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Episode #112 – Power Squad Project with Ashleigh Blatt

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I can’t help getting a little excited when I meet another mom of a child with severe allergies. Not that I am every pleased to hear that anyone has severe allergies. It’s just that we immediately have a certain understanding of how your plans on any given day can be completely derailed by a call from school or summer camp or gymnastics saying that your child needs immediate medical attention and you have to drop whatever it is you are doing, hop in the car and go! I actually met today’s guest Ashleigh Blatt at the 90 Day Year Live Event in San Diego in April which she ended up arriving to a day late because her daughter had a reaction the day before and had to be temporarily hospitalized. Such is the life for allergy families.

In the traditional corporate world, needing this kind of flexibility can be tough. It can be tough to talk a boss into getting it, and it can be tough taking it because colleagues might see you as a liability to the team and grumble, even though they know you have a very good reason for leaving work suddenly. Luckily Ashleigh realized before having kids that she wanted the kind of freedom and flexibility that self-employment affords. Ashleigh left her consulting and software implementation company with the plan of staying home with her babies while they were small. In today’s episode we talk about not only the work she does for her clients today, but also her own podcast Mompreneur on Fire and her latest project The Power Squad.

Why did Ashleigh create the power squad? Because she felt like so many of the entrepreneur communities online focus on the dude side of entrepreneurship. These are the communities that focus on hustle above all else and tell entrepreneurs to get up, eat protein and sit down and work for three hours before checking email or doing anything else. Or maybe they tout the incredible effects of microdosing LSD on your creativity and productivity. The people suggesting these kinds of things obviously either don’t have small children or leave care and feeding of their kids up to their spouses. The Power Squad Project is different. It is built for women, by women, and does not leave out things like needing to feed and care for children, have a social life and a bit of me-time now and then.

Ashleigh wants women to know that not only can we do it all, we ARE doing it all. As women we can (and ARE) coming together to support one another in the business world. We need real-life solutions, real-life strategies and resources for women who have 1001 things going on and are DOING IT. We run circles around the men in our lives. Now’s the time to celebrate and support that.

You can connect with Ashleigh Blatt via her website at www.thepowersquadproject.com or follow her on Facebook or Instagram.

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Resources

Stealing Fire

The Power Squad Project

90 Day Year

Amplify Tour

Dr. Sunder Brain Spa

#112 - Power Squad Project with Ashleigh Blatt

Part motivator, part organizational engineer, as an OBM (online business manager) Ashleigh Blatt is quick to grasp and effectively assess the entrepreneur’s vision and opportunity ahead. This has been paramount to her success in driving revenue for celebrities, experts & traditional businesses. Ashleigh also is the Chief Curator at The Power Squad Project, an email community for women entrepreneurs by women entrepreneurs.

 

Episode #62 Women in the IT Workplace with Cat Lam

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When it comes to women in the IT workplace, Cat Lam is here as living proof that it doesn’t take anyone especially talented, brainy, or extra-special to go into business for themselves as an independent IT contractor or freelancer. There is a way that you can use your current expertise, make a bunch more money, and have a whole lot more control over your own time and career.

This year marks her 12th year as an independent IT contractor / freelancer. She now call the shots. The day she became self-employed, and got that first contract, she instantly more than doubled her income, and was 100% accountable for her own career. Now, she assists others in finding their own way in that transition.

We speak about her career evolution, how she helps those starting out in an IT workplace, especially women going through the negotiation process, and the value of developing multiple income streams, no matter your industry.

In our conversation about negotiation and income equality, Jen mentioned the 3/5ths compromise, read more about that here.

Quotes

  • “I’ve actually had to learn a lot of stuff on my own.” – Cat Lam
  • “Being in IT, there aren’t a lot of “people” people, so if you have the soft skills you will be that much better than the rest of your peers.” – Cat
  • “Sometimes being a freelancer with multiple clients is more secure than having one job, because if you lose one of them, it’s not like a pink slip and all your income is gone.” – Jen
  • “It’s so easy online now to read bad reviews.” -Jen
  • “The art of the negotiating to being able to read people and figure out what is important to them in order to get what you want.” – Cat
  • “Pair your passion with money making potential, then you get to do what you love almost on somebody else’s dime.” – Cat

To connect with Cat Lam, follow her on her blog at itsolopreneurs.com, and catch up with her on Twitter or Facebook.

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Cat Lam 11Cat Lam is living proof that it doesn’t take anyone especially talented, brainy, or extra-special to go into business for themselves as an independent IT contractor or freelancer. There is way that you can use your current expertise, make a bunch more money, and have a whole lot more control over your own time and career.

When she moved from accounting into the IT workplace, it meant a big change for her. When you sign up for Oracle, or any consulting company for that matter, you sign up for 100% travel. It was fun at the beginning. But eventually, you start to schedule your life months in advance. Marriage meant a big change, and a break from consulting to work briefly with her husband and in the fitness industry. She grew bored of that and returned to her previous work as her own boss.

This year marks her 12th year as an independent IT contractor / freelancer. The day she became self-employed, and got that first contract, she instantly more than doubled her income, and was finally accountable for her own career. Now, she assists others in finding their own way in that transition.