The Dangers of Procrastinating with Abbi Perets of Successful Freelance Mom
Episode 183: Show Notes
Today on the podcast we have Abbi Perets. Abbi is passionate about showing moms how to have it all and create a business from home. She is the founder of SuccessfulFreelanceMom.com, teaching moms how to break into freelance writing and create high paying jobs for themselves where they can continue to work from home with their kids. Abbi has a cutthroat approach to procrastination and today, we discuss this dreaded demon we all face. In this episode, Abbi touches on the all the things you are dangerously procrastinating on – the things that are wasting your time and energy, the things you should be working on in order to see profit and clients faster and to create that business – even when you might have a slew of kids at home, mental illness or family issues.
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Whatever excuse you choose to make, the chances are, you’ve made it over and over again and so have many other moms in your position. We want to help you get out of that rut and just do it! Abbi has a bunch of crazy issues she’s been put through with her family and she touches on these to show you it can be done. It will be done and you are the one to do it today! If you are looking for a new mind shift toward tackling your tasks, this is the episode for you. We are all super passionate about this topic so don’t be scared. This episode is really fun.
You’re Not Building a Business, You’re Procrastinating
Abbi mostly works with moms who are home with kids and she sees a lot of moms (and other mere mortals) who are starting a business make a lot of excuses. Starting a business is tough. There is a lot to do and a lot of it is outside of your comfort zone. The thing about humans is that when we are scared about making a change, we look for ways not to change and the way we do that is by procrastinating. And we tend to procrastinate with things we think are helping us make progress, but they’re really not! For Abbi, she cringes when she sees branding boards. “Why are you making a branding board? Do you even have any clients yet?” She asks. If the answer is, “No,” then sister, you’re wasting your time! Abbi also has a lot of clients wanting to spend weeks and weeks on their website. Abbi’s goal with her students is to start making MONEY. Abbi doesn’t want to see people spending weeks, months on these things that “feel good”. Choosing a font and working on your strategy is not really building your business. That’s you procrastinating. So how do we stop that?
What Kind of Mother Are You!? Hear Abbi’s Back-story
Abbi has five kids. Five. One of her sons was born with a rare syndrome and needed special care and occupational therapy. She was busy and often found herself in doctor’s waiting rooms catching up on work, mostly freelance writing. Later, Abbi found out that her son had been diagnosed with leukemia, which was the scariest thing in the world. She then shut down her freelancing business and spent the next three years in hospital with her kid. Tapping in and out of hospital shifts with her husband while still trying to keep the home running and her other kids okay. Her son got better and after he came home, she was supposed to go back to work but didn’t know how to deal with clients. This is why she started her own website and service (which we’ll get into in a minute). Abbi deals with a lot in her house and her husband travels often for work. Sometimes over 100 days in a year! We’re just putting Abbi’s home-life context in place for you to see we all have baggage and if she can make an online business work with five kids, medical bills and a traveling husband, then so can you!
Why “I Have No Time” Is Not True
When Abbi got back home, she didn’t know what she felt like doing so she decided to help freelance mothers at home find their own businesses. The goal was “get them making money immediately and figure out all the other stuff afterward”. Abbi had never started an online business. She didn’t know what she was doing and so she just jumped in. She decided to start a webinar and pitch a course ... that she had not written yet. 13 people enrolled and then she had to write the course. And successfulfreelancemom.com is having its first birthday this month! She believes in a strong business foundation and time, habits and mindsets have to be in place before you can do anything else. Her next big thing is to help writers find their niche in order to find clients. Abbi chooses to tell her students that starting a business is hard and they won’t make a million dollars in the first month. Abbi is all about the truth and she explains to her students, which are mostly busy moms. If you can find 7-10 hours to work on your business, then that’s where you start. She makes moms track their time, make priorities and make conscious choices about their time. The excuse “I have no time” is not true. Often we do things that feel good, just so we can cross them off our list. But the truth is, that list is not growing your business, is it?
How to Manage Our Mindsets and Pick a Niche
Abbi made a conscious decision to always look for the joy. Instead of feeling resentful and angry at her son’s disease, she decided to give thanks that he survived and that modern medicine was able to help him as much as he did. She chose to give thanks even when her situation was not perfect. When she turned 40, she wrote a list of things she was grateful for, even things like wifi! She is all about finding the joy in everyday life and cherishing them. And you can employ this mindset in your life and your business too. You have to choose your mindset. No one can choose it for you. In the same way as a writer, you have to choose your niche. If you spend eight months thinking about something, that’s eight months spent wasted because you were not doing it! Just because you pick X as your niche, it doesn’t mean you have to spend the rest of your life writing about it. So don’t be scared of being fixed. Nothing is fixed. You have a choice. It’s your business and you make the rules. You should pick your niche based on what brings you joy and on what you love. You want to wake up feeling excited! So don’t waste time; pick something and just start.
Are You Ready To Make Money?
Abbi tells her students not to build a website until they have steady clients. Until you do, you can use LinkedIn as a website or your Instagram as an online resume. Once you have your clients, then you know how much you can budget for a website. If you only have 10 or 20 hours a week to spend on your business, that time needs to spent on the things that are directly making you money. Not picking fonts and banners. If it’s not making you money, it’s not worth your time. When you are ready to start earning actual money, figure out what you want to write, who you want to write it for and start pitching those clients! And this goes for any business, not just writing. It’s not sexy. It’s hard and yes, it’s out of your comfort zone – but it works. You can absolutely do this. You just need to quit being afraid!
Quote This
Time, habits and mindsets have to be in place before you can do anything else.
—Abbi Perets
Highlights
You’re Not Building a Business, You’re Procrastinating. [0:04:15.1]
What Kind of Mother Are You!? Hear Abbi’s Back-story. [0:07:45.1]
Why “I Have No Time” Is Not True. [0:12:20.1]
How to Manage Our Mindsets and Pick a Niche. [0:26:10.1]
Are You Ready to Make Money? [0:39:50.1]
#TalkStrategyToMe [0:43:00.6]
Find 7-10 hours per week to spend on your business (without your kids around.)
Figure out what you ant to write and who you want to write it for.
Connect with those people. Talk to them. Get out there and pitch!
ON TODAY’S SHOW
Abbi Perets
Successful Freelance Mom
Abbi Perets is passionate about showing moms how to have it all. At SuccessfulFreelanceMom.com, Abbi teaches mothers how to break into freelance writing and land high-paying jobs while they're at home with kids. As a mom to five kids, including one with special needs, Abbi knows the unique challenges moms face every day and she works to empower them to pursue their dreams and live a life they love. Abbi also works with creative entrepreneurs who need help writing email sequences and killer sales pages to get their courses, services and products in front of the people who need them most. Abbi provides coaching, templates and even done-for-you writing services to make sure that nothing gets in the way of your successful launch.
KEY TOPICS
Freelance writing, Online business, Procrastination, Working from home, Stay at home mom, Niche writing, Pitching to clients, Home business
