Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Rachel Maksimovic. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Rachel, thanks for joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I became a solo mum when I was 20 weeks pregnant, over the first couple of years I struggled so much with my life experiences, being a full time mum, present with my son 24/7 while also trying to find small pockets of time while he slept to continue to work in my business to earn enough to keep a roof over our heads. Amongst the financial and career challenges there were so many other unique challenges connected to solo motherhood and I felt really isolated in the experience. My son was 4 months old when I was chatting to a friend and said that there was nothing out there to support me and help me feel connected so I was going to have to create it myself. I spent years sitting on this idea because I spent years feeling debilitated by the challenges and felt like I had no capacity to help others yet. I actually do feel like now there was a purpose to me being in survival mode for so long, it has meant that I can better connect and share with others as I have deep understanding of the challenges of single motherhood.
There are many podcasts out there especially ones helping in the motherhood and parenting space so initially I felt like there was already too much out there, however I was listening to Gary Vaynerchuck one day who shared a video online talking about podcasts, he said if you have an idea for a podcast and its niche then to do it right now. I knew this idea was niche, parenting podcasts are so helpful however there are many topics that are so unique to single motherhood that I knew weren’t being talked about.

Rachel, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I knew nothing about podcasting before I got into it, however having a marketing background I think has helped me so much. I have a deep understanding of knowing what connects, how to communicate with others, knowing which content is strong to cut up for reels etc. I think this experience has been invaluable. There are many things that I have had to learn like audio editing (I am not very good!) and it was very important for me to learn everything about what we do before looking to outsource this work. Something that often happened with marketing clients is that they would outsource work immediatly and then have no deep understanding about their audience, what works and doesn’t work etc

From the very beginning I had a very clear set of values and beliefs into how I wanted to communicate about single motherhood, it could be very easy to spend all of our time talking about our challenges and speaking negatively into our circumstances and past relationships, however from the beginning my mindset has always been that I wanted to give voice to the challenges to help others feel validated in their experiences while at the same time creating a space where you are offered tools, resources or suggestions in how to navigate these experiences. I want people to leave a podcast episode with insights, new perspectives and the biggest feeling that they can take from an episode is hope. I think that is what makes my podcast unique and the feeling that women are left with is something I am most proud of.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I have had a number of businesses over the years one which product based that put me in a lot of financial stress and had me paying off years later. When I started the podcast I was a solo mum still living week to week, I knew that I had to do it in a way that needed little to none investment up front. Many people spend thousands with a podcast having a professional set up in terms of cameras, microphone equiptment, studio hire etc (which if you have the money- great!) however, the biggest impacts on the growth of the podcast has been centred around the conversations that I have had, the guests and the ability to connect with my audience and share relateable and helpful content. I invested $150 on a simple microphone at the beginning and now that I have begun to monetise the podcast I am putting it straight back into the podcast bit by bit in ways that I think will better amplify the experience for my audience.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Before I had my son I was living the entrepreners dream, living in Bali and working from my laptop running my own digital marketing agency. When my son was born I spent the first precious weeks sitting in a nursing chair breastfeeding while still working from my phone and laptop. At the beginning it felt possible as I had a content little baby in my arms and the ability to work from my phone- it wasn’t until he got a little older and on the move where my business felt impossible. I wanted so badly to be a present mum, it felt like giving up years of work to let my business go. But in my heart I knew that I wanted to be a present mum more, I believed that everything happens for a reason and this season of life needed me in motherhood, I let my business go and moved into freelance marketing work that helped us to financially scrape through and gave me more time and abiility to be with my son over the years. My son was 4 when I started the podcast and it was this new time and space that meant taking on a new project felt possible- it has been a huge challenge over the years navigating full time parenting with work, but making the right choices along the way has proved to be what has helped me navigate the years with more ease. My son goes to school next year and I can’t believe it, I spent the first 3 years of his life with him 24/7 juggling work and the last year have had 2 Kinder days a week to cram in my work- next year I will have so much more time and ability and I can’t wait to see where I can take things with the podcast with more time, not only that to give my nervous system more rest and time to calibrate after the years of pushing myself beyond what I ever thought possible.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.motheringonmyownpodcast.com.au
• Instagram: motheringonmyown.podcast OR rachel.maksimovic
• Other: @rachel.maksimovic