Work Hard Mom Harder

Hey friends, it's Day 10 of Hudson Month, and we're wrapping up the last of the lighter entries from the Meet Baby Dub book; the pregnancy waiting game, the failed labor induction attempts, and all the very relatable impatience of those final overdue days. Tomorrow is Hudson's fourteenth birthday, and we shift into harder territory. I'm not going to sugarcoat it... it's heavy. But it's true, and i...

It's Day 9 of my read-through of Meet Baby Dub,  the book I wrote fourteen years ago, a compilation of blog posts from before and after our daughter Hudson's birth and death. In today's episode, I'm reading the final lighthearted chapters from the "Before" section — the ones I wrote in those anticipatory, achingly ordinary last days of pregnancy. We're almost to the hard part. In this episode: Cou...

It's Day 8 of my read-aloud of Meet Baby Dub,  the book I wrote 14 years ago while I was pregnant with my daughter, Hudson. These vignettes are a window into who I was before I knew what was coming, and I love getting to share them with you. In today's episode: On Groping Yourself in a Room Full of Strangers — aka our birthing class breastfeeding session, which was exactly as awkward as it sounds....

We're back for Day 7 of Hudson Month. It's a quickie, cuz life. Support the Forget Me Not Program: A portion of every book sale goes directly to the Forget Me Not Foundation. You can also make a tax-deductible donation directly here: 👉 Donate to the Forget Me Not Program Buy the Meet Baby Dub Book: Want to follow along and see all the pictures? Grab your copy on Amazon: 👉 Buy Meet Baby Dub on Am...

In this episode, I'm recording from the amphitheater, with birds  and construction sounds as my backdrop, because this is just how life is going right now. These are honestly some of my favorite memories to revisit from before Hudson was born... birthing class adventures, some super vivid dream action, and my sister's bachelorette party weekend aka the pregnant Murtaugh list. I close out with some...

I'm recording today from a picnic table at the Fort Walla Walla Amphitheater — birds and all — and reading you more from the Meet Baby Dub book as part of Hudson Month. In today's episode, I share several vignettes from the book: Baby Genius Six Months Pregnant   The Pregnant Card Kicking, Screaming, Baby Stuff Catching Up with Old Friends — aka, pregnancy is its own time zone. First Day, Third Tr...

Happy 4th of July! It's Day 4 of Hudson Month, and I'm squeezing in a recording between neighborhood barbecue festivities.  This episode covers some of the most memorable moments of the pregnancy, but first Running the first Hudson Month 5K of July (35 minutes — slow and steady wins the race) A note on AI editing tools and why you should always check AI's work Then, the goods from the book: The sw...

Welcome back to Day 3 of Hudson Month!  In this episode, you'll hear about: The moment a gut officially becomes a bump, and fancy pants get retired for the foreseeable future. Pregnancy exhaustion hitting hard   Baby showers getting a whole new level of competitive energy when you're also pregnant The magic of maternity jeans and why you should always bring your mom shopping The art of perfecting...

In Day 2 of Hudson Month, we pick up where yesterday's episode left off — this time with a proper send-off.  This episode is a handful of fan-favorite blog posts from early in our pregnancy with Hudson — including: The Two-Month Secret — the agony of keeping a pregnancy under wraps during the first trimester The Big Reveal — how the Dub side got a slow-dawning stocking surprise, while the Shiz sid...

July is Hudson Month... a celebration of what would be our firstborn daughter Hudson's 14th birthday. For the next 31 days, I'll be reading aloud from Meet Baby Dub , the book I compiled of blog post greatest hits to share her story with the world. Today we kick things off with Day 1. If this book has touched your heart, I hope you'll consider purchasing a copy on Amazon. Every sale goes towards o...

May is basically summer's December — and yet I decided to start 75 Hard right in the thick of it. In this episode, I'm getting real about why I'm voluntarily choosing hard things during an already hard season, and what God's been teaching me about mental toughness, perseverance, and preparation. You'll hear about our Maycember chaos (four kids, baseball tournaments, a husband working nights, and a...

I'm kicking off today's episode with Psalms 119:100 — "I have more understanding than my elders, for I obey your precepts" — and unpacking why the flex isn't age or experience, it's alignment with divine instruction. With a little help from ChatGPT (and the Holy Spirit), I dig into the Hebrew roots of the word precepts and explore what it truly means to close the gap between knowing better and act...

After a long break, I'm back behind the mic... but this episode isn't business as usual. In this riff sesh, I share what's been happening behind the scenes: returning to church after 20 years, feeling called to make changes in my life and business, and learning what it actually means to surrender instead of control. From a mysteriously canceled dentist appointment to skipping a major industry conf...

The diaper fairy has come to the Walter household and absconded with all of our youngest's daytime diapers. The past few weeks have been dedicated to cleaning up messes and making slow progress towards potty independence. Naturally, the business analogy wheels are still turning and today's episode showcases the surprising parallels between potty training a toddler and building a successful busines...

This week, I created a new position in my company and hired a candidate for the role. They're on a 90 day probation, and if they don't perform, I'll have to fire myself.   The position is the Chief Hype Officer at Email Mavens. The candidate is me.   Learn how I'm basically creating an alter ego in order to become a better leader not only for the people on my team but for myself, as well. I'm cale...

This week's episode is the audio portion of the Email Mavens YouTube episode celebrating the sixth anniversary of starting my own business. Listen to the end for best and perhaps most surprising lesson. 

This episode is a pep talk, a series of journaling prompts, and a rallying cry for love. We won't give it away in the description, we'll let you listen and get into it.

Palm trees = Money Apparently because I got palm trees for my birthday, our five year old thinks we are wealthy. It has me thinking what kind of money thought seeds I'm planting in my kids' heads and what money thoughts I want to believe. Enjoy the hilarity and then, take some time to consider your own money thoughts. 

A quick update post on how my boundary-enforcement is going: Discoveries from enforcing my own rules about time spent in my business How I'm spending all this extra time What you can do to turn any of this inspiration into action  It's a quick one so you can take that extra time and do a little reflection yourself as you pursue your own impossible goals! 

It has been far too long since you got an Erica Riff's episode, so here's the first of Season 2 and the first of 2024. These are uncut, unedited, no holds barred and no outline created. They're usually inspired by something that has me fired up, so you get a ton of motivation and the occasional f-bomb. This one is all about the importance of the words we use to talk to others AND to ourselves. Wor...

Learn the sneaky, disempowering thoughts that I'm replacing with a new and more powerful one. Accept the challenge to try this thought for yourself for the rest of the month. It literally can change your reality in an instant. 

Traveling across 6 states gives a girl some time to think.  We just returned from a week-long vacation and you better believe I'm back with lots of inspiration and lessons from the trip. These lessons are about to be applied in my business in a big way, and you're welcome to borrow any of them (and to hold me accountable to following through on them!).  

You want to know what's boring? Consistency. But the results that consistency can bring you? That's sexy AF. Today's episode celebrates the unglamorous appeal of just showing up. 

I'm working very hard at my goal. And that's the problem.  In today's episode we are exploring the importance on focusing on creating and taking actions from a different perspective. It's not a grind. It's an adventure. 

When you set out to achieve the impossible, the first thing that happens is your brain goes nuts with objections and obstacles.  There are three general categories of obstacles, and I break them down in this episode and provide some useful prompts to help you decide if you're okay using these obstacles as excuses, or as to-dos.