Ally Loprete

For Mother's Day this year, what is it you REALLY want? If you are like most work-at-home moms I know, a relaxing day off with no responsibility for anyone other than yourself might sound like just the thing. But what would make it even more precious would be the ability to sustain that rejuvenation the other 364 days of the year. For me, that gift is knowing that my hard work and determination has a pay-off. Otherwise what is the point? Working at home is like taking on a double career for half the pay- and only some of us will actually see results in our income. Those odds are not very reassuring. So why do we keep at it? Because we love and care for our families and are determined to provide for them. Because we want to share ourselves with them as mothers and caretakers. Because we don't see any other way. The truth is, as parents, our time is VALUABLE and oh-so sparse. Focused work time without interruption is as scarce as hens’ teeth, so what little we have, we need to invest wisely. If you are not seei

Whether you are just at the beginning stages of your new home career or you've had a decent amount of success growing your small business and are ready to catapult yourself to the next level, additional capital needs to be considered. Starting with a larger investment might enable you to grow your business more aggressively, but if you don't happen to have deep pockets you can find ways to fund your business through other areas of value. It's pretty simple really. You can't afford to hire a web designer? Spend a few days scouring the internet for free YouTube tutorials and teach yourself how to do it for nothing. What you lack in funding you can make up with time. The bottom line is you shouldn't let a great business idea fall by the wayside because you lack capital. If you have a stellar idea, a viable business plan and a whole lot of passion, there are always options for finding a way to launch your business. So tighten up those belts and get ready to ask the right questions about how to get the money you n

Hot mamas know how to work it in the bedroom and in the boardroom! I'd like to think that we've been through enough together and have moved well beyond being embarrassed about asking the tough questions. We know that sex sells and we know that sex heals. So why not use a little sex to up our game in business? This week I am bringing on my good friend, Lou Paget, a well known Certified Sex Educator prominently featured on HBO and FOX. This Friday there won't be anything holding us back from telling it like it is... and getting down and dirty. You will LOVE Lou. Beside Lou being a complete blast to spend the hour with, you will learn things about the world of sex that you didn't know affected our every day lives as moms, soon-to-be-moms and entrepreneurs. Don't tune this one out because you think this show doesn't apply to you. Too many women (including myself) have opted not to pay attention to their sexual power simply because they didn't have the time to make it a priority. The truth is that those that join

What is the Good Girl? The “Good Girl” is an archetype that has different forms—the judge, the critic, the perfectionist, the people-pleaser to name a few. But no matter the form, the basis of the Good Girl has to do with feeling limited by society’s rules of what a woman should be. It has to do with playing small and feeling stuck in a prison of other people’s ideas. It has to do with feeling like we have to live up to the idea of being “good.” Many times the “good” part of us judges the “badass” part of us and we miss out on the truth of what it means to be a whole woman. Many women seem to come up against this archetype as we begin to explore our true selves and our real desires, or as we up-level our business and personal lives, or as we step into a bigger game that calls for us to be seen and heard. The Good Girl Gremlin seems to come up just as women are about to expand and grow… just as we are about to rock the center stage of our own life. What are some “Good Girl” symptoms? You may spend energy in gu

Make Strategic Planning Work. As busy moms with busy schedules we really don't have a choice but to orginize our time and efforts down to a science. If we don't stay 2 steps ahead of our day, we run the risk of falling way behind... as well as falling apart. So lets talk about strategy. Do you feel like you are pounding the pavement in your small business without seeing results? Are you simply trying to keep up with your long list of daily tasks only to fall short on accomplishing more than half of them each day? Do you find yourself spending too much precious time cleaning up messes and putting out fires and not enough time driving your business forward? Chances are you need to re-evalute your methods and rework your focus. Very often we are so caught up in working HARD we forget to work smart. Strategic Planning is a great tool for organizational alignment and goal setting. Experts tell us that in order to get ahead in business, we need to move beyond daily responsibilities and incorporate advancement into

Are you Fearless? Probably not. None of us are. Fear affects each and every one of us in different ways. You may think you know someone who appears to be fearless, but the truth is, they just might have a better relationship with fear than you do. Are you the kind of person who ignores the fears that present themselves? Do you cover it up with distractions and procrastinations? Or are you the sort of person who takes a moment to dissect the fears at hand and approach the issues dead on? When we are feeling down, stressed out, overwhelmed or uninspired, often the results appear in our physical bodies. It shows up as a headache, back pain, weight gain, weight loss, fatigue and more. If fear is the driving factor for all stress, than stress is most likely the root cause of our recurring and chronic symptoms. We've been taught for years to deal with these symptoms through medication prescriptions, pain killers, or physical therapy. Unfortunately the over abundance of prescriptions eventually result in more undesi

If we weren't crazy before we became parents, we certainly are now. I admit it. I love crazy people. Let me clarify. I love people who embrace their craziness. Why try to hide it when you can make it work to your advantage? It's the crazy ones who get. stuff. done. It's the crazy ones who invent new products, take them as far as they will go, and then invent something new when the first product becomes old news. It's the crazy people who always land the big accounts and close the biggest deals because they are not afraid of the word "no" It's the crazy ones who demand to know the rules just so they can officially push the boundaries. It's the crazy parents who obsess about getting their child into the most ideal pre-school, without which they may never get a decent shot to get them into college or grad school. How crazy are you? But more importantly, how crazy are you willing to be? Are you crazy? Or just stressed out? The difference between crazy and stressed out is the FUN aspect. Crazy can be a blast. Stre

Being a stay-at-home parent is a thankless job without pay, without bathroom breaks, and somehow it manages to deplete what little we have from our bank accounts. From the outside it must look like torture and yet the work-at-home parent revolution is still rising by tens of thousands each year. Why would parents choose to come home if they are so miserable? Because they are not. They may not have much sanity left, but they have chosen this path because it gives them freedom. The businesses that we build from our homes are not to fund extravagant lifestyles. They afford us the opportunity to be with our children, raise them, and play a significant role in their growth and development. This is no easy feat, but we have made this choice and we are willing to do what it takes to keep us at home where we feel we are most needed. If there is one thing I learned when I launched OurMilkMoney.com, it's the power we have in numbers, it's the influence we have over each other to create trends that work in our favor, an

Ah, yes. Good times. When the kids are tucked in on a Saturday night, my husband and I like to have a "date night"-- which means something very differentthan it did ten years ago. Back then, we might have been burning the midnight oil at a concert, a party, or perhaps we'd be performing in a theatrical production in the city. Oh, yeah. We were crazy that way. CRAZY, I tell ya! We enjoy our date nights just as much now as we did then. Now that we are parents our typical Saturday night looks a bit different. We wait until the kiddos fall asleep, turn on some music, sit on the couch with a bottle of wine to reminisce about the days beforewe became parents... It was a time when we had... a lot LESS. ...Less responsibility and less to worry about... as well as less of a clue on most anything. In fact, once we get over the laughs of how C-R-A-Z-Y we were, we begin to realize that before we became parents we had less vision. Less purpose. Less reason to keep it together and push for that finish line. We had les

...and We're Back! If you want to know the truth, the last 9 months off the air has been truly grueling and torturous for me, personally. I felt naked without my microphone. I felt irrelevant. I felt forgotten. And then I realized that it wasn't about me. It was about YOU. If you have any doubt what your purpose in life is, you'll discover it the moment that it is taken away from you. The last 9 months for me became an intense exercise in self-discovery, sheer focus, extreme strategy projects and deep deep DEEP housecleaning. (Purging is never easy!) I found myself intensely clawing and clamoring to get my message heard by anyone who would listen...which was even more challenging without my usual broadcasting tools. I'd sob "...but...you don't understand. I am on a mission to bring home 1 million parents! Won't you help me??" Well.... SOMEONE heard my cries--- because it's happening just the way I'd envisioned. This Little Parent Stayed Home will relaunch bigger and bolder than ever before... this week on

Design your ideal life. If you are serious in creating a career that fits around your family's needs, you've got to get to know Leah Jantzen. Leah is a good friend, fellow radio host, and also like me, she is a mom on a mission. Leah is a shining example of a woman who has never backed down, rarely lets fear get in her way to soar to new possibilities, and has proven that it IS possible to create an environment that mirrors the most important values in your life including your family and your career. The thing I love about Leah is that she doesn't hold back when telling it like it is and always finds the fun and the warmth in the hard choices we have to make as moms. Like me, she is willing to share the deep and dirty truth about how she manages it all... even when the kids are sick and the house is a mess. Don't become engulfed in the minutia of what can't be done... not when there is a rainbow of possibilities! Get your inspiration from those that have already made it work and then apply it to your own situ

Come One Come All!!! Mom of Many Hats Radio and This Little Parent Stayed Home are joining forces for a SPECTACULAR show ! Ally LoPrete and Angie Mozilo will dazzle, delight, and dish about all things "woman" on this special radio event! From parenting to perfection, working from home to wanting the most of ourselves, dreaming to dazzle, vulnerability to value - you name it, between these two ladies, they'll share the dish about mastering and manipulating the art of juggling it all.

Turn your dreams into an actionable plan. Dreaming is the fun part, but creating a detailed and effective plan is a different story. It might seem to be less fun, but that is only because it is less familiar. A road less traveled usually leads to more abundant joyfulness. So the question is... Do you dare? Or do you delay? As women and mothers living in a culture that expects us to be all things to everyone- including ourselves- we often don't know where to start. Turn your passions into something that fuels and sustains you. This week we will be talking about how to get sizable results by broadcasting a quality message rather than a careless and impersonal blast that reaches a large quantity, but stimulates none. When you leverage your resources effectively, you will be able to identify your true value and find your most joyful purpose. Living authentically in this manner is the best way to parent with purpose. This week I will be introducing you to my friend and colleague, Executive Coach and Leadership Dev

It's simple. Just run your family like a Business. Why not?   By using an empowering management style, who's to say that we can't educate, parent, and inspire ambition in our children as we raise them along side of our businesses?   If you are a parent struggling to balance career with family, you won't want to miss this discussion.   Simplify. Compartmentalize. Profit.   This is a revolutionary time for all parent entrepreneurs, but as we will discuss, we are still pioneering the industry- and that means paving the way for a younger generation of parent entrepreneurs. We know them now as our children.   In a world of entitlement and increasing dependence, it is important that we teach and inspire our kids to listen, be observant, work well with others, adapt, stay accountable and self-sufficient, and follow their inner sense of integrity.   Do we as adults encompass all of those things? Can you imagine how much we would be accomplishing by now if this is the way we'd been raised?   This week, I will be intro

Believe. Plan. Go. Meeting Jenn Lee was like hitting the jackpot. Everything she said about taking action and streamlining all efforts really resonated with me. I was introduced to Jenn shortly after being asked to host Spark & Hustle. Tory Johnson told me that Jenn would help me change the way I executed everything in my business, and she was right. With her sharp wit, no B.S. approach and practical takeaways, Jenn Lee's out-of-the-box strategies are game changing. If you are ready to stop making excuses, take back the control and get fast results that will earn you a profit that matches your hard work, you'll want to join us on this show.

Be honest. Does social media frighten you? You wouldn't be alone if it does. It seems like every time we finally master one platform, a new one appears or a new 3rd party application is created. You are no dummy. You appreciate that social media is a terrific tool when it comes to promoting your business and leveling the playing field, but staying technically aware is enough to make your head explode. Without the right comprehension, your social time online could end up being counter-productive.   How are you supposed to get any actual work done with all these social media expectations?   Like every other bit of technology, new discoveries that were supposed to make our lives easier seems to make them more complicated. That is why we are going to attack this topic with the most streamlined intentions for you as a busy work-at-home parent.   Your work time is already limited so it is important to know how to effectively engage in social media and keep your internet presence exposed without breaking the time ba

Champions come from the most unexpected places. I'd like to think of myself as a pretty open-minded and accepting individual. No judgements here. But in the realm of authenticity, I'll admit that when I was first introduced to Ryans Sallans, a trans-gender male, public speaker, educator and author of the book "Second Son," I found myself making quick assumptions about him - not that I am proud of myself. Even I, who touts non-discrimination wondered... what's wrong with this person that he couldn't find peace until he had transformed his entire gender identity? The more I read about Ryan, the more he became a hero to me. Gender identity is a complex and awkward topic, even for the most broad-minded and unbiased but through Ryan's writing, speaking and mentoring, his message is such an important one. He brings a multitude of positive attributes to the trans-gender and gay communities, as well as to their families who love them and want to understand them. Shouldn't we all make an effort to be more understandin

Go beyond slight recognition and dive into stardom. Years before I was a business coach for parents, I was a business coach for actors in Hollywood. I didn't teach them how to act, but I did coach them on how to know their "product" as well as how to create out of the box marketing strategies that would allow them to be remembered by the people who were in a position to hire them. The business of acting isn't much different than your home based business where you structure your own game plan, work to build memorable relationships, and represent your brand with complete confidence and poise. Many of the most passionate and talented actors share a common pitfall in their careers: They are so passionate about the art of performing, but they often ignore the necessary business steps it takes to get them in front of the camera, or on the stage. "I don't want to play the Hollywood game, " they'd say, "Just put me on the stage and let me perform." My response? "If you don't create a business plan and a unique market

Welcome back Lil' Parents! As we say in my family when we have just taken a much needed break from one another -- I have enjoyed missing you! It's back to work and we have lots to cover! I am really looking forward to launching into the new format of the show tomorrow night! I hope that Monday evenings will bring more opportunity for you to tune in live and take interactive action. I have a terrific new line up of guests for the fall series and we plan catering each show to more specific challenges that you may be having as a parent and solo entrepreneur. I am pumped!! If there is one thing that inspires me, it's watching others create an innovative variant of success by pushing past boundaries and striving for progress rather than perfection. Very often we don't know what our life purpose is until it is staring us squarely in the face, and even then sometimes we miss it. The truth is we all have accessible solutions. What might start out as an imaginative approach to solve our own problems often results in a

Whatever is screaming the loudest gets the most attention. At least that is how it is in my house. As parents, our days almost never go as planned. You may have meant to put out a client newsletter or create a rockin' new business plan or even have a play-date with some new friends from preschool. All that was pushed aside, however, when your 3 year old peed on the floor or your 6 year old suddenly came down with pink eye or your hot water heater broke and seeped into all those boxes in the garage. Sometimes the hardest part of being a parent is that we lack control of the day to day and even the hour to hour. Why even have a game plan when it's sure to get disrupted by something unexpected? A game plan keeps you focused, but having flexibility keeps you prepared and ready to deviate from your plan without having a grown-up melt down. Tragedy + Time = Comedy Keep those chuckles coming. On most days, it's the only way to make it through. If you want to survive, you must learn to laugh at the absurdity of your