Des Moines Parent Spotlight: Julie Jones of Julie Jones Coaching
For Julie Jones of Julie Jones Coaching, being a small business owner comes with many perks. But perhaps best of all, it’s allowed her to meet people from all walks of life. Des Moines Parent connected with Julie to learn more about her and her journey.
Give us a little background on yourself.
I live in Ankeny with my husband and two little kids. We have two boys, 5 and 2 years old. I was born and raised in Idaho but met my husband (an Iowa native) in Colorado where we lived for a decade before moving to Des Moines in 2021 to be closer to family and raise our kids in a more family-focused place.
Could you give us an overview of your business and what inspired it?
I help entrepreneurs scale their businesses and ignite rapid revenue growth without working more hours. I’ve been in the business operations space for the last 10 years, working primarily with chiropractors and coaches. I’ve been a coach for six of those years, and I started my own coaching/consulting business a year ago! In less than a year, I was able to grow my own business to six figures working less than 20 hours a week.
My experience spans business coaching, marketing strategies, offering packaging and sales, system building, leadership, communication and team building, personal transformation, quantum training, and energetics for rapid revenue growth.
I wanted the freedom to live life on my terms and be present with my kids while also monetizing my strengths. I was sick of working on someone else’s vision with someone else dictating how I use my time. Entrepreneurship is a wild ride, but I can confidently say I would never choose another way!
What are your favorite parts of your business?
I love being able to create, turn my thoughts into things, and to be able to create a business that works with my life (not the other way around).
After a year in business, I could never go back to working for someone else! I love the freedom and autonomy I have as an entrepreneur to create my dream life on my terms.
I have connected with some incredible people over the past year, have worked with people I never thought I would have the opportunity to meet, and have clients all over the United States and even some in Europe! It’s been such a delight meeting people from all different walks of life and supporting them in the success of their businesses.
My clients all have unique and interesting gifts and talents, and I love being able to help them grow their impact (and income). The ripple effect I see each day is so inspiring.
How do you juggle your parenting responsibilities with your business responsibilities?
This was the most difficult part in the beginning. For me, it’s 80% mindset and 20% logistics. I don’t believe that we have to sacrifice one to have another. I believe that I can be the mom that I desire AND have the business that I want. I have an incredibly supportive husband, but he also works 40 to 50 hours a week, so it took us some time and some trial and error to figure out the logistics of how it could work.
I have incredibly high standards for myself and my time utilization. I’ve learned to work extremely efficiently and also made a lot of lifestyle changes so I can show up the way I want to as a mom and a business owner. We have part-time support, and I’ve learned how to build pockets of work time throughout the day.
I also have strong boundaries. When I’m working, I’m working. When I’m with my kids, I focus on being 100% with them.
We have more of a family-focused schedule, not a child-focused one, so no one takes priority all the time. Sometimes the kids take priority, sometimes it’s work. We are flexible and often change plans last minute depending on our energy levels and what needs attention!
I also expect that things will come up with the kids or childcare sometimes, so I have structured my business in a way that I can be flexible 99% of the time! This is the beauty of being an online business owner.
What are some of your favorite things to do with your family around the metro?
My husband is a classically trained chef and restaurant operations expert, so we LOVE to hit the best restaurants in town and see what’s new in some of our favorite spots. Great food and service is our love language. We’re regulars at the farmers market, zoo, and parks, of course, too!
What’s your number one parenting tip?
Work on yourself, invest in yourself, and be selfish.
And I don’t mean selfish in a negative way.
I struggled with postpartum depression and felt lost in the transition from not having kids to being a mom. It took me a long time to redefine my new identity as a mom. The first few years, I spent a lot of time resenting my kids and my job for not having any time to myself. I was stuck in a story of being a victim of my circumstances for a long time. When I started to become aware of this, I was able to shift it, which dramatically changed my life. Being willing to prioritize my needs, still do things I want to do, ask for time alone, take the time to date my husband, do fun things as a family, and invest in my personal development is the foundation for me to show up as a great parent.
I can show up with compassion, patience, and flexibility for my kids when I’ve prioritized my own needs first.
Having open and honest communication with my husband has also been a key component of this. I can ask for what I need, and so can he, which means we can fill our cups before pouring back into the family.
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