Building a Business for Work-Life Flexibility with Anna Housman

When you find something you're passionate about, it's easy to want to turn it into your career. Anna Housman found herself loving pottery—so much so that she built a business around it. Through that experience, she learned how important it is for her to build a business that offers work-life flexibility. In today's episode, she's sharing how she overcame that struggle and build a business that honored her life.

Review the full show notes and transcript at susancrewsco.com/podcast

Transcript

Susan  

 Oh my gosh listeners, I am so excited for today’s episode. I have my friend Anna Housman here standing next to me and we are recording this episode live. I met Anna when I owned Rise and Shine Yoga. She was one of my students and loved seeing her come in. Since then we’ve continued to grow our relationship. And Anna is the founder, the creative, the mastermind, the entrepreneur, behind Daisy Chain Ceramics and I can’t wait for you to hear some of Anna’s story. Anna, I am so glad you’re here with me today!

Anna

Oh, thank you for having me.

Susan 

You’re welcome. Thank you. Thank you for being here with me today. So Anna, I know that you work full time from home, you had a daughter, when I met you, you now have two small children. But at that point in time, you had a daughter, and COVID hit. And then some other things happened in your life and you started Daisy Chain Ceramics. Which listeners, you can’t see what her mugs look like and her whiskey tumblers that she makes. They’re absolutely beautiful. But anyway, tell us what inspired you to become an entrepreneur? And you know, what kind of lessons have you learned from that? 

Anna

Being an entrepreneur was kind of an accident. It was not the intention. When I started out I worked full time as a speech therapist. And then had a couple of miscarriages that left me just kind of emotionally and mentally and physically drained. And in addition to doing therapy, I know from my work as a therapist myself, that proprioceptive input. So things like heavy work and, and deep pressure, do really good things for your body and your nervous system. And my husband bought me a class for ceramics. And so I was like, this is going to be good for my body and help me kind of get right. So doing class, like clay work gave me that really regulating input. And I kind of got hooked on it. And from there, I was like, well, I want to do more of this. But you can only put so many cups in your house before they have to go somewhere else. And so that’s how Daisy Chain kind of started from a place of needing to heal and then realizing that you can’t have 1000 mugs in your home. So I started selling them to them pay for more supplies. And it just kind of gone from there. But as far as like a lesson as an entrepreneur, I learned from my boss, who learned from I think Cheryl LanSchool McGee and it’s called Imperfect Action. That has really been key for me in I’m a perfectionist, I want everything to be done right. I want everyone’s experience to be perfect. And even before we logged on here, we were talking about my old work and I said God bless all the people who bought my early work, because it wasn’t perfect. And it’s not where I wanted it to be. And it’s so different from what I sell now. But it was that first step towards where I am.

Susan 

Yeah, so I’ve heard a couple of things in there. I have heard you say you really started this because the ceramics class was a gift from your husband. So he recognized that this might be one way that you could express your creative outlet. I will tell you listeners, Anna is very creative. She is an incredible seamstress. And I know she has done some amazing things in renovating an old home. So I’ve seen her creativity as well so her husband knew quite well. And then she knew from therapy that working with the clay molding the clay could help you to heal. And as our listeners know, I am a person of faith. I believe in God. Not everybody does but I do, you do, I do. And you know I think about the Bible verse where it talks about we are clay and God is molding us and Anna to the even today like showed me how you can tap beside and you can tell if there’s a crack and something that she has created. And I thought that was really cool. The other thing that I heard you say is entrepreneurship kind of came as the side effect or happened because you didn’t have anywhere to store all these beautiful mugs. So, you know, the one other thing I heard you say, before we move on, is I also heard you say, you look back at your first work, and you’re like, wow, God bless those who have the first mug right, including you. Most people know and have listened long enough that I am a huge supporter of women owned businesses. And I am a huge supporter of young women who are following their dreams or looking into a business that then becomes a dream. So do you have some of your early work? I just showed her oneBut but you just took the next best step. You know, you got started writing and you were creating mugs, and you had a bunch and friends and family started purchasing them. And then you’re like, wait, I can improve. So, you simply took the next best step. Is there been any that were wrong?

Anna

I don’t think I’ve had a step that was wrong. I’ve had steps that I thought would take me further and haven’t. Okay, um, but for the most part, my goal has been to grow things slowly so that I’m still having fun, alive. As long as I’m staying in that mindset of you know, I still work full time to support my family so that I don’t turn this thing that’s really beautiful for me into a machine has to make money that has to drive me somewhere. I’d love for it to one day be full time. But for right now, intentionally growing slow, keeps it fun, and allows me to really pay attention to the people and the opportunities coming my way.

Susan  

Ben and I have actually talked about that how important it is to have fun. And listeners, there are so many opportunities out there that you can be an entrepreneur, and have a business that brings you a lot of fun and a lot of joy. And that’s really, really, really important for Anna. And I think important. When we think about what makes our soul happy. You know, what makes us shine, I think you find women are much more radiant, when they are happy and finding joy in what they are doing. You know, I really do. 

So listeners, you’ve heard us talk a little bit about Anna that she has two young children, she works full time, her husband is always busy doing amazing things in their home and in the community. So, I can imagine that finding work life harmony can be challenging for Anna at times. And Anna, the way that I think about this is I think about work life harmony, like a symphony. Our life is a symphony. It’s this beautiful music that is just playing right. But sometimes one instrument plays louder than the other. And so we’re not in harmony, we’re all out of tune. But a lot of times it’s only for a measure. So I can imagine if you have a sick child, that that could be a time when you’re not living in harmony. Your Symphony isn’t playing beautifully. What are some things that you do to try to keep work life harmony, being a young entrepreneur, mother, wife, and friend.

Anna

Yeah, that is I feel a hot topic right now. It’s huge in the therapy world as well. I like the idea of it being in harmony, I often reference it as work life flexibility. Oh, I love that word. Yes. A good friend of mine phrased it that way. And I thought that’s beautiful. Because balance is so hard and changes so fast. And I work with children all the time on being flexible on what to do when things go wrong. It requires that kind of flexible mind state and so being able to say, you know, well, this is going to be my work from home day and I’m going to do ceramics and stay but my kid is sick. So, that changed and now I’m home with them. That’s really been helpful and in thinking that yeah, I can be flexible for a given amount of time and then it’ll swing back the other way. It gives me a little bit of space to forgive myself when things don’t go according to plan. or when I don’t get all the things accomplished that I want. And being able to start something from home has helped with that work life flexibility. Being okay with my daughter seeing me work. It’s actually been really powerful. There’s nothing better than when I’ve heard her tell strangers. My mommy makes things.

Susan  

I get goosebumps when you say that. And that’s what Stella told me this morning. Yeah, my mommy makes these. And I’m like, I think that’s so cool. Because I think when our daughters get to see us work, then they realize work is good. And it’s okay to make money. And it’s okay to have something of your own.

Anna

Yeah, absolutely. I think that’s so important. And in my family it was you get a logical job, you go to school, you get something logical, that makes sense. It’s going to pay your bills. And it’s taken a long time for me to look at a creative venture and really take my family very brave step and say, like, no, I’m going to make this a business. And I’m really passionate about it. And then it’s going to work. And I 100%, don’t have a doubt that one day, when I’m ready, it will be my full time piece. And I want my daughter to know like you have that ability to make whatever you want out of life.

Susan   

Oh my gosh, I love a couple of things. We’ve heard listeners, I love harmony, instead of harmony, maybe flexibility. And I choose the word harmony. Because I agree with you with balance. There are a couple of things there. It’s very hard as a wife, a mom, a daughter, a sister, a friend and entrepreneur, trying to do all those things. Finding balance is really an achievable, you’re always chasing it. Or if you do find it, I feel like I’m standing on a fence. Like, which way do I go right balancing, kind of think about that. But I love harmony. And I love flexibility. And I love the thought of being able to have that mindset that I can be flexible. And it’s all good. And give myself grace when I need to. Yeah, so I love that. And then I also love, I love it, love it, love it when I see young women following their dreams and setting the examples for their daughters. Yeah, you know, our daughters need to understand that. Like I said, it’s okay to work. It’s okay to work outside the home, or to stay in the home and work whichever, whatever anyone chooses. That’s the key, whatever they choose, right. The other thing that we found important in teaching our daughters was, it’s okay to make money and to have your own money and to know how to take care of your money. And oftentimes that comes with businesses and with being an entrepreneur, it doesn’t only come that way, but I feel like it’s important. 

Well, you know, Anna, we’ve talked about it and I kinda have an idea, talking about your flexibility, but I know that you are a yogi, you loved yoga, and you used to do a couple other things to soothe your soul. You are one of my radiant soul sisters. When I see you we smile. Your eyes are sparkling. What is something that you do every day or you know, you may not get it done every day but every week or every couple of weeks to keep your soul happy and find joy and let your radiant soul shine?

Anna

I am very open about this. With everybody in all walks of my life and all avenues that therapy for me is that thing that really helps me stay centered. I’ve done therapy off and on and then the last five years have gone every other week for probably five years now. I’m sometimes by myself sometimes with my husband, but that really has given me a lot of keys and insights to myself that allow me to look at things like flexibility and really understand why am I so upset or fixated or happy about something and why is that important?

Susan 

I appreciate you mentioning that because so often people don’t talk about it or don’t talk about it being what helps to bring you joy. Yeah, right and to really get to know yourself. So thank you, thank you for sharing that and as you said you share it. Often it’s it’s part of life and who you are and what has helped to make your radiant soul shine. 

Well listeners, I have one more question for Anna. But before we get to that, if today’s episode has made you pause and think about what you might like to be able to achieve work life harmony, or to find something that brings you joy, be sure to connect with me on my website at SusanCrewsCo.com or on our socials @SusanCrewsCo. And I would love to hear your stories as well. So Anna, thinking about the things that you’ve talked about and thinking about who you are as an entrepreneur, a wife, a mother, all these things, there may be somebody listening today that just needs one more tip or one more suggestion of something that they could do to maybe help them take that one little step forward? What would be this tip or piece of advice that you might share?

Anna

So one tip that I would have would be, you know, it’s different for everybody. But finding that way to self reflect and whether that’s yoga, or through journaling, or a book. One of the reasons why I love my full time job still, is I live far away from it. And so I have a 40 minute commute that allows me the time to listen to an audiobook often that is on some kind of professional or personal development. And I get that time every day in the car to really reflect on the day on what’s going on or reflect on something that I’ve heard in an audio book. And that’s what works for me, but it doesn’t work for everybody. So whether it’s yoga or journaling or something that lets you look inward for a minute. I think that’s really important.

Susan 

That’s an incredible tip listeners, you may want to take heart to really think about that. Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. And thank you for sharing your time with us Anna today. I really appreciate it.

Anna

Thanks for having me.

Susan 

You’re welcome. So, if you’ve enjoyed this episode of the Radiant Soul Sisters, be sure and tune in next time when I shine the light on another beautiful woman. Till then I’m Susan Crews, your host and be sure to check out my website SusanCrewsCo.com where you can find all the podcast episodes, resources, and our community.