If you're a piano mom, trying to balance work and family, you'll love these practical ideas. They're from my newest webinar, Upbeat Moms (Get $20 OFF now!)

Upbeat Moms is all about balancing work and family. Because let's face it. Parenting is hard enough. Add in a business and it can feel overwhelming. 

But it doesn't have to be that way!
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Here are a couple strategies that experts discussed in Upbeat Moms. I just couldn't wait to share them with you!

Most of the moms that I interviewed for my new webinar said this is the number one way they're able to balance work and family.

Instead of diving into lessons as soon as school lets out, they reserve the first lesson spot for their very own kids. 

That's right! The valuable afternoon time that every parent wants is put on hold for 30 minutes while these teachers enjoy their kids. They have a snack together and get all the scoop from school.

As one expert put it..."If you wait 3 hours to talk with your children, they'll have forgotten everything they wanted to tell you!" Isn't that a great quote? If you're a mom - you know it's true!

After your quality time together, you can launch into teaching - guilt free!
By the way - all the teachers had a different name for it:

• Buffer Time
• Transition Time
• Golden Time

It doesn't matter what you call it, but the Upbeat Moms experts say it's improved their family life - BIG TIME!
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If you're struggling to balance work and family, give it a try this fall. Maybe it'll help you too!

Most piano teachers agree that it's necessary to have studio policies. Not only do your families need to know what's expected, you also don't want anyone taking advantage of you. It's protection that goes both ways, right?

Your family deserves the same attention. Set those priorities first.

What's important to your husband? What matters to your kids? How can you set your schedule around those things? The answer will be different for all of us. I'm not saying it'll be easy, but I guarantee it'll be worth it.
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Best of all? By setting family priorities, you can let go of the guilt. You'll have peace knowing that your family's needs are being met. It'll be a weight off your shoulders.

Last year I blogged about entering my son's final year of high school. Because I wanted to treasure that time, I made some big changes. You can read all about it here.

Just yesterday I posted the update. What a year it's been! Matthew's headed off to college next month (Eek!) and I'm SO thankful I said YES to what really matters. You can do it too!

Upbeat Moms is all about helping you make smart choices with confidence. I go behind the scenes with your favorite piano teachers! (Click here to get $20 OFF!)

You'll hear from older moms who are now empty nesters. How did they make it all work? What do they regret?
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You'll also hear from younger moms who are right in the middle of it all. What's working for them?
You'll be able choose the ideas that'll work best for your family. If your decisions reflect your top priorities, you can let go of the overwhelm. And that's something we all want!

Last August I wrote a blog post about saying YES to my family. My son was entering his last year of high school and I wanted to enjoy every moment before he left for college. I called it "The Year of Matthew." (If you didn't read that post, you can find it here.)

Of course, saying YES to my family meant saying NO to a lot of things. Today I'm sharing the results with you.

Saying NO gave me extra time (and energy!) for other things.

Here's what I did instead:

1. I cooked my son’s favorite meals. Well, until I tripped over the cat’s tail in early April and broke my wrist. Yep - that was fun. The good news is that Matthew got to help me in the kitchen. (Good cooking experience for him!)
2. I was AVAILABLE for my son. Of course, he didn’t always want to spend time with Mom - but that wasn’t the point. I simply wanted to be available for those rare times he wanted to hang out. 
3. College travel trips. We visited a couple of schools twice, just to make sure he was confident of his selection. And of course, once he made his choice, we had fun at orientation!
4. Smiled more. Since I didn’t feel overwhelmed by a super-busy schedule, I was more relaxed. There was no guilt. I was more joyful. There’s truth in the idea saying “when mom is happy, everyone is happy.” (FYI...This also makes for a happier, more energetic piano teacher.)
5. Spent a weekend away with friends .So. Much. Fun.
6. More family activities. We did everything from art classes to movies to another Comic Con. Matthew got to meet Danielle Panabaker (aka Killer Frost from The Flash!)​

    7. Baked more sugar cookies than I ever have in my entire life! (Well...until I broke my wrist!) We had so much fun decorating them! 
     8. Got inspiration for my new webinar: Upbeat Moms (Get an exclusive coupon here!) 

This past year was full of enjoying the moment, but also taking a look back. I'm so thankful that God somehow enabled me to balance work and family. It's never easy, but so totally worth it. 

If you have children still at home, please hear me -  The days are long, but the years are SHORT! 😥 I don't know who first said that, but it's SO true. Find a way to prioritize your family because you'll blink and they'll be grown. (Go back and read this paragraph again!)

This is how I got the idea for Upbeat Moms. It's full of experienced moms who share their best tips for balancing work and family. I also interviewed young moms who are right in the middle of it! My guest experts talk about ALL stages of parenting - babies to toddlers to teens!

Best of all? The experts are honest and transparent. They're sharing their biggest mistakes and regrets so you can learn what not to do.

Mark your calendar for launch day July 9th! Click here to get a coupon for $20 off and a surprise bonus! I can't wait to share Upbeat Moms with you!

I'm a big believer in eating meals with your family, but I'll admit, it's not easy. It takes creativity and patience, along with a bit of trial-and-error, but it IS possible! 

Today I'm sharing my meal planning process. This works for me and maybe it'll help you too.

This is exactly what it sounds like. I created a list of our favorite meals and put them into a table format. My full list is about 2 pages long. Click here to print a blank template.

In the picture above, you can see that I've listed meals on the left. At the top, I've listed the months.

Every time we eat a meal, I put a check in the box for that month. ​Note - I don't mark the meal until we've actually eaten it. After all, some weeks life gets busy and the plan changes!

And yes, if you look closely, you'll see some of my meals are super-easy. No judgement allowed! Family meals are important to me, but I never said it had to be fancy! 

This is where the Master Menu List really comes in handy!

Every Saturday or Sunday, I make a meal plan for the week. I simply grab that list and choose meals that we HAVEN'T eaten recently. 

If you're like me, you can get into a rut and make the same thing over and over. That's fine of course, but this system helps rotate meals and I like that.

Planning Tip: I found it helpful to have a rough schedule of when I'll cook and when we'll eat leftovers. After all, some teaching days are so busy that I can't cook big meals. On those days, we'll eat leftovers, I'll use the crockpot, or it'll be something super simple, like pizza bagels.

Here's my current meal plan:

• Sunday: Simple dinner 
• Monday: Cook bigger meal
• Tuesday: Leftovers
• Wednesday: Simple
• Thursday: Cook bigger meal
• Friday: Leftovers
• Saturday: Wild card. Just depends on the week.

Honestly, I'm not an adventurous cook. Life's been busy and it hasn't been a top priority.

But THIS year, things are different. I have a Master List of recipes that I plan to try and guess what? I've already tried several of them in the past couple weeks! It's all about spoiling my son before he heads off to college. Discovering new meals is one way I'm doing that.

​Over the next few months, I'll share my favorites with you. Some of them have been huge hits with Kevin and Matthew!

Overnight Oats Recipe
Grab your favorite mug (I love this one!) and mix the following:

• 1/4 cup Steel Oats (1/2 cup if you're using regular oatmeal)
• 1-2 tablespoons Sweetened Coconut
• 1-2 tablespoons Slivered Almonds
• 1 tablespoon Mini-Chocolate Chips (optional)
• Your sweetener of choice. I use 1 packet of Stevia in the Raw.
• 1/4 cup Milk (I prefer a granola-like texture, so I use a little less than 1/4 cup. You could add more if you like. If you're using regular oats, you'll need 1/2 cup milk.)
• Fresh Blueberries are great to add in just before you eat.

NOTE: Steel oats are very hard and this mixture needs to sit for at least 8 hours to be soft enough to eat. The best part is that they'll maintain the chewy texture for a couple days in the fridge, so go ahead and make a couple mugs for the week. You'll be glad you did!

If you liked this post, you might enjoy:
This Year I'm Saying YES to My Family
Teach Piano AND Have Dinner With Your Family? YES!
Quick and Tasty Meatballs
Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

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Of course, all of this hinges on my ability to say NO and truthfully, that's not easy for me. I'm a "yes" girl at heart. I want everyone to be happy.

But setting boundaries is important. I've written before about the necessity of learning to say NO and this "yes" girl is definitely getting better! Mostly because I'm getting a lot of practice!

The school year hasn't even started and I've said NO to:
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• 11 new students
• 3 speaking engagements
• 1 meeting (On Matthew's birthday!)

Yikes! Just looking at that list stresses me out! But you know what's crazy? Normally, I would have said "yes" to everything without even blinking. 

I would have reworked my schedule to make everyone happy and then I would have been completely overwhelmed. 

Not this year! My priorities are set.

These are the "yes" decisions I've made:

• YES to my family. (They get me first!)
• YES to my son. (The days are long, but the years are short.)
• YES to my current piano students. (Since I've limited my number, I know I'll have the energy to give them 100%.)
• YES to Upbeat projects. (I love helping piano teachers. This year I'll do a little less, only to ramp back up when I'm an empty nester!)

One of the best parts of this decision is that I feel a huge weight off my shoulders. Since I'm not overwhelmed with commitments this year, my focus will be better. And I'm excited about that!

• There will be time to prep for piano students.
• Time to cook my favorite meals. (Read more here.)
• Time for movie nights.
• Time for Upbeat work. 

​There will be TIME. Because I'm MAKING time - for the things that matter most.

I'd love to hear how you're making time for the important stuff!

If you feel overwhelmed trying to balance family and business, you'll love my newest webinar, Upbeat Moms! Click here to get an exclusive coupon.

Here's a basic formula to help you have some backbone! I'll follow it up with a couple examples.

1. Say something nice.
2. Give your answer.
3. Give any options if applicable.
4. Say thank you.
5. Finish with an encouraging comment.

Note what I DIDN'T include: an explanation. You DON'T need to give an explanation for your answer. You certainly can give one, but you don't have too. 
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How does this play out in real life? I asked my Upbeat partner, Sara Campbell, to weigh in with a couple examples. She does a fantastic job of putting on her "business hat" when necessary!

Upbeat Planning Academy is only held ONCE a year and we're about to start! 

It runs July 2nd - August 10th. (Between June 26th and June 28th, you can get it for less than half the regular price! Yay!)

Upbeat Planning Academy is a LIVE Coaching Class filled with practical solutions to help you ditch the stress and overwhelm of running your own business and learn to revitalize your studio instead.

Here's what you'll learn in the Academy (It's different from all the business info you're used to hearing!)

• Learn how to ahead of the 2018-2019 school year (It'll feel SO good when August rolls around!)
• Discover how to make necessary changes to your studio policies (We'll help you find your backbone!)
• Learn ways to organize and make the most of your resources (It's easier than you think!)
• Get ideas to make your studio shine (This matters more than you realize.)
• Learn how to better balance work life and family life (Because keeping your priorities in life really matters!)

No more putting off things that need to be done. We're going to give you step-by-step help to get your studio (and family life!) set up for your best year ever!

Space is limited in the academy, so click here and register now! 

Going after goals isn't easy, but hey - you can definitely increase your odds of getting there faster. Yay! ✅ Start practicing these simple steps and you'll bust out your goals in no time! 

​Let's get right to it!

Gasp! But what about goal setting?! Can't I think about that?

Stay with me - I'm not saying to ignore results. In fact, I always START there during the planning stage. BUT... once the planning is done, it's time to shift gears and think about RESULTS.

Real success comes when you get laser-focused on the actual PROCESS of reaching your goals. 

Here's where it gets exciting! Let's take a real-life example that all of us are familiar with: Going to the dentist.

No one wants cavities. Or a root canal. Just the thought is painful! Yikes! 😩 No, we all want to leave the dentist office with good news at every checkup.

BUT...it's not something that we think about on a daily basis.

We don't think "You know, I really should brush my teeth tonight so I don't have a cavity in September." No way! We just do the daily habit of brushing our teeth, trusting that we'll get a good outcome at our next dentist appointment.

That's how it should be with ALL goals!

Stay committed to focusing on the PROCESS and eventually you'll get the results you want. 😃

Let's run through a few scenarios related to teaching piano:

Example 1 - You need more students.

The fastest way to see real results is to focus on the PROCESS daily. What does that look like? You could:

• Create a flyer
• Advertise on Facebook
• Contact school music teachers
• Give current students a referral credit
• Consider teaching online lessons in another area

You get the idea!

Now focus on one step every day and you'll be registering new students before you know it! 👊 Click here to get the planner pages to help with this!

Example 2 - You need more money, but don't you want to teach more hours.
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Instead of stressing out over a lack of money, focus on the PROCESS. You could:

• Raise your rates
• Add a lab time
• Transition to group lessons (adding just one class of group lessons would up your income)
• Add one group of preschoolers
• Create a product to sell

Now all you have to do is choose something to focus on every day, or every week. You might need to break your goals into even smaller steps, but keep plugging away and trust that the process will get you to your end goal. 

Okay! Let's keep going! But first, ​I've got a worksheet just for you​ to help you map out YOUR ideal steps to reach those goals.

What? You don't want me to dream anymore?!

Well...it's good to dream. Just don't stay there! 😃

Here's the truth: When it comes to goal-setting, one thing that people miss is writing down their goals and reviewing them daily.

Oh, we all know we're SUPPOSED to do that. But few people ever do.

Real success comes when you actually WRITE DOWN your goals. (Don't roll your eyes at me. 🙄This really works!) Put your goals down on paper.

Here's a great exercise I want you to try. You'll see in no time how it helps you push past "dreaming" and gets you seriously focused on what you REALLY want.

1. Grab a notebook and write the date at the top of the first page.
2. Write down several goals you'd like to achieve.
3. The next day, do the same thing - WITHOUT looking at the previous page.
4. Keep doing this for one month.
5. THEN at the end of the month, look back and take note of what goals keep showing up. THOSE are the things you need to go after. 

Truth bomb! The second day I tried this, I literally couldn't remember what goals I wrote on Day 1. 😳 Embarrassing yes, but I'm keeping it real.

That's when I realized there was POWER in writing down your goals. It gives you the opportunity to process what you REALLY want. And REMEMBER what you wrote down. ✅ Cause some of us need that! ​🙄

If you're after serious results, don't skip this step!

Oh I know this sounds crazy! But hear me out! Many times in life we WANT to do things, but we don't FEEL like doing them.

Serious results come when you focus on what you WANT, not what you FEEL like doing.

Feelings come and go. Often, they'll lead us AWAY from our goals. Let's go over a couple examples and you'll see what I mean!

Example - You want to get in better shape.

I'll be the first to admit that some days I complain - I don't want to work out!

But WAIT! That's not really true. I WANT to work out. I just don't FEEL like it. There's a big difference! Don't trust your feelings when it comes to going after goals!

Here's another example - You want to rewrite your studio policies.
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Most of us won't cheer "Yippee!" at the thought of working on this project. Nope. More than likely, you won't ever FEEL like working on it. But you know you WANT to get it done. 

This is when you have to be a grown-up, ignore your feelings, and do SOMETHING. It'll bring serious results in no time! 
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