Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kimberly Pangaro. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Kimberly, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
I used to be a Realtor and I loved it, absolutely loved it! The income was phenomenal and getting to meet so many new people was great! Then the pandemic hit and my state shut down everything. As that was happening, I caught this funny little cold which no medication seemed to get rid of. It got worse and by March, I was severely ill. None of the doctors would see me in person. They couldn’t identify what was wrong with me either because I had never left the country or came into contact with someone who was positive with Covid-19. I was barely able to breathe on my own. I was petrified of going to the hospital, but I knew I wasn’t going to survive much longer like that. One night, propped up on 4 pillows, my labored breaths slowed with long pauses of nothing in between, and it woke my husband. He touched my face and cried for me. In that moment, I knew what he was trying to say. That’s when my whole life flashed before my eyes. My four kids, my marriage, all of my screw-ups, my parents, everything. And I realized, I would be forgotten because I never bothered to build a legacy for my family to remember me by. After that flash, I never thought I would wake again. In fact, I remember nothing else from that night, only darkness. The next morning, I woke to the sunshine, and felt a warm breeze on my face, and the dried tears stuck under my eyes. I walked out of bed that day, still sick as heck, but stronger and with purpose. Then the idea just hit me in the face like Thor’s Hammer! I wanted to help others in their parenting journeys, which grew to wanting to help parents build their own legacies.
Kimberly, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I’m a mother to four amazing daughters and one border collie/lab mix pup, and a dedicated wife to a law enforcement officer. I left the real estate industry during the pandemic and after I almost died from Covid-19, decided to pursue my lifelong dream of becoming a published author. It was in those early moments that the desire to build an online community for parents was born. I not only wanted to write but I wanted to help other parents navigate the parenting journey much easier. I noticed that most sites were dedicated to one specific niche, like babies or mothers or infertility, but none of them really catered to the entirety of parenthood, which causes most parents to bounce from site to site to find their information. This is when I decided that my little blog would become the Google of parenting – and that’s how Atomic Mommy was born.
My site solves a very unique set of problems for parents who surf the net for parenting tips/advice/how-tos: (1) the site approaches content in a multi-faceted way, where the content is geared towards all aspects of parenting including work, self-care, relationships, etc., and (2) we also make sure to include fatherhood voices since they are often left out of many of the parenting sites altogether, finally (3) the content we provide is not only how-to guides, but also authentic stories from different parents, across different cultures, from different parts of the world, thus ensuring a variety of solutions, stories, voices, and more!
I’m most proud of the Atomic Mommy site because even though it is technically a for-profit company, most of the business is actually not-for-profit and the revenue generated continues to be put back into the business to be able to consistently acquire new voices, reaching new audiences, and producing more content. Secondly, I would love my followers to know that though this is not my main source of revenue, it is what launched the next several phases of my entrepreneurial journey including real estate investments, owning other income generating sites, and owning a stake in other established companies. Because of Atomic Mommy’s success, I was able to grow into a stronger parent and smarter business woman, providing me with the legacy I was after. It is with this kind of growth and success that I am now entering my newest phase of business ownership and that is coaching others to build their own successful empires.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
Growing up, I always had to people-please my way through life. It was extremely damaging to my psyche and in retrospect, has even hindered how I view myself and how I approach relationship-building. I didn’t know how to value my own opinions or choices, even the ones that came with negative results. In the beginning of my business, that kind of mindset almost killed my growth. Even as recently as last year, when an event that I planned had an 84% success rate, instead of being happy for that accomplishment, I immediately came down on myself.
In business, you can’t think this way or you’ll spend your whole career trying to please everyone else except yourself, and that’s not how to grow a financially successful business. This is not to say that you shouldn’t try to make your target audience happy with your services/products. But it is to say that you need to accept that it is statistically impossible to please everyone. The real goals to strive for should be the following: (1) Be true to your voice and your clients/customers who believe in your voice will continue to support you, (2) accept that failure is a part of the entrepreneurial journey, and (3) forgive yourself when things don’t go as planned. Writing these goals down and checking in with them to make sure I complete them during each project I work on, has helped me grow out of my people-pleasing phase.
Does your business have multiple or supplementary revenue streams (like a ATM machine at a barbershop, etc)?
One of the biggest pitfalls of starting your own business is that you don’t know how to scale for growth. Whether it’s blogging, a barbershop, a restaurant, a business owner needs to have a diversified revenue stream. This could mean anything from adding different products to your line, adding more services, or buying other income-producing businesses where you don’t have to do anything besides collect a paycheck. For my particular business, I have multiple streams of revenue and I am happy to share what they are because I believe in uplifting others towards their financial success. Here they are: books, planners, coaching, podcasts, real estate, owning other sites with passive income, and merchandise.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://atomicmommy.net
- Instagram: @atomic_mommy / @kimberly.pangaro
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/atomicmommypress
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberly-pangaro
- Twitter: @atomic_mommy
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/show/2GgD9S7VqIiTjGmz02sC2t?si=d6d8b370ab8c40bb
Image Credits
All Photos Were Provided by Kimberly Pangaro.