You Can Conquer the World AND Keep Your House Clean

Tackling personal and professional growth in the "need to be perfect at everything" world.

Today being, National Women's Entrepreneurship Day, I was inspired to get this article written and share my journey with other women (and men) entrepreneurs, trying to conquer the world (in their own sense). Whether that is growing a company, becoming a social media influencer, starting a business, or meeting sales quotas, you can get there with hard work, just maybe not with the cleanest house on the street.

In the last three years of my life, I've experienced a lot of change, both personally and professionally. I'm a newly divorced, full-time working mom of four, merged my business, started a Women's Network, had my eldest enlist in the Marines, and moved twice (that sucked the worst). It's been a roller coaster of up and downs and losses and wins.

At times, it's overwhelming. But here I am, still alive, healthy, happy, and continuing to grow in my quest for personal and professional success.

I would not have taken this journey without all of these changes happening in my life. At times, it's not been fun, but I wouldn't change a thing because I have learned so much about navigating the ever-evolving world of change and growth.

On my quest to conquer the world, I've had to accept what is realistic and what is not. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to be the best at everything. The best parent, entrepreneur, social media influencer, friend, and so on and so on. But at some point, you need to come to a place of mental acceptance -- where you can only do what you can, learn from it and keep moving forward. But with that said, you can still do A LOT!

My professional quest is to be the most reputable web agency servicing mid-sized and enterprise level businesses. My creative quest is to continue to write and build my personal brand and to help other women entrepreneurs. My personal quest is to be a great mother, partner, friend, housekeeper, decorator, and cook. The list goes on and on and on.

But what is and is not realistic for me, and for others, seeking to always conquer the world?

The answer is different for each of us of course, but I do believe that you can do anything you put your mind to. It isn't going to happen overnight and it most certainly isn't going to happen if you have to keep your house spotless (unless of course, you have that covered with professional help).

So as busy professionals, parents, single-parents, entrepreneurs, employees and just a person in general, how do you get there? And how do you keep going?

Work on your mind first

For me, a healthy mind is the key to tackling the challenges that each day presents. Having emotional and physical well-being, keeping your mind clear and allowing you to power yourself through the tasks and goals that you need to accomplish to get yourself where you need to be.

This applies to all aspects of your life, both personally and professionally. If you are feeling stressed, or physically tired, you need to take care of that. You need to stop using up that negative energy and recharge it for the good. Whether it is taking time out to exercise, chat with a friend, have a creative brainstorming sesh, or taking a few minutes for a simple meditation to clear your mind, these should be your top priority.

If it is something that is causing you stress, check it off the list. I was fighting traffic every time I wanted to go to my Bikram Yoga class; it was causing more stress than good. I just accepted that as much as I love the class, it just wasn't realistic for me to get there as often as I like.

What I did was find was an easier solution, such as taking walks, not signing up for one specific gym and just taking drop-in classes when it is more convenient. I have added meditation into my week because for me, that all works.

Remove roadblocks

What is in your way, what is stopping you? Why are you not accomplishing the things you want to accomplish?

Sitting down and figuring out what your roadblocks are will allow you to create alternative solutions and get you moving in the right direction. As I mentioned above, I really wanted to go to Bikram Yoga. In my mind, my goal was at least 3 times a week. But I had to accept that it just wasn't going to happen without a lot of stress and effort. It just wasn't worth it.

So I found alternative solutions to accomplish the same goal. At work, if you aren't getting a task done, or accomplishing a goal, you need to figure out why and fix it.

Sheep or get off the pot!

Focus on what you can do and not what you can't

About a year ago I was sitting out on the porch at my office talking to my sister-in-law and fellow entrepreneur Sheryl Miller, on the phone. I ranted on and on, "I can't do this" and "I can't do that". She says, "Are you Done?" She's not really one to beat around the bush. So I said "yes."

She said, "Why are you focusing on what you can't do when you should focus on what you CAN DO."

Those words have carried me through the last year. When I get stuck on that mindset, I try to clear those thoughts (healthy mind) and redirect them to what I can do.

Once you accomplish what you can do, what you can't do, doesn't seem so bad.

Today I can't clean my house, or fit into a size four pair of jeans. But what I can do, is get a few things done around the house, do my best to eat healthy, and get some exercise. For me, in my situation, that is really all I have time to focus on.

Sometimes it's stressful thinking about it, but I'm learning to accept I can't do everything and be ok with the things I can do.

Hire or Find help

If you are busy, you are busy. You have to accept you can't do it all. You need to evaluate where you need help and find the right resources to get you moving forward. In an interview with Business Insider a couple of years ago, I was fortunate enough to provide insight, along with a few other business owners, into "Chores Small Business Owners should Outsource."

The list included: cleaning, laundry, administrative tasks, social media, and odd jobs. If you can, you should outsource the tasks that don't need you and focus on the ones that really require your skills and brainpower.

If finances are a problem for you, count on friends and family to exchange services with you. Carpool, exchange meals, babysit -- whatever you can do to make your life easier will help you reach your top goals.

Replicate yourself

Whether it is at work or at home, find people who can take over some of your activities and still do a great job.

I spend a lot of time at work, doing our social media, writing, and marketing. I felt like nobody could replicate that piece of our business. But a lesson I've learned from my business partner is you can't do it all, you need to hire the right help.

Recently, when he presented pages of research to me, I asked him, "where'd you get time to do all that?" He said, "I hired someone on UpWork." Smart thinking.

When you are creative it is not so black and white, so you have to find people who "get you." Transferring creative knowledge and ideas is not easy, but if you have the right team in place, eventually they will get you and your vision.

When I had my own creative agency, Ladybugz Interactive, I decided to take the plunge and find someone who could take my creative work and ideas, and run with it the same way I did. That's when I hired the awesome Katelin Cwieka, now a social media maven in her own right for Avidia Bank.

Having such a great experience working with someone else creative made me realize that you can replicate yourself at a higher level, it just takes time and diligence.

Plan your goals

At work, we plan goals. We have quarterly and annual meetings to decide what goals we want to reach and how we are going to get there. This has helped our business grow and move forward by leaps and bounds.

So why would you not do this for yourself? Taking that a step further to create your own professional and personal goals can do the same in your professional and personal life.

I got inspired by Kristina Miller, Founder Moroccan Magic + Boston Business Women, when she posted her notebook with goals on the Boston Business Women's Facebook page. We had already been setting goals at work, but a lightbulb went off. Why am I not doing this?? I even loved that she did it in a notebook and yes, with cute little stickers ;).

Keep on track

At work we use Accelo as our service operations software. As a mid-sized agency, we have to be diligent about tracking time, tasks, projects and client notes.

When tasks, tickets or projects are created, dates for completion are assigned. This helps keep work on track and makes people accountable for deadline requirements. Using project, task or ticket based software to keep work on track is crucial.

Luckily for me, I can also use it to organize my own internal projects and tasks and keep me personally on track with my own work goals. My recommendation is to use software to keep you on track. I used to use Asana when I ran my first agency, and that was great for the size and scale of my company. It really helped us stay on top of tasks, projects and goals. For a small agency we were lean and efficient, and having an organizational and tracking tool was instrumental our growth and merger with 3 Media Web.

Find software, a calendar or anything that keeps your projects on track. Daily reminders and deadlines will keep you moving forward, helping you to achieve the longer-term results you desire.

Don't get discouraged and give up

Do you know how many times I've wanted to throw in the towel?

Each time I have a meltdown over things not going my way, the universe sends me some kind of message. It's usually one of humor and reminds me that I looked like a two-year-old having a temper tantrum.

I used to constantly worry about things that would NEVER happen. Even some days, when I lose a sale at work it seems like the world has come to an end all of a sudden. But, the next day, or week, another opportunity always comes along. All of that energy is wasted on negativity.

You can't give up hope. Things don't happen on our time. They happen when God or the Universe or whatever you want to believe in, wants them to happen. When you worry about what is or is not happening, you are wasting energy on things you can't control. Just enjoy the journey and know things will happen in their own time and you are on a positive path to get there.

As Fr?ulein Maria says in the Sound of Music (my favorite movie) "Reverend Mother always says when the Lord closes a door, somewhere he opens a window."

Do what you have to do when you're inspired to

This morning a couple of my coworkers were complaining about their lack of Monday Motivation. I won't name any names here. But when you are feeling that way, you need to go do something else, work or personal, that will get you motivated.

When I realized today was National Women's Entrepreneur Day, I was inspired to finish this article so I could share it on this special day. Yeah, I have other work items to do, but when you are inspired or feel creative, you just have to do it, because you can't control those feelings. Once you accomplish it, you will feel great and that will create motivation in all areas of your life.

Nothing feels better than inspirational energy and doing something productive with it.

Always be learning

You can't move forward only knowing what you know now. There is a learning curve to everything as you grow and scale. The same old, same old, won't get anyone anywhere.

Conquering the world is not black and white. To set out to do what you need to do, you need to be always learning and improving. It's like I said above, had I not been thrown the many curveballs over these past three years, I would not be near close to where I am today.

I've learned how to how to scale a business, how to go from being someone in the business to someone just working on the business and how to bring women together to inspire and help one another.

But these are also all things I have struggled with. For me, learning comes through listening to tons of books (Busy entrepreneurs love Audible). This year alone, I've read over ten. Some about meditation, most about business, some about personal growth and even one on relationships. (PM me if you want my reading list).

If you want to have a full and enriched personal and professional life, you need to be learning, from both experience and from learning.

I've learned more in the last three years, more than I did in the previous 10. That is an accomplishment alone!

Pat yourself on the back

Guess what. You did a great job. You can't rely on anybody else to tell you that, so you need to tell yourself that. Take joy and gratitude in your daily, weekly or even life accomplishments. Give yourself a break, buy yourself a treat, get a massage, or simply watch a TV show. Bask in the light of your accomplishments, because guess what, you deserve it.

Brag about it on Facebook, Twitter, whatever, tell the world, who cares you deserve a pat on the back.

Share what you've learned

The best part of what I have learned is to be able to share my experiences and listen to others. Through many of the networking groups and associations I belong to, I get to share my stories with other people. I also get to hear what they have learned. Peer sharing and learning has been hugely motivational in my journey to conquer the world.

Many people have been there, many have tried, many have failed, we have all learned and have had so much to share.

“I want every little girl who’s been told she’s bossy to be told again she has leadership skills.” —Sheryl Sandberg, COO at Facebook

You can do it all, you just need strategies to always be moving forward.

Maybe you can't keep your house clean and conquer the world at the same time, but hopefully, at some point of your success, you can hire a housekeeper.

Lysa Miller is Founder + CEO at the award-winning Boston digital agency, Ladybugz Interactive and founder of the Sales Empowerment Summit for Women. Her most recent accomplishments include being featured on the cover of Boston Business Journal’s 2020 Annual Book of Lists and named in “10 Women-Owned Agencies You Should Know,” by Agency Spotter. 

She has also been featured for her expertise in Entrepreneur.com, Fortune.com, Thrive Global, CIO, and Business Insider. She also regularly contributes thought leadership content to Agency Publications + Podcasts such as Clutch.co, Upcity.com  and The Digital Agency Show.

Her side hustle includes being the President and Founder of the MetroWest Women's Network, a professional network shy of 4000 members, empowering women in MetroWest Massachusetts. She is a self-proclaimed networking queen and relationship builder.

She is also a mom of four, historic homeowner, vintage lover, and herds a slew of pets.