Ep 96: What Happens When Your Business Can't Have All of You with Miranda Trudeau
There are seasons when I can work more. I have the time, the support, the ideas, and enough energy to keep going long after I technically need to stop.
The question I've had to get better at asking is: Just because I can, should I?
That question came up over and over in my conversation with Miranda Trudeau, founder of Mom Knows Marketing. Miranda has three kids five and under, homeschools, runs a business, serves clients, and has a team. My daughter is almost ten, my business existed before I became a mom, and I have a ton of support around me. We're in very different seasons of motherhood, but we kept landing in the same place.
We both really like working.
I didn't start a business because my ultimate dream was to become the PTA mom who never misses pickup. I love my career. Miranda feels the same way about hers. Our businesses are meaningful parts of our lives, and we also don't want them consuming every available hour simply because we happen to have the ability to work.
Your business will take whatever access you give it
One of the weirdest parts of working from home is that there isn't a natural end to the workday.
My commute is about 45 seconds. I can walk downstairs, open my computer, and work. I can also wander back down after dinner because I remembered something. Slack is right there. Email is right there. Social media is literally part of my job, which makes the line even blurrier.
I've had to create physical boundaries around work because nobody else is going to create them for me.
I don't come into my office before my daughter goes to school. I might journal, sit outside, go for a walk, or hang out somewhere else in the house, but I don't sit down at the big computer and begin my workday.
I protect the other end of the day too. Most days, I'm finished around 3:00 or 3:30. I might go to Pilates, sit upstairs, or do something that gives me a transition before my daughter comes home.
Miranda has found her own version of this. She recently moved her business apps onto a separate phone, which means email, client communication, and other work notifications can physically go away when she's homeschooling or with her family.
The specific boundary matters less than knowing where yours is.
Some seasons get more of me on purpose
I don't work the exact same schedule every week of the year, and I don't think that's a realistic expectation for a business owner.
I run public campaigns for my service four times a year. I know those weeks require more from me. There are emails to write, tech to manage, leads to talk to, sales calls, onboarding, and all the random things that appear once you're in it.
During those windows, I might work 25 to 35 hours instead of my usual 15-ish. I've had campaign days stretch much longer than that too.
My family knows those dates ahead of time. They're on the calendar. We order food. Expectations change.
Then the campaign ends.
That last part is where I think a lot of us get ourselves into trouble. We prove that we're capable of working at a certain pace for two weeks, then quietly turn that sprint into our normal schedule.
I've done it. I've come upstairs from my basement office at six thirty or seven at night and realized I basically missed the entire day. I can physically do that, especially because I have incredible support around me.
I also don't have to.
Miranda said something during our conversation that gets right to the point: "Just because I can doesn't mean I should."
Capacity isn't an invitation to fill every inch of it.
A good opportunity can still get a no
This gets especially uncomfortable when the thing you're considering is actually good.
I've been invited into rooms I wanted to be in. I've looked at programs I could afford. I've considered projects that made sense on paper.
Sometimes I've still said no.
There was a community I loved that included regular five-hour Saturday meetings. I had already spent a year there and had a good experience, but continuing meant giving up Saturdays when my daughter had games and activities. That wasn't something I wanted to keep doing.
It wasn't a bad opportunity. The timing no longer worked for the life I wanted.
I've started thinking about decisions through that lens more often. Is this a no forever, or is it a no for right now?
A no for right now is incredibly useful because it doesn't require me to make some dramatic declaration about who I'm going to be for the rest of my life. I can decide that something doesn't belong in this season and revisit it later if I still want it.
I also look at what the decision produces beyond the immediate commitment.
When I decided to rebrand my website and program, I knew it would require time during a season when I usually prefer to pull inward. I said yes because the work would keep paying off after the project ended. I'd have the website, brand assets, and materials available for future campaigns and content.
I was willing to give more for a short period because I could see what that decision made possible afterward.
You still have to be the CEO of your own business
We also talked about the temptation to hire someone else to make our decisions for us.
I've invested a lot of money in coaching, consulting, communities, and outside support over the years. Some investments were fantastic. Others taught me what I never wanted to pay for again.
The distinction I've learned to make is whether I need expertise or permission.
If I want to learn a strategy I don't know, I can hire someone who knows it. If I need support implementing the next thing I already know I want, fantastic.
Things get messy when I want someone else to tell me what my business should become.
I've worked with clients who essentially wanted me to decide their goals, offers, schedule, and direction for them. I can't do that. I don't want another business to run.
Miranda experienced her own version of this when she hired coaches who were very good at what they did, but didn't share her constraints around time and family. She wanted to grow while keeping her workweek around 15 to 20 hours. Their answer was basically that the two desires didn't fit together.
That experience helped clarify who Miranda wanted to serve and the kind of company she wanted to build.
Outside support can give you expertise and perspective. You still have to know what you want the advice to serve.
Your current season doesn't have to become your permanent pace
Toward the end of our conversation, Miranda asked me what I would tell someone in her season, with three little kids, homeschooling, clients, a growing team, and a brain that still wants to ask, "What's next?"
My answer was to zoom out.
There will be another season.
If you're in a period where your life requires more of you outside the business, maintaining what you've already built is an option. You can decide that the next four years look different because your kids are little, you're caring for someone, your health needs your attention, or you simply don't want your business consuming your life.
You don't have to manufacture a new offer because you got bored. You don't have to add another program because the business has been steady for six months.
Miranda talked about how her revenue has grown quickly since she went full time in her business, and how tempting it is to keep chasing the next increase simply because she's gotten used to seeing the number climb.
Her husband offered a much simpler challenge: What if you kept what you've built?
I think about that a lot.
There are seasons for building aggressively, and there are seasons when maintaining a profitable business while your attention goes somewhere else is a damn good outcome.
The business will still be there when the season changes.
Listen to my full conversation with Miranda on Sell the Damn Service for more on motherhood, business, capacity, and deciding what actually deserves your yes.
Chapters
00:00 Meeting Miranda through Threads
02:07 Motherhood, business, and competing priorities
05:00 Loving your business while protecting your family life
07:32 Building a business around real time constraints
09:30 Creating boundaries when you work from home
17:01 Planning for busy and slower business seasons
20:58 "Just because I can doesn't mean I should"
21:51 Hiring coaches and knowing when outside support helps
28:20 Choosing between multiple priorities
32:11 Good decisions versus the best decision for this season
56:31 Growing a business with three young kids
59:06 Why maintaining can be a legitimate business goal
01:04:30 Where to connect with Miranda
About the Guest
Guest Bio
Miranda Trudeau is the founder of Mom Knows Marketing, a marketing company serving mom-owned businesses. She's a mom of three, homeschools her kids, and has worked across marketing, operations, and business growth for about a decade. Miranda started her company in 2019, went full time in 2023, and later expanded beyond working solo to build a team that supports clients across marketing strategy, branding, websites, and ongoing marketing.
In our conversation, Miranda shares why her experience getting business advice from people whose priorities looked very different from hers helped shape Mom Knows Marketing. She wanted to serve business owners who care deeply about building substantial businesses while protecting the time and boundaries their lives require.
Connect with Miranda Trudeau
Website: Mom Knows Marketing
Social: @momknowsktg
Ready to Restructure and Productize Your Service?
Inside Sold Out Services, I help service providers examine who each offer serves, what happens after someone buys, and where qualified clients are being left without a clear next step.
You do not need to create an entirely new business every time you reach capacity.
There may be more revenue, impact, and long-term client value hiding inside the client relationships you have already built.
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