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Emmy Kissinger is a school-based professional, blogger and mom. As a woman obsessed with learning she is always trying something new. Her main interests include gentle parenting and mental health during motherhood. You can find her blog and ebook store at www.brightlittlemama.com
City where you’re from:
Ridgeway, Iowa
Hobbies:
Blogging, raising chickens, spending time with my family and reading.
Favorite quote:
“Everyone was sent here to learn different lessons.” -unknown
Why did you decide to become an entrepreneur?
Early motherhood was far more challenging than I ever imagined it would be. I experienced many struggles and I feel called to share my experiences with others because I learned a lot of helpful information throughout my journey. I sincerely want other women to enjoy and find happiness in motherhood so I built a business about this idea!
Who were your biggest influences? Was there a defining moment in your life?
Pam England (Author) and Brenda Burke (Local Midwife). I attended the 2016 International Cesarean Awareness Conference. On the last day of the conference I had the honor of listening to Pam England speak. It was as if her words were everything that I needed to hear to start my healing journey. In that moment I figured out exactly what I needed to do in order to heal from my birth trauma. In this moment I was finally able to see a vision of how to help myself which transformed into a mission to support other moms on their deeply personal journey.
Now
What are you working on? How did you come up with this idea?
I am now working on an ebook that focuses on healing from trauma that resulted from an early motherhood experience. Birth trauma is a buzzword right now but after talking with many friends the potential for trauma seems farther reaching than birth. Early motherhood is an extremely stressful time for new moms. The ebook will feature each of the strategies that were essential to my healing journey.
How is your product/service different and unique? What has been your favorite moment with it? What’s the vision?
Once I realized that I had experienced trauma and needed support to recover and find peace I started searching for anything that might help. There was a lot of information to sift through and every resource that I found generally included one helpful tip. What I ended up needing was a series of different strategies. It took me over a year to find all of the information that I needed to make the flashbacks stop. My ebook is different from other books about healing from trauma because it includes a menu of strategies so that women who have experienced trauma can find what they need to heal.
My favorite moment was when I submitted a simple google survey asking women to submit their stories to be included in the ebook and with very little outreach the responses kept pouring in.
How do you uniquely market your company?
My business is primarily marketed through my blog (which I LOVE writing)! I primarily share information on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and through word of mouth. I plan to launch the book in early August of this year.
Write your own question:
The early days of parenting are hard, whether you are a new mom or a new dad. Do you feel that you experienced any trauma during those early days or months of parenting your new baby?
What was your biggest failure and biggest success? What did you learn from them?
My biggest failure at this point has been watching too many free webinars. After watching a new webinar I always want to take action right away and then end up neglecting the other action steps that I had on my list. My biggest success has been sharing information with my blog readers and as a result getting personal messages from women who feel inspired and excited about trying something new. This has helped to remind me to keep moving forward because the work I am doing has value.
Value-add questions
Give the readers the best entrepreneurship advice you have.
My best advice is geared toward mompreneurs- you have to be willing to get up early and stay up late in order to dive into your passion. Nap time just isn’t long enough!
Teach us something about {internet marketing, social media ads, fundraising, sales funnels or another topic} Can you recommend any favorite websites to learn that topic?
I am in the process of taking the BookBoss Course by Just a Girl and Her Blog. I love it and have found a great deal of value in the information that they are teaching.
While working on your project, have you come across any interesting bit of knowledge that you’d like to share? (i.e. any new research finding, any new platforms, some novel management technique, etc)
My heart is eager to promote local businesses on my blog so I have made a point to contact local businesses and barter the services that I need for my ebook. This has been a great networking strategy! Example: banner ad for photography session.
Teach me something I don’t know (it’s vague and open-ended on purpose):
I think many women don’t realize that they are carrying the weight of early motherhood trauma with them everyday for years of their life. There just isn’t enough awareness around the topic.
What daily habits do you have that allow you to perform at your peak?
I get up at 4:45. Make coffee and get at least an hour of work in before my 2 year old wakes up for his morning snuggles.
What should an entrepreneur focus on?
I review blogs and websites that I find beautiful and reflect on what makes those pages beautiful. I then try to put my own spin on those elements to improve my page, photos and writing.
Walk us step-by-step through the process that you had to go through to get from the early stages to where you are today.
I started with an amature blog on the wordpress website. I read free articles, watched free webinars and spent time creating and dreaming. My biggest challenge was actually creating a page that I loved. Once I figured out how to do that I got a great confidence boost which allowed me to get to where I am today.
What are some of the best books you’ve ever read?
- Birthing from Within by Pam England.
- Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskin
Where do you see yourself and your product in a couple years?
Our family plans to stay living in rural Iowa and I hope to continue working for our local area education agency during the school year. However, having the opportunity to work part-time and promote my ebook would be beyond amazing for myself and my family!
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