Mom Founder Imagination Hub Melissa Llarena

Hey there, welcome back to another episode of the Mom Founder Imagination Hub podcast! Today, we're diving into three super common mistakes that mom founders often make when they're reaching out to prospective investors, partners, alliances or even internal sponsors of their business ideas. Trust me, these are totally avoidable!
So, let me tell you about this one mom founder I know. She had this amazing idea for a TV show, but when she pitched it, she made a few missteps that could have been easily avoided. First off, she didn't really understand who the decision maker was. Big no-no! It's so important to know who you're talking to and what makes them tick. 
Next, she didn't take the time to figure out what actually mattered to the person she was pitching to. You gotta know what their priorities are! And finally, she didn't contextualize her pitch. You can't just throw your idea out there without showing how it fits into the bigger picture i.e. how does your solution fit into your target audience’s portfolio or performance goals.
Being a mom founder comes with unique challenges, especially when balancing entrepreneurship and family life. I understand completely. That’s why I’m here to provide practical advice and support to ensure your next pitch gets you to the bargaining table (vs. is ignored).!
In this episode, you will hear:
Understanding the decision maker and contextualizing the pitch 
Unique challenges faced by mom founders in balancing entrepreneurship and family life
Challenges of navigating family life while pursuing entrepreneurship
Failure to consider the perspective of the person being pitched to
Lack of understanding of what matters to the person being pitched to
Contextualizing the pitch to fit the specific industry or sector
Need for thorough research and due diligence before reaching out to potential partners or investors
Thoughtful and strategic communication in building successful business relationships
In the car driving? Pause this episode and write this down. Book a free consult with Melissa this week. Go to www.melissallarena.com/sessions. Let’s role-play one conversation you intend to have this week. You are a founder with a baked idea and you are currently in the pitching process whether it’s for investment dollars or after you’ve gotten investment dollars and now you are on the hook for speeding up your business development efforts!
You can tell me who I should be in this role-play, and I’ll tell you what red flags I hear and whether a VIP day is right for you.
Here’s what you can expect during your VIP day and I want to be transparent. Spots for my VIP Days are extremely limited. I'm offering just 3 spots this month, and after that, this opportunity may never come around again. This is your chance to fast-track your connections and propel your business forward in just 3 hours.
 
Here's what you can expect:
Tailored Strategy Session: Before the VIP Networking Day, you'll receive a simple questionnaire. This prework is designed to optimize our time together, ensuring every minute counts. We'll dive deep into your business goals, target investors, potential podcast guests/partners, or media contacts, and current networking challenges, setting the stage for maximum productivity.
Real-Time Guidance: Once we're live on Zoom, it's all about action. Together, we'll roll up our sleeves and dive into the heart of networking. I won't just talk strategy; we'll implement it in real-time. Using the insights gathered from your prework, we'll identify and reach out to potential investors, podcast guests/partners, or media giants on the spot. You'll witness firsthand how to craft compelling outreach messages and make meaningful connections that matter.
Strategic Outreach: Cold outreach can be daunting, but not anymore. With my guidance, you'll confidently reach out to potential investors, podcast guests, or media contacts during our session. Wh

In this episode, we dive deep into the secrets of a balanced, harmonious family life with our special guest, Tami Hackbarth. Tami introduces us to the Fair Play method, inspired by Eve Rodsky's transformative book "Fair Play," offering practical strategies to manage household duties equitably and ease the mental load, especially during the chaotic summer months.
Join us as Tami shares her powerful journey from burnout to well-being through guilt-free self-care practices like regular exercise, meditation, and setting healthy boundaries. Learn how these changes not only improved her personal well-being but also had a profound impact on her professional life and those around her. Explore the dynamics of implementing the Fair Play method within relationships and family structures through Tami’s real-life examples, from managing summer activities to everyday chores. 

In this episode, you will hear:
Importance of equitable distribution of household duties.
Strategies to manage household logistics for a balanced environment.
Setting healthy boundaries and prioritizing self-care.
The concept of domestic labor and its unequal distribution.
Encouraging partners to take initiative in household management.
Dividing tasks and involving children in decision-making.
Open communication about household responsibilities.

  This episode is brought to you by Fertile Imagination: A Guide For Stretching Every Mom’s Superpower For Maximum Impact – My book is now available on Amazon in its paperback version and Kindle format. Grab a free chapter on www.fertileideas.com.
 
DM me on Instagram @melissallarena just type the word FERTILE and I’ll share the link if that’s easier to get to fertileideas.com for all the details you need to celebrate your own Fertile Imagination! Here’s that link: https://www.instagram.com/melissallarena/ 
 

How to network with confidence for mom founders..... ever been disappointed in yourself that you missed an opportunity to talk to someone you admire or to put yourself out there and introduce yourself to a major investor or prospective client?  If you said yes, then this is the episode for you! Come this fall, are you going to be ready to do this with confidence, or are you at risk of disappointing yourself because you didn't feel ready or didn't do everything you could when you had the opportunity? If you do not want to feel in-ept as a former client told me, she originally felt then this is the episode for you!
 
I had cold feet myself when I first saw Shelly Lazarus and Beth Comstock however... I knew what to do once I was in front of GaryVee. I rehearsed my stories, questions, and asked. There was prework, follow-through, and strategy. No PR team, no big following, no former c-suite position. I knew how to work with my impostor syndrome. 
 
What was different? What did I do that produced different results in me? How did I build my own confidence to have the guts to perform when the time came? How do you get your podcast guests? This is the number one question I’m asked by podcasters who know how hard it is to land a guest like GaryVee, much less as your tenth guest! The second question I get often came most recently from a client in the fitness industry who asked: how did you have the confidence to interview GaryVee? My answer to both is my three-step method.

 
In this episode, you will hear:
Importance of shifting from transactional to genuine connections.
How genuine connections lead to more meaningful and lasting relationships.
Understanding your goals and the value you bring to the table.
Building relationships based on genuine interest and mutual benefit.
Research and rehearsal to build confidence.



My Imagination to Impact to Income Method ™ gives me a reliable process to identify who to talk to, where to find them, and what to do once we connect.  It helped my client like yourself go from feeling intimidated to talking to people like GaryVee, Beth Comstock, Suzy Batiz, Zibby Owens to saying hi to them and pitching your ideas without hesitation. The method is your step-by-step solution to networking anxiety. When you join now as a member of the five mom founders this summer I will be offering an exclusive one-on-one session role-playing their biggest encounter! I’ll look for their elevator pitch, see if their stories would resonate with their contact, and even help them with their delivery!  You want to look confident around confident people. 
 
This unexpected approach to networking will change your life just like it has for this doting parent in North Carolina 
“At the core of it, for me, it was about re-building and projecting confidence. I doubted myself. This program was critical to re-build my confidence and realize that I was not doing the right things to stand out. With this confidence, rejection has not been an issue, and now I am looking at opportunities without any hesitation.  Melissa knows how to motivate people to make those things happen. I will continue building my brand and networking.  This new habit will allow me to continue growing and reaching my potential.” -J. Hernandez, Artificial Intelligence at Sales Factory 
 
Inside of Fertile Imagination to Networking Success you get access to: 
• 9 weeks of live networking coaching and community 
• Value-packed on demand curriculum on everything from navigating impostor syndrome to who to network with, how to find them, what to say, and on planning your fall and winter 2024 networking calendar focused on your business growth goal. 
• 3 hours/ weekly investment this summer (2 whenever or wherever you wish) to hit the ground running in the fall and feel ahead for a change 
• Lifetime access to tools and resources built for mom founders including meditations and unexpected ways to

In this episode, we delve into the intricate dance of balancing entrepreneurship and motherhood, especially when raising a strong-willed child. Join us as Randi Rubenstein, parent coach, author, and founder of Mastermind Parenting, shares insights on maintaining structure, accountability, and firm yet loving boundaries. Discover how the principles of pack leadership can transform your parenting approach and draw parallels between the challenges of managing a business and raising resilient children.
Embark on the emotional journey of entrepreneurial motherhood, from the lows of failed launches to the highs of tangible success. Reflect on how jealousy can serve as a catalyst for uncovering hidden dreams and transforming envy into motivation and actionable steps. Tune in for expert advice on navigating turbulent times with resilience and grace, and learn how to move beyond talking about change to actually taking action for personal and professional growth. Whether you're dealing with a strong-willed child or running a business during challenging times, this episode offers the mindset, methods, and tools to thrive.
 
In this episode, you will hear:
Challenges of juggling business responsibilities while raising children.
Parallels between managing a business during turbulent times and raising resilient children. 
How mom founders can leverage their superpower of imagination to dream bigger.
The dynamic relationship between working moms and stay-at-home moms.
Identity shift and emotional challenges that come with leaving a secure job to start a business
Self-reflection and turning envy into motivation and actionable steps toward goals.
Emotional regulation and leadership in both parenting and business contexts.
Necessity of mental preparation, accountability, and setting clear boundaries.



Quotes, that can change your perspective:
“What if you have a strong-willed kid and then you have another kid or multiple other kids? How are you supposed to get a handle on this? I would say it's the exact same thing, you know. The accountability piece and learning how to have that structure and have those boundaries into and to say what's okay with you as the pack leader.”
 
“A lot of women who are working many, many hours are still the ones responsible for what are we going to eat this week and what about those school forms and we need to go through your closet. You look like you're waiting for a flood.”
 
“You get out what you put into something, but it's doing the reps of whatever it is that you learned, you know, in business or in personal and holding yourself accountable for, okay, I made the investment. You could make the investment or you could have made the investment a decade ago, but you're so capable of still implementing what you learned.”
 
This episode is brought to you by Fertile Imagination to Networking Success, my 9-week group coaching program for visionary mom founders who have decided they are going to become power strategic networkers because they do not want to miss out on one more opportunity for maximum business growth! A program for a founder who wants a step-by-step process that works. My approach which I have used over and over and helped my client use too is called the Imagination to Impact and Income Method ™ and it will help you connect with the right people, lead the right conversations, and swing open the right doors to success.
 
If you want to learn more, then schedule a free call on www.melissallarena.com/sessions today.
DM me on Instagram @melissallarena just type the word SESSION and I’ll share the link if that’s easier to see my calendar availability for this free call where you will get all the details you’ll need to know if this program is the perfect fit for you and to hear about the extra bonuses available only this summer to the first mom founders who join. Here’s that link: https://www.instagram.com/melissallarena/ 
 
 
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You've joined so many associations, networking associations, maybe even membership groups, you've attended conferences, you experienced networking, quote-unquote, societies, tried happy hours, gone to Toastmasters.
So why is it that just the thought about going to networking events is still scary? Here's something that I've realized. It's because there's something missing. There's something missing from your strategy, and in this episode, I want to share with you exactly what that is. Now, if you're like a lot of my clients, usually you might be in a relationship, for example, where your partner is really good at schmoozing.
They are great at going to events, connecting the dots, connecting people, and you might be a little jealous of that. The simple fact that it comes so naturally to them, but maybe not to you. Yet as a business owner, you might also realize that whether it comes naturally to you or not, it is so important and critical to your business growth.
And this might be exactly what you want to work on and be ready to do and execute upon by this fall. So listen up. Here's the thing. This is how you know that you're not yet prepared to take full advantage of all of these things that I just mentioned. Again, those events that are coming up, those membership opportunities, those associations that you want to be a part of.
This is how you know that you're not really ready and not really going to extract the real value of connecting with people who could accelerate your business. This is how do you still feel like networking is transactional? Have you felt that maybe networking is sleazy? Or do you just feel like there's a lot of pressure?
A lot of pressure when you think about going to networking events. Because if that is where you are right now, then that's not the actual problem. The fact that a networking event is a sleazy place or it's a place of only transactions. That's not the real issue. Going to these events, it's not like exposure therapy that the more you go to them, the better off you'll feel.
Chances are you'll still feel nervous before going to them if you don't yet have a solid strategy. Okay. Let's talk about this strategy. So the solid strategy that you need in order to no longer feel scared or nervous about attending events has to include these things. This strategy must help you prepare.
Before going to events so that this way, when you're at the events, people already know you, this strategy also has to help you feel more confident and be more approachable and armed with topics related to small talk that don't feel random or pointless like the weather. This strategy that I'm talking about also needs to arm you with knowing exactly when and how to follow up without feeling like you're pestering people.
So let me share with you a little bit about my strategy, a little bit about my method. It is called the imagination to impact to income method, and it solves for everything that I just listed out. Imagine this, imagine going to a networking event and already knowing who's going to be there, what stories you're going to share and how you're going to show up in addition to even how you're going to dress.
What if having that pre-thought out and already curated is what it actually takes to no longer have to feel nervous or hesitant or unsure, or like there's a lot of pressure when you attend a networking event, a networking event that you may have already paid for, right? So those conferences that you have to fly to and then figure out the logistics for the kids that you leave behind.
Like, what if you had this method that could help you really, I mean, just like own the room and feel completely like you belonged in the room as the leader of your business. That is what my method helps you do. This method, the imagination to impact income method, that's the centerpiece of my group coaching program for mom founders. And if this episode resonates then let’s connect: https://www.instagram.com/mel

Do you wish you had mom friends who would push you, who would get you out of a rut? Do you feel like you don't have a community that you belong in? I know this pops up oftentimes during the summer season. And so I wanted this conversation to soothe your soul and give you a chance to change that.
Let’s connect if this resonates with you: https://www.instagram.com/melissallarena/
Do you ever feel lonely? I can relate. As a mom in those early days, the feeling of loneliness was all too familiar. I remember nursing my son, waiting for my husband to get home, and feeling the weight of solitude. Similarly, when I launched my business, I found myself at my kitchen table grappling with business challenges without a sounding board. Loneliness is not uncommon for moms or entrepreneurs, but it has certainly been amplified by the pandemic.
However, amidst these challenges, we now have the option to connect online. That's why today's conversation is so important. Allow me to introduce you to Cherie Werner, a proud Austinite for 35 years and the founder and CEO of Fiesta, an inclusive startup community. Cherie brings a wealth of experience and a deep commitment to fostering success and connections.
I'm thrilled to host this conversation because I believe connecting with others who share similar experiences or have advanced perspectives in motherhood or entrepreneurship is crucial for success.
So, enjoy the conversation with Cherie and notice her “fertile imagination”, a guide for maximizing every mom's superpower for maximum impact. That's the title of my book, by the way. Cherie exemplifies this imagination by creating unique connections and community, especially when she decided to homeschool her daughters. You'll hear how she achieved this, involving dads, kids, and families in a vibrant community. It's a testament to what's possible when you awaken and stretch your imagination, a process I detail in my book, which you can find at www.fertileideas.com.
Also noteworthy is that this episode is brought to you by: From Contact to Connection: The Mompreneur’s Go-First Networking & Follow Up Playbook: https://witty-thinker-2643.ck.page/21e52edb87
Download my step by step networking and follow-up process, as well as out-of-the-box proven ways to build relationships with the busiest of influencers, prospective podcast guests, and mentors! WARNING: this is for ambitious AF moms with growing businesses. AND BONUS: 30-second elevator pitch template included!
The free playbook helps you:
-Write an elevator pitch that will be memorable and distinguish you from everyone else.
-Improve your networking skills, especially if you’re a mom founder who can’t go out and leave it to chance that she’ll meet the business investor, mentor, or partner of her dreams.
-Learn how to become a better networker without feeling like a fish out of water.
-Write your emails to introduce yourself to strangers without overthinking how to begin an email or how to prove in the email that speaking with you will be worth their time.
-Push beyond the fear that often holds you back, thinking “Oh, I can’t do that” or “Who am I to approach that person?”
-Think strategically about your outreach goals by considering why you want to talk to specific people, along with what you need to know so you don’t get caught out there feeling like a deer in headlights without the right words to say.
-Think ahead about how you intend to make it worth their time and how you can use your platform to feature them as an expert, among other things.
-Calm your networking jitters beforehand by guiding you on how to research the event and its attendees before heading out.
-Gain fresh ideas for follow-ups that will feel good to you and the recipient, instead of just emailing the person over and over again.
-Use a timeframe to conduct your networking or outreach efforts so they become a habit.
-And includes email templates galore!
Official bio for Cherie
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