72: From Corporate Leadership to Building a Business That Matters

When your career keeps evolving, sometimes the biggest challenge is figuring out what kind of work is truly worth building your life around.

After years navigating male-dominated industries, leading large corporate teams, and adapting to completely different professional environments, Karen Ahrens eventually realized that being intellectually challenged wasn't enough. She wanted to create something she believed in—something that could become part of her legacy.

Now, as co-founder and CEO of Wait4Me, a personal assistant app, Karen is building a business while navigating motherhood, entrepreneurship, and the realities of starting over.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Navigating male-dominated workplaces
• Building confidence and adapting to different environments
• Why Karen left a successful corporate career
• Becoming a founder and taking the leap into entrepreneurship
• Motherhood, work, and finding flexibility
• What she learned about delegation and buying back time
• Why mentorship can change someone's career
• Building work that feels meaningful

What would you do differently if you had more confidence in your abilities earlier in your career?

If you’re looking for help with errands, projects or even someone to stand in line for you, check out www.uwait4me.com.

Struggling to find the right child care? Get a video interview of your ideal nanny at https://www.momsub.com/child-care-options

#WomenAndWork #WomenInLeadership #Entrepreneurship #WorkingMoms #CareerGrowth

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

I can, but I have to remind myself that one of the things on my list right now is preparing a deck for a meeting with a venture capital fund. And you know what? That is far more important that I focus on that than spending an hour scanning receipts. And of course I can do it. Or you know, organizing the closet here at the studio the cleaning closet is like a catastrophe. I can do it, of course I can do it. But either it's going to take away from time for things only I can do, or take away from time that like I'm gonna come and do it Sunday instead of hanging out with my kid. And that's where like that trade-off, it I do think it is difficult for people, but once they do it, in the same way that you know, once you finally hire a cleaning person, you're like, why did I not do this before? Like this gives me more time with my family or more time to work or more time to go exercise. Whatever it is that you want to do, it gives you more time for that.

SPEAKER_02 1:01

Welcome to Women and Work, the show where we take an inside look at how women are overcoming our own unique challenges as we grow our careers or build a business while nurturing relationships and family. I'm Diane Mocha, founder and CEO of the Mom Sub Childcare app. Like Mom Sub, a substitute mom. And I want you to know that work can fit your life. Each week we meet a woman who has done that. And today I'm with Karen Ahrens. She is the co-founder and CEO of Wait for Me, a personal assistant app. Karen's early career was in corporate sales for several years before moving into website design for clients in Paris. She spent 18 years rising up the ranks in tech operations and corporate leadership to become president of client operations for a large marketing firm with thousands of employees. Then two years ago, she took the leap to become a founder, building a company from the ground up. All right, thanks for being here, Karen.

SPEAKER_00 2:01

Thanks for having me. I'm excited.

SPEAKER_02 2:04

So you told me that you spent years navigating male-dominated spaces and confronting bias. I want to know what you think has been the biggest challenge in your career, specifically because you are a woman.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

I get this question, and I actually feel like a lot of times people sort of put and impose a um sort of perspective on that challenge. What I'll say for me is if anything, it made me a stronger leader because I knew I had to be better. I had to be better than the other men, all the men sitting at the table. I had to be more flawless in how I carried myself. I couldn't make social mistakes. I couldn't, you know, if you go to a holiday party, you need, you can't be the one that has a little too much fun. It made me have to be very structured and think always about the way that I talk, how I present myself, how I physically carry myself in meetings. When you're the only woman in the room, you start to realize if people are going to listen, you've got to behave different. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but it's in some ways made me just a more structured individual to say, you know, I it's not my nature to say I'm gonna take up more space, I'm gonna interrupt everybody, I'm gonna stand a lot around people and sort of be imposing. But those were the things I needed to do. I couldn't just sort of relax into my natural personality because I no one was gonna listen to me. And I've had men say that. They say, you interrupt sometimes. I said, you know what? You would never hear me if I didn't. You guys don't make space for women. So while it's a challenge, I also think it's something that um has made me a stronger individual, made me quite a disciplined individual and really helped me. And now, you know, in this in an entrepreneurial world has given me the confidence to say, you know what, if I could do that, like, come on, I can do this.

SPEAKER_02 4:00

How did you come to that awareness that you needed to do that? Did you have some situations where you were like, I'm not getting the promotion that I expect? I'm not, you know, getting my project, move forward. Like, what what was it? Was it just some other people's comments?

SPEAKER_00 4:17

You know, what was it that really wasn't other people's comments because there I had no, it's funny because I've thought about this. Um, and every time I check myself, um, I've never had a female boss in my entire career. Uh, so there was never any female sort of mentorship or somebody, you know, an older female leader to say, here's how I've navigated it. And I do think there's some generational differences where, you know, I'm I'm 52. I think if, you know, I was 30, I think a woman navigating the professional world now is in a different world than when I was slowly rising up. And I think my journey started in such a sort of odd winding way and starting in a very male-dominated world, working through my way through college and selling industrial parts that you just I've I will say I have a strong um ability to adapt to a situation. Uh it helps when you move to France, it helps when you do things to say, okay, how are how do people behave here and how can I fit in in a way to be effective? And it's the same with male-female dynamics. So I think it was just a slow step of me saying, if I want to do this, I'm going to have to behave this way. And oh, when I when I behave this way, I see that like the results aren't what I want. So it was, I would say it's a slower journey of just adapting and to different environments. I mean, it's certainly the way that I needed to be in a corporate, you know, global corporate boardroom was quite different than an agency in France or then uh, you know, as a consultant for a large consulting firm, you know, you sort of adapt, but all of them have to assume, and they all were male-dominated industries, especially when you get to a certain level, um, you just start seeing fewer and fewer people that that are like you.

SPEAKER_02 6:04

And you mentioned being in college and going into this industrial space. What was your vision in college? Where did you expect your career to go? How did it meander in ways you didn't? How did you end up in that industrial space?

SPEAKER_00 6:16

I always tell whenever somebody's like, Well, how'd you get younger folks? I'm like, you don't try to follow my path because it's not predictable. I originally started, I wanted to be a writer, very quickly realized that I did not like the professors in that world. It was just not my world. I studied sociology and photography, um, which while some would say, what does that have to do with what you do for a living? If you listen to what I was saying about adapting to different situations and different structures, it's exactly sociology, right? There's definitely a lot that I learned from that. Um, my career, I would say, is certainly ending up in anything related to tech. That was not something I had intended on. Sort of this odd path of going from having that job that worked my way through college, which meant I knew how to drive a forklift, right? But I also had a liberal arts education. And I ended up getting a job as a consultant to it was the very first business critical application that was going to be on the web. So that dates me a little bit. Toyota was doing it for their forklift division to sort of test out getting away from their main systems. And through a somebody I knew, they said, Hey, I think I have somebody who could do the user training. Like she could write the help and stuff. Like she knows how to drive a forklift, she knows that world, but she's also a liberal arts degree holder. Um, so it was great pay. You know, I had student loans, and it was this amazing little incubation where there were like six of us uh in locked in a little room, kind of like this. And basically you ended up wearing a lot of different hats because you didn't have a huge team. So they were like, well, you know, Karen can figure out how to design the screen. So I learned how to do user interface design. I learned how to test, I learned how to train, write training, all of those things, which then led me into other paths that went down, always being sort of in between the business folks and the tech folks and helping to translate between those and eventually moved into the the world of marketing where I realized that they they actually had, they were doing the same thing. They just didn't call it that. And I had to convince in France, I had to convince the agency, like, no, what I do is exactly what um what your marketing is now going in direction. And that's where um I really dove deep into um digital and precision marketing, which was which was great experience, and great experience working with major clients like PG.

SPEAKER_02 8:46

So you ended up in some places because that's just sort of where the wind took you, it sounds like, in a way.

SPEAKER_00 8:53

You know, you know where I found inspiration, where I thought I like the people, this is intellectually challenging, it's interesting work. And so it's like, well, why not? You know, why not?

SPEAKER_02 9:02

Being necessarily intentional about, you know, like I I graduated from college and said, I want a career in television news as a reporter. And it was really hard to get into that field and to get that kind of position. And it was low-paying and it was long hours, but I but that's what I wanted. Like I had this tunnel vision. So at any point, did you take a step back and say, like, is this, you know, the life that I intentionally want to lead? And many, many times.

SPEAKER_00 9:32

I mean, did it take until you founded your own thing or you know, no, because each step was an interesting step in my path. And as soon as I get either intellectually bored or not particularly, you know, I don't want to the people I'm around, I don't feel like it's it's either the they're not my people or they're not the ones that I want to, you know, spend a lot of my hours with. I start to look at it and say, okay, what am I gonna, what am I gonna do? And that was like moving out of consulting was definitely I I started to really dislike that sort of that world of language that we used. And I also felt like I wasn't able to be myself. I had to hide even more than when I was talking about, you know, sort of changing my dynamic. You know, I I have you know silly things, like I have tattoos, I, you know, is history is a little punk rocker. Like I have these things, but I felt like as a consultant, you have to be very vanilla. And it got to a point where I was like, these, I just can't even relate to the people I'm spending my day with. And it's part of it is sort of not being able to really talk about the things that are interesting to me outside of work. But part of it was just like, I, you know, outside of work, I can't see ever really being friends with these folks. And that was where I started to look at um realizing via a friend who worked in more traditional advertising and talking to her and realizing, wait a minute, there's there's people in that advertising and marketing world that do what I do. And I like the environment at agencies at that time. It was much more sort of creative space, place where people had passions outside of work, where it was definitely like you could be much more yourself. Again, when you're going in front of clients, you need to sort of keep it straight. But around your people, I was like, these are people I could, you know, I want to spend my time with. And I'm okay being out of the home and you know, not having time with my family to be with them. And that sort of directed me towards into that marketing space. And then again, like marketing has, you know, those a lot of those companies, it's it's not a fun place to be right now. You know, it's completely disrupted, and they are not ready to handle what AI can do because their business models are based on FTEs. And you've got these massive mergers and acquisitions, and you just started to see that where I thought it was a more people-centric business, it was starting to not be. And I thought this is this is not what I want to do. And when I left there, uh before I I dove into the startup, I had been advising on the startup I'm at. Um and I just started thinking, I thought, you know, someday I will never sit down and tell my grandkids about some meeting that I ran in New York, but I will tell them about all the successes and failures and trials and origin stories of a business, something I create and I believe in. And it started to really matter to me of like it's it's not enough to be intellectually challenged with my work or like the people. It's got to be something that I feel it becomes, you know, it's part of me. It's part of my legacy. It's part of I I built this, I did this, I brought this to life, and I believe in it. And I believe in the concept, and I believe it helps people and it helps our communities, but it's still, you know, it still makes money. And it's still something that, you know, is it's not the I do have a nonprofit, but the profit side of it is like this is also like, you know, you can let's work hard and let's let's make this a success.

SPEAKER_02 13:08

So consulting for a startup, very different than being a co-founder.

SPEAKER_00 13:12

Exactly. Right. I was advising.

SPEAKER_02 13:14

Okay. And so we could to go from being an advisor to being a co-founder, you know, a lot of times with the startup, you're not making an income.

SPEAKER_00 13:23

You know, you're it's terrifying when you're a single mom, too.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

You're wearing a lot of hats, you know, you've never done before.

SPEAKER_00 13:32

Yeah. So at the same time, I lost my home uh in the Palisades fire. My house is up in the canyons and um and lost that. So it was it's been a couple of years of the universe saying, let's see if she can handle this, and you know what I can. But it's it's been an interesting journey. But going from an advisor to being co-founder and saying, I'm doing this 100%. For the advisor piece was because I was starting to phase out of that corporate marketing role where I was just bored. It was a big job. You know, when I started, we had $250 million of revenue. When I left, we were at $1.4 billion. It was, it was a big job. There's a lot to do, but I had done it for years and it became really, I did a lot of politics and chess piece moving. Uh, and it started to just be something that wasn't, it just wasn't like scratching that itch anymore, which is why I was looking for advisory positions. And when it came time to leave that job, it took me a few weeks. I started interviewing at other places and just had this dread. I'm like, this is the same thing. It's just, you know, slightly different company, but same thing. And talked to some people, got some advice, um, and just realized if I don't do this startup 200%, it won't go anywhere because what I bring to the table is the actual oper like operations and making it happen and figuring things out. And like I'm the kind of get it done person. It's not gonna move. So I'm just gonna kind of be dabbling in it. So it's like either completely walk away from it, or you've just got to do it completely. Because you don't do a startup 10%. It it never goes anywhere. It's that's just a hobby.

SPEAKER_02 15:22

Wow. So you took that leap and you said, you know, you were dealing with the tragedy of the Palisades Fire, being a Palisades Fire is about six months after I took the leap.

SPEAKER_00 15:33

Uh, five months, six months after, um, had been, you know, divorced was a couple of uh maybe a year and a half, two years before that. Um yeah, it was it it's been an interesting couple of years.

SPEAKER_02 15:44

Um so tell me how you integrated your personal life in your career. So you start like most women in your career, and then you know, if you have this idea, someday I want to get married, someday I want to have kids, you know, then these other things kind of come along. So when you became a wife, did that change, you know, any amount of your ambition or devotion to your career when you decided, you know, or when you had children, whether you decided or not. I don't know if it's something that was you'd consciously wanted and were. I did.

SPEAKER_00 16:18

And I had I had my son, um, so I have one son, I have three stepkids that uh my ex-husband now, but they're still my stepkids that are older. Um, but my son, I had when I was like 36, right? 36. So it's it's also it was a very conscious decision that I wanted a child. Um, marriage definitely, it that wasn't the thing that changed my approach or sort of my time with my career. I was already, you know, I had moved to France. We were living together already. This my stepkids were there quite a bit. So that the marriage piece, it just flowed. Having uh my son getting pregnant, my pregnancy, and then having my son definitely there. I made a conscious choice actually at that point to just stay in a job. I was um at the time I was at Cap Gemini in France, Cap Gemini, uh, and it was not a job that I particularly liked. It was a great French reference. Everybody in France understands, oh, Cap Gemini, we know that company, right? It's like it's a good check mark for them when they don't really understand an American resume. Um and I just I wasn't particularly happy, but I said, when my son is young, this young, I'm going to just, I'm not gonna make a big change. I'm gonna wait. I'm gonna work four days a week. They're very flexible in France with letting, if you come back to work with a child, you you can have a week or one day a week where you're not working, um, which gives you just a little bit more time, makes it a little bit easier. I said, you know what, I'm gonna keep doing that. So it was, he was two. And at like two and a half, they start preschool there. So he was two when I moved to the advertising and marketing firm where I knew I was going to dedicate more time and more energy. Um, and then I was more, I was ready. I had a nanny that was amazing that would uh come in home every day and was like a second mother to him that made it much easier to say, okay, I can, you know, now I can start dedicating some time. And then, you know, once he was maybe three, four is where travel came in, which made me a little nervous. But um it was okay. Like I managed it and and um didn't, you know, still felt guilty sometimes, but uh but did what I did what I needed to do and knew that, you know, it's it's it's a positive thing for a, especially for a you know, for a boy or boy or girl to see their mom working and having things that are outside of the home as well that are important to her.

SPEAKER_02 18:50

And so we hear a lot in the United States about the differences between, you know, benefits, vacation time, maternity leave here versus Europe. So what was your maternity leave like? And then what was childcare like? You know, was it something sponsored by the state, universal daycare?

SPEAKER_00 19:07

You know, how did I mean it's phenomenal, I will say. So even uh moving into uh, you know, you you typically have four weeks off before you give birth. Uh, but because I rode public transportation, um, my doctor actually said you should really take two months off prior, which was a godsend, honestly. Just being paid of just being able to, you know, get things in order, nap, like just not be running. I compare it to my sister who had her children here and was like, she was in the office the day before she gave birth. And then she was back at it right after. And it's like, oh, I know you can do it, but I don't know that you have to. Um, and then, you know, same as they, you know, they keep they keep you in the hospital for five days. Um, make sure that you start. I chose to breastfeed, make sure you start breastfeeding, make sure that you're okay and you're ready to go home because they just want it to be a success. They don't want, you know, a stressed mom and a mom who's struggling once she gets home is not helpful trying to figure out how to bathe your baby, especially when it's your first baby. Um, and I opted to have a room by myself in the hospital, which is an option. And because of that, I did have to pay out of pocket. I paid 250 euro, um, was how much for the entire hospital stay visit to give birth to my child. Uh, and then they take care of you after. You do all these um rehabilitation for your pelvic floor. I'm a runner. And so they said, well, you need to do twice as much to make sure that we don't eventually have to pay for you when you start having accidents. Um, it's a no, there's a lot of support. You know, you get you get significant vacation. Uh, you know, you take four weeks in summer typically, and that's pretty helpful. Uh when you making you you know, you can work hard and you you work long days. I mean, I wasn't coming home until you know seven at night, usually. Uh, but then when you have that time in summer where you just have and everybody stops, it's it's time to really, you know, be with your family and sort of recover so that you're ready again uh when September comes around is definitely a different experience. Um yeah, I I can say nothing but positive about it and the support that you got. I could have done the regular paid um childcare. Uh, I just didn't, I wanted somebody in home and they're very strict about what time you pick your child up and you have to be there a little earlier. Um, it is not great when you have, if you have a more demanding, more senior role, it's that's kind of tricky to do. So I paid for um to have a nanny and just shared her with another family. So also my child was around some other children. It wasn't, you know, just him alone being weighted on hand in foot.

SPEAKER_02 22:00

And how easy was it to find that right, Nanny?

SPEAKER_00 22:03

Uh it was, I will say now that it was not difficult, but I think you know, my son's 16. So I'm guessing at the time it was much more difficult. Uh but I did, she is, she still is, uh, Chinese, and her French was not good. Uh, she didn't speak English, and so I was like, you know what, just speak Mandarin to him. So the kid was bilingual or trilingual, because his dad's French, mom American, and then the Chinese nanny. And it was pretty amazing to watch that child's brain uh develop and just see, and which is again one of those things you say, okay, so I wasn't there and I kept working, but he had this amazing experience. He had a second mom who took care of him. And on top of it, he was just embedded in this Chinese culture of the Chinese nannies and moms, he's this little blonde kid running around speaking, you know, speaking Mandarin without a without an accent. You start to feel, you know what, it's okay. He's just getting more love from somebody else while I'm at work. It's okay. It's okay.

SPEAKER_02 23:05

Why did you leave with all these wonderful things about France?

SPEAKER_00 23:08

I was ready. And at the time I was still married, and we wanted a change. Uh I I do like Paris, but the weather is not my favorite. Um, so we, you know, came back to Los Angeles where I had been prior to moving to France. Um, and it was just, it was time for a change. I kind of laughed. I said, Oh, it seems like every 10 years I do some major shift in location. Um, but yeah, it was, and there's different career opportunities, definitely in the US versus, you know, you kind of hit a place and you can't live outside of Paris. So if you want to go someplace warmer, like you want to go down to the south, then it's you you just don't have the same type of job opportunities. And kind of it would be quite difficult for me because I had gotten very senior. Um, so yeah, it was, you know, and I still have I have my nationality. My son is there visiting his father uh right now. I still get back there. I I have, you know, still have deep ties to France. I lived there long enough that, you know, consider myself both French and American.

SPEAKER_02 24:12

So was the decision to go on your own and you know be a founder influenced at all by you being a mother? Was there uh any kind of desire for you to control your schedule? Or were were the places where you were working giving you enough flexibility that you didn't need that? You didn't need to leave to have that?

SPEAKER_00 24:32

At the time, I didn't realize that that's what it was. The travel definitely, while it sounds super exciting to travel all over the world uh for work, it's really just exhausting. You get sick a lot. Um, and I was traveling probably internationally once a month and then to New York twice a month. So I was I was moving a lot. Um, you know, it wasn't my favorite, but also just was sort of how I functioned. I wasn't thinking about it that much. Um, I had some flexibility because of with COVID and then some of the remote um work that gave me a little bit of flexibility. And and honestly, I because of having a job based out of New York and a lot of um, like my boss lived in London, and I had, you know, a lot of people who were in Europe, I started my day very early here. So I started at like 5 a.m. Um and then but would finish earlier. So that gave me a little flexibility with my son to be able to pick him up from school. So I hadn't really thought that that was that really wasn't a motivation. But as I started it, and as I got more involved, I realized, especially with a teenage son, for him to see his mom believing in something, working really hard for it, having things that don't work, but getting up the next morning and getting back at it, trying, doing something on her own. I thought there is no better thing I could do for my kid than to show him like this is you can have something you, it's hard and you can believe it, and not everybody does it. There's a reason not everybody does it, but like if your mom can do it, like you can do it. So I it started to more than just having the time and flexibility with him. It was about shiving him this other view of what work can be and what you know, having something meaningful, finding something meaningful where he's really at that phase now of his life. He's gonna be a senior um starting next month and starting to think, well, what am I gonna do? It gives him just a different, different perspective of there's you know, there's other ways, they're difficult, but like we're smart, clever people, like we can do it.

SPEAKER_02 26:33

And do multiple things. Your LinkedIn shows in 2024 you became co-founder of three different entities. Yeah. So one a nonprofit, you know, the other two companies, why, you know, the the one that you said that you were advising was wait for me, correct?

SPEAKER_00 26:51

Yeah, that's my main, that's the main venture that I spend 200% of my time on. There's a small um venture that I had I was proposed. A former um somebody I used to work with reached out to me and said, you know, it'd be really great to get you involved in this. And it was something where they needed me for the sort of getting things set up and operationalizing things. And then I'm I was able to step back from it. So at the time I said, you know what, I'm kind of throwing, throwing things out there and seeing what's going to work at that time. Um the nonprofit, it's part of it is it's interesting when, you know, wait for me as a C Corp and to have a nonprofit. There are different things. We're in the same building. And so it's also using, I don't need this full building just for the app. So it gave us something to do meaningfully with the rest of the building, and something that sort of touches on passions that I have and my co-founders' passions of being able to have a creative space for musicians and for artists that were, you know, a few blocks from the beach, but it's a space that people can actually afford, which normally they wouldn't. And then we're able to do mentorship, we're able to bring um groups and we're able to, you know, we've had brought a choir from um one an LA neighborhood, some kids come in and record. Uh, you know, we do different, I've done panel discussions here. So it's kind of it's it's a nice sort of symbiotic relationship, but also there's a you know, there is a business function of having a having a nonprofit and having a C Corp helps you sort of manage some of the the financial things in a smart way.

SPEAKER_02 28:30

So, what is the road that you're going down with the personal assistant app? Are you looking at getting funding? Have you gotten you know friends?

SPEAKER_00 28:37

That is my I mean, I would I would say that's my sole focus, but I always joke. I'm like, I wish it could be my sole focus, but my sole focus is also getting uh new users into the app. So yes, actively uh going precede angel investment and precede funding. So up to now we've we've had angel investors and haven't really big done big fundraising rounds, but we're at the point where we're ready for that. So I've got meetings going on for fundraising. Um, and then really focusing on recruitment of users. So the app's been live. We went quite slow. Um, so it's live. The only market we've really focused on is Los Angeles. Technically, it's live everywhere because it's an app and it's a peer-to-peer marketplace. Um, but Los Angeles is really where we're hands-on focusing on getting people in. And it's, you know, focusing on where we see, because it's this two-sided um equation, right? So you've got assistants and you have clients. And assistance, partially because of the economy and the not great nature of the economy, um, you have very, very good people who are available looking for flexible work um and want a fair wage. So DoorDash is not ideal, right? It's doesn't pay that great. Uh, and actually in LA, there's a wait list. Uh, you can't even become a dasher because there are too many people who are trying to do that work. So assistance, I have, I every time I hire as many as I can so I can meet them individually. Amazing people, uh, you know, with phenomenal backgrounds. Either they have as backgrounds as personal assistants, I have, you know, people getting their masters in education, uh, but are looking for something, but again, don't want to be doing food delivery. They want to do something a little more meaningful, a little more engaging, meet people. Clients is the piece that's more of a struggle to recruit. And it's not even recruiting, it's getting them to take that leap of delegating for the first time. So it's something we're still working on cracking of how to speed that up. Some of it I think is people struggle with what to delegate. Um, and then, you know, you get in a mode where you're just like, I don't even have time to do that. You're like, stop, you can buy time. I always tell them my story of like the first time that I hired an assistant with the app for three hours, and she ran a bunch of errands for me and she scanned some receipts. And I was driving home that night and I was like, I just had a 27-hour day. Like, I'm not gonna work after dinner tonight. I think I'm gonna watch a movie with my kid because I got all that, you know, I got so much stuff done that only I could do because she was doing all this other stuff that I could get rid of. And that's the piece that once people understand it and once they experience it. People at I have a quote. I'm gonna I asked the guy if I can use it. I have a client who uh sent a message after his first experience with the app. He said, I wish dating apps were this easy. He said, the assistant is amazing. She's like hit the ground running, exactly what I need. The app is easy to use. I was like, man, I'm gonna use that. I like that. But it's just you gotta get people to go that first, you know, do do that first booking. And I think it's it's hard for some people to delegate, they're not used to it.

SPEAKER_02 32:00

Do you think there's resistance by women more so than men to spend money to delegate, to have somebody else do something that you feel that guilt that, well, I should be doing this.

SPEAKER_00 32:13

100%. Well, or I can do it. I I have to get over it myself. Every day I have to, you know, when I hire an assistant, I have to challenge. So I'm like, well, I can just do it. I can, but I have to remind myself that one of the things on my list right now is preparing a deck for a meeting with a venture capital fund. And you know what? That is far more important that I focus on that than spending an hour scanning receipts. And of course I can do it. Or, you know, organizing the closet here at the studio, the cleaning closet is like a catastrophe. I can do it. Of course I can do it. But either it's going to take away from time for things only I can do, or take away from time that like I'm gonna come and do it Sunday instead of hanging out with my kid. And that's where, like that trade-off, it I do think it is difficult for people. But once they do it, in the same way that, you know, once you finally hire a cleaning person, you're like, why did I not do this before? Like this gives me more time with my family or more time to work or more time to go exercise. Whatever it is that you want to do, it gives you more time for that. That's actually the social media campaign for targeted at clients. Every week we do a more time for this. Because I think trying to get, you know, and it and it could be more time for work, it could be more time for exercise, it could be more time to, you know, work on that book that you've been trying to write. It could be, you know, it's there's so many different things that you may use that extra time that you just bought.

SPEAKER_02 33:45

And it gives you the, we say when you know, women find childcare that frees them up to do what they want to do. It gives them clarity because they know as a mom, like my time is precious. And if I have these two hours of uninterrupted without mom, mom, mom in the background, boy, am I gonna be clear about what I'm gonna do with it. I'm not gonna just kind of wander around and go, huh, should I clean the closet? You know, you're gonna plan that because it's like a gift, yes. And so you've done so many different things, lived in different places. If you could go back to an earlier version of you, knowing then what you know now, what's one thing that you would change?

SPEAKER_00 34:26

I'd have more confidence younger that I'm capable of doing stuff. Um, you know, I'd I tell people that I mentor now. Uh I say, listen, I if you I know you think like a lot of the younger folks, they just think I've done all this stuff. Like it's it's funny, uh marketing plans, for instance. But people were like, You've done you work in marketing, you've done marketing plans. I've never done a marketing plan in my life. I was managing the people who did, you know, the people who the people who people who did marketing, I've never actually done one, but you know what? I'm gonna figure it out. Like it can't be that hard. I'm pretty clever. Like I learned stuff, I'm like, I'll figure it out. And I think there's having that confidence of just saying, you know what, just like just try it. Like it's what is the worst thing that can happen if you just say, you know what, I'm gonna, I'm gonna look into this and I'm gonna try it. I think I can do it. Ask questions, right? I mean, that's the one thing. And then the other thing is it's because I do see it with myself and being very open and willing to mentor people formally or informally. I think I would have younger sought out people to do the same because it's it's a gratifying thing. And I have, you know, every the just last week I had somebody who I had hired 15 years ago reach out to me and say, I was on a panel, and they asked me about women who've influenced me, and you're the first person that came to mind. And you know, you've always given me amazing advice, and like you really store, you know, you you helped me steer my career. You you took a shot. And I thought that's the most meaningful thing, and that's the stuff that makes it all worthwhile. You're like, I, you know, you positively influenced an amazing human being's life. I think I would have sought more people because I don't feel like I really have those mentors. Um, because I just sort of, I'm gonna do it myself. I'm gonna I can figure this out. And I think I would have, I would tell myself people are really happy to share their wisdom, advice, experience, point of view. Like seek it out.

SPEAKER_02 36:34

Wow. Great encouragement to find mentors, to be a mentor, to just think of people in that realm, you know, of of taking that wisdom that's out there and not having to reinvent the wheel every time.

SPEAKER_00 36:47

It doesn't need to be formal. You know, it doesn't this is just you know, there's a there's a few people I've worked with for, you know, they used to work for me years ago. And it's just you know, every couple months we're like, hey, let's have a catch up. And they kind of braindump what they're going on professionally, privately. Things I share my point of view, we discuss, I give them my advice, we talk. Like it doesn't need to be a structured mentorship. Like it's it's real easy to just make that connection, but it really is meaningful. Um, and then I've again I've had people come back, you know, somebody who started a company. I I didn't realize this. He said, the reason I started my company is because you once said to me, I think that's amazing. That is a gratifying, wonderful thing in life to think that, you know, and you realize people really do, you know, if you're if you're you come at it with intent and and just honest, just good-hearted. I I want the best for you. And I think you're, you know, you have a lot of potential, like amazing things come out of that stuff. And those are the people who then one, they're like, when are you gonna be hiring? Because we want to work for you again, but also they're the ones that help when you're in this situation, like a startup. I've I feel like I have this massive network of people. When something comes up, I'm like, you know what? How the heck do I do XYZ? Or do you know somebody who can do a code review for me because I want to check what the development team has done? And they're like, yeah, well, we got it covered for you, of course. I mean, it all it's a good, it's it all works out for everybody. We help each other.

SPEAKER_02 38:21

That's so valuable. And we're so grateful about all these insights that you revealed on today's episode of Women and Work. If you were inspired by today's story, remember to share it with a friend, leave a review, and subscribe to meet our next amazing guest. If you or anyone you know is looking for the right childcare, you can go to momsub.com and submit your criteria and then watch a video interview with your nanny match. That's momsub like a substitute mom. Our mission is for you to get the help you need so you can discover what you want in life, pursue it with intensity, and fulfill your dream, reducing your stress, guilt, and self-criticism, and increasing your calm, confidence, and clarity along the way. Remember, your career, your choices, and your success are yours to define. So keep pushing boundaries and spreading your love and encouragement to other women who need it.