← Simple Farmhouse Life
Simple Farmhouse Life
309. Building a Business Without Sacrificing Family Life | Laura of Joy Food Sunshine
00:56:28
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- [00:01]
A
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- [00:56]
B
Check local regulations before trading restrictions and eligibility requirements apply. But my husband and I were always really intentional. Like we had monthly check ins and we would say how is this business serving our family? Because we really didn't want to be serving the business. Even though we liked the extra income, all of that. We were just able to pause and say okay, what needs to change? How are we feeling about this? Hold it with an open hand of this is a amazing gift and blessing, but the goal is for it to be fun and enriching our lives, not draining us.
- [01:28]
C
My name is Lisa, mother of nine and creator of the blog and YouTube channel Farmhouse on Boone. On this podcast I like to talk about simplifying your life so you can live out your priorities. I help you learn how to cook from scratch and decorate on a budget through this podcast and my courses Simple Sourdough and the Simple Sewing Series. I also help people reach their goals from home through my business courses Create youe blog Dream and YouTube Success Academy. I will leave links to these resources in the show notes and description box below. Now let's get into the show. Welcome back to the Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast. Today I am bringing on a fellow mom blogger. I say mom blogger but we both actually write content on recipes that we're making for our families. Recipes that are tried and true family friendly recipes. Lara from Joy Food Sunshine. We had the opportunity to meet at an event that the ad company that our blog is both on over the winter and then I learned that she also had quite a few children and homeschooled and I'm like well this would be an interesting discussion because so many of us want to do something in our homes or just figure out how to juggle life with lots of children, the home, the cooking, all of the extracurricular activities that you might have. So anytime I can ask another mom how they do it, how they get it all done, I definitely love to engage in those kind of conversations. So without further ado, let's jump into the interview. Lara, so excited to have you on. For those of you who do not know your website, Laura and I connected at a mediavine event and I quickly realized, oh, she has a lot of children and homeschool, I think you homeschool too, correct? Yes. So in a similar entrepreneurial boat as me, which all forms of entrepreneurship have their own challenges. But then of course, a lot of my listeners are moms who also have something on the side because these days, you know, you can be selling bread from home, you can be listing things on Etsy. There's just a wide range of things and trying to figure out that balance. So tell us about your website and your whatever you want to share like your family and we'll get into all the things.
- [03:40]
B
Okay. Well, I, before my website, I'm a mom, you know, that's my number one job.
- [03:46]
C
Yeah.
- [03:47]
B
So I have six kids, 14 to four. So they're like every two years apart, you know, and we've homeschooled always. And so in the midst of all this, after my third baby is when I started my website, Joy Food Sunshine, which, you know, like, like most creators. I don't know, Lisa, but like when you meet someone, what kind of recipes do you share? Oh, easy, family friendly recipes, you know, but I'm most known for my chocolate chip cookies.
- [04:17]
C
Yeah. When I asked you at the Media vine event, I'm like, so you know what's like your main thing? You're like chocolate chip cookies.
- [04:21]
B
OK. Thankfully that's been a huge gift. I've ranked number one for chocolate chip cookies since 2017.
- [04:28]
C
Wow. That's been a really long ride.
- [04:31]
B
It's been. I just pray every day that it Google keeps loving me.
- [04:35]
C
That's kind of.
- [04:37]
B
But yeah, so that's been a huge gift. So most people find me through my chocolate chip cookie recipe and then they stay.
- [04:43]
C
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's such an interesting thing. And I know, I'm sure you have lots of other recipes that people favorite, but that's like your number one recipe.
- [04:52]
B
Yes.
- [04:53]
C
So let's see here then, what year did you start your website?
- [04:57]
B
So, you know, well before we had kids. So I'm going to the Wayback Machine. Yep, that's fine. We. My husband and I had this hobby where I would cook and he would take pictures of food, and we would post them on all recipes and, like, win photo contests on all recipes, which we thought was awesome, you know, And I was just. I was a science teacher, a high school science teacher at that time, and it was just a hobby we did on the side. And we had a kid. I just kind of. We just stopped doing it. You know, we just were enamored with her. She, you know, she became our hobby, I guess. And then after my third baby, I was struggling with, like, severe postpartum depression. Like, severe. And my husband, I said, you know, I need something that's mine. That's not homeschooling the kids. That's not other commitments that we have in life, but, like, you know, an outlet, a creative outlet. And he said, well, why don't you start a food blog? You've always wanted to, you know. Oh, wow. And I was like, okay. So I Google how to start a food blog and, you know, followed all the steps. And I think one of my puppy chow recipe, like, went viral on Pinterest and then started ranking on Google. And in a few months, I was like, with mediavine. And so we started realizing, like, oh, there's some. You could actually make money doing this. Like, I started it as just a hobby. Right. Thinking, okay, at that point, I had two daughters. We knew we wanted a big family. And one son, he wants my recipes, too. Hopefully he'll be a great cook, too, you know. And so I started it as this hobby, just as something for my kids when they grew up that they would have our recipes, and it just grew into something else, you know, that is so interesting.
- [06:34]
C
So you didn't start it intentionally as a business, which I hear, like, mixed things, I would say. Most people that I've talked to, it seems like that's more the case, which I'm honestly the opposite, which is funny, but I don't know. What year did you start yours? You started yours after me, though, I think.
- [06:51]
B
Yeah. 2016. When did you start yours? When?
- [06:55]
C
Same. Yeah, early in 2016. So I. Yeah, I knew several bloggers and I knew. Not new. I followed blogs, which I think was even sort of cutting edge back then. I don't know. To follow blogs.
- [07:08]
B
Sure.
- [07:10]
C
And I saw that they were doing it as a business, of course. I had a lot of things that I was passionate about in my own home, and I was. It was right after I had My fourth baby. So it's interesting too because sometimes it's the opposite. People like, well, now that I have kids, I can't start something. And I was kind of like you. Where I'm like, well, this would be. I have my day sort of structured to where I have some time in the afternoon because they were all little, which, as you know, that changes. Yes, that's a. Yeah, that's a good time. When you have early bedtime nap times, very predictable schedule. I felt like, well, I could do something during this. And I. I'm a type of person who. I want to have something like that. And so that was kind of a similar origin story, except I was thinking, I want to make this a business. I don't really know how, but I want to turn it into a business. But you didn't do that.
- [08:03]
B
But then once I got a taste of it, I was like, oh, now I want to do this, like for real, you know?
- [08:08]
C
Yeah.
- [08:09]
B
So the gear shifted, you know. Yeah.
- [08:13]
C
It took making a little bit of income to see, oh, this is actually a viable option, not just a dream. And yeah, I think I felt the same way. And the first thing I made money on with the website or with the business in general because it's expanded to other parts, but was also just mediavine. So it's interesting that same for you way back then.
- [08:33]
B
I mean, still for me, honestly. Well, no, I don't do a lot of extra stuff. Yeah.
- [08:39]
C
Yes. Yeah. It's still a. It's still a great income source. So.
- [08:43]
B
Okay.
- [08:44]
C
A lot of people want to know, loaded question. How to juggle family life to prioritize and still have a business. And I will say that you and I are in a different phase of business. I was thinking about this today. When I was doing some things, I was thinking about this interview. I was like, well, part of the difficulty is talking about, in talking about this is it's a very different phase of the business that does allow for a lot more flexibility if you've been intentional over the last several years of setting it up that way. So I guess let's do a two part question. One, how did that work in the beginning before you presumably, maybe you hire a team, maybe you don't. And then how does it look now?
- [09:24]
B
Totally. You're so right. Yeah. In the beginning it was my husband and I doing everything, you know, I remember. I don't know. Did you go to, did you ever go to any food blogger conferences?
- [09:34]
C
I never did. Yeah. Yeah. It's like starting a business after having four Kids, it's like been hard the whole time, but yeah, to, to go, to go to things. Not the business, but yeah.
- [09:46]
B
Well, we both started when video wasn't quite a thing yet. And I remember sitting, I had. There was a conference in my town, so I brought my two week old baby, she was on my lap and I was like, you know, she of course came early, so I'm holding her this conference.
- [10:02]
C
You were planning to bring her. You were planning to be pregnant there, I guess.
- [10:05]
B
Yes, very pregnant, but. And they said, oh, if you don't do video, you're gonna be left behind. And I remember just looking at my friend going, I can't. We all three of us said, oh, we can't do video, we're gonna get. And then within two weeks we were all shooting videos because we didn't wanna get left behind, you know what I mean? And my husband built me this cool rig and you know, he helped me like get all the shots and stuff. And so, but so in the beginning it was, you know, I am thankful. My husband actually has Fridays off, which is unique and he's very much, he's a very amazing dad and partner. And so he would actually homeschool the kids on Fridays while I shot recipes. Okay. And so that's how kind of how we've done. Did the workflow in the beginning. Because yeah, like you said, I started with lots of very young kids. Like I can't just. They're gonna come and shake my tripod or they're gonna come, you know, like they're not, they're. You can't just like leave them and, and in anyway. And so started doing that was doing everything. And as the business grew, you know, I started hiring things out for sure. But my husband and I were always really intentional. Like we had monthly check ins and we would say, how is this business serving our family? Because we really didn't want to be serving the business. You know, like we, even though we liked the extra income, all of that, we were just able to pause and say, okay, what needs to change? How are we feeling about this? Hold it with an open hand of this is an amazing gift and blessing, but the goal is for it to be fun and enriching our lives, not draining us, you know, and so I'm thankful for that. So that when we got to the point where I like fell off a stool when I was super pregnant while I was shooting something, oh no. And I was like, okay, I'm not doing this anymore. You know, I was just, it just was my Kind of point where I said, okay, I need to hire someone. I can hire someone. I have to let go of the control. So a lot of the shift in your business is letting go of control. Because I had to be okay with somebody else's photography skills. And it took me a while to find someone who was better than me, you know what I mean? Like, now I have a photographer who's so much better than me, I would cry if, you know, if she moved on something else, you know?
- [12:33]
C
Right.
- [12:34]
B
But in the beginning, it was a lot of adjusting my standards in order to still bring quality content on, you know, but make the business something that I could still do. And I think it was different back then because I built my business anonymously. I didn't want my face in my business. It was. I focus. I have a degree in chemistry, and I love to cook. And so I. My sweet spot is in the kitchen. I like to create recipes. I like to write the recipes. And so that's why I hired people, was to free me up to do the fake part of my business that I loved. I'm not a photographer. I'm not a videographer. But when you're an entrepreneur, you have to become all things, you know.
- [13:16]
C
Yeah. Until you can pay money to hire someone out. And then also, you know, just even finding the right people is a challenge.
- [13:22]
B
And then keeping them, you know, I have a lot of people who worked for me, and then they grew their own businesses and left, which is fantastic. I'm so happy for them. But it's like, you know, in our space, a lot of people have to wear a lot of hats to be really good at. Like, you have to be able to cook, you have to be able to style food. You have to be able to take photos and videos. So it's hard to find that unicorn person. And if you do, they probably have their own thing going that they're just hoping to grow anyway. So you. You kind of work people, you know, you work yourself out of good employees because you, you know, I don't know, you want to root for them and cheer for them and help them grow their businesses, too. They want to work for themselves, too. They don't want to only work for you and me, you know, So I don't know. Have I answered this question? I feel like I'm drifting from the.
- [14:10]
C
Well, yeah, you know, you kind of explained how you. At first, you and your husband did a lot of it together. Kind of tag team. Like one. At one point, he would maybe take over the kids in the homeschool While you probably had a full day planned, you know, some planning goes into having this Friday where you're gonna shoot video all day. And I remember the same experience as you. I didn't go to any food blogger conferences, but I do remember going to. It was some kind of home blogger conference because I used to do more, like, home stuff too. And then I kind of niched down to food eventually. And they said the same thing and I was like, like. But now we're so used to making and editing videos. Everybody knows how to do that, right?
- [14:48]
B
Sure.
- [14:48]
C
But back then that was, like, real intimidating. How. How do you do that? Like, what kind of gear do I need? What kind of editing software? And now I think if you told somebody they need to do video, people would be like, what? I didn't know I had to write something. Like, that's like, that's all you do. Right. Is makeup. Video
- [15:07]
B
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- [16:04]
C
I'm curious. Over the years, you say you and your husband, a lot of times will, you know, meet together on a regular basis and decide, is this still serving our priorities? Was there ever a time when you felt like you were pushing for things that maybe you and your husband weren't in alignment on or that maybe you guys were like, this is too good of an opportunity to pass up. But we kind of know it's probably not right. Like, do you feel like you ever had that happen? Or has it been pretty consistent? Like, nope, we know exactly what we're pushing for and we're not going to go outside of this many hours or whatever it is that you've outlined.
- [16:40]
B
Sure. No, I don't think it's as. It's not a cut and dry thing, you know, So I do think that, yeah, we said no to some. We had some hard nos that were hard. It was hard to say no. You know, I still haven't people are shocked. Like, I've been doing this for 10 years. I haven't written a cookbook. So that's a no that we've said that is becoming harder to say no to. Now that my baby's 4 years old, I'm like, okay, babe. Like, I think I'm ready. You know, are we still doing this?
- [17:09]
C
Right.
- [17:10]
B
And now, actually, we have this huge house. We had an ice maker flood. We have our house. I don't even have a kitchen right now. So right now, it's easy to say no. Oh, my. Hopefully it will be done soon. But so for, like, in this immediate moment, it's easy for me to say no. But, you know, we're also in the phase where he is encouraging me, and I feel the. Like, I am also saying I'm ready. For a long time, it was, I'm not ready because I'm not willing. I don't know about you, but I never missed putting my kids down for bed. You know, if there was something happening after 8pm I didn't do it. I didn't go. I mean, my first trip for work that wasn't in my immediate area was the Mediavine retreat in Miami. It was the very first time because that was one where it was like, am I ready to leave the kids? I don't know. Not because my husband isn't capable. He's fully handles everything like a boss. Every time I go, I just wasn't ready to not snuggle my baby to sleep or whatever. So that was one where Rich was like, you need to go. You need to meet people. Because I don't know, you know, it was like, I don't know anybody in this industry because I've just been focused on my own thing for so long. But, no, there's been plenty of opportunities we've said no to. There's some we've said yes to that we wish we said no to. Right?
- [18:32]
C
Yeah.
- [18:33]
B
You know, but I don't know, it's like there's so many things that come at you and you just have to choose. Like, what with homeschooling, you know, homeschooling is my number one job. And I don't know how you, you know, how you. I would, like, love to hear how you juggle that too, but I always have to think, will I still be able to be an effective teacher for my kids this week if this is on my plate? Because I'm their only. You know, I'm their teacher, you know? Right.
- [18:56]
C
Yeah.
- [18:56]
B
And I don't know. So Again, I feel like I'm. I'm a drifter. I feel like I've drifted from the question, so.
- [19:02]
C
No, that's okay. No, I feel like we've definitely. That's. Yeah. Just trying to figure out, like, over. It's easy to set priorities. Maybe the first time when you first start a business, this is what we're going to do. And then life changes constantly. You add children, children get older. Seasons of life change in unpredictable ways. Even. Even if you can predict, okay, this is what it's going to be like when we have these children. They're these ages, and then it comes and you're like, that's not what I expected at all. Like, that's a whole different season of life. And so I'm with you. That it takes constant reevaluation. And I feel like we've also gotten into a sweet spot in the last several years where people always say to me, and I'm sure they say this to you too. I know you're so, so busy. I know you're so busy, but could we. And I'm like, I'm actually not. Like, I'm. I'm busy, totally. But like, not in the way people think that I am. Like, it's not like this. And I've been there in seasons of life where there might have even been less things on my plate, like from the outside perspective. But I feel like we have gotten good at setting boundaries to the point where it's like, actually, no, like every day I can pretty much get done what I need to get done.
- [20:13]
B
Totally. Yeah, totally. We get that all the time. Yeah.
- [20:16]
C
Yeah.
- [20:17]
B
But like you said with seasons of life, this is the first year we've let our older kids do like actual competitive sports, not just rec center sports.
- [20:25]
C
And that's probably.
- [20:26]
B
And now things. Yeah, I'm like, we're just a few weeks into it and I'm like, oh, my gosh. Having two do it, you know?
- [20:34]
C
Okay.
- [20:35]
B
Yeah, but it is. But now. So for a long time we were the same way. We're like, no, we can do dinner. Like, come over. You know, we're good. And now I'm like, oh, my gosh. Our anniversary was a last week, the week before. And I looked at the calendar and I'm like, when can we go on a date without a driver? Do you have a driver?
- [20:51]
C
Right? I do.
- [20:53]
B
When your kids can drive.
- [20:54]
C
It's new, but yes, one of my. My daughter will be 17 in the fall and she can drive. And that's a whole new thing of Figuring out like what you allow them to do.
- [21:03]
B
Totally.
- [21:04]
C
But I'm like, you know, my 14 year old kind of got her license too. Not really. But like they're a pair, you know.
- [21:11]
B
Totally, totally. But it is, it's like because we don't have family by us, we've, you know, it's just us where we are. And so it is, it's like, oh my goodness, you know, we don't have a driver. So I'm like looking at the calendar, when can we go on a date? And I start crying. I'm like, never.
- [21:27]
C
It's never happening. But it's not your business. It's not really the kid kids, it's the competitive sports at this point that's
- [21:33]
B
so we're like, okay, whatever. I mean, yeah, I was being dramatic. We have days where we could go on a date, but you know what I mean? But then I don't want to leave the kids. I don't know. So anyway, so how do you.
- [21:45]
C
I'm curious how. Because you and I have similar businesses, but then also different aspects of them as well. How have you set up your week? How do you plan? How much do you commit to as far as your business goes? I know you also show up quite a bit on Instagram. I know you do a little bit with YouTube as well. So what does that look like time commitment wise? And then how do you structure it all?
- [22:13]
B
So my main thing is Google still. And so I, my main focus is writing, developing, publishing recipes. So, and what I do for that to keep it sustainable is I am testing like a year and a half to two years in advance. And I'm shooting and I'm, and I'm shooting and writing a year in advance. So I tried to get to a year after my last baby because seasonality of ingredients, like good luck trying to find a pomegranate in July, not happening. You know what I mean? And so for me that gives me the freedom. Like we went out of town for a month in May and I was like, I'm off, I'm done. I just didn't do anything because I could, because I had all these recipes, obviously, maybe a couple like check in answer blog comments, things like that. So, so I prioritize making sure my recipes are written, ready to publish, you know, all of that. But I do it pretty far in advance. But I'm type A enough that if it's not as far in advance that I like, I, I prioritize that until I get it, I catch back up, you know, you'll still get it done. And then, yeah, you're so good at it. I struggle with it because I don't love being on it. And so, yeah, I don't love being on it, but it's just like, I don't know. And so I have some help there. I have a strategist I. Who I just brought on, who's helping me a little bit. Try to figure out. Because really this summer I posted like twice on Instagram. Not my stories. I like to do. Stories are easy for me. It's just what we do in life. But, yeah, kind of what you're doing, but it's like, dang, I don't know, it's hard to go on social media. So I put most of my energy into my website still. But I had made my. Built my business without my face. So I actually never minded when someone said, oh, I got this recipe from Google or Pinterest. I'm like, more power to you. I don't need to have my face on this. But, you know, things are changing with. You need to prove that you're a human being on the Internet, you know?
- [24:15]
C
Right.
- [24:16]
B
And so I'm trying. That's where I'm trying to shift my business now is actually show my face more, which is not something that's very comfortable for me. But so, yeah. And so in a week, I really work during nap or rest time. So even though my kids are older, they still have a rest time.
- [24:31]
C
Yeah.
- [24:32]
B
Where they finish their work if they haven't finished some of their home school or even in the summer, I made them still read. You know, not just junk food, but this was when we were going to read quality books. This, you know, one to two hours in the afternoon, but early mornings and then rest time is usually when I work, you know, and then sometimes on Fridays when my husband's home on Friday mornings, but then also when he's home. I don't want to work. I want to. Right. Yeah. I want to play, I want to hang out, you know, so, but so, you know, I couldn't work. The reason I can do that now, like you said before, is because I've had 10 years of building this. Like, I was able to get it to the point where it was sustainable for my personality and my family. You know, like, what's your work? You have more kids than I do and you're pregnant. So, like, what's your, you know, what's your workflow?
- [25:24]
C
Um, so no, my. My work hours are also during the afternoon rest time. We've always done it that way, even though it'd be nicer in a lot of ways to do it, like, you know, if you could wake up. And if I do basically three hours Monday through Thursday, so I. I try to do those afternoon one to four, and then in this. And on Fridays, we do usually other things, like we'll meet up with other homeschoolers. We'll usually do some kind of field trip. Right now it's summer, obvious. Well, when this comes out, it's basically fall, but up till now, yeah. And I have. I have the baby, you know, on the other side of it. But recording right now, I do not. So Fridays are open and it would be really nice if, you know, you just knocked it out 8 to 11. But that's school hours, that is prepping lunch. It's just easier for us if there's going to be any nappers, because we do still have two nappers to have that in the afternoon because they're the hardest ones. The rest of the kids can kind of entertain themselves. We're also in a. Right in the middle of a house build, so my husband and five of the boys are right now going to pick up some old barnwood for something. And there's just a lot of moving parts. But one thing is I do schedule podcast interviews, voiceovers for YouTube 1 to 4, Monday through Thursday. And outside of that, there's, you know, I might answer an email on my phone in the morning or just randomly, but it's pretty much just kid stuff. And so it makes it really flexible. Because my husband's home, we do this together. And so we do where, like during school we'll tag team because there are nine kids. There's like, one person can kind of handle toddlers and babies and maybe the older kids. And then one person, which, right. The last couple years have been my husband. The middle five boys is basically like the ones actually four that need more. Like, it's easier just to take those four and work on their lessons. So that's currently how we're structuring it. But it changes, you know, throughout all the years and all the seasons. And I don't even know what we're gonna do this fall. That's kind of what we did last fall.
- [27:34]
B
Do you get the question a lot? Like, how do you do it all? Do people ask you that a lot?
- [27:38]
C
Oh, all the time.
- [27:39]
B
And what do you say? I'm curious what your answer is.
- [27:42]
C
That, well, when they say all, I guess I wonder what they mean because, yeah, like, we're not doing any we're not in any sports at all. So our days don't really have any commitments to them really at all. We don't have any activities that are a time commitment thing. Like every Tuesday night we do this certain thing. And then of course, for the business, if they're talking about the business, then we. I have a huge team that handles all different parts of this. And so what? All you see pop up on the Internet, which, of course people see what they see. And don't imagine what all went into.
- [28:20]
B
Totally, totally, totally, totally.
- [28:22]
C
It's even more than you think. But it's not me is basically what I'm saying. So, yeah, like, obviously I don't do it all. My house is not perfectly clean. There are things I used to worry about in my home that I don't worry about now. Like, when I look at the baseboards, I'm like, no, I don't care anymore.
- [28:40]
B
Your kids are just gonna, like, somehow find a way to make them dirty tomorrow if you clean them today anyway. Yes.
- [28:45]
C
I just don't care. Like, we're living in a home that we're. While we're building, and I've already thought, like, I'm gonna do a deep, deep clean before we move out. But till then, like, yeah, we're keeping it nice. Like, it's not like we're destroying the place, but the perfectionism, the more time you've had a lot of children kind of goes out the window. And maybe I'm. Maybe I'm speaking for us when I shouldn't. Is that totally as well?
- [29:12]
B
Totally. No. And yeah. No, it's the same. You don't do it all. You don't. You couldn't. Right? But no, I joke with my husband because we do have someone who helps with the cleaning in our house. Just because it's the one thing that I despise. Oh. I think more than anything. Yes. And I. Sometimes I joke with my husband. Like, you know what? I would be sad if you were gone, but I think I'd be more sad if I didn't have Maria. She's part of my family. She's been with me for like eight years, you know.
- [29:41]
C
Wow.
- [29:42]
B
I. She's moved with us. Like, we love her, but anyway, I know that's first world problems. That sounds. But like. But you know, but in order to, I mean, serve. I don't want to say survive, but thrive, you have to get those pressure points. You have to figure out your pressure points. Like when I am a rage monster because I just mop the floor My husband's like, well, maybe you shouldn't mop the floor. Let's try to figure this out. And thankfully, we're able to do that, you know, or, you know, all of our kids have chores. I don't know how you structure that with your kids, but after every meal, each one of our kids has a designated cleanup chore. So somebody does the dishes, someone dries them, someone wipes the table, someone vacuums. Like, so we try to mitigate the mess, but it's still like, when I see, even with our mitigation, after one week, what the floors look like, you know, I'm like, it's just. It's a fool's errand to stress out about it too much, you know?
- [30:37]
C
Yeah. And I did early on. So I think sometimes people are comparing, like, their standard of something, and then they apply that. You are taking that same standard into every area of your life. And you have a business and you have this many kids, and like, well, maybe I just don't fold the clothes anymore. Like, we have these baskets. Shove those things in the drawer. Yeah, yeah. And. And I kind of, like, we just. I put. I have a drawer for five of the kids. Clothes get stored right there in the laundry room. It's a very small laundry room, but they just. They have drawers and baskets, and we just put them all in there. And there's just lots of things that I haven't worried about in the same way that's made it easier. And then also, like you, we've set some priorities, so could we pursue a whole bunch of things and make a whole bunch more money if we, you know, if I. Luke, we used to joke that, you know, if I just sat in this room and he slid some baloney under the door, like, we'd really like, there would be a lot more money to show for it, but obviously we're not going to do that. And so because of that, it's a very limited amount of time. I have to be very strategic with it. Like, I will say that I plan my week in such a way that my little office hours, as small as they are, I am not sitting around. Like, I have a list of things. I'm knocking it out. I can lollygag the rest of the day, but that's the one time where I know exactly what I'm doing. I have this recipe to shoot. I have this podcast interview to do, these emails to send, and I have to get it done before 4:00'. Clock.
- [32:11]
B
Gotcha. Now, what do you do when you have a New baby. Like, what's your newborn life look like? Do you take a break? You know?
- [32:19]
C
Yeah, so I, I do, I try to shoot. I film ahead. So like right now with YouTube, where we're currently sitting filming this, I am getting ahead. So then after, I. Usually what will happen is my YouTube videos will be out of order and so I'll share like a birth story because that's super easy. I can just be sitting there with the camera up and still totally relaxing. And then there'll be two videos after that, at least where I'm still pregnant. So that's two weeks of videos that I shot and edited prior. So I plan ahead. And then the blog is, you know, I have such a great team that we can carry on not maybe in the exact same way, but our business is very flexible and nobody's gonna, Nobody's gonna notice. You can pull a new post to the top of the website. And, you know, the only thing that I find very constant is something like YouTube. And so have to get ahead on that. Have to get ahead on podcast interviews. But it's doable because I'm not doing five videos a week.
- [33:21]
B
Totally. Yeah.
- [33:22]
C
And I get, I get like antsy. I don't. I. I want to theoretically lay in bed for two weeks, but then usually around a week, I'm like, okay, just ready to do my normal thing again.
- [33:33]
B
Totally. Where I was like, if I could just hibernate with my baby.
- [33:38]
C
Okay.
- [33:38]
B
Here. Yes, I think I would. And just never talk to anyone and just snuggle my baby.
- [33:44]
C
Yeah.
- [33:44]
B
Like, my four year old is enormous. And he still falls asleep on me every day. Okay. He just crawls on top of me and falls asleep. And I'm like, my husband's like, how long are you gonna do this? I'm like, as long.
- [33:56]
C
As long as he'll do it.
- [33:57]
B
Yeah, as long as I can breathe.
- [33:59]
C
And did you end up struggling with postpartum depression after any of the other babies or was that just that third baby?
- [34:06]
B
I think I learned with my third. I tried to, I, I felt the pressure to be like other women that I knew who were, you know, running out doing stuff when they were one week old.
- [34:18]
C
Which we are such different personalities.
- [34:20]
B
Right.
- [34:20]
C
So that's like the number one thing is with everything don't compare. Like, if I compared myself to my sister, who's this major extrovert, and just the way that she approaches life, like, I get tired with, with that.
- [34:33]
B
Totally, you know, totally 100%. So I always experienced it after that to some degree. But we Knew I knew how to cope with it. And I knew it always went away when I finished nursing, but, you know, it was very hormonally based.
- [34:47]
C
But it went the whole time you were nursing?
- [34:49]
B
Pretty much, yeah. It was. It was so crazy. And it didn't. I didn't. I didn't want to let that stop me from nursing as long as me and my babies wanted to. And so we just knew for that time, like, I'm saying no to things. I am not feeling guilty when I want to just snuggle the baby. You know, I was a major baby where I just always had my baby on me at all times. I literally, like, bought a winter coat that would fit over me and the baby. Yes.
- [35:17]
C
You know, I have one of those, too. Those are nice.
- [35:20]
B
You know, and. And now being on the other side of it, knowing, like, oh, my gosh, it's been four years since I've had a baby. I could have gotten a college degree since the last time I had a baby. And I miss it still, you know, Like, I know it was the time for us to be done, but I'm like, I just cherish those years so much. So if people tried to put unnecessary burdens or expectations on me in my life, I just was like, sorry, I'm not. I didn't let that affect me to the same as I did maybe with my other kids, you know. Yeah, it's that growing and learning how I want my motherhood journey to be. And like you said, we're all different, you know, but it was helpful to help cope with the postpartum depression, knowing what I need and then being able to name it, because it was so. Like, the two weeks after I quit nursing, it was like a fog lifted and I was myself again, you know, and so my husband was like, he is so interesting because we counsel a lot of young couples, and my husband has to convince a lot of men that hormones are legit. You know, like, you need to. Don't. Don't diminish the effects or, you know, overlook or neglect learning how to understand how hormones actually affect you when you're pregnant and when you're postpartum. And so he was so good at just knowing, okay, this is our season.
- [36:45]
C
Something to do right now.
- [36:47]
B
Yes. Because I'm not. I wasn't, you know, willing to sacrifice nursing if I could do it, I was going to do it, you know, but so then did you live with
- [36:56]
C
that for an entire year then? Like, were you able to nurse the babies for about a year?
- [37:01]
B
Yes. Yeah. And My last one a little bit longer, but. But it was usually about a year and. Yeah, so, and so. And you know, it, it wasn't as severe every time after my third, but
- [37:13]
C
yeah, just, you know.
- [37:13]
B
Have you had various levels of it? Have you experienced it?
- [37:18]
C
Like, I have not experienced it in postpartum, but I, I feel like I've. I've experienced it more in pregnancy. Just like overly hormonal. Like, I can't trust this feeling. Like I can't trust how I'm feeling about this right now. I've noticed that totally. And so I imagine it's similar, but not.
- [37:37]
B
I'm sure. Yeah, yeah.
- [37:39]
C
I don't think I've ever really struggled with postpartum depression, but I, I was talking to my sisters and I feel like they. I feel like it also depends on maybe when you have the baby because. Did you have any of them right in the middle of winter? That's just a theory of mine.
- [37:53]
B
Oh, I had three of them, like
- [37:56]
C
in January, February, somewhere. Yeah, I just think that has something to do with it too. And I'm not saying it's not a real thing at all because, you know, you ended up keeping it all through the summer and all the other happy months. But I think the, the ones that I have felt a little bit more down. I'm like, well, it was also light for however many hours a day and it was cold and nothing was going on, so I couldn't go do anything and it felt more depressing. But I realize that's different from actual postpartum depression. But I can say that I've kind of experienced more of like that. But that's probably more winter related.
- [38:35]
B
Totally. Well, yeah, the seasons definitely make a big difference if you can't just go out for a walk, you know?
- [38:41]
C
Yeah, yeah, that really.
- [38:42]
B
Although I always did. I just zipped them up in my jacket and brought them out. Right.
- [38:47]
C
You're like, I'm going out anyway.
- [38:50]
B
We're moving our body, let's go, we're doing this.
- [38:52]
C
So what did you do to prepare for having a baby because you had three more children or maybe you had four children while having a blog?
- [39:02]
B
So I would say every time I prepared farther and farther out. So my first it was, you know, six weeks. My next it was like three months. And then my last was I was like, this is when I started getting to the like year out phase of my business. But I was six months where I. I don't know because I like to nap. I get tired, you know, instead of. It was like, work nap, you know?
- [39:30]
C
Yeah.
- [39:30]
B
And so. Right. And so I would say with my last baby, I barely took. I only did the absolute bare minimum for like, six months.
- [39:40]
C
Really? So you took a good long. I'm like, I prepare for two weeks.
- [39:45]
B
Yeah. No, I don't know. I just. I just wanted. I knew he was going to be my last, too. That was a big part of it for me, was. I was. For me, the emotions was, oh, this is the very. I'm gonna cry just thinking about, like, this is the last time I'm doing this, you know? Yeah. And so that's a whole nother ball of wax that even if you're sure about that decision, it's still. If you love the baby phase and you love being pregnant, it's still hard to be like, okay, I'm done, you know, but so. Yeah. So I just. That just worked for me. You know, obviously, I have things that are always present. I always. I get. I always have to answer blog comments every day. I mean, you can. I don't know. But if you go miss a day, it just piles up. And I am one of those people where I answer all the comments on my blog. I don't. I don't know. I like to do it. I like to connect with my readers that way. But so, you know, there were little things. Maybe I would sit down for like, five minutes or while I'm nursing, maybe answer some comments while I'm sitting there nursing the baby, you know, but really, I didn't do much.
- [40:52]
C
Yeah, well, I'm sure, you know, at some point, probably within two or three weeks, you have to cook from scratch meals or however you. You cook for your family and take care of all of them. There's a lot of priorities there. I will say, when I say, like, oh, you know, I prepared two weeks in advance and then that's it. Well, the baby will be with me for every podcast interview for many months. Just here.
- [41:19]
B
Totally.
- [41:21]
C
And, you know, all the work has to be done holding a baby. And it's funny because each time we add a new baby, it always. Your life doesn't feel like super easy breezy before. And then it's like, okay, new thing to adapt to. Right?
- [41:34]
B
Like, totally.
- [41:36]
C
We didn't have a newborn for everything. We thought that was hard.
- [41:41]
B
Yes. Yeah, totally. It's like hitting the reset button. Bam.
- [41:45]
C
Every time.
- [41:45]
B
New normal.
- [41:46]
C
Okay, okay. Because I. Our babies are all about two, maybe some a little bit more than two years apart. And so there's always a good year where they can be put down for bed, they can be put down for naps. They're on a schedule, they're eating food. And so there's this year where you kind of get used to, again, just the. The kids, not really the newborn, which is a whole different level of. Of care and Totally. Yeah. So I'm sure I won't be as productive then. But the good thing about these types of businesses is they're very flexible. And then also the way mine is set up is I share my life in a lot of ways, and so it'll just be content. That's kind of around that, and it'll lend itself and work for that. So that's an intentional choice as well in the way to structure it, you know, making it to where there are too many tasks I have to do, where I need it to be quiet, you know, that kind of stuff. It's just a challenge. And so we can't have very much of that, or it feels quite out of balance. I'm sure you're the same.
- [42:53]
B
Well, do you feel like what you do for your business is just, like, an extension of who you are as a mom and a woman and a person is. Yeah.
- [43:01]
C
And I've heard people say. You know, people say things online like, well, I'm sure this person doesn't really do these things. Like, literally, like, I. I do all the same things when I'm not filming. Like, I'm making the same bread, we're making the same meals. And then sometimes I turn the camera on and capture 20 minutes out of that week where I'm doing all of these things totally well.
- [43:25]
B
And that's probably why you can. You've sustained through having all these kids. Right. Like, that's what I think about, is this is just an extension of who I am. I cook for my family. I homeschool my kids. You know, I. I enjoy creating, you know, and so it is. It's, you know, if I always tell people, because they ask me, oh, I don't know about you, but a lot of people say, oh, I want to start an online. I want to be in. You know, I want to start an Instagram or I want to start a website. And I always say, okay, write 25 posts. Write 25 posts, and then open up a. I still use Microsoft Word for everything because I'm a dinosaur. Open up a Microsoft Word document and then write out all of your ideas. And if you don't have, like, a hundred more ideas, then you probably shouldn't do it, you know, like, because it's just I have a Word document with thousands. Maybe not thousands, but, like, definitely hundreds of recipes that I want to test or create or whatever. You know, I never run out of ideas. Right. Because it's something that I love. You know, I'm sure you think of. You know, I would love to be able to share more of my motherhood, too. Like, shift away from the anonymous, because that opens up a whole new world of, like you said, this is just who I am. Like, I love helping young moms who are in the thick of it and who feel that. I don't know. Did you. When I had my first baby, I didn't let her look at a screen for, like, two years. I literally. We would be. We would be like, even in church. Okay. And the pastor's just up on a screen. Yes. And I would hide her.
- [44:58]
C
Yeah, we did that. I would hide her. I don't do that anymore.
- [45:00]
B
But yes, but it's like, you know, but it's like I was so did that.
- [45:05]
C
Young moms need. Young moms do need to know they can chill.
- [45:09]
B
Yes. And I had women in my life who were like, girl, relax. You know, this is a little crazy. And so I love being that for other moms. So I admire you for being able to just share your life so openly with your readers and inspire so many women who are in that phase or any phase of motherhood, you know? Yeah.
- [45:33]
C
Well, and like you said, if you, you know, we're. We're making the joke that if they slid me sandwiches under the door, we'd be able to. It's really not true. Because if your business isn't sustain, then you're. You're going to be burnt out and you're going to quit. And so it's. It's. It sounds like, oh, yeah, well, if I had all this extra time, I could do all these things, honestly. Probably not, because you're not get. You're not being able to do the thing that you really want to do, which is what inspires your content. Like, you're cooking for your family. And when you add this, you're like, oh, what if I added this? What if I added this? How would you ever come up with things if you just were in a studio all day?
- [46:10]
B
Totally, 100%. You got to live it out. Yeah.
- [46:14]
C
Yeah. I think that comes from a. Really makes it more authentic because it really is like, I'm. Like, this is truly what I do. So I'm sure you get asked all the time. Like you were just saying, people ask you, like, well, I want to start something. Do you tell people? Because I get asked this all the time. Like, should I still start a blog? Should I start a YouTube channel? Should I become an influencer on Instagram? What do you tell people when they say that? Do you still feel like, well, people ask me, what would you start if you were starting right now? Which is a hard question to answer because I didn't.
- [46:44]
B
Yeah, I want to know what you would say.
- [46:46]
C
I, well, I, I try. I'm curious. You tell me what you would say.
- [46:51]
B
I have to go first.
- [46:54]
C
Hey, I'm the interviewer. No, I guess so.
- [46:58]
B
Oh, gosh.
- [46:59]
C
I mean, well, they asked you, and so, you know.
- [47:04]
B
Yeah.
- [47:04]
C
Say, like, just don't just, just stay off the Internet in general. Because sometimes I'm tempted to say that, oh, my gosh.
- [47:10]
B
I, I, you know what? In some ways, like, think about Instagram accounts. You can have a viral video and have no followers right now, which wasn't the case when we first started, you know.
- [47:20]
C
Very true.
- [47:21]
B
So there's something like, you can get on tick tock and share. You see how people blow up overnight for certain things. So in some way, I feel like, you know, if you're willing to play the game, you know, you could still be successful in that. But like I said, I just ask people, like, are you really passionate about this? And if you are, like, there's no harm. I always tell, you know, when I talk with other food bloggers, especially before, you know, years ago, when they were just starting out, I was like, there's room for everybody to succeed in this business. It's not. People say it's saturated, but if you truly bring, like, something unique, if you bring something to the table and you love doing it. Like, we just talked about authenticity. Like, if you're authentic. There's so many people who are pushing and pushing and trying to do something that might not be authentic to them, but people can smell that. I think, I think it's pretty obvious to when you're like, oh, this person's not being real with me, you know, I don't know. But so I encourage people if they really have a passion for it, like, all you can do is try, you know, and then I give them the tips of, like, make sure you, you really want to do this before you invest any money in it. Like, fake blog first or fake Instagram first. You know, like, just get it out there and see what happens. I mean, people are blowing up just sharing content. Like the clothes we WORE in the 90s, you know, like, you can be passionate about some weird stuff and really make it out there right now, which I feel like was a little bit different, you know, So, I mean, not that what we Wore in the 90s was weird. Now it's all back and it's.
- [48:51]
C
Yeah, it's all back.
- [48:52]
B
I would never want to tell someone not to do it just because my business totally changed our life. Like, it changed our family's life. It's brought so many opportunities to the table that we never would have had before. And so I wouldn't want to discourage somebody from starting something. But it didn't, you know, it doesn't. It doesn't happen overnight for most people. Some people get lucky, but it really takes a lot of work. So what do you say? I want to know what you say.
- [49:15]
C
Well, and on the luck note, because that comes up a lot, I have a group, a blogging group, because I. I used to have a course I sold, which I ended up phasing out earlier this year just because keeping up with updating it was, like, impossible. It was going to be a job all on its own. Like, I need this to be sustainable. So even though this is still making money, we're going to have to phase it out. But anyways, the luck thing comes up a lot. But one thing I will say about luck, because absolutely, there is some lucky things that happen when you put out a lot of content. Like, I was looking through after this discussion, I was kind of thinking, man, how many pieces of content have I put out that have gone viral? And I looked at my YouTube and I have over a thousand videos, and I have four that have reached over a million. Two shorts, two longs.
- [50:00]
B
Totally.
- [50:00]
C
And so that's like, that's not really that much luck. Like, I mean, one in 250 have hit over a million, which isn't that insane anymore. Like, hitting over a million on Instagram happens to people a lot, and it's only happened to me maybe like twice. And I haven't counted my Instagram posts. But what I will say about the luck piece is, yes, there's always going to be some luck involved, but it won't necessarily make for a sustainable business. Like, if I took away those four YouTube videos, or if I took away. I wouldn't want to take away my top performing blog post. But I'm just saying, right, I'll take that away. But no, but if, if I did, I would still have a business. Like, there would still be a business that supports our family. Taking away my four viral YouTube videos.
- [50:50]
B
My.
- [50:50]
C
However many viral Instagrams I think there's maybe like three that went over a million and then taking away which don't.
- [50:59]
B
But my top blog post, please don't, please don't.
- [51:04]
C
There would be still be a business. Like five years ago when I hadn't written that blog post, my husband, like we still did this together. Like he was still home. And I know your husband's a full time pastor, correct? Yeah, I saw that on one of your. Yeah, so he has a ministry, but that would still be happening outside of these lucky viral pieces. And so I'm not saying that there's not luck involved, but it also isn't what's going to build the sustainable business that we're talking about.
- [51:33]
B
Totally. Well, I think about it all the time. Like how many people have posted a chocolate chip cookie recipe? So many. And we same. I'm like, please don't take that away. Like, don't, please, please, please. We're so thankful for this gift of ranking for this keyword. But people ask like, how did you do it? And I'm like, well, you know, you can say the things. I got an SEO audit. I learned how to make my content better. I, you know, certain things that you, you and I think about when we write a blog post. You know, how to make this helpful for readers, how to answer questions, how to make it a robust, helpful article. That's not just, you know, here's a recipe, but it's all the things. But at some point you just have to acknowledge like it was a blessing, it was, you know, it was a gift. And I'm going to be thankful for it because, you know, I couldn't, I can't. You and I can't make Google put our recipes at the top. We can't make the algorithm push out our videos. Like I don't think I've ever had a million views on anything on social media. You know what I mean? And so, so you just, you can't force those things. But like you said, you just keep creating. I think it's also like creating content for people, not for yourself. Like when I write a recipe, I think about my reader. I don't think I want other. I'm not trying to just get people to come to my website. I'm trying to provide value for them. Right. So you have to do that. You have to provide something for people that they can't get somewhere else, you know?
- [53:05]
C
No, I think it's an interesting discussion because I never want to deny that there's certain things that take off that you're like, I don't know why, because so many times I put so much thought, so much strategy. At least we're talking about YouTube into, like, the titles, the thumbnails. I'm thinking through trends. I'm, like, trying to figure out how to position this so it takes off. And sometimes all my thought works, and then sometimes it's like, why did that work? You know? And there's a lot of testing, and there's a lot of playing the game. Like you said, if you want to get on Instagram and TikTok and play the game, like, observe all the trends, position yourself to capitalize on those trends, which I think if my brain wasn't in a million other directions, that would be, like, a fun little game to play, which I'm not. But in the places I play it, you know, there's definitely strategy, but then there's sometimes you're like, why my chocolate chip cookies?
- [53:54]
B
Right? Like, I think they're amazing. Amazing. But how did Google even find them? You know what I mean? Like, it is. And it's so funny that you say that because, like, I had one Instagram reel do well, like, over 500,000 views, which, for my plat, my channel is a lot. And I almost didn't even post the video. I was like, oh, I look weird. And I kind of scream in the beginning. Why did I do that? And I was like, I'm not even gonna post this. And then it went crazy for me. Like, it went so crazy. And I was like, all right. I don't know why. I don't know what people like. Everybody's, oh, it looks so good. I'm like, why does that look so good? But this really beautiful video of, you know, brownie doesn't look so good.
- [54:34]
C
You know, those never. Yeah, my food ones never work. I try, but. And I know that. I know that going in because it's not that kind of platform. But also, like, no.
- [54:42]
B
Yeah.
- [54:43]
C
Trying to also, you know, the food blog is the. The thing that I want to be the main thing and so still do it. But, you know, it's not going to, like, go viral on Instagram or TikTok, because if you watch and observe, it's like, well, that wouldn't work. But I do think just the. The idea of creating a sustainable business, not really relying on virality, relying on one thing. That's the reason why I've really diversified my business over the years. Because if, you know, if Google drops me, it's like, well, wouldn't. Wouldn't like that. But Also, like, there's a very, there's still a business left here.
- [55:18]
B
Yes, totally.
- [55:20]
C
And yeah. Well, so much to unpack, so much to talk about. I really appreciate the, the time you've spent so far out of your busy day and sharing with, with the listeners this balance of, of mom life and priorities and Internet business or any type of business. Tell the listeners where they can find you and find your awesome recipes and just tell us a few more things you share on there besides chocolate chip, because I think people would love to hear about like your family dinners and things that could help them there.
- [55:49]
B
Yeah. So I'm joyfoodsunshine.com and joyfoodsunshine on all platforms. That's where you can find me.
- [55:57]
C
That's easy enough. Easy, easy peasy.
- [56:00]
B
And yeah, I mean, I really focus, because we have so many kids, I really focus on recipes that are easy with simple ingredients but taste awesome, you know. So, yeah, homemade. And, and I'm similar in your. I don't like to buy ingredients, so homemade pizza sauce, homemade pizza dough, homemade Mac and cheese. Like, these are some of my homemade whipped cream. These are my absolute top recipes. They're all like five ingredient easy recipes, you know, that are just tried and true. And so it's like, for me, my thing is if you're looking to get dinner on the table fast, you don't want it to have order takeout. You know, that's kind of. And you still want to cook from scratch. That's what you can find.
- [56:39]
C
Well, that's. Everybody needs, right?
- [56:41]
B
Or baking. I, you know, I do have a degree in chemistry and I really take a lot of pride in my baking recipes, my cookies, brownies, even. True, even ice cream. Like, don't ever go to an ice cream shop again. Homemade ice cream is where it's.
- [56:56]
C
Oh yeah, I need to look at it because I've been telling my kids, like, I feel like we kind of just make our ice cream this really fast way and it's, it's, it works. But I'm like, I want like really good ice cream. Can I get one of you to like experiment and do this and.
- [57:10]
B
Yes.
- [57:11]
C
So yeah, it's worth it.
- [57:13]
B
It's totally worth it.
- [57:14]
C
I agree. Awesome. Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
- [57:18]
B
Thank you. It was so great to chat with you.
- [57:22]
C
Thanks as always for listening to the Simple Farmhouse Life podcast. My husband Luke and I and our eight kids work together side by side our little homestead and use our blog, podcast and YouTube channel to reach other homemakers, home cooks and homesteaders with practical recipes and daily family life. For everyday sourdough recipes, make sure to check out our blog, farmhouse.com and to dig deeper, we do also offer a course called Simple Sourdough over at Bit Ly Farmhouses. That's all one word. Bit Le Farm House Sourdough Course. If you're looking to learn how we earn an income online, check out my YouTube course at bit ly farmhouse YouTube course all one word.