small business spotlight: bloom beautifully box

Bloom Beautifully is a bimonthly self care subscription box service for busy women. I was happy to connect with Tara Jefferson, the founder and chief curator of the Bloom Beautifully self care box to ask her a few questions on how she manages everything and what was her inspiration behind creating a self care box for women.

Being a wife, mother and entrepreneur it doesn’t take a genius to know that juggling all three requires a lot of hard work. For the woman that is looking to jump into the arena of business ownership, what is the one thing you would like her to know about the rewards and challenges that come with walking in entrepreneurship while running a family?

Being an entrepreneur is all-consuming, and so is motherhood. So I’ve found that the only way to make it work is to bring my children into the discussion. They are old enough now (9 and 7) to serve as my “creative team,” and they give me feedback on designs, vendors and pricing. When they were younger, I found it easier to work with them on my lap than to have my brain half focused on work and half focused on what they were doing in the other room. The beauty of entrepreneurship is that it doesn’t have to look one way. You can shape it to work best for you and your family.

Your self-care box is not your first wildly successful business venture. Looking at your track record you are one remarkable and astute business woman who has created businesses, products and conferences that center on uplifting and encouraging young mothers and women. Why not just stop there, what was your thinking about expanding into something as important and overlooked as self-care

I didn’t realize as I was doing all those other things (the self-care retreats, the conferences, the books) that everything I was dabbling in was bringing me to that moment. It’s one thing to attend a retreat once a year and focus on your self-care for a weekend, but it’s another thing to have something that comes to your house and rewards you for just being you. Women tend to be invisible to themselves, putting everyone and everything ahead of them, while their core self withers. I wanted something for women that would make their self-care habit-forming. Thus, the Bloom Beautifully box!

I’m just going to ask the infamous question that I think every woman who dares to be an entrepreneur has heard at some point. “How do you do it all?”

I have a very, very full plate, so I’ve learned to take small bites and not chew too fast. That means I don’t worry as much about tomorrow and instead try to focus solely on today. I make sure my to-do list stays manageable, no more than four things at a time and I rely on my calendar exclusively. If it’s not on my calendar, it doesn’t get done. I also make it a point to be available to my kids. If they ask me to play with them and I’m knee deep in work, I take a deep breath, push away from the computer and go play. I’ve found that those breaks with my children actually make me sharper, creatively and it’s a joy to be there, watching them grow.

A huge thank you to Tara for sharing her experiences and words of wisdom. I hope it encourages you to go after that dream or take a moment to yourself.

To learn more about and order the Bloom Beautifully Box visit the website at www.TheSelfCareBox.com

Tara Pringle Jefferson is the founder and chief curator of Bloom Beautifully, a bimonthly self-care subscription box for busy women. She is also the writer behind TheRenaissanceSuite.com and TheYoungMommyLife.com. Her work has appeared in Jet, Essence, What to Expect and Sirius XM. She lives in Ohio with her husband and two children. Find more information about the box at www.theselfcarebox.com and follow her on Instagram at @TaraJefferson