Every Mother's Day, someone asks what I want.

For many moms answer would be some version of a quiet morning, a good cup of coffee, and an afternoon without anyone needing something from them. Which is a fine answer. A real one. But it is also the answer of someone who has been running on empty and just wants a break.

This year my answer is different. Because somewhere along the way I realized the thing I actually wanted was not a break from my life. It was a life I did not need a break from.

And the best gift I can give my kids? Is watching me figure out how to build it.

What Your Kids Are Actually Learning

Kids do not learn from what we tell them. They learn from what they watch us do.

Hashtag homeschool truth!

When your kids see you sit down for your two tomatoes every single day, they are not just watching their mom do work. They are watching someone who decided that her dream was worth 25 minutes. Worth showing up for, even on a Tuesday when nothing is going right and the laundry is still in the dryer from yesterday and someone needs a snack every 4 minutes.

They are watching someone who planted a seed and kept tending it.

That is not a small thing. That is the thing. The example of a parent who did not wait until conditions were perfect, who did not put herself last until there was nothing left, who showed her kids what it looks like to cultivate something of her own.

When your daughter grows up and has her own dream, she is going to reach for it because she saw you reach for yours. Not because you told her she could do anything. Because she watched you actually do it.

The Lie We Tell Ourselves Every May

Here is what happens every Mother's Day in the online business world: thousands of moms treat it as a soft deadline. "Once the kids are done with school, I'll really focus." "After summer. After the holidays. After things slow down."

And then September comes and it is back-to-school chaos and then the holidays and then January 1 and the cycle starts again. The waiting does not end. It just finds a new thing to wait for.

I am not saying this to be harsh. I am saying it because I did it for a long time, and luckily my mother still always reminds me, "life will not slow down, you will not have more time next week".  She isn't saying it to be be harsh but as an honest reminder: the right time is not coming. But the two tomatoes are available right now.

Two Tomatoes. One Hour. This Is All It Takes.

The 2 Tomato Method is the daily framework I built my business on. Two focused 25-minute sessions. That is the whole system.

Before your tomatoes, you plant the seed: write your goal by hand, somewhere you are accountable for it. Two minutes. This is the thing that sets the direction for everything that follows.

Tomato 1 is your non-negotiables. Tend to your people with a post that serves without selling. Go to market once, every day, so your audience knows what you offer. Grow the garden by getting one person to your freebie. Foundation work, done in 25 minutes.

Tomato 2 is whatever your business needs most right now. A blog post. A sales page. A podcast pitch. A website update that has been sitting on your list for three weeks. The longer-view work that builds something real over time.

Two tomatoes. One hour. Foundation tended. Business moving. A complete business day.

And then you close the laptop and go watch the soccer game. Those two parts of your life are not in competition. They are the whole picture.

This Mother's Day, Give Yourself the Gift of Actually Starting

You do not have to have it all figured out. You do not need a perfect offer or a big following or two uninterrupted hours every morning.

You need a goal card, a timer, and two tomatoes.

Inside Cultivating Awesome, we cowork every single day. You show up, plant your seed in the group, state your intention, and work alongside women who are doing exactly the same thing. Two tomatoes, together. The gym buddy version of building an online business. And then you go back to your life.

The founding member rate is only $9 a month and the price goes up at 200 members.

This Mother's Day, give yourself the gift of showing up for the thing you keep saying you will get to. Your kids are watching. Make it worth watching.