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Welcome to Perfect 10! Ten Questions. Amazing Mompreneurs. A blog featuring amazing Charleston, South Carolina moms taking up the unique journey of "Mom-ing" in the 2kTweens and beyond! Our FIRST feature? Shout-out to the AMAZING Noel Jolly! What doesn't she do? Icebreaker bonus round questions...  Dog or Cats? I'm quite allergic to cats, so they get a 'no' from me. Coffee or Tea? COFFEE! Every time. Every day. All day. I’ll never say no!  Call or Text? Are you dying? Is the world crashing around us? No? Okay, then text me! The Perfect Ten  How do you "mom"? My neighbors call me the 80’s Mom! For the most part, I try to be chill and a “cool mom”, but I also need you to not act like you live in a zoo. I want my kids to become kind, caring, respectful, loving adults who can co-exist with others, regardless of views and opinions. I want them to know how to interact and problem solve with their peers. To listen and debate without hurting feelings and still fostering and growing a relationship. I feel this is best learned from practice, not from me directing and telling them how to handle all situations and being there to make sure it’s all done the “right” way. So, I guess I'm fighting for self-awareness, emotional support, and respect, all while loving on them SO hard that they can’t breathe! But…isn’t that what we all are trying to do??? So , when it all boils down to it, I guess I’m a “hands off” Mom. Go out there, make mistakes, learn from it, and do better. The more you know, right?!  Why LulaRoe? I was certainly in a “mom-rut” when I first stumbled across LLR. We were living paycheck to paycheck, barely making ends meet. I had a 6 year old that I was homeschooling and a 2 year old that I felt like all I did was nurse. My clothing options were limited because of the extended nursing AND being a plus size woman, and I just felt frumpy. A friend posted about these leggings and I thought they were cute, so I reached out and decided to host a pop-up!! That night, I felt like a woman again! The clothes fit properly and hugged in all the right places AND -- they were CUTE! Over the next year, I realized I needed this to be a part of my life, but I struggled as an introvert and joining a DS business. I was terrified of failure, but it continued to stay in my mind and on my heart. So, a full year later, we took the leap! It was the most terrifying, yet empowering thing I have ever done!  What inspired you to start your own business? I was inspired by the need to bring fashionable options to the women in the plus size community. It is sad the limited amount of options there are out there, and so many of them aren’t very fashion forward. Just because I'm plus size doesn’t mean I don’t want to look amazing, sexy, confident, bold. I also wanted to be an example for my kids. I come from generations of very strong, independent, defying, empowering women. I watched my Mom own and run a business from home, and her Mom did the same. It had an incredible impact on me as a child, not only to have her there, but to watch her also juggle everything and run a highly successful business.  What does running your own business mean to you? To your family? That’s exactly what it means. Being a business owner provides me the freedom to pick my kids up from school everyday and spend afternoons/evenings with them, to go on field trips, be there when they are sick, go to all the birthday celebrations. Not.Miss.A.Thing. It has also allowed me to accept and become who I truly am, no holding back, no apologies. It has made me a better mom and wife. Along with all that, it also means HARD WORK. In the end though, the reward is so worth every ounce of blood, sweat, and tears that go into creating that freedom! I am incredibly proud of what we have built! For my family, its basically the same. Freedom. Because of our business, we are able to live in an area that we had only dreamed of before. Our kids are involved in things they love and we travel regularly. All of those things are only possible because of the business.  What advice to you have for mom's that are on the fence about taking a leap and going into business for themselves? Stop second guessing yourself and DO IT! Go for it! Take the leap! I can’t imagine what my life would look like if I hadn’t taken that jump! If you fail, so what. At least you can sleep at night knowing you tried. Learn from your mistakes and try again! And by the way, you WILL make mistakes and fail at some point. Its all part of the BEAUTIFUL process! Just remember, you are your own motivation. There is no one giving deadline reminders or pep talking you, it’s just you. So dig deep down, find what motivates and inspires you, keep your “WHY” close, and HUSTLE! What's your day in the life? Give it to me straight, girl! This is hard to pinpoint because my personality thrives on NOT having a schedule, but I do find that I have somewhat of a rhythm. I have a really cool husband that supports the fact that I need lots of sleep, so he gets the kids up and to school, on his way to work. So I get up, without an alarm clock (the best perk of being your own boss), get ready for my day, have coffee, take my dog on a walk, then I go to my work space. I work until I go grab my kiddos from school. I spend the afternoon hanging out with them, running errands, going to the park, dinner, you know….normal Mom stuff. Then the evenings depend. Some nights I work, some not. It just varies, and that’s just the way I like it! Then some days I do nothing but sit on the couch, watch Netflix, and eat popcorn. Its all about balance, friends!  How do you balance it all? What's your source of calm/re-centering yourself? Well, I think balance is an adjective that we all hurt ourselves striving for. I believe that we will always work so hard for it, but I don’t believe that any of us ever achieve full balance. We should all work towards it and do our best, yes, absolutely, but I think we need to give ourselves grace. Our plates are very full and constantly spinning on a full axis, the best thing we can do is allow ourselves space to accept that full balance is basically perfection, and I'm pretty sure no one has gotten that yet either. I have learned to accept that in the process of striving for balance, I am going to have periods of time that I really excel in one particular area, and other areas may drop off a little bit, but not fly off into outer space. So, there may be a time that I really feel I need to focus more on family time in the evenings. Cool. I accept that in the process of focusing on my family in the evenings, my evening workflow is going to drop off a bit, and that is okay because right now, my family needs me. I have times that I feel crummy and know that I need to focus on my body and exercise, so my morning work flow is interrupted a bit during this time. As long as I'm not totally dropping the ball in one area, I'm good in my book! As far as calming/re-centering myself; man…..this has been a j o u r n e y. I really make head-space during my yoga practice. I fight this battle in my head because I know I need it, but I struggle because it's during my work flow time, but my well-being depends on it. I take lots of baths and meditate; that helps me a ton, too. The beach is so good for my soul, too. Just going and sitting still- listening to the consistent motion. It's so soothing and centering. We all would like to go back in time and give ourselves some love and advice... What would the you of now tell the you of 10 years ago?  Man, the me 10 years ago? "WHEW girl, you’re going to be AWESOME! Stop doubting yourself. Respect yourself. You are SO worth it. Its going to be hard, like SO much harder than you ever thought, but the reward is going to be so much greater than you ever can imagine! Spend as much time as you can with your grandparents and soak up every bit of knowledge and wisdom they have. You’re going to be a kick-ass Mom. Listen to your instincts; they aren’t wrong. Love on your babies, they grow so fast. You will always be busy, the timing will never be perfect, so do what feels best when it feels best. You only get this exact life one time, so live each second as it its the last one. No regrets. And put your dang phone down and LIVE life. Be present in the moment, smell it, taste it, see it." Can you tell me what's new on your business horizon? Oh man, so much! We’ve got new styles coming out this year and that’s always super exciting! I'm in the process of re-branding and making it more mine. I'm focusing more on getting more involved in the community and trying to work alongside charities. I've done some collaborating with the Ronald McDonald house recently and I'm super excited about that. And somehow my 3 year anniversary is coming up, so there will be a big party for that! ...and one more fun question- Which famous person would you love to style with LLR? Why? Beyoncé or Lady Gaga for sure! I love them both and they both have such a strong sense of their own personal style and fashion. They are both incredibly strong, independent, empowering women and I just really want to hang out and talk with them! ______________________________________________________________________________________ THANK YOU, NOEL! Be sure to visit LulaRoe Noel Jolly to stay on top of her latest & greatest looks! Love what you read? Know a Lowcountry mom that does it all? They could be featured in a fun, free, future editorial.
Email sarahfralin@willowoakphoto.com.
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AuthorWillow Oak's blog! Read + Laugh + Cry + Love + Share AuthorSarah is the owner of Willow Oak Photography and More. She loves her community and loves being a mom. This blog embraces everything she loves about the Lowcountry and Archives |
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