We recently connected with Marisa Lonic and have shared our conversation below.
Marisa, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think it takes to be successful?
It takes consistency to be successful. You need to show up, even when it feels uncomfortable, even when you’re doubting yourself, even when you’re not totally motivated. Consistency is important for two reasons when it comes to business. The first is for your customers. People won’t buy from you unless they trust you. If you’re not doing what you say you’ll do, like send a weekly newsletter or regularly show up on social media, they’ll think of you as a flake. They’ll question your ability to deliver. They’ll wonder if you’re still in business. Consistency builds relationships, thus creating buyers, thus increasing sales and success. The second is for you. Doing things consistently builds habits. Habits allow you to show up easily, even when you’re not motivated. Consistency helps build discipline and accountability and pushes you to achieve big goals by taking small steps daily. Consistency is the the absolute most important thing to be successful.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m Marisa Lonic, working mom of four boys. Back in 2016, I was an overwhelmed mom of toddler twins who felt unfulfilled at work and stressed out at home. I wanted to excel in my career, but I was scared of the effects it would have on my family. I wanted to be the best at work and at home, but I didn’t know how.
I was offered a significant job promotion (Team Work – 1), but it would mean moving cross country, working more hours, having a longer commute, and potentially leaving me with little to no time for my family or myself. I was torn. Do I progress in my career, but sacrifice my family? Do I take the safe route and risk not growing professionally?
I took a leap of faith and took the job. I realized managing my time didn’t get harder, it got different and I was actually happier despite the fewer hours I had at home because I was maximizing that time and using it with full intention, something I hadn’t been doing before.
Two years later, I welcomed my third baby and things shifted again. Every transition requires a recalibration of how you manage your time, schedule and life. This is when I started my business, Mama Work It. A lot of working moms struggle with feeling guilty for pursuing their ambition. I loved my job and I loved my family and, while I wasn’t perfect at balancing all things working mom, I had certainly figured out a thing or two and wanted to share that with the working mom community.
With a demanding corporate job, a demanding need to care for my family, and a demanding need to care for myself and my own dreams, I figured out how to make it all work and created Mama Work It, an organization that supports ambitious women juggling mom life, work life, wife life, fill in the blank life.
I started with a blog.
Then created a course.
From there, I wrote my first book: Time MOMagement: How to Get the Time You Need to Do the Things You Want.
And started coaching mamas on how to manage their time without overwhelm, guilt or stress and find space and energy in their very full schedules to do the things they only dreamed of.
I did all of this while I juggled a thriving career as a corporate executive and grew my family of six. It wasn’t always easy, but it was always worth it.
Now, I support moms in time management and productivity through my Time MOMagement and BIz MOMagement programs. When you take back control of your time, your schedule, your life…you’re able to be calmer, happier, and get MORE DONE with ease and simplicity. Stress, unfulfillment, and overwhelm won’t be visiting you on the regular. You will be living your best life, getting things done, and feeling so good in the process. And that’s because…
When you feel good…you do good.
Your productivity, your output, your mood, your ability to show up as a parent, as a partner, as an employee or entrepreneur, as a friend, all of it goes hand in hand with you feeling your best.
You can have it all. You can live a fulfilling, balanced, rich life–even if you feel perpetually busy all the time. Let’s strategize ways to take back control of your time and schedule. Let’s work it, mama.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
In 2020, I got resilience ripped. Seriously, if there were a body builder competition for resilient moms, I would have taken first place, rocking my shiny resilience bikini. I was a month in at returning to work as a corporate executive after my fourth baby was born. In a matter of days, I lost my childcare, my support systems, and a little bit of my mind. On top of all this, I was also juggling entrepreneurship as I built my business in the wee hours of the night. My perfectly crafted plan of drop offs and commute times and meal plans and childcare schedules meant nothing. Now, I was suddenly thrown into being the primary caregiver for our four children under six while my husband left the house daily as an essential worker. I meticulously scheduled every meeting during my baby’s naptimes. I created a home camp / school schedule for my older three kids that would allow me pockets of time to focus on work without constant interruptions. I shifted my limits on screen time and compromised with a few unique educational shows and programs that could be my support when I needed one. Some days I felt on top of the world. Others I felt like I was being crushed by the weight of the world. The experience was one the most challenging I’ve ever experienced, but provided not only incredible resilience, but immense clarity and courage.
During this time, I knew I was no special snowflake. While the entire world was on lockdown, working parents were struggling everywhere. I created a course called How to Work from Home with Kids During a Pandemic that helped parents in over 88 countries through perhaps their most challenging time to date as well. I was able to develop more confidence and see clearly what my purpose and mission was and fully step into my business, serving parents as a time management and productivity expert.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
A lesson I had to unlearn is that hard work is the only way to achieve success. Growing up, I was always taught that if I wanted anything in life, the way to get there was hard work. So, I did. I worked hard all the time. I studied hard at school. I worked long hours at the office. I often juggled more than one job to earn more money or gain more experience. Hard work was the answer.
Now, as a parent, I don’t want to work hard all the time. I want balance. I want freedom. I want time for fun. While I remain ambitious and strive for success, I’ve learned that hard work isn’t the only way to achieve it.
When you’re working hard all the time, you’re missing the success that stands right in front of you: the park dates with your kids, the date nights with your partner, the free time to read a book or clear your head. And the funny thing about all that is when you actually create this balance, this space for what you enjoy, what you love, who you love, you end up getting your best ideas, perhaps your million dollar business idea even.
I love my work and because I was raised to work hard, it can still be hard for me to disconnect and step away from my desk, but when I do, I end up returning with such an unstoppable force, I’m able to be my most efficient, my most creative, my most successful self, without the grind of ‘hard work’.
Don’t get it twisted. This doesn’t mean you should be lazy. Laziness isn’t the answer. The answer is to listen to what you need, to what’s important to you, to what your body, mind and soul desire in order to operate at maximum capacity. I create time and space to nurture these areas of myself daily. I exercise. I listen to audiobooks or podcasts. I journal and pray. There are plenty of times I could tell myself that work is more important, but I’ve learned this work–this work on myself–is crucial for that work to hit its peak.
Moral of the story, if the work feels hard more than it doesn’t, you have it wrong. Prioritize the things and people you love most. Prioritize yourself. And you won’t have to work as hard as you think to be as successful as you want.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mamaworkit.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/letmamaworkit
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/letmamaworkit
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/marisalonic
Image Credits
Melissa Ohms Photography