one thing that I learned when I first started my first business was one, business is hard, and two, it's harder if you do it on your own.
And so when I first started my first business, like as I mentioned, I was cold calling. I was doing 50 cold calls every morning and it was like pushing a boulder uphill. It was like very, I've never worked that hard in my own life. And I barely was making like $25 ,000 a year. And I was young, I was in my early twenties and this was like back in the mid 2000s, I think it was like 2007, 2008. And so.
Amanda (26:46)
Mm -hmm.
Loni Brown (26:58)
It was really hard to make my, to go from zero to 25 ,000 was like the hardest thing I ever did. And I was just like, this just is too hard. And I was thinking about quitting because I was just like, I could, I had a, I had a college degree at a business degree. Like I could go get any job and make probably more than $25 ,000. But my father had his own business and I learned very on like very early on that I didn't want to work for anyone else. I really liked the flexibility.
Amanda (27:02)
Mm.
Loni Brown (27:26)
and the autonomy to work for myself. And so I was like, I'm going to figure this out. And so I hired my first business coach and he had built a very successful staffing, you know, and recruiting company, which was the type of business that I had. He built a successful, you know, multi six figure business. And so he was, you know, doing coaching and he had a small cohort. It was group coaching. And I remember it was $400 a month. And when you're only making $25 ,000 a year and you're living in Southern California, like,
Amanda (27:51)
Ooh!
Loni Brown (27:54)
You don't have $400 a month, but I learned that it was an investment, right? I didn't look at this as like an expense. I looked at this as an investment in myself, into my business. And the way that he sold it was, I'm going to get you to six figures faster than you can get yourself. And I was just like, after working in my business for over a year and barely making $25 ,000, I was like, yeah, I think I believe you. I think you can help me do that.
And so he helps me within the next less than 12 months, I grew as a six figure business. So it was easier for me to go from 25 ,000 to a hundred thousand because I had a coach. I just had one coach. I didn't have a community. I mean, there weren't all these masterminds that exist nowadays. I mean, it was literally just a small community. We didn't even have zoom. We met on Skype, like Skype back in the day, right? There were no slides. You couldn't even screen share on, on Skype. It was just like a conference call, right?
Amanda (28:41)
No.
Yeah.
Loni Brown (28:52)
But it gave me the confidence. It more importantly showed me what are the right areas to work on your business. Like what are those needle moving activities? So many business owners don't even know what the needle moving activities are, the income producing activities like in their business. They're just spinning the wheels doing all these busy work, right? And so he helped me build systems into my business. And those systems worked. Like when I told you like,
I knew all my numbers. I knew exactly what it took to get a client. I could predict my revenue. That was freedom for me in business. And so because of that, I'm addicted to resources. I join masterminds. I join communities. I join memberships. I'm constantly learning, constantly improving and working on my business and on myself. And tech...
I mean, I feel like I've always been a tech savvy person. I would hook up our computers when I was in the fourth grade. My dad bought our first computer when I was in the fourth grade. I hooked it all up myself. I just have always been technically inclined, but technology is changing at such a fast pace that I felt like in the type of business that I am in,
Amanda (30:06)
Mm -hmm.
Loni Brown (30:18)
I need to stay up to date with all the technology because it's similar to systems. It's slower in the beginning to learn technology, but when you do, it unlocks so much in terms of operational efficiency, in terms of manual processes that can now be streamlined. It eliminates human error because if you're doing everything based on humans and manual process, there's a lot more room for error.
So it doesn't solve all the problems, but it definitely helped me grow a bigger business with less resources.
Amanda (30:51)
Awesome. Yeah, and you and I have talked about like a number of different programs that you're currently involved in and continue to do. You're a member of Creator School. You're an affiliate of Creator School. What's your vetting process like for those listening who need some help, but like you said a few minutes ago, there's a lot of self -proclaimed gurus out there. Like, how do you make sure that you're not buying snake oil, you know?
Loni Brown (31:16)
yes. Okay. I love this question. Fortunately, like, I mean, everything that I've invested in has been worth it. So I hear horror stories out there where people give someone $10 ,000 and they literally like run off and they didn't get anything. Fortunately, I've not had that experience and probably it's part of my vetting process, but everything that I've invested in, I have gotten some kind of ROI on it. But...
But like I said, I invested in a bunch of things that like sent me down these wrong paths. And it wasn't because the programs weren't valuable. It was just not aligned, not aligned with what I ultimately wanted to build. And I just got influenced by these people. Not that there's anything wrong with these people because they've helped a lot of people. So I don't want to say that like I was given false information. It just wasn't aligned with me. So.
My approach now as embedding everyone, it comes down to alignment. That is where I start. So I look for, I need to know myself first. What am I trying to build? What are my goals? Right? Those are like, that's where I start. That's the foundation. And then I can seek resources that are aligned with that. So I look for, does the program or the person that I'm investing in, do they align with the type of business skills and the business model that I'm building?
is alignment there. Are they aligned with my goals? Like have they gotten themselves or gotten people to where I want to go, like what my goals are, right? It's very nice if someone can help you build a eight figure business and you have a team of 200 people and VC capital funding and all these things, right? Like that's awesome for them. But if that's not the type of business or the type of lifestyle I want, I don't want to be managing 200 employees.
Right. So if that's not, even though that's really successful and they're very successful, probably have tons of testimonials and tons of credibility. That's not aligned with the type of business that I want to build. Therefore, their advice is not going to be as good as the advice of someone who has built the exact type of business that I want and has the exact type of, not exactly, you know, similar type of lifestyle and values that I have. Right. So it has to be aligned with my goals, my, my, the business skills that I'm trying to get and, and the business model.
And then they have to have social proof, right? So I have to, they either have to have done it themselves or they've had to help other people do it themselves. I think there's a lot of people in the internet today that say that they can help people, but they actually haven't yet. And that's fine if you believe in them and you're part of like a beta group. I've been a part of beta groups. So maybe you are gonna be their case study, but then that should align with what you're investing. That should also align with how much they are helping you. So all of that I think works into.
that vetting process for me. And, and then I'll say one more thing. I think there are, there's a difference between I can help you do this one, like kind of, I call it like a band -aid approach thing. there's a time and place for those types of bit programs and coaches are going to help you do this one narrow thing. But oftentimes it requires you to have all your foundations already. So sometimes.
people are great for you, but just not right now and not at this stage. And so if I'm newer in business, I want someone that is gonna help me with business foundations, like true business foundations that are gonna set my business up for the long term. I don't need to know how to do Facebook ads if I don't even have a validated offer, right? Like that's just not, like sequencing really matters. And so the way that I...
Amanda (34:58)
Bye.
Loni Brown (35:07)
That is just part of that entire kind of process and just making sure that it's the right person at the right time where I am in my business.
Amanda (35:13)
I like that right person, right
knowing where you are, where you're going, what's keeping you from getting there, looking for someone who has a,
what I call a demonstrable track record of success in the thing you're trying to do. Like they've been there, done that, got the t -shirt, having a values alignment, obviously very, very important. If you're going to be working closely with someone, you need to make sure that you are speaking the same language and sharing the same, well, like you said, values, very, very important, especially if you're handing over big dollars. I love the social proof element, testimonials, success rates, like any kind of statistics, case studies. I also love...
risk reversal? Like what's the guarantee that you're going to make good on your promise and how are you making sure that my purchase with you is safe? You talked about the right offer at the right time. You can also flip this around for your own business. We talk often about like right offer, right time, right person, right way. And so not only think about that in the way that you're buying things, but also how you're presenting your offer to people that you're selling things to.
Okay, and then we've also talked about standard operating procedures. These are all like excellent pieces of advice. So it's kind of like create systems in your life, know your why, be marching toward your why at all times, like the realization of your vision for your business and your life, get help, create standard operating procedures. What other sort of advice and encouragement do you have for new moms who are really struggling with guilt, overwhelm and prioritization?
Loni Brown (36:49)
Yeah, so I would say, I would say let go of the super mom. We talk, you know, people talk about the super mom cape and a lot of moms wear that super mom cape like as a badge of honor, but my advice would be to let go of the super mom and embrace the imperfect mom. When you can, when your goal is to not be perfect, you don't care as much.
Amanda (36:56)
Yeah.
Loni Brown (37:16)
You don't suffer from guilt as much. You live your life more in the way that you want to because you really just don't care about what other people think or, you know, and so that's a big tip that I would give for especially for new moms and especially for working moms or if you work or if you have a business because that's a whole other dynamic and there's gonna be a lot of people that have a lot of opinions.
about you running a business and being a mom or you having a career and being a mom. And if you're trying to be the super mom, that those opinions are really going to impact you mentally. and as you know, as much as people don't like to admit it, it does. my second thing would be to come up with your own definition of what success in motherhood means for yourself and understand where do you derive your self worth from as a mother? So,
As an example, I had to learn this because my mom was a working mom. She worked a government job. She worked 12 hours. Like we didn't see her for 12 hours, right? And so we had store -bought snacks and she didn't cook dinner every single day. Like she would cook and then we'd have leftovers. Sometimes we'd have to fend for ourselves. That's how I grew up. And so that was my version of like what motherhood is. And then when I started to become a mom, social media just really, really influenced me. I started to see...
all these moms that were like hand making every snack and home cooking these elaborate dinners. And it made me feel really bad. I was like, my gosh, I'm a terrible mother because I can't, I'm not making every homemade snack for my kids. And my kids have chicken nuggets sometimes they're organic, but they're chicken nuggets, you know? And then I had to sit down with myself and I have to say, okay, it's cool for some moms because if that's where they derive their worth from.
Amanda (38:47)
.
Loni Brown (39:11)
then that's great for them. But it does not need to make me feel like a bad mom because that's not my definition of successful motherhood. And so for me, being able to provide for my family and contribute to the household and show my girls that they can be badass women in their careers.
That's what I value and that's my definition of a successful mother. So I don't need to scroll social media and feel really depressed because I didn't make a homemade elaborate dinner. I just make the same things over and over. That's part of my system. We have the same things over and over, so I don't have to think about it. And it's fine for me. So I would really encourage moms to really understand where do they get their own worth? It should be based on their own values and come up with their own definition of success.
Amanda (39:44)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Loni Brown (40:02)
And then finally, reduce the mental load, right? This is my key unlock for everyone. You have to reduce your mental load. Put systems, routines, get help, resources in place to reduce your overall mental load. You'll be able to be happier and you'll be able to get a lot more done. And speaking of get more done, I am anti -productivity. So I think productivity makes people very unproductive because it's about doing more, doing more and not necessarily about doing the right things. So no more to -do lists. I don't do to -do lists.
I do done lists and I do priority planning. Those are the two things that I do. I do not have a to -do list because a to -do list is never ending and it also is not prioritized, right? If you just have 80 things on your to -do list, you don't know what's the most important thing. Like, you know, are the things, you know, is your to -do list actually moving the needle in your home life or in your work life? So I am, I am not a fan of just like massive to -do lists. I like true planning and done lists.
Amanda (40:32)
Nice.
Loni Brown (40:55)
Because at the end of the day, when you can see your done list, you feel good. You feel like, okay, I feel great. And you have to beat yourself up and have a lot of guilt around everything.
Amanda (41:01)
It's such an interesting paradigm shift. So cool. Thank you for sharing that. There was a lot of advice wrapped up in there. I know we have just a few more minutes and you have so many great, more nuggets of advice to share. So I want to make sure we make it all the questions. I think this is going to turn into a little bit of a listicle podcast. Rapid fire. Yeah. I think I do want to make sure that we put a point of emphasis on like your focus on your why.
Loni Brown (41:22)
Rapid fire?
Amanda (41:31)
And so what is your ultimate why? If you could kind of wrap that up in a nice package with the bow on top, like your reason for dedicating all of your professional efforts to helping women in this very specific way. What's your vision?
Loni Brown (41:46)
Yeah, so my vision is, well, I truly think society needs to do motherhood differently. I think that way too many moms are suffering. I think way too many moms feel guilty about everything. They feel guilty about their career. They feel guilty about their kids. They feel guilty about themselves. It's just too much guilt. So my mission is to really eradicate mom guilt worldwide for mothers because, as I mentioned earlier, I believe that...
The world is a better place when moms can thrive. I truly believe that. There's probably studies and research that I can't quote right now that prove this, but the world is a better place when moms thrive. I really truly believe that. And I believe that moms can thrive simultaneously by pursuing their career and their goals and their own interests and taking care of their families.
These things can coexist and for so many moms, they just don't. They just feel like they have to choose one or the other and therefore you're always going through life with lack, right? If you feel like you have to choose one or the other, whatever one you choose, you feel guilty about the other thing that you didn't choose. So if you choose your family, you're great. You're choosing to be a mom and you're raising your family, but you've put your career on hold and you feel guilty about that. You look at all the other women who have their careers and you feel guilty.
Amanda (42:54)
Yes.
Loni Brown (43:09)
or your mom that chooses your career, and then you feel guilty that you're not home every minute of the day with your kids, right? And I just don't think that moms have to make that choice. I think there's a way that we can do this, not necessarily in balance, but in harmony, right? Balance, when people say work -life balance, it's not based on number of hours, it's based on quality. And so what I want to spread around the world is that when it comes to motherhood, it's the quality of time that you spend.
raising your families. It's not the quantity because if I spend 12 hours a day with my kids and I'm distracted and I'm angry all the time and I have maternal rage, which is a thing and I'm unhappy because I'm not focused on myself and I'm unhealthy because I don't have time to go to the gym. Yes, they get 12 hours with me, but those are not quality 12 hours. I'd rather get four quality, really rich quality hours with my children every day.
and be happy and thriving than 12 unhappy, distracted, angry hours with my kids. So that's my mission and that's why I'm so passionate about helping moms do this.
Amanda (44:09)
Mm -hmm.
I love it and that comes across so very, very clearly. All right, let's turn this into advice for other like female entrepreneurs, business owners, creators, whatever word you want to put to it. Women like us based on your years of experience, sort of like top three for people like us.
Loni Brown (44:35)
Okay, I mentioned this a little bit, but I'll double click on it. Don't do it alone. This is like my number one. Anytime someone says I'm starting a business, like what advice? This is what I say, don't do it alone. Entrepreneurship can be very lonely. It can be isolating. So get the help and support you need because
Amanda (44:37)
Mm -hmm.
Loni Brown (44:53)
Not only will this make this more fun,
operating a business, it'll also accelerate your growth and success. So that's number one. Number two, focus and discipline. This is so key and so many entrepreneurs and business owners get this wrong, but success in business and even success in life, it's actually not linked to IQ, talent, skills, or...
you know, any of these, like your education, your degree, most success is actually not linked to these things. It's actually linked to focus, execution, and consistency. If you can, like, not succumb to this shiny object syndrome, and if you could just laser focus on what you need to do and execute with consistency, you can be successful. And then finally, we've been talking about this a lot, this is your, my thing, systems, right, systems.
standard operating procedures and business, but then systems in your life to help you get things done, but get the right things done. This has been like, I would say almost number one, the huge unlock for me and both my personal life and business. Systems bring predictability, they help reduce human error, they can eliminate so much wasted time, wasted energy, wasted focus.
So I just cannot stress enough the importance of systems in life and in business.
Amanda (46:25)
Love it. I think you just like did a very broad and excellent definition of grit. And so it takes so much grit to be successful. But yeah, that was so beautifully said, well put. All right, well, let's share with us. What are you working on now? Where will your business be in the next couple of years? Where can we find you all of those things?
Loni Brown (46:47)
Yes, okay, so I am working on content. I've decided I'm gonna be a content engine. This is why I joined Level Up Creator School because I'm just going all in on content. I think for my market, it's really important. Moms need to trust who is helping them and so I just need to put a lot of valuable and free content out there and bring people into my world. So I'm focused on content. I'm also launching my YouTube channel which I've been wanting to launch.
for 10 years and I'm finally doing it. And we're also in process of developing a mobile app for our membership. Because one thing that I've learned is that busy moms don't want to log into desktop software and like take a course or do anything like that. So we're developing a mobile app where people can listen. They're short like five to seven minutes.
trainings. You can listen to it while you're doing the laundry, while you're walking the dog, doing the dishes. So it's just a, it's going to be a really great experience. And I think really helpful for our, you know, customers to basically get a better experience. So those are the things that I'm working on right now. And then I'm on social media at Mrs. Lonnie Brown. That's -R -S -L -O -N -I Brown, like the color.
Amanda (48:04)
make sure that's all linked up in the show notes for sure. All right, if listeners take away one thing, just one thing from this episode, what should it be?
Loni Brown (48:19)
I think it should be start with you, right? I think I mentioned this, but everything you do, whether it's the stuff in your home, motherhood, your own business, all of this needs to start with you because I think so many people are miserable in their businesses and in life because they've missed this key element. It's like you do life without...
incorporating yourself and your own values. And so anything that you do, whether it be home or in your business or in your career, it needs to start with you. And if you can start from you, then you make better decisions. You just simply do, right? It's my filter. It's my like forcing function. Before I make any decision, I start with myself and my own values and what are my goals and what is it that I'm...
Amanda (49:15)
mic drop. That was amazing. You can't help anybody else if your cup is empty, right?
Loni Brown (49:15)
trying to achieve, and then I make my decisions from there.
Amanda (49:22)
Thank you so much, Lonnie. This was an absolute pleasure and thank you so much listeners. We know that time is precious as we've been discussing today. So thank you for sharing yours with us. We help creators like you at levelupcreatorschool .com where our team becomes your full stack team of advisors and includes no fluff creator courses, a vibrant creator community with amazing folks like Lonnie and more all on a subscription basis. And as ever, we still offer consulting and implementation work through our consulting firm, Level Up Creators.
Loni Brown (49:25)
Absolutely.
Amanda (49:49)
See the show notes for more information and a suite of high value free resources. We'll see you next time on the Level Up Creators podcast.