We were lucky to catch up with Jill Wright recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jill, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I started my coaching business quite organically, based on my own lived experience.

After the announcement of yet another extension to daycare closures during the early days of the pandemic, I hit my rock bottom. I was trying to open a retail business and everything felt stacked against me. I had two young kids (one of whom was just diagnosed with ASD), and was housebound with no help.

Overwhelm took over my body and I collapsed on my kitchen floor, with no idea of how I was supposed to get through it.

I made it my mission to learn everything I could about time management, productivity, habits, and planning so that I had a fighting chance at survival during those rough months.

I googled and I researched and I realized that time management for working moms needs to look a lot different than it does for men, for the wealthy, and for non-parents.

As I started to create my own hacks and tweak the traditional time management, habit and productivity tools available to work for working moms, I started sharing these tweaks on a podcast which I called Grow Like a Mother. Because surely if I needed this information, other moms did too!

The business has grown as I have grown, and now I use time management and self-care as tools to help working mothers create the life they truly want.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I know firsthand what it’s like to have a full plate, and feel like there just aren’t enough hours in the day to get it all done. Trying to run a business AND a family. I know the pain of a never ending to-do list, and the stress of not getting your work done on time. I know what it feels like to miss family dinner, and lose my sh*t more often than I would like. I know what it’s like to ignore the laundry piling up, the marriage, and the self-care, because you simply can’t take on one more thing today.

Out of necessity to keep it all together and avoid burnout, I learned everything I could about time management, productivity, habits, and planning. I interviewed experts, studied and tested theories. I realized that the key to success was a personalized approach. I intuited four different types of SuperMoms and organized time management tools specifically for them.

I work with moms of little ones who work full time. You know how when we pop out a couple kids we can get so caught up in the chaos of motherhood that we find ourselves perpetually busy and tired, and not able to remember the last time they had a moment to ourselves? Even on a good day the exhaustion is palpable.

Well, I’ve got a system that not only helps moms battle their burnout, but helps us feel calm, rested and in control of our time. I take you on a journey through my signature system, and before you know it you’re creating a life you love and actually enjoying living it!

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A lesson I had to unlearn (and am still unlearning if I’m honest) is that I need to do it all by myself, and it needs to be perfect. In business, things are never “done” – everything is continually changing, evolving and growing, as our we and our customers.

In the early days I would slave away and try to get everything done, and beat myself up because I could never quite get on top of everything. Pair that with an insatiable urge to get it all right, and an ego that told me I had to do it all by myself or it didn’t count – I’ll let you use your imagination as to how that turned out for me.

My first business, a retail consignment store, lasted just under 2 years from conception to shut down. Much of the reason was based in the economy at the time (I opened in April 2020) but much of it was also because I didn’t run the business smart.

Now, I proudly swung the pendulum the other way and am seeking out advice and suggestions from a community of women who have come before me, and are in the trenches with me. I offer and accept support and my new motto is “Done is better than perfect.” Things are going exceptionally well in my business, and I’m so much less stressed.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I was working a full-time job for 4 years as I built up my coaching and speaking business. I had the taste for entrepreneurship, I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else. But with a family to support I knew I had to work on my dream of supporting moms in tandem with a steady, financially stable career.

I hustled. I solo parented. I went through a divorce, a near fatal car accident, selling a house, moving across the city, navigating the ins and outs of a new autism diagnosis for my son, all while dealing with severe postpartum depression. During this time I worked 40+ hours a week, ran the family and the household, and dedicated my pockets of spare time to building up a name for myself as a coach supporting mothers.

In that time I wrote and published a book, took a coaching certification, created (and re-created) digital, group and 1:1 offerings, and started doing 4-figure public speaking engagements.

I’ve finally given up the 9-5 to pursue my dream, and I am loving being able to spend my hours working directly with mothers and helping them take back control of their time, and their lives.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jillwright.ca
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/growlikeamother
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/growlikeamother
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jill-wright-speaker/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@growlikeamother
• Other: The Grow Like a Mother podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/grow-like-a-mother/id1601675882

Image Credits

Chelsea Trigg
Avii Photography