Finding The Free Mama

Welcome to Not Your Mama's 9 to 5 Newsletter, where we talk about the future of employment, workplaces, and org structure. It's become normal for a career to be nonlinear and for employment to be dynamic. Trends like remote work, AI assistance, employees having multiple jobs, or even creating their own consulting practice will only continue.

We at Uptown embrace these trends to create better environments for companies and those who work at them.

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Early 2019, on a zoom call with my business partners…

“A network of stay at home moms?” I inquired curiously.

“Yeah,” said Conor, “I connected with the founder of The Free Mama Movement, Lauren Golden.”

“What’s The Free Mama Movement?” I asked into the webcam with a raised eyebrow.

“Lauren trains thousands of women to be remote workers or executive assistants!” Conor exclaimed. “This could be the solution to our Instagram account management services.”

At the time, we were building creative services designed to generate business opportunities for clients through social media outreach, content consulting, and growth strategies. Instagram was dominating the public attention so that’s where we focused.

Through trial and error, we ultimately landed on a few Instagram-based services that delivered great results. Before we knew it, word got out and there were more clients than we could handle ourselves. New to entrepreneurship, we knew we needed help but didn’t know where to find it.

“Alright,” I shrugged, “let’s talk to her.”

Lauren simply requested a job description, which she sent to her network and it felt like we had applicants within minutes.

As it turns out, there are countless highly skilled people capable of work, if only presented with the right opportunity. Most of the people we talked to had already lived impressive lives but just wanted something different than full time employment. Something that aligned with their current values.

The best part was, they crushed it!

At the peak of our Instagram services, we had twenty remarkable women managing clients’ Instagram accounts. Leading team calls were the highlight of my week, and surreal in my mid-twenties. It was encouraging to hear how their flexible jobs allowed them to earn while spending time with their kids. Everyone sharing family Halloween photos in our group chat is still one of my favorite Uptown memories.?

We’d always been proud of the service we provide to clients, but creating better lives for members of our team proved to be even more rewarding.

Reassessment of values has obviously become more prevalent over the last few years, with or without kids. I’ll get into Uptown’s tangible ideas and solutions soon, but context is important. So for now, back to the story.

It can’t go uphill forever.

Next week let me tell you how a change in an algorithm nearly turned off the lights at Uptown and why I had to make the twenty worst phone calls of my life.

Also, a special thank you to Toni McCoy, our first Strategist, and Jennifer Cantu who still works closely with us today.

Anyone in need of remote help and thinks a “Free Mama” makes sense for their business can hire one of Lauren’s students at thefreemamamatchmaker.com.

For more complex business solutions, contact me directly.