Designing Your Vision, Mission and Values — Episode #041 With Toi Smith

Designing Your Vision, Mission and Values

Few of us would set off on a road trip without a GPS. Yet many online entrepreneurs hang up their shingle without a clear idea of what they stand for or who they want to serve.

After a couple of consults with potential clients who weren’t the right fit, Toi Smith designed and published a vision, mission and set of values that clarify her intentions, eliminate the noise, and distinguish the clients she is interested in partnering. Through her service, Smith Virtual Business Partners, Toi seeks to uplift, support and liberate women, helping them stand tall in the belief that they are powerful beyond measure—in business and all other aspects of life.

Today, Toi sits down with me to explain her role as an online business manager and how she came to do this work. She walks us through some of her values, from the idea that financial security is non-negotiable to her aim in fortifying women to flourish. I ask Toi about the parallels between birthing a child and a business, and she shares her personal challenges around becoming an entrepreneur as the single mother of four boys. Listen in for Toi’s insight on the differences among single moms, the changing landscape of the American family, and developing actionable strategies for resilience.

The Startup Pregnant Podcast Episode #041

Some quotes from the episode

• “The narrative of the corporate world is that you’re going to get paid less. If I’m starting out for myself, I want to create a business where I’m financially strong, and … if we can do that in this kind of work, then we are changing the game.”
• “I do the things that help make their business more profitable and also free up them from doing the day-to-day little tasks so that they have time to be more creative inside of their business.”
• “I naturally progressed into an OBM because I wanted more of a role in helping women actually move their businesses forward.”
• “I have a house full of testosterone—and me.”
• “Birthing a business has been similar to birthing my kids in not knowing what’s around the corner but still doing it anyway and making those hard decisions.”
• “Everything weighs on me, and so I wake up thinking about … all the things I need to do. But there is no one else to balance that.”
• “There are days where it is a really hard journey between motherhood and being a businesswoman and all of the goals and hopes and dreams that I have just as a human that have to sometimes slide to the back to make sure my sons are taken care of.”
• “No, [single motherhood is] not pretty … but I do get up everyday and show myself a little bit of grace and self-love and affirm that it’s all going to work out in the end.”
• “Women are more empowered than ever to make future-forward decisions that allow for their highest joy.”
• “Single mothers already feel isolated in themselves because of what society dumps on them for being a single mother… It’s already a stigma that you get being a single mother. Throw on isolation and it can be very crushing.”
• “I’m meditating every day, and that has vastly changed my patience and my capacity to deal with overwhelm.”

LEARN MORE ABOUT TOI SMITH

Toi Smith is a creator, a mother, and a holistic online business manager who helps women and people who identify as women grow their online businesses. In her ten-year corporate career, Toi learned to develop systems and streamline processes, and now she is leveraging those skills to help female small and microbusiness owners do their best work and reap the highest financial rewards possible.

• Smith Virtual Business Partners

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

• ‘Not All Single Mothers Are Created Equal’ in Solo Parent Magazine
• Life Coach Kate Anthony
• All the Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation by Rebecca Traister
• CoAbode
• Headspace

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EPISODE SPONSOR & SPECIAL OFFER

Thank you to the sponsor of this episode: Acuity Scheduling. Acuity functions as an online assistant, helping to organize your schedule and collect client information. Take advantage of Acuity’s 45-day free trial for Startup Pregnant listeners at https://acuityscheduling.com/startuppregnant.

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