Episode 41: Investing in Yourself with Time and Space with Emily Siegel

Finding the Friendships You Need as a Mom and Entrepreneur

Hey BRILLIANT Mompreneurs!

If you’re feeling alone as a Mom and Entrepreneur, or have ever said you’re “just bad at making friends” then you don’t want to miss this episode! 

Maybe you’ve moved to a new city, or maybe you’ve found yourself the only person in your stage of life in your friend group. We can all benefit from different friends to fill different roles in our life. Today we’re chatting with the amazing Emily Siegel, founder of The Connected Mom Life about intentionally making friends. Turns out there can be more strategy to finding and building quality friendships than we might think!  

"My biggest mom hack is; look for opportunities to bring friendship into your life. It's so hard to try to find additional space for it sometimes. So like, Sunday afternoons, we go to the park with our kids. It's easy to just shoot last minute texts out, or the day before say, "Hey, we're going to be at the park at four o'clock. You want to come by?""

Discussed in this Episode...

How did Emily get her start as a coach for making friends?

Emily will tell you that her business had an accidental start. For years she has worked at a corporate nine to five, and still does to this day. With kids at home she didn’t have time for many work connections, so podcasts are what kept her going and helped her feel less alone. While podcasts helped her to feel like she was hearing from other moms, there was still a gap. 

Emily noticed that there weren’t many voices out there for corporate moms. As a corporate mom, she saw and the need, and out of that a podcast was born. The initial goal was to share ways that these moms manage their days. What she quickly felt though was that being in this space meant she needed to care about advocating for fair wages, and a host of things that she didn’t want to focus on. While she absolutely agrees they are issues that need to be addressed, the passion to speak on them wasn’t there for her. What really mattered to Emily, what she could shout about from the rooftops, was connection. 

Ultimately, within about a year and a half, the podcast shifted into what is now the Connected Mom Life podcast. Emily sees is as an opportunity to bring women together and facilitate actual connection as well, beyond the podcast. The reason Emily says her business was almost accidental, is because it was born out of this podcast.

Today, Emily mentors one-on-one with moms who are looking to build their circle of friends, and their circle of support. Additionally, she offers groups because one thing she has consistently found is that moms are actually really open to connection! It may look from the outside like we’re all set. But when they in reality, we’re all out here wanting friends!

So what is the first step in looking for these friendships?

First, take a step back and figure out what you’re really craving.  If we’re being honest, we all crave different types of connection. Some of us really do want the group, but others of us just want one or two deeper connections. If we’re not clear on what we want, them we start throwing ourselves into different places where we could meet moms. Eventually that can become really overwhelming! It helps to be cautious about where you invest your time when looking for that connection. 

There are five types of connections that Emily believes every mom needs:

1. Same season mom friends (the mom’s who can relate to your season of life)

2. Different season friends (friends who can give a fresh perspective)

3. Work friends (if you’re a stay-at-home mom this can be other stay-at-home moms)

4. Close Proximity friends (for availability)

5. Same interest friends (Schitt’s Creek friends, fitness friends, online business or podcasting friends)

Once you’ve identified the “gaps” you’re trying to fill, it’s a lot easier to figure out where to find these friends!

A few more things we discuss:

  • How to start to find the friends that will fill potential gaps in our “friends roster”
  • How we need to be careful of the comparison game!
  • Easy low-pressure ways to foster relationships with new acquaintances
  • People are more open to connection than we think!
  • Creative places to find friends

Brilliant Recommendations:

About Emily Siegel:

Emily is a friendship mentor and coach, podcast host, corporate mom of two adorable little boys, and lover of all-things broadway musicals. As the leader of The Connected Mom Life Community, she helps busy moms create the circle of friends they crave. Because she firmly believes we weren’t made to mom alone, and she’s on a mission to see that we stop trying.

More about Lani Jackson:

Lani is a mom to 6 kids, and wife to her husband of 15 years. She survives on caffeine, laughing with her kids, cooking in the kitchen, hiding in the pantry eating chocolate, and helping other women know they are not alone in the chaos of motherhood & their entrepreneur journey.

She is a Clarity & Strategy Coach for mom entrepreneurs! Helping them to create flexible strategies that adjust and move with the chaos of mom life, but still bring consistent monthly income. Her mission is to help mompreneurs get out of survival mode, release the mom guilt, and create a clear plan of action that will help them reach their dreams of consistent monthly income, flexibility, and freedom.

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