Today we’d like to introduce you to Jaimi Erickson
Hi Jaimi, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Shortly after my second child was born, a few friends of mine were feeling unfulfilled staying at home with their kids. They struggled to see their value and I wanted to encourage them. After sharing this with my closest mom friend, she suggested I start a blog.
I had no idea what a blog was at that time. So, I did a little research and started feeling inspired to combine my teaching background and my own experiences as a mother caring for my children into a blog for moms.
My mission started with a desire to help the moms who were home with their kids but not really understanding how it was positively impacting their children. The blog grew after reading feedback from many readers who asked for guidance on how to feel organized and get life in balance. I heard that need and created a free mini course for moms to take simple steps to simplify life, get organized and make intentional time for their families at home.
As a military spouse, the experiences of living all over the country helped me gain perspective on the challenges mothers face in different areas. My husband served on active duty for 24 years and we finally settled in to our forever home in Upstate South Caroline when he retired. We are loving life on our little homestead in Enoree, SC. Family has been my focus and I am thrilled to continue to share that experience on my website, The Stay-at-Home Mom Survival Guide.
I am a mom who loves to encourage other mothers. The Stay-at-Home Mom Survival Guide has been successfully growing for 13 years. It has become a go-to digital publication for moms looking for encouragement and tips to thrive at home caring for their families. It is also a place where businesses who seek to support mothers can showcase their products and services.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The online publishing space is always changing. Some of the biggest challenges have just been taking each change and learning as I go to stick with my original mission of writing and sharing to encourage mothers in the season of raising children. There are algorithms and social media engagement hurdles always, but I found that by sticking to my goal and always reading reader feedback helps me stay on target with the mission of The Stay-at-Home Mom Survival Guide.
The other main struggle was comparison. There are so many sites out there with overlapping missions and services. For a time, it was defeating to be a niche blog with a smaller audience than some of the big sites. But, I found that as long as I was consistent, authentic and dedicated, my readers were eager to stay tuned in and due to that my blog has been steadily growing for over a decade.
Building this digital publication has taught me a lot of lessons on being a small business owner. It has helped me explore different seasons of being a mom, wife and writer. And, most of all, when readers write to me to say that the resources I share are helpful and inspiring them to find contentment in their motherhood journey, that is the best feedback and makes every challenge worth it.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
The Stay-at-Home Mom Survival Guide started as a blog with encouragement and homemaking tips for mothers. It has grown into a digital publication featuring stories from a variety of authors and creators. At its core, the purpose is to share tips and motivation to help mothers see how to use their time at home intentionally and feel more balanced in the process.
The free resources I have published have grown to include a free mini course on getting life and home in balance when you have children. In addition, a full online shop has launched to offer printable resources, lessons plans, checklists, and even full curriculum and activity guides for teaching children at home.
I am most proud of all the free resources provided at The SAHM Guide. It is important to to offer an array of resources so that all mothers can access what they need to get life in better balance. I started the blog as a service-oriented site and it will always put reader needs first even as it has evolved to become a business that allows me to remain home with my children as they get older and my husband has retired from military service.
The mission of The Stay-at-Home Mom Survival Guide is and always has been to provide encouragement, tips and support to women caring for their children and homes. My hope is that they see their value and can find strategies to ease the overwhelm that can happen in the season of motherhood.
Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
I am a big reader. It is what I do to relax. I make time to read every evening before bed to calm down after the day. So, I can rarely recommend just one book.
As a mom and wife, I have enjoyed reading books that help me grow as a person. And there are many non-fiction books that actually help develop strengths in leadership that have been important to me as a business founder and a mother. We moms don’t think of ourselves as leaders, but we are. A couple of the best books I have read that helped me are 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth by John Maxwell and The Energy Bus by Jon Gordon.
I also love books that help me understand my faith at a deeper level so Women of the Word by Jen Wilkin was really impactful. Currently I am reading a book called Conspiracy Theory by Richard Gibbons which is a poignant devotional about moving through hard times with patience.
I also recently published my first book, A Parent’s Guide to School Choice: All the school options you DO have. It details all the alternative school options available in many parts of the United States and includes pros and cons lists for each. The purpose is to help parents find the most supportive school option for how their child learns. It is an important book these days and I am really glad that it is out for parents to use as they navigate their child’s academic journey.
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