Balancing It All: Agency Owner Life + Mom of Two

People love to ask me, “How do you balance it all?”

And I always kind of laugh… because truthfully, I don’t feel balanced most days.

I’m a business owner, a team leader, strategist, visionary, problem-solver… and also a snack-packer, bedtime storyteller, and tiny-human negotiator to a 4-year-old girl and 2-year-old boy. Some days I feel like I’m thriving in both roles. Other days I feel like I’m failing at both.

But over time, I’ve realized balance isn’t something you achieve once and keep forever. It’s something you learn, adjust, and redefine constantly. And along the way, I’ve picked up a few truths about running an agency while raising little humans that have completely changed how I see it all.

1. Balance Doesn’t Mean Equal

There’s this unspoken pressure that everything should get equal time and equal energy, and honestly… that’s just not how real life works.

Some weeks my business needs more of me, launches, client curveballs, team support, agency growth decisions. Other weeks my kids need more of me, whether it’s sickness, rough sleep nights, or just those extra-clingy seasons where they want Mom and only Mom.

I’ve had days where I close my laptop feeling super proud of what I got done, and then I look around at the laundry mountain and toy explosion in the living room and think… welp 😅. And then there are mornings my daughter crawls into bed with me early, we sleep in, spend half the day building little block cities on the floor, and I end the day knowing my work checklist barely moved.

I’ve had to accept that balance isn’t 50/50. It’s knowing where you’re needed most in that season, that week, that day, and giving yourself permission to shift without guilt.

2. Your Team Is Everything

One of the biggest shifts in my agency journey was realizing I don’t have to hold everything on my own.

I think a lot of agency owners fall into that mindset of, “If I don’t do it, it won’t get done right.” I’ve definitely been there. But building a team you genuinely trust? That changes everything. When you take the time to train people, support them, and give them ownership, they don’t just take things off your plate, they start helping you build something bigger than you could’ve done alone.

I once heard that delegating big tasks actually makes team members feel valued, not burdened. I remind myself of that anytime I hesitate to pass something off because I don’t want it to seem like I’m dumping work on someone. In reality, it’s often the opposite, it shows trust.

And honestly, becoming a mom made me a better leader. Motherhood teaches you patience, empathy, flexibility, and how to function on very little sleep… which are basically elite leadership skills 😅. But it works both ways. Leading a team teaches you how to read people, communicate differently depending on the person, and meet them where they are. Just like kids, every team member is wired differently, and learning how to “speak their language” makes all the difference.

3. Presence > Perfection

Truth bomb 💣: I used to feel guilty no matter where I was… and honestly, sometimes I still do.

If I was working, I felt guilty I wasn’t with my kids. If I was with my kids, I felt guilty I wasn’t working.

I don’t think that feeling magically disappears when you’re a business owner and a mom. But something I’ve been really intentional about lately is being fully present wherever I am.

When I’m working → I’m focused, strategic, and in it. When I’m with my kids → my phone goes down and they get me, not a distracted version of me half-answering emails or texts.

I once heard a story about a man whose home life was really struggling. One day on his drive home, the weight of how disconnected he’d become really hit him. He pulled over, sat in his car, and cried. Right there he made himself a promise: from that day forward, every time he passed that same spot on his commute, he would consciously leave work behind and choose to show up fully for his family.

That stuck with me.

I think about it a lot when I’m driving to work and when I’m heading home. And honestly, having an office has helped so much with this. It hasn’t even been a full year yet, but physically being able to leave work at work has made a huge difference. That transition space, that mental shift, has helped me become more present, more grounded, and more intentional when I walk back through the door at home.

I know not everyone has the option of a separate office outside the home, but even something simple like closing the door to your workspace or doing a small daily “shutdown” routine can create that same mental shift.

4. Systems Save Sanity

The real secret weapon behind juggling motherhood and business isn’t hustle (low-key hate that word).It’s systems.

Work systems. Home systems. Communication systems. Delegation systems.

Structure creates breathing room. Fewer last-minute fires, fewer things slipping through the cracks, and way less mental load. The more organized my business became, the more space I actually had to enjoy life outside of it.

And honestly? I love building a good system. There’s something about streamlining any part of my life that gives me this weird sense of calm and satisfaction. It’s like my brain can finally exhale.

For example, I realized I was spending so much time building proposals for potential clients. I’m really intentional about them because I want each one to feel thoughtful, strategic, and customized, like they can clearly see what working together would look like and how we’d approach their goals. But over time I noticed I was basically starting from scratch every time, typing out a similar prompt again and again.

So I built a system.

I created a custom prompt template with fill-in-the-blank sections plus a spot where I drop in the transcript from our initial call. Now it feeds directly into my Canva proposal framework and still allows me to give personalized recommendations. Same quality, same strategy, same care, just without reinventing the wheel every time.

What used to take me 3 to 4 hours now takes about 30 minutes.

That’s the power of systems. They don’t remove intention, they protect your energy so you can put it where it matters most.

5. You Can Be Ambitious and a Good Mom

There’s this outdated narrative that ambition somehow takes away from motherhood. I’ve actually found the opposite to be true.

I’ve had to rewrite the story in my head. Instead of telling myself my kids see a mom distracted by work, I remind myself they see a mom building something meaningful. They see me helping people grow their businesses, supporting my team, solving problems, dreaming up ideas, and showing up even on the hard days. They see what it looks like to care deeply about something and stick with it.

They also see the real stuff, not just the highlight reel. They see me learning, adjusting, apologizing when I miss something, celebrating wins, and figuring things out as I go. And honestly, I think that’s one of the best things they could witness.

And I love knowing they’ll grow up understanding that women don’t have to choose between being nurturing and being driven. We can love deeply and dream big. We can build businesses and bedtime routines. We can lead meetings and still be the one they run to for hugs.

That’s the example I hope stays with them long after they’re grown.

Balancing agency life and motherhood isn’t about having everything perfectly figured out. It’s about learning your rhythms, building support, creating systems that protect your energy, and giving yourself permission to shift when life calls for it.

Some days feel productive. Some days feel present. The sweet spot is realizing both count.

There are messy days, magical days, and plenty that are a mix of both. And the more I grow (as a business owner, a leader, and a mom) the more I realize I don’t actually want perfect balance. I want a life that feels meaningful, aligned, and full.

Because at the end of the day, I’m not just building a business.

I’m building a life my kids get to watch me create, learn from, and someday carry pieces of into their own.

And honestly? That feels like the kind of balance that actually matters.