Caffeinated Chaos

29. No More 24/7: Shifting Your Entrepreneurial Mindset for Success with Guest Catherine Roe

• Whitney Aguon • Episode 29

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In this episode of Caffeinated Chaos, Whitney is joined by Catherine Cowart Roe, author of No More 24/7, as they dive into the critical mindset shifts every entrepreneur needs to make in order to avoid burnout, set clear boundaries, and build a more sustainable business. Catherine shares how her journey from burnout to balance led to discovering the importance of taking time away from work to live a fulfilling life.


Key Highlights:

  • Mindset Shifts for Entrepreneurial Success – Catherine discusses how the hustle culture often leads to burnout and why it's essential to change your mindset to prioritize balance.
  • Setting Healthy Boundaries – Practical advice on how to create clear boundaries between your work and personal life to prevent the overwhelming feeling of being "always on."
  • Embracing Imperfection – The importance of showing up authentically instead of chasing perfection, especially in the age of social media.
  • The Power of Community – Catherine highlights how connecting with others, especially those in similar entrepreneurial journeys, can provide support, accountability, and shared growth.


Actionable Tips:

  • Define Your Work Hours – Set firm boundaries around when you’re available for work and when you’re off-duty to maintain personal time and reduce stress.
  • Schedule Self-Care – Make time for activities that nurture your mental, emotional, and physical health, and treat it as a priority.
  • Shift Your Focus from Perfection to Authenticity – Stop aiming for perfection and instead embrace being real and relatable, especially in your marketing and content creation.
  • Find Your Tribe – Seek out a supportive network of entrepreneurs, whether it’s through online communities, networking groups, or mentorship, to help you stay grounded and motivated.


Pre-order No More 24/7: Are you ready to break free from the hustle and create a more balanced life and business? Order Catherine's book No More 24/7 today!

Cheers! Thank you for joining us for another episode. Have a chaotic moment, question, or topic you want us to cover? Drop us a message or leave a review! If you loved this episode, share it with a friend who thrives in beautiful chaos too.

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Welcome to Caffeinated Chaos, where business deals happen between diaper changes and friendships are fueled by caffeine. I'm Whitney Uggen, your host, and I'm here to talk all things business, parenthood, and of course, keeping up with the BFFs. Whether you're juggling the boardroom, the playroom, or just here for some coffee fueled chaos, we've got you covered. Get ready for real talk, laughs, and a whole lot of heart as we dive into the beautiful mess that is entrepreneurship, parenthood, and everything in between. So let's embrace the chaos together. Caffeinated, of course. Today's guest is all about efficiency, both in business and in life. Catherine Rowe is a CPA and management efficiency expert based in New Orleans, Louisiana, with over 15 years of experience in public accounting, business organizing, and academia. Whoa. Right. She's the founder of Cohort Row, CPAA, concierge, CPA, firm and Cohort Row Academy where she empowers entrepreneurs with business management and financial literacy education with a master's in accounting and degrees in business administration and management. Catherine is not only passionate about helping business owners streamline their operations and reclaim their time. She is amazing and she's not stopping there. Her upcoming book No more, 24 7. If you've been watching my Instagram, you know that I've been reading the early release of this book, but is launching like in a week so I am super stoked because I am knee deep in this book already and I can't wait to talk to Catherine all about it her companion training program is designed to help entrepreneurs break free from the grind and build a more efficient, sustainable business, which we love here at Cafee Chaos. Beyond Her Work, Catherine is also a dedicated runner musician, and she's a mom. This year she's even releasing an album under the name Grace Alive. Catherine is amazing. You all are going to love her. I can't wait to dive into this conversation. So let's welcome Catherine to Caffeinated Chaos. Welcome to the podcast, Catherine. How are you? Awesome. Thank you so much for having me. So, you're based in New Orleans. I'm in California. So our listeners may not know who you are. So give them a little rundown. Yeah, absolutely. So I own a virtual CPA firm. And I'd say that's kind of, that was my start for entrepreneurism. And it's developed from there, where now I'm, you know, trying to help people solve all kinds of different problems in business. And I've found that in entrepreneurship, Best path you can take is where you're looking for, where is there a hole? That somebody needs filled. And is there a way that you can either create or provide something that can fill it and, just go with that and keep that service mindset. That's what I've kind of done and, gone with that. And, it's been a much more fulfilling life than just, you know, sitting in a cubicle and, Answering to the man, not to jump into that, like two seconds in, but yeah, it is what it is. Yeah. I mean, that's fair because a lot of our listeners and a lot of people out there are still working that full time corporate job. Right. And so they're probably just like you were sitting in the cubicle daydreaming about like the freedom that you can have from having your own business and doing something that you actually care about. Oh yeah, absolutely. And it's tough when you're, uh, as, one of my former coworkers told me last week in a lunch meeting, you know, prison, just kind of sitting in prison, yeah, and they don't pay you enough, some, you know, most companies don't have that kind of like, I always say like, make sure you get your worth. Right. And so I feel like. I feel like having your own business, although it kind of turns into a 24 7 job, you can, dictate your own worth and do things at your own pace. I know for me, like being a mom, with a toddler and a newborn, it's just kind of like. If I had to do like strictly couple hours, and not have the flexibility, it wouldn't feel like I'm giving, especially my second child, the attention that my first child had, you know, so absolutely. Especially a lot of times when you're just trying to get started in a venture, especially your first venture, like let's say you are, you know, stuck in that nine to five, a lot of times there's two ways you can go about, you can just quit it, jump all in, either get some investors, get loans, whatever you need to get things started. And a lot of people do that, it's a big risk, but you know, a lot of people have made that work and then the other side of it is, what I did, because I'm have not up until this point been a real big risk taker. I decided that I was just going to do it all at the same time and eventually ended up more or less working two full time jobs during my pregnancy and I cut that tie when I had my daughter. They knew that I was leaving, that I was going out on maternity leave, and that that was You're like, you're like, I don't need three full time jobs. You know? Wow. I can't, I couldn't even imagine doing two full time jobs, being pregnant, like kudos sneaks up on you. That's, that's the only way it happened. If I'd known, you know, I wouldn't have, it sneaks up on you. I didn't realize until after when I realized just how much of my business I had that I could work on. I was like, well, I mean, I'm working essentially more or less full time hours, nothing changed from last year. I changed from last year. Yeah. How do you feel like you've changed? Just. Is it being a mom? Is it, you know, personal? A lot of it was making the decision to just first think about yourself. Cause it's really tough, especially if you're in service based businesses where, you know, your entire business is you're trying to fill a need for other people. You want to take on more. You want to be able to do something productive for someone else. And a lot of times people think that, yeah, you know what? The way to do that is you just got to push your all in, you do it, you push your all in. That's the way you're going to be successful. Um, give your everything. And the problem is if you give your everything to anything, there's nothing there's, you're going to run out of you. That's what I always tell people. There's only so much of you to go around and you have to think, am I gonna, knock, these personal care items that I need and, just say, I'm going to forego that I'm going to get all this stuff done and then you never take care of yourself and then you're kind of just stuck. For work. And you just, you get burned out. And then on top of that, to, have children that you got to take care of and you want them to see you and not just see you sitting on a device at the same time, it adds a little extra. You have to start to think, what do you want for them? What do you want them to think their future should be and how they should work? Cause they're ultimately going to learn whatever it is that you do and faster than you think. Oh, yeah. Mine's only three and she's saying all these phrases that she's heard from me and I'm like, I don't think, I don't know if I like hearing that, from her in the car driving. She's like, what the heck? I'm like, I don't think you should say that. Probably not. Could be worse. Yeah. Could be worse, we know. I also have a three year old and my mom will call on FaceTime cause they're from, South California. So past LA and sometimes like they'll come up, but most of the time it's like when they want to interact, they'll FaceTime her. And my mom will be like doing something and like cooking or whatever and she'll like grab something that's too hot and she'll drop the S bomb and I just like instantly go and I go, Oh, she calls her Lola. I was like, Oh, Lola said poo. Right. And then so that I like. I'm like, Oh, I know she heard it. And so I'm like, Oh, Lola said poo. And it just turns into that okay, so it's not teaching her that it's like, don't say that mom, And then she makes fun of my mom. She's like, oh, you said poo, cause she's also three. And so I was like, I think this is a great time for like a bathroom break or let's go get a snack while Lola finishes cooking, you know? And then you can always tell, like, that it, it, something came from you, you can tell in the tone, my daughter, she, she, she looks exactly like my husband. She doesn't, I mean, I'm sure I can tell she's mine by a lot of reasons. Right. Um, but. She looks just like him. And, you know, sometimes, you know, I forget that. And then like, she'll say something, she'll pop something out and, uh, the phrasing and everything. I'm like, yeah, I definitely said that. Yeah, no, I 100 percent agree with you. Both my girls look like my husband, my toddler. I feel like she has. My attitude and my eyebrows and then my newborn just has like literally just has my curly hair right now because she's starting to get her personality in, but like, they both look very much like him, like round the cute little chipmunk. Attitude eyebrows combo. That's going to be here. I know. She came out and she, I don't know if your kid was like this, but when my toddler was about like six months to a year when she slept, because like, she had like the gnarliest, like angry face, like angry sleeping face. And maybe it was just the eyebrows, but like, we're like, Oh, look, she's sleeping in her car. So you like lift the thing up and she just looks so angry. We used to call her an angry sleeper. Everybody's got their little cute thing. Yeah. And that'll be all the stuff that you can, you know, show again later in the future. All the videos. Oh, yeah. I totally plan on being like, Oh, look at you at your wedding. Look how angry she looks. The baby picture, like combo. Yeah, exactly. Okay. So we kind of touched on like the kids and. And working, from home and them seeing you, how do you set those boundaries, between you as a CPA and working and then you as a mom? It is tough. And I am still trying to keep a lot of it separate. But I think what a lot of people get stuck in is that a lot of times you can't, and it's, For those times, how do you handle it? Eventually, your kids will get to an age where they can understand, when you say I have to do this, it's going to be real quick. I'm going to handle this situation, then I'm done. And then we're back. Mine's not old enough to quite understand that yet. I think we're getting to a place where we can start. But. That's the direction that I'm hoping to go with that. But most of the time it's, I do try and keep everything pretty, separate where I know that for a certain period of time, and it's tough. And if you have to put it in a calendar, it's not a shame thing. I used to think it was a shame thing to say this space. I'm not going to be looking and see what's going on, setting it aside. And. I felt, terrible that I had to do that, but if whatever works, you can find something to force yourself and give yourself the boundary. Cause a lot of times people think about, Oh, what boundaries do I need to give other people? And that's very important. You have to maintain your autonomy, take care of yourself and, you know, not, let yourself get subject to abuse of any kind, especially in the business world. Cause that's a thing. especially as women and just make sure that are you following your boundaries and are you maintaining the boundaries you set for yourself to protect yourself and keep you in the path that you need to be on? No, that, yeah, that, oh my gosh. I feel like that is the hardest thing for people that like, when I'm always like, set your boundaries like this. Back when I worked in the mental health field, we would have boundaries with, you know, the people that we were working, the clients families, and all that too. And then, One person, one coworker came to me and she's like, I really like this boundary worksheet you put together. And I was like, thanks. No problem. Right. And she goes, I am starting this with my family too. And I was like, you should like, you should go, you know, your teenagers need their time. You need your time. Your husband needs his time. Like it's okay to have. Individual time too, you know, and now she's just like, Oh, my teenager cooked a lunch for me the other day. And I was like, wow. And she's like, she volunteered. And I was like, wow. And I was just like, you know what? Good for you. Like, I'm glad that she's sticking to it. And she's like, Making these strides within her family, and it's actually bringing her family closer together by letting them be separate and being okay with being separated. Of course she has teenagers and we have littles. But for me, I have this like little cubicle in our living room where my like desk setup is. So when I'm in here, she knows I'm doing, she calls it, Homework. She's like, Mommy, are you doing your homework? And I'll go, yeah, I am. Because she has like little workbooks and an ABC mouse. And so she does her homework, right? That's awesome. She'll see me getting like set up with the ring light and the microphone and everything. And she knows that I'm going to be talking to somebody and she gets super curious, right? Like right now she's sleeping because she's sick, but she, it's super curious and so for the longest time I was like, how can I, like, help her understand that, like, mommy needs her time right now? And so what we do is we do this, like, pre interview ritual where we light a candle, we put on some lotion, and then I will start getting ready and then she'll put on, like, she'll come over and she goes, I'm ready to powder your face. And she'll, like, come over with, like, translucent powder. And she's like, powder my cheeks. And she goes, wait, I missed your nose. And she'll powder my nose. And I was like, okay, am I camera ready? And she goes, you look good, mommy. You look pretty. And I was like, oh, thank you, baby. And then she goes, okay, bye. And then she'll go off. So now it's kind of turned into this like, ritual that like, when she knows I'm like, getting my ring light, getting my microphone, she like, comes over with the candle. And she comes over, she waits with the little powder. You need to record that and save it. Oh my God, yeah. On camera doing it. Yeah. I have a reel of her powdering, my face. Perfect. Getting ready. She used to be in charge of chapstick, however, whenever she does that, it's like. Ends up on my nose, ends up on my chin, like, she doesn't quite get that chapstick is for the lips, she walked in and she got, lipstick and she decided to put it on herself, and I don't know where she learned it, but she gave herself red lips, and then gave herself fangs, she looked like vampire fangs, and I was just like, your style is very interesting. And she goes, I'm a princess. I go, you look like a princess vampire. And I was like, let's go to the bathroom. She looked like a princess. She looked, yeah, she looked like a vampire. And then when we cleaned it off, she looked like the Joker, you know, like just the smudge red lips. So yeah, I, I completely get it. And it's like, Having this routine, especially with littles is slowly, like you said, helping them understand because, when they become what, like 8, 9, 10 at that point, they're like half the days in school, and then they come home and, they have their activities or whatever. And then when they're teenagers, it's lucky that they even care what you're doing, that sticks, showing them, getting them to understand, they see, Oh, this is meaningful. And this is fun. Too many people don't think that they can have enjoyable work time that it's all just this drag, but it doesn't have to be. And showing that early on, whether they become angsty teenagers or not, it sticks. Yeah. Oh my goodness. I, I. We have time. We have time. We got time. I can't even think of her becoming a teenager. I can't even think of having two teenage girls. Cause in my family, there were four kids. Three girls and one boy. And so I was just like, yeah, I remember me and my sisters. And so I just feel like. If they both end up having my attitude as a teenager, oh, gosh, somebody help my husband, you know. I'll be begging you for help. I feel so sorry for him. Yeah. okay. So let's see. We have, you know what? You have a book coming out. Let's talk about that. Let's just, let's just switch gears. We're going to switch gears. All right. So, so my book is called no more 24 seven. So I came up with the idea last year, I had a little bit of downtime and I thought, I might as well do something productive with it and, started to think, what's been meaningful to me, what has made a difference in my life and, what could I have that I could share with other people that could potentially, make, help them make changes in their lives and, be even better. Versions of themselves. And, that's when I came up with this idea of how I worked from, coming from that mindset of where I had to hang on to that corporate job as a little safety net and also, still be, working in my business. which never really intended to start a full big business. That was never like, I wouldn't a kid with a dream for that or anything. And I think a lot of people end up like that too. Right. But coming from that and, then suddenly full time working for myself and having a newborn, Like that was together. It was together. And it was like, you got to either get this straight, figure it out. Or Everything's going to become a mess. Nothing's going to work out. And it's okay if things are a mess sometimes. That happens, but for everything to just be a whole mess doesn't really work. Doesn't help anybody. So I took my path of different changes that I made and different ways that I changed the way that I think about different things. And a lot of it is stuff that seems like it just makes sense And it's like, why is it still so hard to do? Yeah. This sounds right. Yeah. I want to do that. But I'm pulled back because society is telling me I got to be all in. I got to push. I'm not going to be competitive unless I'm constantly out there, unless I'm constantly doing this and that. And what are you working for at that point? Working to work because that's actually worse than sitting in prison. Cause at least in prison, you go to prison at nine, you leave at five. But if you're prison, you just expanded it. And you've made the entire world, including the internet realm, right? You're in prison, then you're no better off than you were before. So it's all about taking that, pulling away from the mindset and saying, no, I'm not going to be constantly available. I'm going to have my limits. I'm going to get X, Y, Z done in this time. I'm going to handle these issues in this time. And then this other time is completely separate from that. And that's really the whole concept of everything. Oh, wow. Amazing. I am all for mind shift changes and in books like this, because one, now knowing you, I know the source of where it's coming from and your story and it's making you know, for me when I can get something like this from somebody I know, then It makes me want to read the book more because I now have this personal connection to the author. But, also at the same time being a psych major, the whole mindset shift is such, a, there's so many limited beliefs that people have and I feel like the way that you're approaching it in your book is going to be so great for people who Hustle, hustle, hustle, but not really getting anywhere because it's too, like, we love chaos here, but it's too chaotic, so that's, that's my take on, on it so far, and, and we have a preorder link in the show notes for everyone, right? So when does it officially come out? So it is, I believe it's the third Monday of March, if that's March 24th, I believe it is. Yes, yes, yes. Yes, that is. Yeah, so. You guys got to get your pre orders in now, right? So yeah, it's going to be, it's going to be big. I really hope that this has a lot of meaning for a lot of folks. That's my goal. I, we don't need a society where everyone just has to be on all the time because It's an option. Yeah. I feel like, also, just, the whole, either trying to be perfect, or also, and then trying to be perfect, and that gets you burned out, or you're so behind because there's so much, like you're trying to do too much. It's like two different levels of burnouts, you know? And, I feel like, Our listeners, in particular, tend to navigate towards that kind of topic, because with just looking at what our episode downloads have been, a lot of people are between, like, our top two performing episodes is parent guilt versus business guilt, and then, burnout is not a badge of honor, so, you know, I feel like those are things that people are gravitating towards and trying to, find ways to solve those issues for themselves as well. Well, nobody wants you to be perfect. No. People want you to be real. Mm hmm. Because perfect's not relatable. And it's not true. Yeah. It's It's a picture, it's a presented image, but it's not the actual. Yeah, it's like going to a museum and only seeing the best of the best, you know? What, what's that like Van Gogh, like how troubled he was, but then, like, most of the time when you go to a museum, you're just like, Oh, sunflowers, pretty self portrait, pretty, you know, and they don't see all the things he went through behind the scenes. So it's kind of like that agony. Yeah. Yeah. It's that whole, it's that whole thing. And people take, you know, stuff, especially social media at face value, where there's like, she has a perfect house and it's always clean and five kids. How does she do it? And then there are articles where it's like these influencers or some of them will have secondary or vacation homes and that's what they film all their content in, you know, and then they're. Or it's this corner, and then everything else is just, it got pushed elsewhere. Everything is behind the camera, not in front of it. Yeah. The laundry is, there's a pile of it behind you, or behind the couch? I think that I do have a pile of laundry behind the couch, because my daughter hides things now, behind She's collecting like some kind of bread and we don't know why that's okay I'll raise you I'll raise you when my daughter started walking and she had those like little teething crackers or little stars Like it's like little Gerber stuff, right? She would hide them like she was a little squirrel or chipmunk, like, making little stockpiles. And, and I'm just like, what's that smell? Like, I, I smell them, you know? Because if they wet, if they get wet, they start, like, dissolving. And then there were times where I would find them in my shoes. And I'm just like Girl stop acting like we don't feed you like you don't have to hoard your food. We will give you more Oh my goodness. And so yeah, and so it's just like Children are so funny. I feel like the podcast would go on so long just talking to moms about kids and experiences I mean, I guess that's why They're amazing. You've never experienced some of these, hilarious, ridiculous, funny things without them around. It's just totally different life. It's something to just roll with and, enjoy for the most part. Gosh. I hope she's just as funny when she grows up, too. You know, like, quirky, funny. Yeah, if not she will listen to this episode and be like I did what and I was like, yep You were my little chunk monk hiding stuff, you know It's not like she's hiding it from her little sister because at the time Jasmine was not born, but I'm just like, you don't need little corners and she would hide so many things, like apple slices, like under the rugs I'm getting a pattern that it's all edible. It's all, yeah, no, but then her toys, everywhere, just out in plain sight, but it was, I was like, girl, stop acting like we don't feed you, like, people are gonna get suspicious. Yeah. So I love how we keep like having these little moments of like, let me tell you a toddler story. And then we come back to our focus. I love it. I love it. So I love to give actionable steps for our viewers. Right? And so what do you think is something, if someone is resonating with this episode, Okay. What is a good actionable step for them to take, towards moving towards anything that we've talked about? Yeah, absolutely. So moving forward, if this kind of really resonates this whole, I'm an entrepreneur, I'm working all the time or most of the time, and I want to pull back, absolutely get the book, reach out. We have a program, that we're setting up that we're going to do in different cohorts, taking. Taking everyone through the process because with each chapter, it adds on, almost in kind of a chronological order. You could put it in order. I mean, you can, you don't have to, but it really kind of follows. That was kind of my line of path. And to just go through all that together and with other people, not just with me, it's group thing. And, so far, a lot of folks have really enjoyed that. And it's mostly that togetherness. And that's the most important thing. And that's my main message. We're in this together, right? We're all still working this out. I'm still trying to figure out better ways. To do things and to be more efficient and not be as involved in certain things that I don't have to be. So it's a constant process, constant evaluation, finding new stuff. You're not going to be able to pick a path, a specific path for you that works now and still works. And a few months or years, you have to look at things again and then adapt everything else around us adapts, we've got to keep. So it's a lot of it's not like you get this fix and then you're all better. You're like cured, like you had a disease and you're just cured. It's just constant improvement, self improvement to get you on the path and stay on the path that you're designed to be on. Awesome. And again, listeners. The link to the pre order is in the show notes. So go ahead and grab that too. What else is in the show notes is how you can connect with Catherine, but do you have a preferred method if someone wants to reach out and connect with you, whether it's about your book or anything else that they've heard. Email address info at cowartrow. com. That, goes straight to me and, and then we can connect that way too. I'd love to talk with anybody who wants to, talk about anything at all. Yeah, we love an open book here. I've shared so many stories and as the guest interviews go out, like, all of them have some similar stories, but some different ones because, you know, some of them I'm talking to dads and I'm talking to moms or I'm talking to like dog parents who don't actually have children. And so it's really interesting and fun to just have all these kind of real conversations. And I like it when people also reach out to, and then they tell me their story and it's great because we also have this anonymous line that people can submit their like chaotic stories to. And so, yeah, it's all like all about building community. And I think it's important for what you said is that you have the book, but then you also have this program where people can just connect. And I feel like. People don't have to do this alone. Do you hear me, listeners? You don't have to do this alone, right? All it takes is making that one connection and finding that one person that you click with and then moving forward and then, networking, even if you are an introvert. It's about finding one person that you connect with and that's how you start the ball rolling, basically. Absolutely. Yeah. Awesome. Do you have any final thoughts for our listeners? Reach out. I really would love to hear from anyone about yeah, anything, any kind of story, any kind of questions I'm totally open. I don't like to set too many parameters because you never know what that could, limit or rule out. Not about that. Yeah, exactly. Okay, awesome. Well, thank you for joining us today. I really, really appreciate you being here. I know that it's kind of chaotic where you are right now. Listeners, Catherine was telling me that, before we started hitting record, that it's, like, snowing in Louisiana. And that's insane. First time like this in 130 years. We got almost 12 inches. That's insane. Well, life is better real and, this is our reality and, again, be flexible, roll with it because life's always going to throw different, different things at you. Just how it goes. Got to roll with it. I love it. Alright, well listeners, I will see you in our next episode, and Katherine, we'll chat after, of course. Awesome. Thank you. That's a wrap on another episode of Caffeinated Chaos. I hope you're leaving with a little more clarity, a lot more inspiration, and maybe even an extra shot of motivation. If you loved today's episode, don't forget to follow us, leave a review, and share it with a friend who could use just a little chaos and caffeine in their life. Until next time, keep embracing the mess, chase your dreams, and make magic happen. One caffeinated, chaotic moment at a time. I will see you all soon. Bye now.

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Whitney Mihalko - Aguon

Host
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Catherine Roe

Guest

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