“The juggle is real” is a term that Boss Mums everywhere understand. To run your own business whilst having children is an incredible challenge of multitasking and time management. During one stage in my own motherhood journey, I was a single mum of a 2.5-year-old with some huge international clients and balancing it all was a fine art. I wish that more mums could be given the toolset to manage this balance to help them stay calm in the intensity, so I was excited to see a new book release this year called MumBoss by top award-winning blogger The Honest Mum aka Vicki Psarias.  I am excited to be able to ask Vicki more about how to survive and thrive at work and at home.

Hi Vicki. Welcome to No Mum Is An Island. I am a great believer that no mum or dad should have to do everything themselves, we can’t possibly know it all, and we need all the support we can get, there is a wealth of information out there to help us upgrade our parenting experience, to make our lives easier and this website is a hub for just that! We love you have upgraded your life by building and growing your Honest Mum success alongside motherhood and by sharing how you have done that with others. 

You are one of the world’s most successful bloggers. Can you tell us about your blog Honest Mum? 

Thanks for interviewing me, it’s a real honour. I started Honestmum.com whilst on maternity leave back in November 2010. I was a filmmaker and TV Director at the time and had endured a traumatic birth with my first son, Oliver. I was no longer sure of who I was after his birth, or what the future held for me workwise, it was a deeply distressing time. My filmmaking career was so indelibly linked to my identity that first time motherhood threw me, I felt fragmented and confused as becoming a mum was something I’d always wanted and I adored my son. The trauma and pain took a long time to overcome. Starting my blog along with therapy helped me on that journey. It helped me to rediscover my voice and later my confidence. It was an accidental career. It was, and still is a space that I control, a creative outlet to call my own which allows me to process life.
honest mum

What advice would you give to other mums who want to start their own blog? 

Having a space online that you own like a blog or website is basically digital real estate. Unlike social media channels that you essentially ‘rent’ and are at liberty to their algorithms, a blog is yours to monetise from. Plus, blogs reach a worldwide audience far more easily than social handles do as the latter tend to attract the creatives’ own country’s audience by default. I love that SEO (search engine optimisation) enables a like-minded audience to discover you and your shared interests. So, if you blog about cats, a cat-loving audience will find you when they ask questions in search engines about cats! Blogging has given me a creative, flexible and nourishing career which works around my family.

Your book Boss Mum is a bible for any mum that’s trying to start her own business (blog or otherwise). What would you say is the most important step for mums who want to balance work and family? 

To be realistic that working and mothering takes compromise. That guilt is futile. That we women are inherently people-pleasers and need to work on boundaries, learn to say ‘no’ more and realise that the workplace is sexist and doesn’t respect mothers as a whole. Once you know what you’re working with/in you can start to develop ways to work on your own terms. I share all that I’ve learnt over a decade blogging and vlogging in my new video course series The Working Mother’s Academy. The first course ‘Confidence to Go For It’ is only $9 and helps you overcome the imposter syndrome and launch your own business. Link here.

As an Honest Mum, you are really understanding of the pressures of motherhood, what do you think is the biggest problem mums come up against and how can that be tackled. 

I think lack of confidence/ self-doubt is a huge barrier for mums (humans require 5 positives to overcome 1 negative) and having children means our bodies and mind often take a bashing with pregnancy, birth and then the sleep deprivation which follows. Contextualise that as we live/ work in a patriarchal society which undermines mothers/ women by default and there’s no wonder mums lack confidence. We are 100 years from the closing of the gender pay gap. There’s a long way to go when it comes to maternal rights and equality but blogging and building personal brands online can offer mothers the freedom and flexibility to work in a way that actually works for their families The internet is a democratic, level-playing field, all you need is a phone/ laptop, some ideas and the confidence to publish!

You are undoubtedly an inspirational leader, your blog Honest Mum is a huge success, and the reviews of your book are incredible. How does that make you feel? Women are notoriously famous for feeling like imposters and don’t let themselves bathe in the recognition they deserve, do you have a tool to help get over that? 

I live by the words, ‘Don’t believe the hype, don’t believe the shite’. Of course, it means a lot to me that my book MUMBOSS has spoken to others (and those reviews are not all from my Big Fat Greek Family honest 😉 ) but like all women, I oscillate between feeling confident and strong, and then crippled with self doubt (particularly when I have PMT for eg). I’ve definitely learnt to be kinder to myself and ride the waves with more ease the older I get though. I’m 40 in November and the last few years have meant unlearning a lot of negativity. I feel stronger than ever in that respect. I know who I am and I like myself. We all need to start and work on that foundation: self-respect and love.
honest mum

Can you tell us about the courses you run? 

Across these courses (which you can binge like a boxset or dip in and out of , at your leisure), I share everything I’ve learnt as a professional blogger and bestselling author so mothers can build a digital business and work flexibly around their family. This deepened learning is as relevant as ever, particularly as we’re experiencing such a profoundly difficult period due to the coronavirus with so many of us seeking greater financial security, and flexibility in order to juggle homeschooling our children, with work.

My first course, Confidence To Go For It! shares how to build confidence and resilience, overcoming self-doubt and the imposter syndrome so mums can carve out a business and thrive in this democratic digital marketplace.

It’s just $9 (£7) and also gives you FREE  access to my private Confidence to Go For It FB group.

You can buy it HERE.

The Ignite Insta course shares how I storytell on Instagram and continuously grow an engaged audience there helping you to create dynamic content and how best to work with brands on your grid, stories and IGTV.
It’s $47. Click on the link HERE to buy:

If you want to learn ABSOLUTELY everything I’ve garnered over 10 years working as a digital storyteller and bestselling author of MUMBOSS (UK) and THE WORKING MOM (out in the US on Sept 1st 2020), collaborating with global brands and interviewing A Listers to boot, the ‘Build A 6 Figure Biz’ course, is for you.

It’s worth thousands of dollars but is $297. You can buy it HERE

I’m also running a paid membership group on Facebook with lots of access to myself and my business partner, Digital Strategist, Lucy Griffiths plus a roster of experts/ thought leaders from Doctors to PRs, PTs, Life Coaches, Authors and Entrepreneurs via FB Lives and Q&As so you can learn from the best in the biz, as well as gain access to PR contacts and press opportunities.
All for a $29 monthly fee.

Join HERE.

You can but Honest Mum HERE visit the Honest Mum website here, follow Honest Mum on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

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