Paralegal to Podcasting Pro: How Fran Stone Built “9 to 5 Mom with a Pod” While Raising a Toddler | #227

What if you could start a profitable podcast and personal brand before you ever quit your 9–5?

In this inspiring episode of the Second Act Success podcast, Shannon Russell talks with Francesca (Fran) Stone, founder of 9 to 5 Mom with a Pod—a podcast and consulting platform that helps mom content creators launch personal brands and grow with purpose.

Fran shares how her winding career path—from talent agent to paralegal—gave her the business, sales, and people skills she now uses as a full-time entrepreneur. After becoming a mom, she realized her demanding legal career no longer fit the life she wanted, so she started her podcast as a side hustle, monetized it through consulting and affiliates (not sponsorships!), and eventually quit her job to work for herself… all while caring for her toddler at home.

If you’re a mom who dreams of starting a podcast, growing a brand, or leaving your 9–5 to work online, this conversation will show you what’s possible—without a massive audience or going viral.

Key Takeaways:

• Every job prepares you for entrepreneurship
  How Fran’s past roles in admin, accounts receivable, talent representation, and law all gave her skills she now uses in branding, sales, and running her business.
• Building a business while still in your 9–5
  How she tested her idea, validated demand, and stacked part-time income before quitting her job, plus what she put in place financially to make the leap.
• Running a business with a toddler at home
  Real talk on routines, support from her husband, working in focused 20-minute pockets, and swapping scroll time for CEO time.
• You don’t need to go viral to make money
  Fran proves you can monetize with around 2,000 followers if you have a strong brand, clear offers, and a nurtured audience.

SHOW NOTES:

https://secondactsuccess.co/227

Connect with Francheska Stone:

https://9to5momwithapod.com/

https://9to5momwithapod.com/podcast-episodes/

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Transcript

Second Act Success Podcast

Season 1 - Paralegal to Podcasting Pro: How Fran Stone Built “9 to 5 Mom with a Pod” While Raising a Toddler | #227

Episode - #227

Host: Shannon Russell

Guest: Francheska Stone

Transcription (*created by Descript and may not be perfectly accurate) 

[00:00:00] 

Fran Stone: I worked at a McDonald's when I was in high school, I've been in admin jobs, I've been in accounts receivable jobs, I've been receptionist, I've been executive assistant, a talent agent, a paralegal, I've always been fascinated in running my own business. And now looking back, yes, every little thing that I've done has definitely led to this 

Speaker 2: Are you ready to quit your nine to five job and start a business of your own? Well, you're in the right place, my friend. Welcome to the second Act Success podcast. I am your host Shannon Russell, and my mission is to help you produce your best life. This podcast will teach you how to get from where you are now to where you want to be and how to build a business that fits your life and lights you up.

Let's get started.

Shannon Russell: Hey there. Welcome back to the second Act Success podcast.

I will be chatting today with Francesca Stone, the founder of nine to five Mom with a pod, a [00:01:00] podcast and consulting platform that teaches mom content creators how to launch their personal brands and grow with purpose.

Fran talks about pivoting her career over the years. She worked as a talent agent and then as a paralegal, and then she decided when she had her little girl that she wanted to go all in on podcasting and being an entrepreneur. Here she is. Let's dive into my conversation with Francesca Stone.

Shannon Russell: Francesca Stone, welcome to Second Act Success. 

Fran Stone: Thank you so much for having me here. Shannon, I know we talked a lot in the pre-interview. 

Shannon Russell: I know we could just talk all day. We really 

Fran Stone: like to just talk all day and just, we have to get together for lunch. Sorry. You go on. I 

Shannon Russell: know we say that all the time.

We really need to, we're so close. We're like an hour away, so we will do that. So close, so 

Fran Stone: close. 

Shannon Russell: Well, let's get started. We have a lot of things aligned in our past, the entertainment industry, being from California, all of those things.

But why don't you start by telling us where your career began. 

Fran Stone: Oh my [00:02:00] goodness, it's a whole story, but to keep it light and short.

 I was a licensed talent agent.

Fran Stone: So I lived in Florida, then I moved to California because of that. Position. Yeah. And then I decided that I didn't wanna do it anymore. I was just, it was a little stressful. I was constantly on call. , I never had time off. I was at an age where I really wanted to explore and travel and you know, and my job just didn't allow me to do that. Mm-hmm. So then I said, okay, let me just put this aside. Maybe if I get like a regular career, it would be a lot better, but I kind of like contracts, I love everything law related.

Mm-hmm. The closest thing that I could think of, well, I guess I could just start being a paralegal. And that sort of set the, the stage for me to be able to go out and travel with my husband, enjoy a little bit of life. Before that, I had like no life. It was like 24 7 on call. Mm-hmm. it was fine.

I was very ambitious and career driven. changed that for that [00:03:00] purpose. And then. When I became a paralegal, I just loved it so much. 'cause I did employment law, , employment discrimination, retaliation, and I worked with a lot of production companies and, you know, it, it was a law firm in Beverly Hills.

So I really just, I loved working there and I just stayed there and I made a career out of it.

And I thought for sure, that's what I was gonna do forever. I was gonna be a civil litigation paralegal. I made a career out of it. Speaking engagements, the whole thing.

Everything was wonderful. But then I had my daughter and maybe a lot of people could relate to this, where you are just want a career change. You're a career change for your life, for your lifestyle. In this particular case for my daughter and I was stuck in the disability insurance phase where they wouldn't pay me for the.

I didn't get paid maternity leave, but you had to be in the whole disability insurance for you to even get paid for that time off that you're not even working. Anyway, that sort of opened my eyes of like, [00:04:00] well, I don't have freedom. I don't have a say, and I'm just in a wheelhouse and constantly just kind of running and running and running and I'm not getting anywhere. I don't wanna do this anymore. I still love it, but. I just wanted something more, fulfilling something that I created, 

so then I had this like, amazing idea of starting a podcast about being a paralegal. It was gonna be called The Good Paralegal. That one flopped because it didn't, there was no market for it. And by the way, for context, I was not a podcaster.

This was not my industry before. So the idea of starting a podcast was like, left. Mm-hmm. Like, I, I don't know what even inspired that. Like, oh yeah, let me start a podcast and see if that works. Don't know why. It was just a moment I was like, maybe I should just try something different, see if it clicks. If it doesn't, if I don't like it, then it is what it is.

Anyway, the first, uh, podcast flopped and the second podcast was [00:05:00] with me and my friend, and I said to her, Hey, would you like to come on and we'll talk about. Entertainment, lifestyle, pop culture, that sort of thing. she said yes, , but after first few episodes, she was leaving on maternity leave, going back to nursing school.

And she also did not really like the podcasting, arena, which I understand. Yeah. That's not for everyone. But then it left me, you know, sitting down between seven to nine months just thinking. What am I gonna do? 'cause I started to like it, which was the weirdest thing.

I was like, oh, I actually really like podcasting. I kind of enjoy it and I can make a business out of this. . I bought some equipment to see if maybe it would inspire something to do it from my own home instead of paying for a studio by the hour, which is incredibly expensive.

Yes. And. I ended up, , buying all this equipment, but all the equipment sat here for maybe seven to nine months. Something around there, 

Shannon Russell: really. And my 

Fran Stone: husband would be like, Hey, there's equipment just sitting there, expensive equipment just sitting there. What are you gonna do [00:06:00] about this? And then I said to myself, well.

I'll, I'll, I'll get to it, I'll record later, I'll, I'll, you know, et cetera. And then I kept pushing it off. Pushing it off until I met. It's so funny, we were just talking about this. Mm-hmm. Until I met my coach, Laura, my PR person, and she just said, listen, just start recording at this point. Talk about anything.

Yeah. And I started recording talking about anything and at. Particular moment. I was helping a few moms out because I was part of this mom group on Facebook, and they were asking me questions about, oh, how do I create a domain name? I'm very business savvy. That's what I really love to do. Like I love behind the scenes business stuff.

, So then I was like, oh, I can get on a call with you. I can help you with this. I can help you set up your Instagram. I can help you put that together. That was very easy for me. Right. But then that's where it came up, nine to five, mom with a pod, and I was like, wait, I'm a nine to five mom and I have a podcast and I'm also helping other moms.

With their creative side hustles, which is pretty cool. Yeah. And here it is. Wow. That [00:07:00] was really long. I was gonna make it shorter, but I couldn't, I needed to practice to how to make this shorter, but that's basically how I landed here. In this particular, in, in this spot. 

 so I love it though. So you went from being a talent agent to working as a paralegal. Mm-hmm.

Shannon Russell: So you began the podcast while you had your nine to five? Yes. Hence nine to five mom with a pod. Yes. And what made you realize, okay, I want to leave this job. I also have a toddler running around and I want to go in all in on the podcast. 'cause that's a big decision. It's because not all podcasts monetize.

Fran Stone: Yes. So I didn't monetize my podcast through sponsorships. And what happened was that when I started this journey, I was, yes, I was still working a nine to five all the way through. Mm-hmm. And what I did was that I, you know, everybody has this perception that you start a podcast, you're gonna get all these deals.

It's gonna be like a call her daddy, it's gonna be like a Joe Rogan. Everything's gonna be great. It's not, [00:08:00] it's a lot of preparation, it's a lot of work. Um, and, and that's why people were kind of shocked that I took that. Pivot. Yeah. Because they're like, wait, podcasting, that's, that's very like, difficult to kind of get into, but it's not a saturated, uh, area.

It's, yes, there's a ton of podcasts out there, but if you just know how to do it right, I feel like you'll be okay. So what I did was that instead of fighting. With sponsorships and brand deals. I said, well, how do I make this into a business that I can profit and also be able to record it? And what I did was that I ended up centralizing my consulting platform.

I sort of merged my consulting platform with nine to five mom with a pod. So they both became one so that when someone would see me right now and say, okay, well I really. I really wanna do what she does. I wanna have that mic that she has. I wanna know how she got that background. It's simple as [00:09:00] just booking me for a consultation.

That's how it started. Okay, so then I got in with, uh, Fiverr. Uh, I just literally created an account on Fiverr about podcasting consulting. I'm very good at branding and like I said, I really love the whole branding business mm-hmm. Aspect of it. I'm just obsessed with that and eventually I started helping other people do that, and that's how I was able to make money.

So when I was making money instead of spending the money, I put it, I was just talking about it with you. Mm-hmm. I put the money back into my business instead of it going to me. So, um, I knew that I had a nine to five, and yes, the extra money would've been great, but I sort of. Created a system in my household where I militarized our bills.

Shannon Russell: Yeah, 

Fran Stone: so everything became very military. I really honed down on reducing the expenses by over a thousand dollars, meaning my daughter's not gonna go to daycare. She's never been in daycare. She's been with me at home the whole time, even while I was working a nine to five, and I was doing this. [00:10:00] So she's been at home with me.

She's still at home with me and that saves me that extra money.

I reduced my car, two cars to one car. , So that was, I was able to put and apply any extra funds, can go back into the business.

Everywhere I go, it's sort of a business mentality. It's either I spend $40 a. to go out to dinner, or I spend $40 on Eventbrite to get leads. 

Shannon Russell: Mm-hmm. And 

Fran Stone: then I sort of. Started that monetization process with consulting at the same time my email list was growing and at the same time, if you have a really decent email list, you could get really good brands to send out emails too.

And then you just sponsor them there. Yeah, and then at the same time, I was getting affiliate partnerships because of the email list and the blogging that I already had, and that sort of generated a very decent amount of income. Now you're not gonna make full-time income. And this is where it becomes tricky.

I was making part-time income, which was fine. , It's livable. But then it comes to the decision of, okay, if I'm going to leave my job, that means that I'm gonna have to work three [00:11:00] times as hard to make that full-time income and to make the other half. So you're gonna get to a place where you're gonna stop.

In your business, right? You're gonna make the part-time money and it's gonna be probably consistent for the next few months. And then you have to think that, hey, your business is gonna need a lot of you, just like your child needs a lot of you, you know, your family, your kids, you have to put it together and say.

Well, is this the time to do it? And if it is, how am I going to plan out the next year and what can I fall back on if something were to go south? Mm-hmm. And that's what I've been doing the last few months. And, God I haven't had the need to fall into anything, fall back into anything, but, because I'm giving a hundred percent of my time to it now.

Now you reach the, the full-time income, but you have to constantly be on it. It's, it's, it's going to be a hustle for the first few months. I'm still in it. 

Shannon Russell: Oh yeah. I always advise my clients this [00:12:00] too, is start while you have that paycheck coming in.

Yes. Like start putting all the pieces together. And that's exactly what you did because if you had quit your job and then picked up the mic and tried to figure it out, you'd have a much longer runway of building this business of yours. 

Fran Stone: I would've probably been really sad. Mm-hmm. And given up and then gone back to another nine to five.

But I actually told that to my husband the other day 'cause I'm like, we're doing so well with the expenses and we're doing so well, managing everything and keeping everything in-house, reducing everything, what we don't need. And I said, man, if I was this. Specific and military, like when I was working a nine to five, I probably would've left a lot quicker, but you know what?

I never go against the universe. I think the universe just had a plan for me and this was what it was, and I'm happy and I'm, I'm totally happy with it. But I was just thinking like, oh man, if I would've gone back, I probably would've just. Ized my expenses because I started doing military style [00:13:00] expenses when I realized I wanted to leave.

Mm-hmm. Which was a month or two before I quit. 

Shannon Russell: Right. 

Fran Stone: I'm like, okay, let's, let's, you know, let's slash this off. We don't need this. But I, I wish I could have done that a year before that and I would've been way better. But a lot of people think more money, more money in your pocket.

It doesn't really go in your pocket. You should put it back into the business. And what I mean, putting back to the business, advertising, , leads, , ads, you know, create Facebook ads, Eventbrite ads, um, you know, grow your email list. . Just sort of work on that. Mm-hmm. Upgrade your equipment, upgrade your mic, upgrade your lighting, upgrade your camera, your whatever.

So, and then if you put money into the business, it just sort of becomes this high for you where you're like, oh man, like I'm doing really well. Like, I'm upgrading my content. I'm doing better and better every single day. And people will see that. People will want to be that. And then that's how you just kind of go into that radar.

Shannon Russell: While you were working and you were figuring out this plan and starting the podcast and doing all the things, [00:14:00] you were able to almost. Justify that it was working and that you enjoyed it and you were, you know, dipping your toe in and saying, okay, I really do enjoy this and I could do this all day, which is a great thing too.

Rather than saying, I quit, I'm gonna start this thing that looks like a shiny object over here, and then find out that I don't enjoy it. So what a great way for you to really, yeah. Get into it, realize that yes, I can make money from it. Now it's okay to quit and go 100%. But I know that listeners are probably saying, how are you doing this with your toddler, your almost 3-year-old running around?

Because that's a whole balance and figuring out that harmony in your house. 

Fran Stone: I don't have a secret cheat code. How do I put this? I, I'm very all about the household. I'm very about my daughter. Like the morning is hers. Like I spend nine to like noon with her.

We go to the park, we go to the library. We do story time, we do painting classes, we do everything. Sometimes I, and I take one day a week off. [00:15:00] Even though I hate to. Mm-hmm. 'cause I love to work, but I forcefully take myself like one day a week off to take her to the American Dream Mall here. And I take her to the sesame,

so I spend that time with her. My husband works remote, we, we switch and if I need to go get something, he'll watch her and then vice versa. Whatever. So, uh, but the way that I do it is that because I've been doing this since the get go, since I've had her at home, since she was born, she's never done daycare.

Yeah. I think she just used, she's used to the re the, the routine that is happening in my household, because the other day I saw her, I, I was turning on the lights, like I said. Mm-hmm. And she went into the room, she's like, oh. This is it and I'm like, oh, that's weird. 

Shannon Russell: Mommy's recording. Let me go be quiet.

Fran Stone: Okay. Sometimes like she'll have her days where she, yeah, she'll, you know, come on, camera she'll, she just wants to be like, you know, involved in what I'm doing. But for the most part, like right now, my husband is watching her in the room and keeping her entertained, putting movies [00:16:00] for her, playing with her blocks, that whole thing.

And it sort of gives me, gives me that hour to get anything that I need to get done, whether it's recording or being a guest in another podcast. So I, I take. Little bits of time. So I don't take, oh, I'm gonna take a whole day break, a whole eight hour break. I take breaks in like, okay, I have 20 minutes.

What can I get done that I don't have? Or What can I do in these 20 minutes that I don't have? Or, and you sort of have to be ready for it. And that way you could feed your business with what it needs. Yeah. Even if it's 20 minutes. That's the thing. I think that a lot of people think that you need to be sitting down for three, four hours at a time, just.

Creating ideas, creating content when this is a 24 7 type of thing, job. So if I think about something, I'll write it down and when I have those 20 minutes, I'll go back to my phone and say, oh, I could do that in 20 minutes. Yeah, I could do that in 20 minutes. So it has to, you have to play with that because kids are very [00:17:00] unpredictable.

Mm-hmm. 

So you, you never know, you know, be flexible with it. Some people, this will trigger people.

Like sometimes I said to somebody, oh yeah, you just have to take a break. And it triggered and like, oh, well not all of us have time to take a break. Well, okay, slow down there. There is time. Okay. Yep. There's nobody in this world that could tell me that there is no time. There is time because the time that you spend on social media scrolling, that's time.

That's time. Yep. 

Shannon Russell: A thousand percent. I'm 

Fran Stone: just gonna say, I said what I said. I said what? That's time. You think that you're spending five minutes on social media? No. You're spending half an hour at least. Mm-hmm. 

Shannon Russell: On social 

Fran Stone: media. At least you could use that half an hour of break that you call a break or whatever.

Or it's not a break. I don't know. It's still a break. , And put it into something that you really wanna do and then you buy yourself that time, but you just have to be mindful of it. Yep. 

Shannon Russell: I love that 

Fran Stone: sacrifices. 

Shannon Russell: It is. It is 

Fran Stone: sacrifices. 

Shannon Russell: Well, tell us about the podcast. Like what can we hear on the podcast?

What is your [00:18:00] main focus as far as the content goes that you share? 

Fran Stone: I, everything in nine to five is all educational. So everything from marketing to uh, how to grow your following. So I bring in a lot of other guests that their expertise is that. So my job is to say, okay. If I have a, a, let's say a woman entrepreneur, that her topic is marketing.

And how to grow your email lists or whatever, then that's going to be the topic of the episode. So I always, even if I don't understand what they're saying or I don't know that part of their job, I still bring them on because I'm able to ask them questions in real time and say, oh, how do you do this?

Because I'm also trying to understand and learn. So if you think about it, it's also a learning process for me. Mm-hmm. 

Shannon Russell: Interviewing 

Fran Stone: all these sorts of. Different types of, , people with marketing experience, branding experience. At first I would like, I think the most that I've learned in the podcast [00:19:00] would be branding.

Yeah. I think that became a huge shock for me because I always thought it was about. Following and engagement rates and all this list of things that everybody wants to tell you that every you, you know, your social media looks and photos and this, but your branding. So I had an A guest a long time ago.

She talked all about branding and in the beginning I would say to myself of why would anybody listen to this? Mm-hmm. But when I finished out her episode, it was actually the most watched episode. Wow. So you could see that even I make a mistake of saying, well, why would anybody listen to this?

So at this point, I put everything out. Even if you like it, don't like if you wanna listen, don't wanna listen to it. But it's all related to content creation for moms and mm-hmm. And it's, a lot of the guests that I have are also moms that are entrepreneurs and doing the same thing, and that they're teaching you how to do it as well.

Shannon Russell: And your listeners are women who want to, and [00:20:00] moms who want to start a business or they already have their businesses? 

Fran Stone: Both. Okay. So some people, you'll be shocked, some moms are like, Hey, I'm good just making extra couple hundred bucks a month. Not really interested in, you know, creating into a business, but extra money would be nice.

And it, it would help a lot in my house, my household. 'cause it depends on each person's household. Yeah. And then I also have other women that this is all they wanna do. This is their goal, this is their dream. So then I just help them sort of reach that next step in, in their journey. So I. If they contact me about like, okay, this is what I need to do.

This is what I wanna do. Okay, how do, how are we going to do that? So let's look at your lifestyle. It's very difficult for me to speak on different types of lifestyles. You know, everyone's situation is different. Yeah. So when they contact me directly, that's when I go, okay, let's pinpoint. Your exact home lifestyle.

So I'm able to go around it and figure out what we can do to make that better, [00:21:00] to make that goal happen. Mm-hmm. And I think that's what I'm really good at. Business branding, just making it happen. Yeah. And I think that's the hardest thing because yeah, I think somebody can figure out how to, you know, make, create their Instagram account, upload a photo, and that sort of thing.

But I think the mental, the mindset. Which is also another shocking thing in business that I came across with, , mindset is everything. I was really shocked about that. I thought, I can run a business. I could probably do that with my eyes closed. No, you need, I need to be, if I'm having a really bad day, like it's just like the other day was too high.

I was too tired. My daughter was throwing a tantrum. We were just not all synced up. I'm like, okay, we just need to. Let this day end. Yeah. And we'll get on it tomorrow. Um, sometimes I'll do it on the same day, but mindset is everything when it comes to business. And, it's easy to say, oh man, poor [00:22:00] me in this situation.

But in reality, if you look at a bird's eye view, this is, for me specifically, if I looked at a bird's eye view of my life, there was really no excuse I should be putting in the work that I'm putting in.

 It is the mindset of this is what you want to be doing now at this aspect of your life.

Shannon Russell: You have the flexibility with your daughter and your husband, so it's all worth it. Yeah. And like you said, you enjoy work and I do too. And it's, I, I would work all day because I enjoy the content that I create. I enjoy working with my clients, but there are days where I close the laptop. And I say, okay, like let's just step away.

This will be here tomorrow. That's why we're the boss. But it's that mindset of knowing and I guess listening to your internal self and saying, okay, I do need a break.

Fran Stone:  no mom out there has it easy. Not one mom has it easy.

We all have our own stories. We're all going through something, but can we do something for ourselves? Yes. 

Shannon Russell: Mm-hmm. 

Fran Stone: Can we create [00:23:00] a business? Sure. Yeah. I had somebody ask me, well, how did you get all these speaking gigs? I asked. The secret is to ask is to put yourself out there. They're gonna say, some people are gonna say no. Sure. Right. They're gonna say no. Um, you just move on, get to the next person, say, Hey, would you mind if I speak on this particular thing?

Maybe they'll say no again. Okay. Next person. Hey, would you mind if I speak on this event? Yes. Okay, great. And then again, mindset. Mindset. So you think it's like the act of doing it, but the act of doing is the mindset part. So. 

Shannon Russell: Do you feel like the experience you have from working as a talent agent, working as a paralegal, you've taken some experience and skills from those career paths and brought those into your life as an entrepreneur and podcaster now and a speaker?

Fran Stone: Yeah, 100%. It's funny because I think Chris Jenner had one of those episodes. She was doing an interview and they [00:24:00] asked her the same question and because they were like, oh, she was talking about her herself being a flight attendant and how that helped her in this career. And you would think a flight attendant, what does the flight attendant have to do with what you're doing now?

Yeah. But she actually learned a lot about respect, customer service, um, you know, hierarchies in, in positions and all this other things. And then I said to myself, you know what? That's a well said thing.

I said, that's a great response, because now that I think about it, and then it made me think about myself. Everything that I've done from working at a McDonald's. I worked at a McDonald's in when I was in high school, and then I worked for a talent agency.

Before I became a talent agent, and that's how I got licensed to be with them, and then it just sort of all built it up to where I am today. So I've been in admin jobs, I've been in accounts receivable jobs, I've been receptionist, I've been executive assistant, a talent agent, a paralegal, I've been all of that and all of that has shown me.

So accounts receivable, that's why I'm really [00:25:00] good with business and finances 'cause I already know how to use that. As far as businesses, I've worked with a ton of businesses, so I've seen how they run it and I've always been fascinated in running my own business. Um, so every little nugget for every little experience, even the one working at McDonald's.

McDonald's just really taught me how to be really great with people. I was a cashier. you're the cashier that day or you do fries. It doesn't matter. You learn something for EV from every single position. And now looking back, yes, every little thing that I've done has definitely led to this like sales.

It's a very big thing. I learned sales at the talent agency, believe it or not. 

you have to sell your client, you know, you have to sell them, they're the best. Mm-hmm. They're number one. This is what they need. , And I remember I had a whole sales training with that boss at that.

Particular moment. And I would think to myself, this is so ridiculous. Why would I need to know about sales? Even up until now and now I'm like, oh, now I'm using sales for my own [00:26:00] business. Because yes, I'm consulting. It's a consulting platform, but consulting platforms are a sales business. Yeah. You know, and podcasting is also a sales business.

I'm trying to have you listen to my podcast, so it just sort of shows. 

Shannon Russell: it all comes together. I love to talk. I know. Love it. About that thread that just like comes all the way and brings you where you're meant to be. Where you feel like everything you've done up until this point is aligned. And it's aligned now with you as a mom.

Fran Stone: Yeah. 

Shannon Russell: With your daughter. So it's brought you to a great way. 

Fran Stone: I think my daughter taught me a lot about resilience. Oh. I'm not a pa you know, back in my twenties all the way to my thirties, before I had my daughter, I was just, I, whenever somebody says, you just have to be patient, you just have to wait.

I'm like, oh my God, what are you talking about? Get outta my face. I need this now. But when I had my daughter, you learn a lot about resilience, which is important in business because, um. There's gonna be a lot of down moments where you're gonna be rejected. And, and again, I'm not talking about rejection, like, oh, they're gonna say [00:27:00] something mean to you.

It's just gonna be a no. Oh, we're not interested right now. We're, that's not what we're trying to work on right now. That's not our goal right now. But it still stings because you're like, man, it just feels like a, like a down, like a failure. Yeah. But resilience is so important, um, because that way, and she's taught me that because she's taught me.

Herself, she falls a hundred times a day and every time she falls I'm like, I, I freak out. And she's like, she gets up, she just brushes it off and then, and like it never happened and she'll forget about it. And I'm like, oh my goodness. So she'll give you a heart attack. Yes. But she'll also teach you about resilience.

And it just showed me that like, man, she gets up every single time, so why can't I do that? 

Shannon Russell: Hmm. 

Fran Stone: I love it. It's Children will change your life. 

Shannon Russell: They do. Oh my gosh. Your life, your work, your business, your future. Yeah. And in the best way in the, 

Fran Stone: yeah. No, and literally I, there's no [00:28:00] better way. If you need training, train with your child.

Yeah. Train with your child. I am. You know what, that should be a training. Just train with your child. Yeah. That's perfect. 

Shannon Russell: Well, where can everyone listen to you and connect? Social media, your podcast, everything? Tell us where my listeners can follow along, Fran. 

 I have my website nine to five Mom with a Pod.

Fran Stone: It has all my links there. Nine to five mom with a pod.com. But you can also find nine to five Mom with a pod on Apple and you can also find me on Instagram. They're all the same. Username, nine to five, mom with a pod. The episodes are listed there. My blogs is on my website and then I'm on social.

Um, right now I'm on Instagram. That's like my main platform. Um, usually not anywhere else but there. And that's where you can get it. 

Shannon Russell: Fantastic. Well, we could talk all day, but I know, I know that she's waiting for you in the other room and that I hear her. Well, thank you so much for sharing. I think your story is so inspirational, and especially the idea of, of really creating a podcast that [00:29:00] is not just recording episodes, but it's connecting people and having your consulting side of the business and just really finding a way to monetize it.

That's not what we all think in the sponsorships. Yes. And all of that, that you're doing it in a very, um, unique way that is. Perfect for you and your talents and your skills. So, 

Fran Stone: and to add to that, just to give everybody a little bit of closure before we close, , just know that I have 2,200 followers on Instagram.

It's a small community and I was still able to monetize this, so you don't need to go viral. If that's because that's my fear. My fear is to go viral. Watch it happens. Oh my gosh, I have to stop talking about it. I'm not gonna go against the universe. But, um, going viral is not really the key. You could go viral, but that doesn't mean you're, you're monetizing.

So all I'm saying is that you can have a community. You can have a brand, and you can monetize with as little as 2000 followers. Yeah. That's your community. 

Shannon Russell: Great advice. [00:30:00] Oh, Fran, thank you so much. I can't wait to see your community and your brand. Keep on growing. Thank you too. And so happy we're connected.

Thank you. 

Fran Stone: Let's finally do that lunch We've been saying we're gonna do, 

Shannon Russell: we'll do it'll.

Speaker: Thank you for joining us. I hope you found some gems of inspiration and some takeaways to help you on your path to second act, success. To view show notes from this episode, visit second act success.co. Before you go, don't forget to subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss a single episode. Reviews only take a few moments and they really do mean so much.

Thank you again for listening. I'm Shannon Russell. And this is second act success.