Christy Keane: 00:06 you are listening to motherhood ignited a podcast for mompreneurs creatives and influencers who are rocking the beautiful balance between working passionately and nurturing. Presently I’m your host, Christy Keane and every week I interview inspiring mom bosses, brands and industry experts to bring you the knowledge, tools and strategies to grow your influence and business through purposeful online content creation. So come in and cozy up mamas and get ready to ignite your goals.

Christy : 00:36 So today’s guest is a mom I absolutely adore and I think it’s important to chat with her today because so many people associate Instagram with social media influencers that you kind of forget that the mom who’s behind these profiles may be killing in other areas of their business off the platform as well. And Casey Wiegand is one of those mamas! And as a busy mom of four, she manages an IG of over 160,000 followers while maintaining an active blog for over 11 years now and a thriving young living essential oils business with over 78,000 team members. Is that right? 78,000 oh my gosh. And a Pinterest page with over 1.2 million monthly views. And yes, I said monthly. So Casey, you know, I love you and I adore you and I’m so excited to share your motivational story today. Why don’t you share a little bit more about who you are and what you do? Well,

Casey: 01:26 super honored to be here. You obviously inspire me so much and your friendship has been such a gift to me. So getting just to hang out, like this is the best. I agree. That’s like the best part of this entire process. No know the community that I have found online truly is priceless. It really is. So, I mean it, you mean the world to me and I can’t imagine my life without your friendship. Same girl thing. So yes, I am Casey. I’ve got four little ones. Um, ages 10, eight, six and two. And we live in Dallas, Texas. And I’m married to my husband Chris. Um, and just like a quick synopsis. I know we’ll get deeper into it, but, so, um, we owned an art studio for kids, which led me to blogging. Then we had a little design network show, we started a blog conference, we did a documentary and then it led us lastly to young living. So we’ve really had one, um, dream to the next and it’s been really neat to see how it all has connected over the years.

Christy : 02:35 And I think that’s what I’m finding is so similar. The more I talked to different, um, women in this space is we’re also multi-passionate and I think it’s been so amazing that women aren’t afraid to recreate the idea of what success is for them and what the idea of what brings them passion is through all of these platforms. As things change. You are definitely a huge, exactly. I wrote down

Casey: 03:02 quote, um, before I hopped on today and it says, um, you know, no, no matter how similar the calling, there’s still a space for you. And I love that because I do think so many of our callings can look very similar and it could be easy to say, oh, she’s already doing it. Well, you know, there’s not a spot for me here. Um, and you know, I hope that through you telling so many stories that people really realize that there’s a spot for every story and really a need for every story.

Christy : 03:32 I love that. I really love that you’re going to have to send me that quote so that I can make sure I number one, like put it in a note. So I reread it for myself. And also just to share with everybody you see you had to do, you had an art studio. You know what? Actually I accidentally typed in just Casey weigand.com ended up blog of yours for me. It’s the weekend from back in the day we get to, oh my gosh, I’m saying your last name wrong. I’m so sorry. I probably do have some old websites with my art on it. That’s so funny. Yeah, it was so adorable and I think you are pregnant too. I was like, oh this is so cute. Um, so you had a kids’ art studio and then you said you had a design show. It’s funny

Casey: 04:14 because I started my blog. I mean, the reason why it’s called the weekend start column is because I never thought anyone would read it besides family. We had a child in the NICU. We actually are our four time NICU parents. Um, so we had, I wanted a space where we could update family. I had never even really truly seen a blog, what you and I would consider a blog today, you know, with beautiful photos and sponsorships. I just didn’t even know they existed. And um, so that’s how it started. And then I remember one night I was sitting up in my attic, that’s where my little desk and computer was, um, years ago. And I found a blog for the first time. Um, and it was amazing because I was reading this woman’s words. She lived in New York, I lived in Texas, we didn’t know each other. And I was weeping and I was inspired and I was moved. And I just remember thinking, this is incredible, that we can be all the way across the United States and have this common thread. And it just like lit a fire in me. Like, I’m going to do this. I’m going to share life in this way. And that’s when really the blog from what it started switched to more of what it is today.

Christy : 05:29 And obviously you have been very successful with that. And I don’t even think I knew that you had a blog conference. So tell me more about that. Cause I’m just like whoa. I know. So we, I guess three years, um, it was called hope spoken.

Casey: 05:45 My best friend, actually, the woman that I was just talking about, I emailed her in the middle of the night and we started a friendship and now we have done young living together. We’ve done a blog conference together, we’ve done so many things. And um, anyways, it was such an incredible experience. Um, but I tend to be someone where just like you said, I have lots of passions. And so after we did that for three years, my heart just kind of shifted onto the next screen.

Christy : 06:13 Wow. That’s just, I can’t believe how much you you’ve done that I didn’t even know about. And I follow your family so closely on Instagram and like I said, you kind of forget that there’s this, when you follow people it’s kind of like you pick up on that day and you move forward from there. I, you know, people these days aren’t going back as much and or doing as much deep searching off the platform. But you are somebody who not only on the platform is doing amazing but often you’re just killing it. Like I said, and I can’t wait to dive into that more today and I would love to find out how’d you get started on Instagram and what growing your following there? It looked like, cause I think you have, you have over 160,000 followers.

Casey: 06:54 Yes. And so I can remember, I feel like I’m in an a little bit of an unique spot because I started blogging so long ago and blogging really isn’t at all what it used to be. It, it changed so much when Instagram came onto the scene. And I actually remember for almost a year saying like I’m not gonna do that. Which looking back was like, not a wise, you know, strategic thinking move. Um, but I just, I was holding on to what was, and something I’ve learned so much along the way is that we have to be ready to change. I mean, more than ever, social media is changing, everything’s changing. And you know, when I realized that I got on Instagram and of course, um, it’s been the most beautiful community, but really I feel like blogging went away in a lot of ways, at least the way that it used to be did and everything moved to Instagram and moms were much more apt to be scrolling and reading bits and pieces here and there rather than sitting down, just like you said, and really digging deep into long blog posts or past archives.

Casey: 08:01 And so, you know, I just moved with that. And so really my following started on Instagram from so much so much of the community that I had created through my blog. And then, um, you know, from there it was like, okay, how can I learn this new, you know, new community and how to grow here. So I’ve met so many, you know, new friends through Instagram and have grown in new ways there. But that’s really how it began. Um, was kind of that shift. And what year was that that you started even? No winded Instagram really? Come on. I feel like it seems like forever ago. Um,

Christy : 08:42 I know, I think it was probably like 2011 ish that it’s starting to, yes. So

Casey: 08:49 I was going to say, um, cause I’ve been blogging about that because, let’s see, my daughter was born in 2010 and that’s really when I started. Yeah. So, yeah. And it was a lot easier to grow back then. Oh, I feel like, yes. I mean it was a completely different, it’s not at all what it is today. It’s changed so much.

Christy : 09:11 And do you remember like when you first started getting your big significant amount of following? Like in the tens of thousands

Casey: 09:22 we have had three miscarriages. And when I had my first loss, it was so shocking to me and so hard. I just used this, you know, this community that has really truly already given me so much back. Um, as a place to just, you know, I mean just share and just, it was so beautiful. Like I just opened up so many like raw vulnerable pieces of that part of our story. And I never imagined what I would gain back. I mean, if I look back on that, it’s, here’s the, I’m like my voice start to shake because, um, I mean it was just so beautiful. Like what people did, you know, they just really stepped into that pain with us and then we wound up having two more losses. But I think truly if I look back, that’s where like kind of the shift went from like, oh, this is a blog that we’re sharing our life to like, okay, we need to sit down. We’re, you know, our monthly viewers has changed drastically. And like, you know, we just need to like reevaluate as a family. We’re sharing our kids and we’re sharing our life and where do we land with all this? And, and that’s really truly where I feel like the, um, you know, the numbers really started to change.

Christy : 10:45 And I think that’s an important point you bring up about talking as a family about when you do start opening up about such personal things, which is that’s what people are longing for, right? Is that connection and to know the real you and the vulnerable sides of you and the good and the bad, not just the highlight reel, but what did that conversation look like with your husband? Talking about, um, sharing more with your kids. Cause I know that’s something that I still, you know, we’re still kind of navigating as our kids are younger and as your kids have grown kind of with you in this space, what are those conversations look like to yeah, feel.

Casey: 11:21 I mean, I mean they, we, we basically, I mean this taught, this was like, you know, a year long conversation. It wasn’t something that, it was like a one time and there was a whole lot of um, you know, prayer and just conversations and just really kind of navigating that. And we basically landed on, you know, I’ll share my story and I’m not gonna share anything that would embarrass them, you know, anything like safety wise, like I don’t tell anyone they go to school or you know, details of those kinds of things. And then also like things that really aren’t my story to tell. I’m not going to share. I mean there’s as much as I have shared, which I feel like as a whole lot, there are still so many things that are incredibly, deeply personal that I haven’t because, you know, it involves other family members that I’m like, you know, it’s, again, it’s not my story fully to share. And now as my kids are older too, um, you know, there was something recently with my son, Aiden, that I wanted to share and I sat down, I said, here’s the post. If you’re not comfortable with me sharing this, you know, I’ll delete it. There’s, there’s no reason to make you feel any certain thing. And he said, you know, involving them in those conversations, especially as they get older, um, I think is, is the key really, truly.

Christy : 12:42 And what did he say? He’s like, that’s fine, mom, go for it.

Casey: 12:45 Yes. And you know, it’s sweet because they’ve been a part of this since they were little. I mean, to be totally honest, there’s times they’re recognized out and there’s just, it’s just been a long journey of this. And so, um, you know, my heart truly is to be a light and to um, share, you know, our family as a light and they know that. And so as they’ve grown and understood that, you know, for the most part, they’re very happy to share. Every once in a while they’ll be like, don’t ever tell anyone that. And I’m like, I would never share that. But you know, if it’s something that’s, I mean I always want to share the, the beautiful pieces, but I mean, my son was sick, um, two years ago, like very sick and you know, I was hesitant at first to share because that’s his really truly his story. But you know, at some point we decided to kind of let people in. And again, this community is so amazing and has given so much. So it’s, it’s been a really good thing. You know, the, the good outweighs the negative.

Christy : 13:48 Yeah. And I think it’s really beautiful how you balance it and you know, it’s always so respectful to your family and your children. And I, and I feel the same way because I share a lot about Charlie’s journey with hearing loss. Yes. But I try to make it, you know, from a mom’s point of view or from the family’s point of view in what we have to navigate it so that when she’s old enough to tell her own story and hopefully she will be speaking it beautifully or signing it beautifully, but she can, she can write that story herself. But there still is as a mom, you know, so much that we go through and meet. I don’t, I don’t know what I would do when I found out about Charlie’s hearing loss if it wasn’t for Instagram. Cause you know, and like your experience with the NICU and you know, just reaching out to people and the people that maybe are in your real life don’t have the same similar experiences. And I know it’s hard for people to understand sometimes how you can grow such beautiful relationships online, but it’s truly just that connection that’s different

Casey: 14:52 that, you know, maybe the person that’s she’s living next door to you. It’s so true. When I was going to say you’ve done that in such an honoring way, which I think is huge, you know, when you’re honoring your child’s story and letting it be a light, I mean, like what a beautiful opportunity to be given that influence and that platform to do that. Um, and just like you said, it’s funny because, uh, I was thinking this morning, I was thinking about the enneagram when I was kind of, you know, thinking about us talking today and I was like, I don’t have that many friends in my, like real everyday life that are threes and they’re achievers and they want to, um, and there’s nothing wrong with that because my friends here in Dallas or you know, mean everything to me and are such beautiful of course and shit.

Casey: 15:39 But for me to have those friendships where I connect on that specific, you know, uh, level, um, oh, I can’t imagine. I mean, you know, to have mastermind sessions and just like you and I connecting on different things, it’s just something that has given me so much life. And, um, you know, so many fires in my heart. So I can’t imagine, just like you said, not, not connecting online in those ways. And so true. And that’s funny because I also am an enneagram three, four and of course, oh my gosh, it’s so funny. What is I think, what is it when you like get stressed? Do you know which one we go to as a three? Okay. It’s a nine. It’s a peacemaker. Oh, okay. Yeah. And isn’t, it isn’t going to kind of like a lazier one, two or something. I think what it is, is, is as a three, when they’re stressed, they fall into the peacemaker because they don’t want anyone to be upset, you know?

Casey: 16:37 Um, and so I, I have, I have found that that is very true for myself. Like I, you know, I don’t want, I, you know, mostly ever don’t want to upset anyone. But then expecially if I feel like, you know, in that stress mode, that makes total sense. It’s, I feel the same way. And then do you said masterminds, are you in a mastermind or have you done a mastermind group before? I’m always curious about those. Well, I just feel like at this point I’m in so many different, um, either Facebook threads or groups of women where we do zoom calls. And so I, you know, in my mind I call them masterminds, but, um, I just think it’s so neat, especially when everybody’s doing different things too, because, you know, it just makes you think outside the box. I know, I, I’ve actually have been doing a lot of research on masterminds just because I’m fascinated by them. And for those of you who are listening who have never heard of a mastermind, it’s basically a group of thought leaders that come together and encourage one another and hold each other accountable and um, really pour advice and insight into one another that can help them grow either in their business

Christy : 17:50 or in their influence or it just depends on really what the, what the overall goal of the group is. There’s a lot of really high end business ones, um, that, gosh, they cost, like people will pay like tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars to be in these masterminds. Yes. It just crazy. Like Lewis Howes, I love him. He actually shared the video of Charlie wants to know fan girling so hard and he had opened up his mastermind and I know great people like Jenna, Jenna Kutcher who were talking about earlier off of the recording, he did it. And I think Lori harder, who I’ve loved since I did fitness stuff, she did it just a lot of big name female thought leaders that are in the influencer space right now. But I’m like, okay, that’s my goal. But I’m not there yet, but it’s donating to me that people, we all crave that, um, connection and that validation from people who we respect and admire and people actually will pay for that too. And you know, it’s just so interesting to me.

Casey: 19:01 Yes. Well, and I was going to say, I am a huge believer in, you know, investing in your business in, um, spending money to make money. And you know, so much of my story is struggle. Um, when we started young living, we were, we had lost most everything we were, you know, in had moved in with family and I’ve been super, again, blogged, everything open with our story and you know, people would say like, how are you advertising on blogs? You know, this was back when it was different and then, you know, you’re struggling. And I’m like, because like I know where I’m going, I, I can see the picture and I know that I have to invest in my business. And so anyways, when you think about investing in a mastermind or something like that, but how much more you could get out of it and the potential of where it could take you? I think it’s a really good perspective to remember.

Christy : 19:55 Exactly, exactly. And that’s why I’m keeping it on my goal list. And Louis, if you’re listening or Jen, I think Jenna did. Jenna did a mastermind maybe. Oh yeah, fair. Yeah. So yeah, Jenna, if you’re listening I’ll be in your mastermind one day. I like we should do it. So Kathy, I’ll, yes. Oh my gosh, let’s do it. Okay, let’s have a side chat about that for sure. And I definitely want to talk to you. I know just we’ve had so many side chats. For those of you who are listening, me and Casey are friends and I’ve been looking forward to doing this podcast with her. And I know we want to talk later about kind of just some woes we’re feeling as things in social media change. But I really want to dive into again a little bit more of what you do off Instagram, which you have said a lot about what young has done for your life and how that works and just how you maintain all that and have a workflow. Cause I knew that you had a successful young living business, but until we recently dug into that more preparing for this podcast, I did not realize you had 78,000 team members. So I’m just like, wow, I’m blown away. I, I know there’s a lot of big advice out there for people in this space to diversify their income and find, um, you know, a network marketing platform or you know, business that they truly use and enjoy. And for you, that’s been young living. So yeah, tell me more about that and how that’s worked. I was

Casey: 21:29 going to say, you know, as do you and I are talking, I hope people remember like, so I’m an integram three on the strengths finder. I’m an achiever, I’m a maximizer. So I thrive, you know, juggling lots of things and running after things and working and not everybody’s like that. And so I think it’s super important to remember where is your strength and what is gonna lie to fire in you and you know, go down that lane. Um, you know, cause I think it’s so easy expecially online to to get caught up in, you know, oh well she’s doing it this way and just really figuring out what works best for me. You know, my family and my kids are my quote unquote my why. They were the drive. They were, I had a vision of, you know, and I still have goals and visions of where I want to go, but I knew that I didn’t want them to absorb the sacrifice and to work, you know, the way that we work.

Casey: 22:30 Um, I knew that I was going to have to have early mornings and late nights and it wouldn’t be forever. Um, but you know, I wanted me to absorb that sacrifice and not them. Um, so, and I know in a minute we’ll get into more some of my workflow and some apps and different programs that I’ve used that I love. Um, but you know, just, it is a whole lot of work. But also I think just finding, you know, I’m most inspired in the morning, so when I know that that’s my best work time, while it makes most sense for me to wake up early and get a lot done before anybody wakes up. Um, but yeah, so five years ago, um, my hormones, I mentioned we had had multiple losses. My hormones were kind of all over the place and people had talked to me about oils before.

Casey: 23:19 I did not grow up in a holistic comb. So it was like, ah, you know, I don’t know about that. Um, but I finally thought, what do I have to lose? Um, I got my kit completely fell in love with the oils and then I kinda had this other shift where I thought, you know, I’ve spent now at that point a long time building my blog and you know, trust with my followers and my brand that I just, it wasn’t something I was willing to share. Um, and then quickly that kind of shifted. I just, I fell so in love with the products and you know, just the more and more my eyes were opened up about safe, clean products and what these oils can do for families, I was like, how can I not share, you know, I’ve shared every other piece of our story, how can I leave this one out?

Casey: 24:06 And so I didn’t want it to take over my brand. And I think if you look at like, you know, my personal account, I could easily say it hasn’t. Um, but it became like a piece to my Pi. But what, what happened that I never expected was that that one, yes, led to 78,000, um, people in our team. And right now we’re the fastest growing young living team. We have so many influencers, um, and I don’t even just mean on line influencers, you know, just women in their communities who have influence in their homeschool groups and their ballet classes have just different areas that are passionate about sharing. And so, um, it’s just been really neat to see what’s happened and what, how much extra work do you have to do for the young living? So I would imagine just with such a large team and Maine tanning that whole, you know, it’s a, a whole business, so, all right.

Casey: 25:03 Yeah. So how does that work? Well, so my husband and I do this full time together now. Um, I mean, he’s still, he’s a filmmaker and a photographer, so he is still absolutely doing his things. But as far as, you know, the every day, um, you know, this is, this is our income. And, um, so you know, what that looks like is of course, this is like my full time job and it’s so much work, but also there’s so much freedom. Um, you know, we’re traveling all summer as a family and it just, you know, the sacrifice looks different. But, um, just what it’s been able to give us. And I’ve done posts before about when Aiden was sick, you know, when he was the hospital, that time freedom, it’s, it’s not something you could put a price tag on. Um, having that together and um, so that, you know, has been great.

Casey: 25:53 I mean, it’s changed our life and so I’ll be forever thankful for the opportunity. Um, but one thing is too, is now that this is our life, we have hired a team. Um, so now I’m not doing all this alone by any means. I got to where I am, you know, not without a team, but now to, to really be effective and to continue to grow. You know, I’ve brought on, um, a Pinterest manager, which you and I know we’ll get into. Um, I have someone running Facebook ads, I’ve got graphic designers and copywriters and, um, I have a full time assistant and a personal assistant. And I say all that to say that, you know, I had to work really hard to get to this space but now so that I can stay creative and um, you know, doing where I feel like is my sweet spot. Um, I really needed to start giving out tasks that, you know, maybe aren’t my best, um, use of time. Cause you know, we only have so many hours a day and we’ve got four little ones. And so I have to be smart with my time

Christy : 26:58 and no, I think that’s so important. I had Ashley Patreon on lately too and we were talking about the importance of protecting your time when you are a mom in this space because they still come first and it’s easy, you know, for, for people to forget that when you’re like doing a million things and you know, people, when you’re on line and on social media, people expect you to be present and in their dms and you know, answering back and when you’re doing young living, I’m sure there’s a big demand for quick responses with that too. But it’s so important to protect that time as a mom and with your kids at the same time. It’s just so you sound like you have figured out a really great balance to that. I mean, how did you call it? Finding your outsourcing too? I’m always, whenever I find out people outsource, I love to, well learn and I was going to say it’s not an easy thing

Casey: 27:49 then you have to fight for, you know, to really protect that time. And so I think it’s something that you continually have defy for, you know, and not start to fall in old ways. And, um, so okay, back to Jenna Kutcher. I actually went into her Facebook group. It’s the gold gold diggers Facebook group. And, um, I looked for, um, you know, I was like, who is an expert on Pinterest and Facebook? And so I have found, um, a few different amazing women through that group. And then, um, the others are on my oil’s team. And so we were already working closely together and so it was just like an easy natural fit. They, you know, they knew how the business worked. And, um, my personality and it just, it’s been a really huge blessing to my family, cause back to time, it’s given me more time with them

Christy : 28:40 and that’s the most important thing. And I love, I’m in Gen ed teachers group, someone have to use that license button and go through there and look at some more stuff because yeah, there’s just such a, she has such a powerful community of women in this space that I’m sure you found really great resources there. Right. And so what with your workflow, what is, what is a day in the life of KC look like?

Casey: 29:04 I was going to mention a few different programs and apps. Um, so we just switched everything over to something called air table and it’s been amazing because you have these huge calendars. So you know, for example, like a blog content calendar for me, I know everyone’s different, but for me to make sure that I have the best use of my time, you know, say I have a two hours of like power hours. Well, I need everything to be really organized. And so I know exactly what I need to sit down and get done. Um, so we’ll have content planned out, you know, months ahead. And then in there, I have all these different amazing women that I was telling you about so I can tag my graphic designer and you know, two weeks from Wednesday we’re going to share this recipe. So I need these graphics to be here in the copywriters and you know, my assistant who helps send out our monthly newsletter, she can pull from that.

Casey: 29:59 And so it’s just a really great way to, you know, all of us connect on what’s happening. Um, plantarly, which I hope I’m pronouncing that right is great for planning social media content. Um, through Instagram it has helped me, you know, I can grab maybe batch photos and then plan out what I’m gonna do. I’m not, I didn’t used to do that and I found that it really helped with time. Um, if I went ahead and planned ahead. Um, and then so I really, I, I get up at five, which I know is early, but you know, again, I have little ones in there up usually by seven 30. And so if I can have that two and a half hours of drinking coffee and I put in my headphones and just really sit down, um, to get things done, I like that to be like my inspirational time. And then some of the more mundane things like, you know, returning Facebook messages or dms or emails, you know, things that maybe I don’t need to be like fully inspired to do. I like to do an afternoon more during nap time or at night. So I think it helps to kind of plan out when you’re doing certain things. Um, so that, you know, cause sometimes if I tried to be inspired late at night when I’m really tired, um, I don’t think I would be able to crank out as much though.

Christy : 31:21 No. Yeah, I’m the same way. I mean I think I could probably benefit from a morning routine like that. I just, I can’t pull the trigger on it yet. I keep saying I’m going to, I had another guest on Amanda Hedgepath who talked about her morning routine. And did you just, are you always a morning bird or are that one day you were like

Casey: 31:39 five and Yam? I need, well I will say I’m, I am a morning person. I, I feel like I’m kind of a night owl too. I’ve never been somebody that I feel like needs like tons of sleep. Although I, you know, I am a, you have to get sleep. You have to, that’s important for our bodies. But I do think I’ve always kind of been a morning person, but I mean there was a time, you know, we were in the thick of growing our business. Um, when the month I had to Adelaide and really my biggest year of growth was from the moment she was born to her first birthday. I can remember, oh, I’d be so tired doing zoom calls and I can remember some, it’s falling asleep in her crib and just being like, I want to walk towards my bed that I’m going to walk towards my desk. And I think it’s just in those moments I just had that big picture, which is so huge, you know, just knowing, okay, why am I doing this and where am I going? Um, and honestly, I mean this sounds a little cheesy, but I have a huge passion for families and I want other people to be impacted and see success. And so my heart truly just has to revisit those things in those like really tiring moments. And then it just, you know, kind of ignites that fire. Right.

Christy : 32:57 Oh, I love that. And that gets me so much inspiration and hope and motivation for this year with welcoming Rona into our family because I’m kind of in the same spot as you, like you mentioned, like you just, you can see this bigger dream and purpose and life and you can see kind of where you’re feeling propelled and then you the day to day reality of, but wait, I’m going to have a newborn and two toddlers and I’m going to be fully, fully engaged there as well. And to know, you know, you just have to make sacrifices if you want these successes to come to fruition.

Casey: 33:40 Well, and I’ll, I’ll add to that too, cause I think this is a huge conversation is in that mom guilt. You know, cause I think it can be so easy to feel exhausted or overwhelmed by, okay I’ve got these precious little, you know, Kiddos that um, are my, my focus and my love. Um, but now I’m wanting to chase this dream and I’m wanting to work and you know, that balance. And I really think I had this light bulb moment when Adelaide was tiny. I mean I can remember it cause it was, you know, my first three were three under three, so it was like all babies at once. And then I have her. And so it was my first time to have older, three older children with a baby. And you know, it takes so much time to rock a baby and you know, that year that you’re really, it’s just a different pace. And I remember thinking, you know what, what a cool opportunity that I can show them what it’s like to nurture and take care of and sacrifice for a tiny baby. And I and I applied that same thinking to work is like what a beautiful opportunity for my, for me to show my kids what it means to dream and chase after something. And I just feel like when we shift those focuses too, it takes those heavyweights off of our shoulders because those moms that can be so much and it can really pull us down.

Christy : 35:03 Yes. I love that. I think that’s such beautiful advice and it’s true. Like just thinking about your kids and what you’re teaching them and, and I think that helps you ground yourself. I think it helps you find balance and I think it helps you make good decisions when you put your, you know, your sons and daughters in your shoes and think what you would want them to do or how you want them to react and spend their time meaningfully. So I think it just totally changes what you share and how you share and how you spend your time. So I think that’s really beautiful. Absolutely. So you get up at five, you have your coffee, you go through your two and a half hour power hours, and then the kids are up. I’m sure. So you probably have kids going to do you, you don’t homeschool, do you?

Casey: 35:52 I don’t, we have them at like a small, um, private school and so it’s actually was created by homeschool moms. So like my kids don’t go all day everyday til third grade. So my daughter, my kindergarten are only went two days, so it is much more, um, you know, home half home, half school until they get a little bit older. Um, but no, they are three of them. Three of the four are in school.

Christy : 36:21 And so when there, I’m sure you probably get a lot of work done then during nap times. Um, but when they’re home, are you just offline or are you kind of working sometimes in the background or how does that look for you?

Casey: 36:35 Um, I really try to put it away. Um, when I’m with them, you know, especially like when they’re, when they are in school and it’s not summer when they, when they walk through that door at four o’clock, I want to have everything put away until you know, bedtime. Um, sometimes things come up, you know, we’ll have a weekend sale or you know, some different things where they know that, hey, you know what, we just had two weeks in Florida. It’s okay mom us to spend the afternoon working. But for the most part I feel like we found a really good balance. Um, but again, I think it’s something that has to be fought for because our phones right there going off all the time, we’re getting messages, we’re getting texts and, um, direct messages. And I think it just really has to take discipline to say like, no, these are the times the day I’m going to check that. And then otherwise I’m just going to be present at home because you know, if that’s my why is to have freedom, you know, time freedom with them, then you know, I gotta make sure I’m not feeling it with other things.

Christy : 37:39 Very true. Very true. And I want to um, switch gears real fast cause I know that we had talked before about Pinterest and I am just so intrigued by this and I want to make sure I don’t forget to ask about it, but it sounds like Pinterest is really the way to go to grow your business. Has it helped with your Instagram as well? I mean 1.2 monthly followers or views or how does it work with Pinterest? 1.2 monthly views.

Casey: 38:09 Well it’s been amazing. So it’s really just been around January, January. Tell me everything about, cause I’m just so

Christy : 38:16 like I said, I have no Pinterest. I’m going to start from zero and, and try to figure this out and talk to your girl. But yeah, tell me.

Casey: 38:24 Well, I think the key is one, you have to have content coming out, you know, consistently for it to work. And so for me, I feel like that’s kind of like my sweet spot. I love generating content. Um, you know, I have used it as such a creative outlet for me. And so to really get back into that with recipes and hair tutorials and you know, sharing motherhood and you know, bedtime checklists, I mean, just, there’s so many different things that we have loved, um, over the years to share just our life. And then those kinds of fun things along the way. And so when I talked to her, I was like, okay, this is a really good fit because I want to generate content. And then her expertise is knowing like, what time of day depends something and what you know, tags do use and how many, and she, you know, I didn’t want to do any of that.

Casey: 39:18 I’ve just wanted to hand that over. And so it’s been incredible because I mean, I wasn’t focusing on Pinterest for however long. So I started with, I think it was like 30,000 views and then it went to over a million, like clearly, quickly, you know, and my hope is to keep growing it and growing it. Um, but I, I guess I’m always thinking through that business lens and I’ve done this long enough to know, okay, you know, what is my next step of growth? And so really on my list for this year was um, an email newsletter, you know, building an email list and then trying to get back into Pinterest. Um, rural really getting into it for the first time

Christy : 40:00 I went to Pinterest. Is it like Instagram where it’s all of your content that you’re pinning or do you pin other people’s content that inspires you and that counts towards your,

Casey: 40:10 so how can we pin like 95% my own content? I do get on there and use Pinterest, you know, for inspiration and houses and different things that I love to save for myself. Um, but as far as just like this strategic growth, um, W she’s pending cause she’s, you know, helping me do all this. Um, she’s pending like 95% of my own content.

Christy : 40:36 And is that content that you have to re make for Pinterest or is it content from your blog and Instagram already that she can?

Casey: 40:44 So that’s a great question. I was going to say it’s tricky because, so you know, an Instagram, everything’s in squares but for things to do really well on Pinterest, they really need to be like that long, you know, like rectangle shave not as square. So it’s, it’s cool because you know, for so long I was in the mindset of my blog and then really when Instagram take took over, I stepped away from my blog in so many ways because I just was sharing my heart and our life, you know, on Instagram. But what I have realized that it’s done with Pinterest is I’ve Kinda gone back to having things on the blog because she needs to pin it in this certain way, if that makes sense. Yeah, I didn’t, I have noticed

Christy : 41:34 you are so active on your blog and so I wanted to ask about that. So it’s funny that that ties together

Casey: 41:40 cause I really, I mean it was years, I really just, you know, it’s like, well if I’m already sharing it on Instagram, why do I need to go? Cause for so long it was my outlet and it was a journal and it was, you know, a love letter to my kids. But then when it shifted, but so I really feel like it’s brought it back and it’s been really neat to see how that has, and then, you know, I can still pull content from that and share it on Instagram. Um, and I do some and then some, I leave it just for the blog. So it’s been cool to see how it’s kind of all come full circle.

Christy : 42:13 Yeah. And obviously you’re doing amazing with it and I’m so proud of you for that and just everything you’re doing is really where I aspire to be as well. So I’m just so happy that you’re so kind to just share and be open about how you do what you do. What’s, what’s been like the most life changing thing out of all of, out of all of these platforms and everything that you do between young living and Instagram community like blogging. I’m sure there’s probably something for everything, but what would you say is the one most life changing?

Casey: 42:53 Well, I think it’s kind of like two things. I think as far as like blogging and Instagram, the platform that I’ve been able to have, I mean it’s been life changing. The community is so special. It’s literally changed so much of pieces of who I am over time. And I just feel like so much love in my heart for, um, just everything. When I think about blogging and Instagram, um, and then young living has completely changed our life just because of the incredible opportunity. And um, I really feel like, you know, called there. Um, I feel like so passionate about sharing with families and also so many entrepreneurs who, you know, really are looking for something and they’re looking for hope and just being able to like walk the side, all these incredible families. So I mean really both have been such beautiful opportunities. And again, both are so much work, but the best kind of work, right?

Casey: 43:58 Getting to connect with people. Um, I can’t, I still am like, how is this my job in my life? Which, you know, even just saying that, I will say I tried to tell people this in dms all the time, is that reminder that so many people that you see online, you know, there’s just a sliver of our lives and this is our job. So we’re bringing out content, you know, I’m going to take a picture of my room and it looks beautiful. Not when I have laundry around every, so just remembering that we have the so much real life happening, you know, behind the squares.

Christy : 44:34 It’s so true. I have a young living do I have, I have a diffuser. I’m like, I don’t even know the right words for these things, but I have a diffuser and like two oils and I just, I don’t know. I haven’t figured out how to get into it yet. It was Audrey Roelof who we talked about before we came on the podcast today. She has always inspired me with that and sent that over. And I’m like, I still haven’t figured it out. And now after this conversation I’m like, I really need to like figure it out. Do you ever have, like I am wondering, is there like oils that you infuse when you are in labor? Oh my goodness. Okay. So side note, I

Casey: 45:14 Adelaide, my littlest, it was my first like quote unquote oily pregnancy, oily postpartum. And like, I’m like, how did I ever do this three times before? Like I’m talking postpartum, like heaven,

Christy : 45:28 so me and aren’t really that big of a difference. Okay. I’m, yeah, I’m gonna need to know about this and then I will share with you listeners over Instagrams. I’m totally going side note, but I’m like, obviously there is something to this that is changing so many people’s lives. I mean on just your team. If there’s 78,000 people that are so dedicated and you know, so believing in oils and how they’ve changed their lives, like there’s something to that, you know, it’s not, it’s not hocus pocus. And I know I could use, um, I’ll the labor and delivery and postpartum oily magic that I can get at this point in time for sure. So I don’t have a side conversation with you with that. Definitely. And before I go into my rapid fire questions though, I did want to make sure that you and I touched on, we, we chat for those listening.

Christy : 46:18 Um, or we’ve, we’ve chatted in Instagram for years and we’ve seen kind of the ups and downs of what goes on in the platform and just to encourage everybody, we both have had conversations lately about the struggle with engagement and growth lately. And I feel like it’s especially like I, I honestly feel like I’ve said this before, but hitting 100,000 followers was like the worst thing that happened for my Instagram, which is interesting since so many people you know, are looking at getting those following numbers. But I know it’s hard when we’re putting this time and effort into content and wanting to connect. And it seems like it’s so much harder to connect with people and, and reach more moms and have our messages get heard. And I just want to hear how you’re feeling about that right now and share that to encourage some mamas.

Casey: 47:07 Well, and you and I had talked about that before and I actually talked to like an Instagram, I dunno, strategist expert and she said that actually as you grow it gets harder and harder to keep engagement cause there’s, you know, the, it’s more people. Um, and so I think that that absolutely lines up with you just said, and I think it’s just, you know, good for everyone to know that they’re not alone in that. I know that, I don’t know anyone that doesn’t really feel that way. It’s just like I said, kind of at the beginning it’s shifting again and it’s just kind of trying to figure out, okay, what is this going to look like, you know, moving forward. And so, um, I think because I watched what happened with blogging, you know, part of me, I tend to be like a glass half full kind of girl.

Casey: 47:58 So I’m like, feel helpful. Like, okay, maybe the next thing will be, you know, even better. Um, but I mean, it’s definitely hard and I think, you know, especially just like you said, you spent so much time pouring, you know, out your creativity and your story and your gifts and then to feel like, oh my goodness, are people even getting to see this? Um, and you know, when it is your job, it does feel a little bit scary. Um, and you know, that is one of the reasons why I decided to start working on an email list and other things because I think in some ways we always have to Kinda have that in the back of our, our minds. Yeah.

Christy : 48:35 Instagram could be here today and gone tomorrow and you’re so smart in how you’ve run your businesses and, and where you have your vision at right now and, and where you’re going to go. And it’s hard. It’s hard. But with just, you know, we both obviously like you care, you have such a big heart and it’s not just getting eyeballs on your content that you care about. You know, like you and I both care about the women who are behind the profiles, who are seeing us and who are hearing that message and who need to hear it. And you know, what do you just want more and more people to be blessed by what you can do to change their lives or to help them or to help them cope with a certain situation? It’s like Instagram just doesn’t, they don’t know that. They’re just showing you what, what you need to see and everything’s going to be okay. It’s just, it’s so true. It’s just yet you keep pouring your heart and purpose and everything and it’ll all be fine. And so I want to do my rapid fire questions. I don’t take up too much more of your time. I’ve loved chatting with you as long. What’s my first question is my favorite and it’s what do you influence that you’re most proud of?

Casey: 49:45 Brilliant. I’d say the thing that I’m most proud of is really, truly my heart is to be alight. And I feel like, you know, we have done that. Um, and hopefully we’ll continue to do that. And that really is truly my heart to be a light for, you know, Mama’s or, um, you know, just really meeting people where they’re at. And, you know, we’ve been really open with struggles and I think it can be easy to see beautiful photos and think, oh, they have it all together. But then to really read our words and say like, no, we’ve been through this and that and it’s really shaped us to who we are. Um, and you know, and I hope that they can see that light in us.

Christy : 50:23 Yes you do. You definitely can see it. You do a great job. And how much time do you dedicate to social media at day?

Casey: 50:31 Oh, okay. That’s so hard. I mean, it’s my full time job, so I do spend a good amount of time working. Um, you know, I spend what, like two or three hours in the morning, two or three hours during nap time. And two or three hours at night. So I mean you put that together. It’s definitely a full time job. But, um, I think the important thing is knowing that like when, when is the right time to be doing that right time of the day. Um, yeah. Yeah. So I’d say biggest piece of advice that is, you know, figure out what’s best for your family and you, and then figure out when you’re most inspired, you know, say you have one hour a day, when can that power hour be and have a list of exactly what you need to do.

Christy : 51:10 Amen. And you, you mentioned a few apps. Can you mention them again? There was a couple apps you talked about for time management.

Casey: 51:16 Oh yes. Um, so I love, um, Trello. I love slack. I love air table. Um, planfully and then also, I don’t think we touched on this or maybe we are going to, but um, I do have a list of like photo and [inaudible].

Christy : 51:31 Oh yes. Then just two more questions from now. It’s my favorite question out of all of them. Besides the influence one, is there a mistake you’ve made in this space that you would go back and change?

Casey: 51:45 Um, I’d say the biggest piece of advice or a mistake that I would tell myself not to fall into is just that comparison trap. Um, you know, no matter how similar in the calling there’s a place for each of us and um, what one person’s story or um, you know, following or engagement looks like it’s just gonna be different for everyone. And we have to remember not to worry about that and just step into kind of our gifting and our calling and just thrive there. Um, cause I think that that compares to chapel just, I mean there’s nothing good that comes from it.

Christy : 52:21 It’s so true. And you start out the podcast with that beautiful quote that I feel like just summed it up perfectly, that there’s just so much room and space for everybody and every story is so different, but it is hard. It is so hard and advice for somebody starting from zero.

Casey: 52:40 I think it would be along the same lines, just be yourself, share your story. Um, whether you have a hundred followers or 100,000, there’s somebody, somebody that needs to hear your story and you have influence, you know, whether it be online or you know, at your child’s school or at your church, wherever it is, or there’s people that know you and love you and trust you and they’re there watching. Um, and so just be consistent and just, you know, kind of step into that of, you know, just being yourself.

Christy : 53:08 Yes. And I love, love, love that. This is the second time in this interview that you’ve touched on influenced does not necessarily mean through a social media platform like you. And that’s what I keep trying to, people hate that word influencer right now. It’s like the dirty little word, but it’s like you, you have influenced in more areas of your life or the potential to influence more areas of your life than just social media. And you know, just being brave in those areas where you do thrive can just kind of help your story online if that’s where you choose to share it or that’s where you choose to have your influence. But absolutely, there’s so much weight in that, you know, it’s so true. We were just talking about this question gear. What, um, what’s your favorite year as far as like what camera do you use? Do you use any presets for editing? You have beautiful pictures. Anybody who got her her profile and she will tell you where to find her. But Oh my goodness, her pictures are so beautiful.

Casey: 54:11 Well, you know I mentioned my husband’s a filmmaker, photographer. So people are always like, what camera are you using? But I really just use my cell phone. Like everything you see is my cell phone. So I’m, I use light room. I love that JC Marie presets. Sames love them. I love Teza app. Um, it’s awesome. I love the Malibu app. Both of them are great for photos, especially if you’re not comfortable with light room.

Christy : 54:37 Um, and then Isaiah, so have question, random hair. Sorry to cut you off. Is Your Malibu been like making really blurry pictures? No, not yet. [inaudible] glory videos. Oh No, no, not yet. Yeah, cause I got the Malibu app because I love, uh, Sophia. El Ray has like really pretty um, yes, filters on there and every time I’ve got so sad because um, every time I went to upload a picture or a video rather it would upload totally blurry. Oh No. Yeah. And it just started happening. So I switched over to the Tesla app for that very reason because Tesla is always looks so beautiful and I haven’t had any issues with quality and yeah, that was just [inaudible] note when he said maybe I need to look closer. Maybe, maybe it is happening, you would know. Trust me, you would know minor, like very, very obvious. Okay. Sorry to interrupt you. Sorry.

Casey: 55:33 The M app in shot for like, you know, speeding up videos or different things with video. And then I also have this new app called add music and it’s been awesome cause you can add music to videos. So,

Christy : 55:47 and it’s all like copy, right? Yep.

Casey: 55:49 Breathing is, I mean I think we pay a monthly, I need to look back, but um, but then you can use anything in there.

Christy : 55:55 Yeah. And that’s, you can write that up to people if you’re listening because that’s part of your business and tell listeners where they can find you. Yes,

Casey: 56:04 well Instagram is Casey Lee Wiegand and my um, my wellness account more healthy living focused is Casey Lee essentials.

Christy : 56:13 Well I appreciate you coming on today to chat with all of us Mamas and pour all this knowledge into us and just taking time out of your day to be on the podcast, you know, love you and I appreciate you and I have so many side notes here that I’m going to have to just blast to you in an email or in a another conversation. Yes, let’s do it. Awesome. Okay, well thank you so much for coming onto the these friends. Uh, I love Casey so much. I loved getting to chat with her today. I will post where you can find her in the show notes and if you’d like today’s episode, as always, please subscribe, please leave a rating and review. We appreciate it so much and it really helps with trying to get motherhood ignited on the new and noteworthy and ranked in the podcast. So more Mama’s can come together and formed this beautiful community of encouragement and speaking of community. Don’t forget that you can also head over to Facebook to the MIP insider’s group where we network a lot more and just get to know each other a little bit more. And it’s still so small and intimate. And I hope to see all of you guys in there. Thank you so much for tuning in today.