Finding that work-live balance is often a difficult task, particularly if you're juggling being a spouse and parent with trying to make your business grow.

Tracy Smith knows this reality all too well.

A freelance writer by trade, the 30-year Aurora resident was looking to build her portfolio while also balancing “being a present and awesome mom and wife – two things that are most important to me.” In trying to find that balance herself, she knew other moms were looking to do the same, and Ms. Smith decided to use her skills to try and try to help herself and others redress the balance.

Earlier this month, Ms. Smith launched Kitchen Table CEOs, an online resource for women entrepreneurs looking for tips, tricks, resources and support to help grow their small businesses and make their lives easier.

Having worked in the communications industry for more than a decade, Ms. Smith saw that entrepreneurs and small business owners needed help navigating an ever-changing landscape, one which is evolving rapidly thanks to the online world.

“Last spring, I was thinking about formalizing and packaging up some of my services a little bit more efficiently and, in the process of doing that, I thought, ‘You know what? Let me take my writing, communication and networking experience and put it all in one place for women entrepreneurs to help them with all the hats they need to wear on a daily basis and provide the tips, tricks, resources and supports to run their businesses but also run their daily lives.

“As a group, entrepreneurs are required to do so many things; you have your business you're trying to run, but you have all these other pieces that are required to run a business that you might not be as skilled in [such as] invoicing, rebranding, learning social media, communications and outreach to your clients, professional writing. Now, all of those things you're responsible for because you don't have an IT department to help you. For a lot of entrepreneurs, that can be really overwhelming and for moms who are starting up a business from home, a lot of times you also have the demands of family and running a home. You have this sort of unique balance of growing your business and supporting your family and [what I want to do with this] is help these mom-preneurs with both sides, to help make their life easier and help make their business grow.”

In the short week since its inception, Kitchen Table CEOs has gone from strength to strength, with content ranging from social media post ideas, a how-to on setting up a Facebook business account, a comprehensive “social media dictionary”, and tutorials on everything from writing to when to update your professional head-shot.

To get a handle on what mom-preneurs might want from a resource like Kitchen Table CEOs, Ms. Smith went right to the source. A lot of her friends and peers are currently at the stage in their lives where they are thinking about starting their own businesses, so she talked to many local business owners and women in the community. She sent out surveys asking what they were struggling with, what they needed help with, and this, she says, was “a huge part of understanding” the market.

“That lightbulb moment has been the accumulation of all of this intel over the last seven years of what I have been helping with and what I have witnessed, plus all of my peers and what they're going through, and I have been able to funnel that into this website,” she says. “So far, I have gotten amazing feedback from my network as well as my online community, so I just want to hear from women entrepreneurs knowing how my site has helped them. I would love people to download the resources, free and paid, to help them on their journey and through all those things I will be able to tell that the site has helped people. Just knowing in some small way that I have been able to help a woman feel supported or make their life easier, or have provided some sort of insights or tips that have made them able to run their website more successfully, that would be a biggie for me.

“If you are a woman entrepreneur who runs their own business or is starting up their own business or has a side hustle and you're looking for support, tips, tricks and resources to make your life easier both in business and juggling your family, then come on over. We've got lots of resources that will help you out. I know it is hard, I've lived it [and] I made the site for all those hard-working women out there who are trying to do it and want something for themselves and their business but also want to be an amazing mom and want to be there for their family. I think they will find a great spot for themselves if they visit us online.”

For more on Kitchen Table CEOs, visit kitchentableceos.com.

By Brock Weir