Mother, entrepreneur, therapist, and supporter to mom entrepreneurs, Brooke Miller is a well of wisdom. Honey for Moms is her multi-functional space where moms can get every piece of support they need – from career coaching to lactation consulting, Montessori playtime with their kids, baby yoga, and a co-working space where kids attend pre-school prep. Brooke created Honey for Moms to be, “Here to fiercely support you every step of the way. Some think it’s a radical idea. To us, it’s just the right thing to do.” Brooke started Honey for Moms after years of experience working with mothers and newborns as a psychotherapist. Brooke shares her wisdom, experiences, and systems she teaches at Honey for Moms.
“Opening a business has been harder than I thought and more beautiful than I thought.
One thing that took me a minute to digest is that there are so many details, things to choose from, and things to think about behind the scenes. The goal is to have the user experience be flawless. There’s so much going on behind the scenes to make that happen for customers.
One of the hardest things to learn is that sometimes my best isn’t good enough, and that’s hard for someone like me who is a people-pleaser. If one person wasn’t happy, it used to unravel me completely. It doesn’t anymore. Now, I’d rather focus on quality instead of pleasing everyone. I focus on how I can deepen the experience for those it’s a great fit for, instead of trying to please every single person.”
Leveraging her experience, Brooke creates workshops and training at Honey for Moms. In response to her own experiences as an entrepreneur, as well as the experiences of many mothers, she designed an Emotionally Intelligent Entrepreneurship course.
“I developed a training called ‘emotionally intelligent entrepreneurship.’ It’s a full day of nine to five training. I limit it to only mom-entrepreneurs right now, with a maximum participation of twelve to fifteen people. It is deeply connected to HOW we take care of ourselves. The idea of self-care is so stale. No one knows what it means anymore. People think it means to just go get a manicure. Self-care is about seeing yourself. The truth is, if we don’t feel seen, we can just crumble, because we aren’t receiving needed padding from other places in our lives, including from ourselves. The training is all about different ways we can take care of and see ourselves as business owners, avoid burnout…etc.”
“One reason moms are happy to go back to work is that we love our work! We are whole people, and we are not only supposed to be happy with one thing or one role. Moms are happy to go back to work because they’re excited to do what they do. Going to work allows for a different activation of yourself. I think we bring a lot to our families when we love our work.
Women who don’t love their work are going back because they have to. So, how can we find passion and value at their current position? How can we create a plan to edit the next steps? The answer is through support groups and career coaching. Some moms don’t want to go back to work because they feel drawn to be at home with their child. That’s the part of themselves that’s activated at the time. Some moms feel that forever. For other moms, that dissipates over time. I wish moms could have the choice to activate different parts of themselves whenever they’re ready to be activated!”
“From our whole co-working space to our child care, Honey for Moms in its totality is inspired by emotional well-being and intelligence. Everything has a therapeutic and wellness element to it. Of course, not everything is a therapy.
I believe most foundational post-partum therapy helps us to feel that we’re not alone in our process. Isolation breeds disease; it breeds discomfort, fear, depression…all of it. Whether it be physically, by being here, or emotionally, by talking about it, we can help with that process of reducing the isolation.
There’s no way you’re the only one who feels something. Other people may have felt the same in the past, or are currently experiencing the same feelings. Both group and individual therapy, coaching, counseling....all of it, are meant to lessen isolation emotionally and physically.”
“It’s okay that someone who doesn’t have children doesn’t understand what it feels like to have children. Parents are open to questions. All we want is respect. Respect means to look again, see again, and to tilt your head to the side and say, ‘Huh, what’s really going on?’ I think it’s especially true for new parents – respect is what they want. For someone to say, ‘Huh, I wonder what that’s like for her, that must be really hard.’ A lack of ‘seeing’ is what’s hard for parents, or anyone, for that matter. An employer will be like, ‘What do you mean your kid is sick and you can’t come into work? Just have a babysitter watch them.’ Or, ‘What do you mean you don’t have childcare? Just find it.’ Any parent, on the other hand, would understand the struggles and details going on in each of those situations. It’s better to respect one another for the fact that we don’t necessarily understand what each other is going through and instead, try to respect and believe one another for our truth.”
“Entrepreneurial moms can thrive one day and not the next. We all have good days and more challenging days. I think some of the moments we thrive most sustainably are when we surrender and listen to ourselves.
Thriving as a mom-business owner is about having community and a space to be authentic, raw, and imperfect. Motherhood and business aren’t black and white. It’s never either just good or bad. It’s always some beautiful, amazing, challenging color in between.”
To learn more about Honey for Moms, visit their website.
If you’d like to open in Ferndale, check out our Who To Call page to learn just what to do next!
City of Ferndale, Michigan
300 East Nine Mile Road
Ferndale, Michigan 48220
