Grace in the Trenches: Thriving in Seasons of Change

Life happens. And sometimes things get really hectic. So how do you manage to keep your priorities straight? When life gets crazy and you also run a business from home, let's talk about it.

 Welcome to Beyond Proverbs 31. Do you want to be rooted in biblical truth while you manage your business without sacrificing your family? Do you find yourself up late at night looking for ways to build your business without being plugged in 24 7? Do you struggle with feeling guilty when a client call keeps you longer than expected?

Or like you're less than professional because meetings have to be rescheduled and one of the kids is sick, again? Hey, I'm Jena. I've struggled to find balance with business and family. I feel pressure from the world and wish I could get relief from the guilt I have trying to maintain that elusive work life balance.

I wanted to be able to contribute to my household and maintain traditional values without looking like a hot mess, constantly dropping the ball as I'm juggling. But I keep telling myself I can't manage it all. The kids and my clients were both getting neglected and it's impossible to keep my family first while running my business.

Until I turn to the truth in the Bible that's helping to set me free and allow me to let go of the expectations of everyone around me. In this podcast, you'll find biblical truth, strategies for running your business without feeling guilty, and tips for maintaining your traditional values in the modern world so you can embrace freedom through scripture and strategy.

 Whether it's sick kids, a family emergency hurricane evacuation, relocating, or your husband changing jobs. Life can get hectic. All of these and more have happened to me while running my business from home. I wish I could tell you I handled everything perfectly and had all the answers, but that wouldn't be very honest of me. What I can do is share my hard times what I did that worked when I did that didn't work and what I would've done differently. Let me preface this by saying that any change in my schedule when I was working hourly as a general VA really threw me off because it meant I didn't get to work.

And so I didn't get paid 

switching from hourly work to contract work made a huge difference in allowing me to stress less and keep my family my priority. So let's talk about working from home with sick kids. If the kids were sick, it's been pretty easy for me to reschedule any calls that I had or any meetings and things like that because I almost exclusively work with other moms.

So moms are always really understanding. So that makes getting things rescheduled, really easy. Something else that I do is with my client work. I try to get ahead. I like providing services that allow me to schedule things out that allow me to stay ahead and not work on. Things the day that something is due.

So I'm allowed to schedule things out with Pinterest services. And I like to keep things a week or two in advance so that I can have time to work on my own business. Be able to keep up with homeschooling. Be able to go on field trips with the kids. It really gives me that flexibility. 

So I also like to give myself due dates for when I need to work on each client's account. And I always give myself some wiggle room at least a day. So if, for example, if I have a due date for a client's account needing work for tomorrow, If I look at that client's account. I actually probably have another day or two.

This is just something that I have set in place to give me a little more breathing room. That way, if something does come up, I'm like, okay looking at my schedule I need to work on this client's account today. Let me pop in and check and see. And sometimes I will actually have an additional day or two of content scheduled out for that client.

And I won't have to immediately work on that. So if I'm sick or if the kids are sick, if something comes up, it gives me a little more flexibility. I do also want to point. I do also want to pull.  I do also want to point out that I don't feel guilty about needing to work. I have worked from home since my kids were really little. And I have not felt guilty about that.

There have been times when things have been more stressful. If I've had a really busy day, if a call went longer, There have been times where in that moment. I may feel like I did not manage my time as well, or, you know, things can come up that can happen with anything. And I. Maybe in that moment, feel bad that, you know, I was away from the kids more than I planned on, but in general, I don't feel guilty about working.

I know that this is something that God has allowed me to do.  I know how much good has brought my family. I know how much I have grown in having the flexibility in my schedule to  work on myself and grow in my faith. And so I want to talk about that more. I'm going to have a whole episode on that,  It is possible for you to be a really great wife and amazing mom and work and do that within your home. So we're going to have a whole episode about that, but I did want to mention that here, since we are talking about the struggles with juggling work and home things that come up.

So if something did happen where I absolutely had to work on a client's account that day to meet the obligations of providing those services. I would be able to bring my laptop and sit on the couch or lay in the bed with the kid that was sick, whoever wasn't feeling well and do a little bit of work at a time around obviously caring for them.

 Just having that flexibility to not have to work on someone else's timeline and someone else's schedule, and really be able to batch things out and do a little bit of work and then come back to it and finish it up. Really allows me to have the flexibility to care for my family and still meet the needs of my clients and do the work that I'm scheduled to do for them.

This next thing might be something that not everyone has to deal with, but it was something that was within the first. Year by business. I had to handle it. This pretty big crisis. Twice. And that would be evacuating for a hurricane. So I started my business in fall and, , maybe a month later we had to evacuate for a major hurricane.

I live on the coast of Georgia. And so we are used to hurricanes, it's kind of a normal thing. So at that point, I was working hourly. I had gotten my first client within that first month. And I had to email her and say, Hey, we are in the path of this hurricane. We are going to have to evacuate. I don't really know what that's going to look like. Basically. I don't know if I'm going to be able to continue to provide services or not.

And then I also don't know, but I'll be coming home to when we get to come back. I had no idea how long this was going to be. It was predicted to be very damaging. And so it was incredibly scary to tell my one client, Hey, I don't know when I'm going to be able to work for you again.  Fortunately, my client was very understanding and. Was able to pass off everything that I was supposed to be doing while we were evacuated.

We didn't have to stay gone for long and came back and had power back within a couple of days. So it was not near as bad as it could have been. Praise God. But it was very unnerving to say, I don't know when I'm going to be able to work for you again and go through that experience of having to pay to stay somewhere else and just the entire stressful situation of evacuating.

Anyway, knowing that I also was not making any money and didn't know when I would be able to pick things back up. To continue to help provide for our family. So fast forward to the next year, it was actually less than a year later. About 11 months later, I had transitioned at that point into full-time.

Had transitioned at that point. Into only providing Pinterest services. And I was doing contract work. I was no longer doing any hourly work. And I just want to, again, highlight the benefits of switching your business from hourly work to contract work. Because when I went to. And let my clients know, Hey, we're evacuating for a hurricane.

It was very, very different. I had multiple clients at that point. I was able to say, Hey. We've been watching this hurricane. I have scheduled your content out for the next two weeks. I will continue to work on getting content scheduled out beyond that. So that I can make sure that I have a really good buffer of time to take care of everything for your accounts in case anything happens with this hurricane and not knowing again, just like before what we were going to be coming home to.

It was very different than the previous year when I did not know what my income was going to be actually was not able to work at all. And so not having any interruptions to my client services meant I was making more consistent income and it helped relieve a little bit of stress from a very stressful situation.

So what does this mean for you? Most of you probably aren't evacuating for hurricane, but when something comes up that is going to pull you. Away from being able to do work. There are a couple of things that are going to be able to be applied to a lot of different situations. A lot of it goes back to again, making sure that you're not working hourly. Make sure that you are providing services in a way that allows you to get ahead and stay a little bit of head, because this allows you to keep your priorities straight, whether it's sick kids, whether it's someone in your family that needs more support, whether it is a natural disaster or anything that is more out of your control, making sure that you have more control in your business allows you to shift your priorities very quickly.

And so making sure that you have very clear expectations with your clients, making sure that there are boundaries are going to be really, really important. So for me, I don't have. Hi, touch clients. I have clients that, we get everything set up we'll do the onboarding. We talk maybe once a month unless they have other questions.

And so this allows me to have that flexibility. I let my clients know, Hey, I may be out of touch because we don't know what internet and cell services going to look like going through, you know, natural disasters, like a hurricane. And so I didn't want them to have a question or try to get in touch with me and me being unavailable for days. And so just making sure that you're setting those clear boundaries.

If you are working more, hands-on more high touch with your clients.  They're making sure that you have boundaries set in place to where you can still prioritize your family and your household and things that come up and still meet your client's expectations. So just making sure everything is very clear and defined. Is going to help you be able to shift a little more fluidly into keeping your priorities straight and having your family come before your work.

I want to learn how you can start your own Pinterest virtual assistant business in just 30 days. Then I invite you to check out my course, the PINternship. It will give you a step-by-step processes for how to provide all the pincher services that you'll need to know. It'll give you all the ins and outs, screen, chaired, walk you through everything, teach you exactly how to qualify and get clients for these Pinterest services and how to manage your time throughout the day and week to be able to work from home and put your family first learn more at jenaliat.com/pinternship

One of the more long term situations that I've had since I've been in business would be where I was the sole provider for a period of time while my husband was able to transition full-time into real estate. This was something that we had wanted to work towards when we finally met that goal. It also happened to be. Within the first six months of us transitioning into homeschooling as well. And so this was something that was more long-term. 

And so looking at juggling, being the sole provider for our family for that period of time, while homeschooling, and still obviously needing to run my business. I wanted to talk about some things that helped me get through that season, because it was a little more longterm. It wasn't a day or two, like with sick kids. And so with that, it was really critical for me too. Make sure that I had a specific time. That I was going to do homeschool. A specific time that I was going to do work. 

And then of course, having family time as well. So just making sure that you were looking at your calendar and how you're using your time. Making sure that you are really spending quality time with the family. When that is supposed to be that time. So for us, that looks like not having devices. It looks like.  



Making sure that we're focused on doing things that we know will make the kids feel like they're actually getting our attention. So making sure that you're having open communication with your spouse and with your children about how they want to spend that time together, that way they are feeling connected to you and you are filling their cups. And so with us juggling homeschool, it feels like we're having time together, but really that is teaching and learning time. 

That's not true quality time together. So for us, it looks like playing board games together, engaging in an activity that the kids want to do. We make sure that we still spend dinner time together. That has always been a priorities. That's the time where we can talk. For us. A lot of the times in the car is also time where we can talk. 

We have a captive audience, no one can go anywhere. And so that is really good quality time. Now that my kids are older to be able to talk. And then just making sure that you are setting aside.  A realistic timeframe to get things taken care of. So if you know that you have to work for three or four hours that day, Then make sure that you are not planning to go on. 

Like in my case, a field trip with the kids, that's going to take up the entire day. And then I am constantly feeling behind. So looking at your schedule and seeing how are you using your time? Where can you find time? So something that I have always done is. I've done my networking and connecting and having conversations with people and kind of the in-between times, especially when the kids were little. Some things that I would do that I picked up from actually got a name for it. 

After reading the James clear book, atomic habits gave me a name for something that I've done for many years and that's habit stacking. So looking at things throughout your day. That you can do together to help you have a better routine. So for me, When the girls were little, they were in the bathtub, get them all bait. 

And of course they want to sit there and play. And so for that, you know, 10 minutes or so, where they're right there. They're not going anywhere. I was sitting. Arm's length from them on the floor. And that would be when I would go into Facebook groups and find people to connect, to, or respond to messages where people have messaged me. 

So that could kind of be my messaging and networking and connection time. And if you find a couple of pockets throughout your day, where you are. Doing something that doesn't require your whole brain capacity, maybe it doesn't require you to be sitting down at your computer. And then find where you can plug that in. To have that habit stacking, then you will find that your routine will be easier to keep up with some of those things and really establish those habits. 

And then also really making best use of your time.

So when I think about this work-life balance situation, I always think about Ecclesiastes, these where it says to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven. So when it is time for you to be showing up for clients and doing work, then that is the time for you to do that. There may be a week or days at a time where that is a higher priority, where you are finishing up a project, you have a deadline, there's something that needs to be taken care of. 

And it is okay for you to meet those deadlines and take care of things. Now, there will always be things like we've talked about in this episode that come up and so having some flexibility in things. And making sure that you are setting up your business in a way that allows you to have the flexibility, to be able to keep your priorities straight. It's going to make a really big difference. Something that I also feel like is important to mention here is where is your heart in serving your family and doing work for your business? And so if you look at, are you wanting to take on more work. Are you spending more time on your work than is really necessary because you are frustrated with serving your family, then that is something that you need to examine within your own heart. Because a lot of these issues that we have with time management with work-life balance is actually going to come down to a heart issue of if you're using work as an escape. Then you need to look at your priorities and why you're making the decisions that you're making. And just make sure that your heart is in the right place in serving. In your business? 

Well, And serving in your family. 

One last tip that I want to give you with that. Is that when I am providing services for a client, when I was first starting with pincher services, and I had a lot of upfront work for like getting a new account set up, there was the research that had to be done. There was the boards that had to be made. 

All of the things that had to be set up before you really start making pins and scheduling things out and kind of getting into the. The rhythm of the ongoing management of the account. I would let clients know it could take up to a month for all of that upfront stuff to be done. It doesn't look like that at all anymore. 

I can get it done very, very quickly. I'm saying like days now, and then we'll roll into the management of the account. But I set aside that time because I did have two small children. I had, you know, our youngest had allergies would regularly not be going to school because of just the congestion and not feeling well. And thankfully that's gotten better as she's gotten older, but I knew if she has bad days then that gives me even less time to work on things. 

And when you're looking at two hours a day without kids. Then that gave me very little time and taking on a new client on top of the management of the other client's accounts. When I was looking at growing and bringing on more clients, then I didn't want to. Not meet a deadline. I would rather set an expectation like it, it could take up to a month because of back and forth with clients, with communication, as well as something else that I want to point out with. 

Some of that was also making sure that the clients had the time to get me what I needed and then me be able to take that and do what I needed to do to actually provide the service. So.  Over time. That's been conversation that I've had with clients and kind of set the expectations of, I need to get all of this from you before I can get started. 

But when my kids were younger, when they needed me more, when there were a lot of different things going on in our lives, it was nice for me to be able to set that expectation clearly. And then as things have gotten easier, as the kids have gotten older and the more independent I can decrease that turnaround time and just have that conversation with clients. So just looking at the season where you are and making sure that you are setting up your business in a way that allows you to keep your priorities straight is going to allow you to. Go live in the season where you are. 

So another book that I always want to recommend is the lazy genius. And she has a chapter about just embracing the season in which you're living and not trying to.  Work like you did maybe before you had a newborn.  For me it was not wanting to be able to work like I did before I was homeschooling because it looks very different now and some days are.

It looks very different now. 

And so some days I am able to get more work done, and then I've gotten to a point now where there are some days where we take off and go to the zoo all day on Tuesday, like we did this week. And so just making sure that you are shifting your business appropriately for the season that you're in. And just embracing that and giving yourself grace to say, this is where I am. 

And I have the ability to work my business around the season of life in which I'm in. And maybe that season of life right now is you are working to grow your business more. Maybe you've had family changes that mean that you have to. And so you give yourself the grace to say, my business can take up more time and space in my day. 

As long as you are not neglecting your family, everyone is taken care of then it's okay for your life, not to revolve around your children. I'm going to talk a lot more about this, and I'm sure that I'm going to get some pushback on this. And there are lots of different situations that come into play with this, that this is not appropriate for everyone. But you being able to say, this is the time that I am going to work and building in those boundaries with your family and getting the help that you need to get, to be able to do that appropriately, depending on the season in which you are in is perfectly okay. So I look forward to talking to you more about that in. future episodes. So make sure that you are looking for that coming your way soon.

I hope you feel encouraged after today's episode. Would you take 30 seconds and share this episode with a faith filled working mama who would benefit from some biblical truth and encouragement? Also, I'd love for you to leave me a review. It lights me up to know this podcast is helping you. Keep your Bible in hand, and don't forget your coffee in the microwave.

I'll meet you back next week for another episode of Beyond Proverbs 31.