A Systems Manual for House and Home
Renée Warren was depleted and depressed. She had a terrible relationship with her husband and felt little connection to her two boys. What WAS working in her life? The PR agency she had founded was thriving, surpassing its goals and growing to a team of 10. Renée wondered what might happen if she applied a business philosophy to her home life…
And that changed everything.
Renée and her husband started holding weekly meetings and quarterly retreats, setting goals for the family based on the values that are important to them. They have scheduled offline time with the boys every evening from 5-6pm, and they have even gone so far as to compose a Family Operations Manual that keeps things running smoothly when they are away.
Today, Renée joins me to share her crazy parenting journey, discussing the challenges of having her two sons in the first year of her PR business. She explains how her decision to treat family life like a business eventually became a business of its own, the Family Academy platform. I ask Kate about the details of her family’s weekly meetings and quarterly retreats, and she describes how ‘role rating’ has strengthened her relationship with her husband. Listen in for Kate’s insight on spending quality time with your partner and kiddos—and learn how your family life can flourish by implementing business systems and best practices!
The Startup Pregnant Podcast Episode #074
Some quotes from the episode
- “I had a terrible relationship with my husband. I wasn’t connected to my kids, and I said, ‘This is not the life that I signed up for. I love my business. I love my team. My family life is struggling, and I need to reprioritize things.’ And that’s when we just started implementing systems to our family life.”
- “We applied businesslike philosophies to our home life, and that changed everything.”
- “We failed to understand and appreciate what can happen to the mom after the baby’s born. For me, it was the postpartum depression, it was the anxiety, the stress, the sleepless nights. All these things compounding to make me a fairly unproductive and not-nice person to be around.”
- “Just slow down. Take the time to be with your baby and learn about him or her and really get connected. Integrate your family life into your business life.”
- “The thing that made [my maternity leave] work for my company was being so open and honest with my team … and they loved the fact that I was actually leaning in to my family when I could.”
- “[I want to] help entrepreneur families gain more freedom in their lives and teach them how to have a better relationship with their husbands and their kids—and how to apply businesslike philosophies to their family lives so that they can have that time freedom.”
- “One of [my goals] is getting a consistent, awesome rating from my husband every week, and it’s a lot of work! But at the end of the day, it’s like we’re each other’s champions. I support him. He supports me. We parent so much better together, and the kids have changed.”
- “The amount of time that children spent eating meals at home was the single biggest predictor of better academic achievement and fewer behavioral problems.”
- “The average American only spends 36 minutes a day of uninterrupted one-on-one time with their family.”
- “We put stress on ourselves, especially mothers, that we have to spend so much time with our kids—but if it’s not quality time … then it’s insignificant.”
- “The mission is … inspiring women to not have to choose between starting a business and having a family. They can do both.”
LEARN MORE ABOUT RENÉE WARREN
Renée Warren is the founder of Family Academy, a community for entrepreneurial families. Prior to Family Academy, Renée launched popular startup PR firm Onboardly. She is a regular contributor to Entrepreneur Magazine, and Renée has written hundreds of blog posts, articles and eBooks on the topic of startup marketing. Her current mission is help over 1M entrepreneurs gain more freedom in their lives through the Family Academy platform.
RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
EPISODE SPONSOR & SPECIAL OFFER
Thank you to the sponsor of this episode: Aeroflow Breastpumps. They are dedicated to making the hassle of getting your breast pump a little bit easier—actually, a lot easier! Head to www.aeroflowbreastpumps.com/startup to have them help you qualify for a free breast pump through insurance.
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