What It's About
A mother of two creates an online course helping other mothers transition easily back into the workforce.
Business Model
Skills Required
Complexity
Profit Potential
Words of Wisdom
After baby number 2, Lori quickly realized why nobody else had created this resource—new mothers are not blessed with an abundance of time, and half the time they're incredibly sleep deprived. Lori wasn't immune to this either, so she decided that in order to save her sanity, she would break up the building of her side hustle into 20-30 minute bite-sized pieces, tackling one at a time.
If you're feeling pressed for time like Lori, here's her advice: "There's never enough time in the day, but YES you can do this—maybe just not all at once. Be patient and aware of your needs, and everything will come together over time."
Fun Fact
For Lori, Mindful Return felt like a natural extension of the work she's been committed to her entire career: promoting women’s equality and leadership. As an undergraduate at Princeton, she wrote her thesis on immigrant women in France who were victims of domestic violence, and at Georgetown Law, she was the co-President of the Women’s Legal Alliance and represented clients through the Domestic Violence Clinic. In her private practice, she was a member of her firm’s Women’s Initiative and a member of the Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia.
Notes from Chris
Episode 255
Lori Mihalich-Levin lives in Washington DC, where she is a partner in a major law firm focusing on Medicare reimbursement counseling. She represents academic medical centers, hospitals, and health systems, as well as a broad array of other health care organizations. She’s also the mother of two boys, ages 3 1/2 and 6, and it was after the birth of her second child that she started her first side hustle, Mindful Return. Mindful Return is a 4-week online course that helps new working mothers return to work after maternity leave. More than 400 women have taken the course so far. After returning to work full-time after her own maternity leave, and finding that 1 child plus 1 child felt like 85 children. This high-powered attorney says she was in tears on the kitchen floor more often than she’d like to admit. No one seemed to be talking about how hard it was to transition back after the typical 3-4 month American maternity leave. She also realized that while there was a curriculum out there for pretty much everything baby related (from how to massage your baby to how to puree baby food and make a birth plan), there was almost nothing on how to go back to work after maternity leave without losing your mind. Does this sound like a big need to you? I’m not a mother but it makes perfect sense. Lori has now run the course for 400 women, was recently featured in the Washington Post, and is currently averaging $2,000/month in net income from this project. For her next step, she’s collaborating with a dad in creating a 4-week online course specifically to help new working dads navigate paternity leave and the transitions back to work.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
- Mindful Return: Does the thought of juggling your kids while returning to work bring you to tears? Learn more about Lori's course on her website!
- Ruzuku: The platform that Lori used to create her 4-week course
- Teachable | How to Launch an Online Course: Interested in starting your own online course? Here's a step by step guide to help you get started
- New Mother Gives Life To Self-Care Coaching Business: In need of some routine before returning to her job as an Ultrasound Technician, a new mother creates a side business focused on self-care coaching
- Introvert Builds Networking Experience to Help Women: A Denver transplant learns new skills and creates a networking group that now includes a podcast, magazine, and $30,000 in side income
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