Episode 684: How to Grow Your Business While Being a Mom for the First Time With Chelsea Cole

EBT684 – Chelsea Cole

Intro 00:00

Food bloggers. Hi, how are you today? Thank you so much for tuning in to the Eat Blog Talk podcast. This is the place for food bloggers to get information and inspiration to accelerate your blog’s growth, and ultimately help you to achieve your freedom. Whether that’s financial, personal, or professional. I’m Megan Porta. I have been a food blogger for 13 years, so I understand how isolating food blogging can be. I’m on a mission to motivate, inspire, and most importantly, let each and every food blogger, including you, know that you are heard and supported. 

[00:00:37] Megan Porta  

If you are a parent or maybe a parent to be and you are also looking to grow your business or start a business or continue to grow your business, you absolutely have to listen to this episode with Chelsea Cole.

[00:00:53]   

 She’s the blogger over at A Ducks Oven and a cookbook author times three. She has just published a brand new cookbook that is far outside her niche, which we also talk about in this episode. A little bonus topic at the end. Chelsea gives us all the scoop about how to be a mom for the first time or maybe the second or third or fourth time for you and how to build your business on top of it.

[00:01:21]   

 She has a bunch of strategies. She’s a planner at heart. She’s very organized so she really did think through the process and has some really good tips if you are looking for those. She talks about ways to creatively squeeze time in for your business so it doesn’t get put on the back burner while you are being a mom or a dad. This is a great episode. I absolutely loved my time with Chelsea. I know you are going to be so inspired by it. It is episode number 684.

[00:01:57] Sponsor   

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[00:02:26]   

Chelsea Cole is a cookbook author, food blogger and founder of the Cookbook Lab, a course that teaches self publishing cookbooks. Her website, A Duck Oven focuses on sous vide cooking. She has written three cookbooks Everyday Sous Vide, Sous Vide Meal Prep and her third, A Feast of Thorns and Roses, is a fan cookbook inspired by the A Court of Thorns and Roses series. This book comes out April 1, 2025. She currently lives outside of Portland, Oregon with her husband, son and daughter. On the way. Chelsea, welcome back for I believe, your third time on Eat Blog Talk. Is that correct?

[00:03:13]  Chelsea Cole 

 I think that’s right. I’m so excited.

[00:03:16]  Megan Porta 

 It’s been a while. I was looking back to see when you were last on and it’s been far too long. So I’m really glad you’re back. And we have a whole new topic to discuss today, which is being a mom and growing your business. This is a real challenge. But as you’re going to tell us it can be done. It definitely can be done. Yeah. So I’m very excited to get into this. We have a few other little nuggets to throw in, so listen through. We’re going to talk about niches and how it doesn’t always serve you to stick exactly with everything in your niche. Sometimes it serves you to go outside your niche a little bit. So listen through to the end to get all of that scoop as well. Before we get into all of this awesomeness, do you have another fun fact to share with us, Chelsea?

[00:04:06]  Chelsea Cole 

 Yes. Okay. So I’ve been thinking a lot about this and one of my long, like, lifelong goals and eventually I’m going to get back to it. I kind of started it while I was pregnant with my son is to become an excellent cheese maker. I’m considering when my kids are in school actually like going back to school myself to learn how to make cheese. So, yeah, that is like, we’ll see when I’m like 60. I want to be an excellent cheesemaker.

[00:04:33]  Megan Porta 

 You have to follow those passions and those nudges, I think even if they might seem weird, especially to others. Like other people I’m sure are like, really a cheesemaker.

[00:04:43]  Chelsea Cole 

 But why?

[00:04:44]  Megan Porta 

 But if you have that for some, it’s there for a reason. So I love that you’re like, yes, I’m going to follow this when it’s right. When the time is right. Yes. Cool. I’ll be so excited to see your cheese cookbook when it comes out.

[00:04:58]  Chelsea Cole 

 There you go. Exactly. Yeah. Like, it kind of fits into like all the sciency stuff of side of cooking that I like.

[00:05:04]  Megan Porta 

 It does suit you well. I love it. So for anyone who doesn’t know who you are, you’re a blogger at A Duck’s Oven. Can you tell us a little bit of your background as a blogger.

[00:05:15]  Chelsea Cole 

 Yeah. So I started my food blog, A Duck’s Oven, almost 15 years ago now, which is crazy. Uh, yeah, I was. And this is really gonna date me. I was a sophomore in college at the University of Oregon, which is why it’s called a ducks oven. Because their mascot is the ducks. Yes. And so I’ve been running that for a very, very, very long time.

[00:05:34]   

 It kind of started out as, like, college students. You can do more than just get takeout and make box Mac and cheese. Like, here’s other food you can make. And then I kind of, like, transitioned to easy cooking for young adults. And then in 2017, I discovered Sous vide cooking, fell head over heels in love with it, and really niched down into sous vide.

[00:05:53]   

 I’ve self published two cookbooks about sous vide cooking. Now actually teach self publishing at the Cookbook Lab. And now I am about to launch my first traditionally published cookbook. That has nothing to do with anything I just talked about.

[00:06:09]  Megan Porta 

 I don’t know why, but I just love that it’s like, you know, way out here and all of your other stuff is tucked in this little niche, and it’s working. Right? So I. I’m just so happy for you.

[00:06:20]  Chelsea Cole 

 Yeah, it’s totally working. It’s. I’m very excited. It’s. We’re about a week away from all the big things, so. Yeah, it’s been really fun.

[00:06:27]  Megan Porta 

 Oh, I’m so excited for you. Okay, so tell me about A Feast of Thorns and Roses, which is the name of your new cookbook. Where did that inspiration come from?

[00:06:35]  Chelsea Cole 

 Yeah, so it is inspired by the A Court of Thorns and Roses book series, which is, like, wildly popular right now. It has been for a few years now. And it’s funny, when I was pregnant with my son, I was like, six months pregnant. I was, like, scrolling on the couch, and my cousin posted about her Sims cookbook, and I was like, sims, like the computer game?

[00:06:57]   

 Like, why is there a cookbook? What is this? And I started googling it, and there’s like, all these fan cookbooks. There’s a fan cookbook for almost everything that you could think of. And one that I thought was noticeably absent was an A court of Thorns and Roses, which the acronym is acotar. If I say Acotar a lot.

[00:07:15]   

 Okay, like, there was no Acotar cookbook. And I’m like. And I did exactly what you are not supposed to do. Do not do this. I cold emailed my NOW agent, and I like, we were acquaintances at the time. And I was just like, do you think this is a good idea? Like, I don’t really know.

[00:07:33]   

 And she essentially said yes. And we were on the phone with the publishing house a couple weeks later. And then I actually did the whole process backwards again. This is not how you’re supposed to do not. This is bad. A bad thing to do. Do not do what I did. But, yeah, on that call, I thought I was going to be, like, selling this editor on the book.

[00:07:53]   

 And he was like, please let me be the one to do this book. And I was like, whoa. Okay. And so I had about a week to put together a proposal. I hadn’t even put together a proposal yet. I had, like, kind of started on one for him to present to his sales team.

[00:08:07]   

 And then, you know, a couple months later, we signed a contract after a lot of negotiation, and it happened really fast, and again, not how it usually does.

[00:08:16]  Megan Porta 

 Wow. Okay, so it’s a great story, but don’t do exactly what Chelsea did. What about that was not right? How should people actually go about that?

[00:08:25]  Chelsea Cole 

 Yes. So my agent, Sally Ekus, has a fabulous substack substack called Not So Secret Agent. If you want to, like, learn all about all of that, definitely check that out. But you should go to an agent with, like, a thorough, detailed proposal already done. Diane Jacobs teaches, like, how to write cookbook proposals if you’re looking for a resource on that.

[00:08:46]   

 And Sally Ekus has resources on that as well. But, yeah, you should go with, like, a beautiful proposal buttoned up. Send a formal email with the proposal, and then the. Is when you want to go the traditional publishing route with a cookbook, the first person you’re selling is an agent. And then once you have an agent’s buy in, they sell you to a publishing house. So that’s how you should approach an agent.

[00:09:08]  Megan Porta 

 Gotcha. Okay, well, good to know. But I’m glad it worked out, and I’m glad that everybody was excited about it. It sounds like it was all around a good fit.

[00:09:16]  Chelsea Cole 

 Yeah, it worked out. The timing was just really, really good. So we’re the first to market cookbook inspired by the series. There’s been two cocktail books, but, yeah, we’re the first cookbook, so, yeah.

[00:09:26]  Megan Porta 

 Oh, my. Exciting. So you clearly recommended the series.

[00:09:31]  Chelsea Cole 

 Yes, it is. I tell people it’s kind of, like, made me fall in love with reading again. I feel like when I was younger, like late teens, early 20s, you know, we had, like, Twilight and the Hunger Games, and even, like, even younger, we had Harry Potter. And just like these series where you get really attached to the characters and there is, like, world building and there’s like, this whole thing that you just get into.

[00:09:52]   

 And I kind of lost that throughout my 20s and, like, early 30s mostly. I was just reading, like, thrillers and stuff like that, but. And this was the first time I was like, oh, my gosh. Like, you get obsessed with these characters in this world all over again. And it’s a book that’s actually, like, written for adults versus children, which is, like, nice. So, yeah, it’s. It is wonderful. It’s a great way to tiptoe into the romantasy genre. If it’s something you want to explore, I think it’s the perfect series to start with.

[00:10:19]  Megan Porta 

 Awesome. Sold me. Definitely. Check it out. Okay, so you started this whole process while you were pregnant. Right. So, I mean, this is a lot. Being pregnant is a lot, first of all. And getting ready to have a child, writing a book is a lot, Chelsea. And preparing to send that out into the universe.

[00:10:41]   

 So you did both at the same time. How in the world did you make this happen?

[00:10:45]  Chelsea Cole 

 Yeah. So I was eight months pregnant when I signed the contract for my book. And I knew that the manuscript was going to be due when my son was six months old and we had not been planning on doing any kind of childcare. My mom does live 20 minutes away and is retired and is very supportive, which is enormously helpful.

[00:11:04]   

 But like, our current situation, he goes over there once a week, so it’s not. Well. And lately it’s actually been closer to two. But, yeah, so nothing crazy, but, yeah, it was a wild adventure. I gave myself a maternity leave, so for, like, about two and a half months. I truly did not.

[00:11:19]   

 Well, that’s not true. I barely worked. How about that? As business owners, it’s. It’s very hard to completely step away. Yeah. And I was, like, doing things like outlining the book on my phone, you know, like during contact snaps and stuff like that. Yeah. So kind of like tiptoed into the process at that point and then just had to dive in.

[00:11:40]   

 One thing that I did that I am so, so grateful for, for many reasons, is when we were negotiating my cookbook deal, I said, I am not doing the photography. This was both because I didn’t feel like the. My advance was enough to justify the work that goes into doing the photography for your cause.

[00:11:56]   

 It’s a huge amount of work to do the photography, and I knew I just wouldn’t have the bandwidth that, like, with the writing of the book I was able to do a lot of, like, I literally have photos of my son asleep on me while I’m like, on my laptop. And so I was able to do a lot of that.

[00:12:11]   

 And I was very lucky with all the recipe testing he loved at that age. At that age, hanging out in the kitchen with me, just like being where I was and like watching me chop vegetables. And so I did a ton of recipe testing just like, with him hanging out with me, it was.

[00:12:26]   

 That was not always easy, but it often worked out. Yeah. And so I. But I truly don’t think I could have done the photography at that time and within that time frame for my cookbook. So I’m very, very glad I did that and just like, had the foresight to imagine that possibility. I’m not sure if I could have imagined that if I hadn’t self published two cookbooks previously.

[00:12:47]   

 Because those photo shoot days are just exhausting and they, like, are all consuming. Whereas, like, with writing and recipe testing to some degree, you can start and stop. There’s a little more flex. So, yeah, that was, that was a little bit of a whirlwind. But I mean, I remember two weeks before my manuscript was due, my son, like, just refused entirely to nap on his own.

[00:13:09]  Megan Porta 

 Oh, no.

[00:13:10]  Chelsea Cole 

 Like, contact naps only, mom. And I was like, perfect timing. Thank you. Thank you, sweetie.

[00:13:15]  Megan Porta 

 Of course. Right?

[00:13:17]  Chelsea Cole 

 Yeah. And you know, he. I always say for like nights and stuff, he’s been like an okay sleeper. But definitely, you know, he’d. He was not one of those babies sleeping through the night at four months old. So I got really used to like, for example, I had. He was pretty consistent towards the end of that time where he would feed around 4, 4:30 in the morning.

[00:13:38]   

 And I would just get into the habit of staying up after that and working on my book. And then, you know, after he went to bed at night would be a good work time. The naps during the day. Usually I would take like one nap with him, so I would get a little sleep during the day too. But it was, it was a lot, but I got it done.

[00:13:54]  Megan Porta 

 Wow, that’s so inspiring. So you leaned on family support a little bit. Your mom. Thank God, right? Thank God for grandparents and family who’s willing and able to step in and help out a little bit.

[00:14:06]  Chelsea Cole 

 Huge.

[00:14:07]  Megan Porta 

 Yeah. I mean, that. It seems like not a big deal, but that’s a big deal. Like one day, one to two days of help a week is massive.

[00:14:19]  Chelsea Cole 

 And especially with your first. I mean, this is. I’m pregnant with my second. So I haven’t experienced it yet, but I can kind of imagine, you know, and I was lucky enough. My husband did have good paternity leave. It’s just I wasn’t really. We both really weren’t working during his paternity leave, so I didn’t get to use that all that much.

[00:14:35]   

 I maybe in hindsight I would have a little bit more, but. Yeah, so that was really lucky. But it’s just like such a shocked I tier system that is completely indescribable, especially for those first few months. So I really was hard at work on the book from like, of his life, like months four to six, just after the adjustment period and really, you know, seeing that looming deadline coming, so.

[00:14:59]  Megan Porta 

 Oh, gosh, yeah. Especially with a book, you do have a deadline. It’s not like your blog where you can move things around as you wish.

[00:15:06]  Chelsea Cole 

 Nope, there’s a whole other thing. There’s other people involved and yeah, it’s a lot.

[00:15:12]  Megan Porta 

 Right. So speaking of the blog, did you put your blog on the back burner or did you keep up with it during that time too?

[00:15:19]  Chelsea Cole 

 Both. I was very strategic while I was pregnant and I got a ton of content ready for the blog. I had enough content to cover me almost until the book was or until my manuscript was due, which was great. So I just put that on autopilot and like, I really prioritized that while I was pregnant.

[00:15:37]   

 And I’m very, very grateful for that. And so I would say, but I mean, I didn’t try very hard. Like, I wasn’t making stuff for social media. Like the book was my main focus. I was like, at this time, I can do the book, I can take care of my son, I can do.

[00:15:53]   

 I can do nothing else. That’s all I got right now.

[00:15:55]  Megan Porta 

 Yeah, no, I mean, it sounds like you had your priorities set. And the photography, I think that’s so smart too, to have the foresight to say, I am not going to have the energy or the bandwidth to do this, so this has to go to somebody else. And then did that go to who determines the photographer?

[00:16:16]   

 Is that something you hired out?

[00:16:18]  Chelsea Cole 

 So that is a whole thing as well. So I actually part of my negotiations with that was I said, I am not doing the photography and I am not paying a photographer. So usually there’s like a. A few ways it can happen. One, if you get a cookbook deal, you can do the photography yourself.

[00:16:35]   

 Or if you hire out, there’s two different ways that can happen. One, they the publisher is responsible for it, period. So they, you get, you maybe get some. Like I was just told a photographer was picked, which I was kind of bummed about because I had put forward a couple of photographers that I wanted to be considered.

[00:16:51]   

 But I’m really happy with the photography. So, you know, it worked out. But yeah, so they, I said, you guys are responsible for it. You’re paying for it. Another situ, the third kind of scenario is that you can pay for it out of your advance, but that’s typically very expensive. Like at a minimum, you’re looking at $15,000, upwards of $50,000 or more.

[00:17:10]   

 So I said, nope, not doing that.

[00:17:12]  Megan Porta 

 Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Okay, so that’s something to consider too. If you are launching into a cookbook deal, that photography like you, you have to figure that out before you get started, right? That’s, that’s part of it.

[00:17:28]  Chelsea Cole 

 Yeah.

[00:17:29]  Megan Porta 

 Okay, so you had that kind of taken care of on the side, so you didn’t have to worry about it. Are there any other little tricks you employed to get through this time where you were pregnant and then you had a newborn and you were writing a cookbook?

[00:17:44]  Chelsea Cole 

 Let’s see. I’m trying to think. I love visual progress. Like, and I was, I’ve been inspired by Alexandria from the Foreign Fork. She with her giant like post it walls. And so in like in my kitchen I had giant post its and then a little post it with each recipe written on it.

[00:18:00]   

 And I would like have them moving through like a sequence. So it was. I’ve done nothing for this. This has been tested by me. And then this recipe is ready and done. And so I would like move the post its over and I could see like see the progress happening, which was really, really helpful for me.

[00:18:17]   

 And I also had like a few, like, obviously I had recipe testers generally, but then I had a like three recipe testers like my mom, my mom’s really good friends, like another friend who were. If I was like, this recipe is not working. I need somebody to just like dive in and give me really good feedback right now.

[00:18:38]   

 Because in a perfect world I would have tested that recipe like six times in a row or something like that. But considering I was juggling my son too, I was like, I need, might need some help of a trusted person here who is helping me like workshop this recipe versus testing it. And that was really helpful.

[00:18:54]   

 Like I had. There’s a scene in the first book where the main character is given something called molten chocolate that she drinks. And so in my head I’m like, this is richer than a hot chocolate. Like, this is like a really thick, like, sumptuous drink. And I was just like, having a really hard time nailing it.

[00:19:10]   

 And so I sent it off to my mom and her friend. They were like, together at the time. And I’m like, I need help. Like, help me figure out what’s wrong with this. And we were able to kind of workshop it together and come to a place where I felt really, really good about that recipe.

[00:19:21]   

 So I think having with my other books, I think I’ve of was a lot more independent with it. So this was really helpful. And with. I think one thing I didn’t realize with taking on this project, writing any cookbook is. Is hard. It’s a lot of work. This was a whole new level of hard for me because it was a whole new type of creativity because I am bringing recipes to life in these beloved books.

[00:19:48]   

 And some of them are inspired by food that’s like right on the pages. And then others are. I’m like, okay, I have a whole. For example, in the cookbook, there’s a whole section of desserts that are inspired by each of the courts in the book. And so it’s like I had to think of like, what is a dessert that represents this?

[00:20:06]   

 And so with some of the quartz, we know a ton about them. And then with some of the others, it’s like we know practically nothing. And so just like that creative element was something I didn’t anticipate. And one thing I always encourage Cookbook lab students with and was especially important for this, for this book, is to get yourself more time than you expect for the writing.

[00:20:26]   

 I think with cookbooks, we think the recipes, the photography, that’s the bulk of it, which is true to some extent. But those head notes, those chapter introductions, the front matter, all of that is going to sneak up on you and is really important to the book because you want to make really cookable recipes and that’s where all that detail comes in. So anyways, kind of a long.

[00:20:47]  Megan Porta 

 No, I love reading the background. This is getting me more intrigued to jump into the series. So, yeah, molten lava drink. How did it turn out?

[00:20:58]  Chelsea Cole 

 Was it really good? Yeah, it’s like this, like, really rich, thick, chocolatey drink. So highly recommend, especially for winter.

[00:21:07]  Megan Porta 

 Do you have favorite recipe from the book?

[00:21:10]  Chelsea Cole 

 Yes, I think I. It changes. To be fair, I think it is probably. It’s called the Merchant Spiced Pie. There is a. The main character’s dad, Feyre’s dad, is a merchant. And we aren’t told what he’s a merchant of. But I said for my purposes, he is a merchant of spices. And so I did like a chicken pot pie, essentially. But it’s like a really thickly or like, richly spiced chicken pot pie. And it is so good. And I do this, like, top. Like the top gets like, essentially a garlic butter wash on it. And I just. I love that one. It’s very filling and hearty and delicious. And it’s been around a lot over here.

[00:21:50]  Megan Porta 

 Oh, my gosh, I’m starving. Sounds so good. Okay, so one thing I wanted to comment on was your sleep and how intentional you were about that. Getting up early and taking advantage of those hours when your baby’s sleeping. Oh, my gosh. I remember those days. Every minute counted, whether it was like, napping or getting stuff done.

[00:22:12]  Chelsea Cole 

 Yep.

[00:22:13]  Megan Porta 

 Yeah. So talk about that.

[00:22:15]  Chelsea Cole 

 Yeah, like, and I think too especially well, I don’t know. I’m going through this right now again. I feel like I’m always over it and then it comes back. Unless you are blessed with an amazing sleeper, which I for every listener, I hope that that’s you. You become obsessed with your child’s sleep because changes everything.

[00:22:36]   

 If they sleep well, they are happier. It’s easier to like, go out and do things. You are happier because you have more time to yourself, to sleep yourself. It is just like. It is a game changer. And so, like, my son, he did decent overnight. He would like, for. He got down to one feet a night pretty quickly, but he stayed at that until, like, I don’t know, eight months old, which all of my friends, their kids were sleeping through the night by like five months old.

[00:23:04]   

 And I was like, why? You’re like, no, I want that. Please help me. And I’m just the type of person where if I am awake and it. The clock says anything close to 5am it’s incredibly hard for me to go back to sleep almost no matter how tired I am. So I just kind of had to, like, learn to embrace it.

[00:23:20]   

 And you kind of like, once you’re used to being sleep deprived, it. You just like, adapt. And it’s funny because then once you’re caught up on sleep, like right now, you know, if I have a night where he’s up for a half hour at 3am or something the next day, I’m like, wrecked.

[00:23:34]   

 Whereas I would have been thrilled for that a year and a half ago. So just like, it changes you. You just like, you learn to adapt to it. I got really good. My son, he did decent at nights, but his naps were horrific and very short and he would like protest them like crazy.

[00:23:50]   

 It was terrible. And so unless I held him, of course, that’s just, you know, what they love. So I got very used to just like working off my phone with in one hand and I had a charger set up in his room and I would wear earbuds and just like get work done like that a lot of the time.

[00:24:06]   

 And you just like, like kind of are forced to figure it out. And then when he would nap independently, I like, I remember talking about this on Instagram when he was like four months old. I had like at every stage of his life, I had a mental like grouping of tasks. Like, okay, if the.

[00:24:24]   

 These are tasks that I know I can do when he’s awake and these are tasks that he, I can’t. So I’m gonna. If he is sleeping, the moment he closes his eyes, I am doing one of these tasks and then just making sure too that like, like one of those naps each day I was sleeping as well.

[00:24:40]  Megan Porta 

 Yes, absolutely.

[00:24:42]  Chelsea Cole 

 Yeah.

[00:24:42]  Megan Porta 

 You need to recharge. I know.

[00:24:44]  Chelsea Cole 

 Yeah.

[00:24:45]  Sponsor 

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[00:25:05] Megan Porta   

How did you stay motivated during that time? Because I can get to the point where I’m so tired that I just feel like falling off the face of the earth and not doing anything. How did you keep your motivation up?

[00:25:19]  Chelsea Cole 

 I think having a deadline was really helpful. That is like a trap. I feel like I see people fall into with self publishing a lot is they. I think it’s really important to give yourself a pub date when you self publish for many, many reasons. And then, and I always tell people, I want you to say that publish date out loud.

[00:25:35]   

 Like you don’t have to say an exact date but say it’s coming fall 2025 or you know, whatever it’s going to be. And I think because of the mental gymnastics that having a deadline can give you. And so it’s like I knew like I am going to be working my butt off until, you know, I think it was something like January 18th and then I’m going to have a little bit of a break.

[00:25:57]   

 Like it’s not over because there’s like right now I feel like I’m kind of in that hard spot all over again because I’m getting ready to launch it and promote it. And I take the marketing of my books very seriously. Pretty much as seriously as the writing of my books. So, yeah, just knowing, like, okay, there is a finish line.

[00:26:14]   

 Like, even now, I honestly feel very close to burnout. But I know, like, the bulk of my events and promotion are going to be done wrapped up mid April, late April. And I’m like, okay, and then I can rest.

[00:26:27]  Megan Porta 

 So the end is in sight. The. You can see the end. The light at the end of the tunnel. So you do have a second child coming. And promotion. When are you due, Chelsea?

[00:26:37]  Chelsea Cole 

 End of July.

[00:26:38]  Megan Porta 

 Okay. Oh, again, I thought.

[00:26:40]  Chelsea Cole 

 Yes. Nice. Yes.

[00:26:41]  Megan Porta 

 Oh, my gosh. Your first son was born end of July.

[00:26:44]  Chelsea Cole 

 His due date and my. I’m sorry, his birthday and my due date are three days apart. Oh, my gosh.

[00:26:49]  Megan Porta 

 So they could potentially have the same birthday.

[00:26:51]  Chelsea Cole 

 They very, very much could. We will see.

[00:26:54]  Megan Porta 

 That is so wild. Wow. So you really will be. I mean, this will be a full season for you. Coming up, having a baby still and a newborn and a cookbook that you’re marketing and launching. Do you have plans in place to get through this? Are you just going to wing it? I don’t think you’re a wing it type person.

[00:27:13]   

 You’ve got plans. Chelsea has plans.

[00:27:17]  Chelsea Cole 

 Yeah, yeah. My. My husband and mom would be laughing at the idea of me winging it through anything. Like, I’ve got, like right now for the first two weeks of April, I’ve on my book comes out April 1st, and that day I’m super busy. I’m traveling quite a bit the first two weeks, which I’m very nervous about. I’ve been away from my son overnight twice in his whole life. So he’ll be fine. He’ll be fine.

 But it’s just like, nerve wracking, especially because he’s going through a real big mama phase right now. Real, real big. And I’m like, of course you are right now. Yeah, but it’s gonna be okay. But anyways, I have like one whole calendar that shows, like, what I’m doing on each day of those two weeks and who is responsible for my son at any given time and like, who needs to drop off when and where and all that stuff.

[00:28:06]   

 So that. And. And a lot of that stuff. Like, the people who I’m coordinating with, they don’t find this helpful, but I find it helpful. Like, to go through it. Yeah, yeah. Just to go through it and be like, okay, it’s written down. Yeah, I’ve mapped all this out. So I’ve got like, that completely mapped out I have because so the first two weeks I’m doing kind of my big stuff.

[00:28:26]   

 I’m doing a huge launch party that I’m throwing in downtown Portland. That same day I have a local TV appearance. And then a couple days later I leave for LA. I’m doing a sold out event in LA, which I still can’t believe it’s sold out. Like, that’s crazy.

[00:28:39]  Megan Porta 

 That’s awesome.

[00:28:41]  Chelsea Cole 

 It’s so fun. And so I’m doing like a quick overnight in LA. I might be doing a TV appearance there. It’s still tbd. And then the next week I go to Seattle. I have an event there and a TV appearance there. So I have like master document that has like the day of schedule for each of these things. It’s got a to do list for each event and a pack list for each of them.

[00:29:02]  Megan Porta 

 Oh my gosh.

[00:29:03]  Chelsea Cole 

 That kind of helps me keep my head on straight. And then beyond that, it’s a lot of like shorter events that are a little less production oriented. In a lot of virtual events, like for there’s like I’ve gotten into because of this, it’s funny, I’ve tapped into an entirely new audience which is like the book talk bookstagram communities, which are huge.

[00:29:24]   

 Like it’s a huge thing in this day and age. And so there’s all these like, there’s huge podcasts that are all about books and like all these book clubs and things like that. So I’m doing like virtual cooking classes for a lot of really big book clubs. And I’m doing like there’s now I think this sounds amazing. And when my kids are older, I’m totally doing one. There’s something called reading retreats that are very popular these days.

[00:29:49]  Megan Porta 

 Yeah, I just heard about that. Yeah.

[00:29:51]  Chelsea Cole 

 Yeah. And so like I am doing a virtual cooking class for a reading retreat. I’d love to eventually do in person retreats for or like cooking classes for those. I think that’d be so fun. And so I’m, I’m pretty. I’m booked almost every weekend. I intentionally blocked off one weekend that I can spend with my family through June.

[00:30:09]   

 And then I said, okay, I’m gone, essentially July, August, September. And I accept. I am maybe doing an event in September, but it’s very low key and I think it, you know, I feel like that’s okay. You know, every baby’s different, everything’s always different. But I know what to expect for the most part this time around and what my capabilities will be at different stages of postpartum, so I feel like I can kind of map that out in my head.

[00:30:34]   

 And I can also. And luckily that timing is actually perfect because the first couple months of launching a book are really hardcore and then we expect that it’ll be fairly hardcore again come the holiday season. So I can just take the time in between to have my baby and be with, with my baby and my toddler and then back to it.

[00:30:54]  Megan Porta 

 Oh, my goodness. Yeah. Well, I love the plan and I am. So I think it’s great that you just have this all mapped out because the alternative is, is to wing it. And with this much going on, you just can’t do that. You’ve got to have a plan.

[00:31:11]  Chelsea Cole 

 There’s too much logistics.

[00:31:13]  Megan Porta 

 There is. And by the way, the kid thing, my boys are 14 and 18 and I still do that, Chelsea. I still. If somebody comes to watch them overnights, I have like the detailed, okay, you have to pick him up from chess at blah, blah, blah. I mean, it’s ridiculous that I still do this, but it doesn’t end.

[00:31:33]  Chelsea Cole 

 I have an. I created an eight page document that I’m calling. It’s called the Karen Keeping of Reggie, which for millennial, there’s American Girl doll book from the 90s called the Karen Keeping of you that inspired it. But yeah, for all the people. And admittedly it’s also prepped for when I do give birth because people who are not used to watching Reggie are going to be watching Reggie. So, you know, it’s multi purpose, but still.

[00:31:56]  Megan Porta 

 Absolutely. I love your planning.

[00:31:58]  Chelsea Cole 

 Thank you.

[00:32:00]  Megan Porta 

 So for other people listening who are maybe in the same boat, maybe they are also pregnant or they’re a new mom, or maybe they’ve been a mom for a little bit and they just haven’t figured out how to piece all of the things together so that they can grow a business while being a mom.

[00:32:18]   

 Do you have any encouragement for them, Chelsea?

[00:32:21]  Chelsea Cole 

 Absolutely. Like, I had the opportunity to run my business full time for a couple of years before becoming a mom. And it’s funny because at that time I felt like I didn’t have enough hours in the day. And then, you know, the idea of adding a kid to that was like, how in what universe?

[00:32:41]   

 And, and yeah, things have definitely changed. I, I would say one of the big changes is I’ve always been very multifaceted when it comes to my businesses, and those are still true. But there’s only one aspect of my business at any given moment that’s truly getting my full attention. And the rest are just like churning along still nothing goes away.

[00:33:02]   

 But maybe it’s not, like, the forefront of my focus. It’s not. It’s not getting as much as it could. Like, like, you know, there’s. There’s something there that could be more. And I have an amazing virtual assistant who keeps everything running in the background. Truly could not do it without her. She actually had her daughter, her first child, two months after I had my baby.

[00:33:19]   

 Yeah. And actually many people, there’s many food bloggers who have her as their virtual assistant, Mara. And she’s phenomenal. So could not do what I do without her. But. Yeah. So I think just knowing that things will change, but it’s still. Still going to be okay. And you, like, I think one thing I heard from other moms that was kind of frustrating because it’s so vague before I was a mom, but it is very much true after having experienced it myself, is you just. You just figure it out as you do it. Like, you find the capacity. Like, you grow into it somehow. And you become so amazingly good at prioritizing and time management when you become a mom. Like, Truly. I thought I was good at it before. Nothing. Like I am. Like, my husband, my son goes to my mom’s once a week, and he was over there yesterday.

[00:34:12]   

 And my husband’s on spring break. He’s a teacher, and he went fishing in the morning and he came home early, which I was like, what are you doing here? Get out of my house. I need this quiet time in my house. And I, like, have my earphones on. And he’s like, are you okay?

[00:34:23]   

 And I’m like, yes. And he’s like, are you sure? Like, you see? And I’m like, nope. I’m just focused because he. Reggie is not here, and this is very precious time. Like, I’m. I. I’m good. I just don’t want to talk to you. Right.

[00:34:34]  Megan Porta 

 Yeah.

[00:34:35]  Chelsea Cole 

 And you just kind of like, learn how to focus and prioritize very, very, very well. And I think you also, like, I am somebody. I’ve never been a good napper. It’s just. It’s not my thing. I’m very lucky that I sleep incredibly well for seven to eight hours every single night. And I was like, how am I going to exist knowing my sleep is going to get disrupted?

[00:34:57]   

 And it’s really hard. It is. Is really, really, really, really hard. But you can still do other things, even in that state. It’s. But it’s very hard. But you. But you still can. Like, you. And. And things are going to be fine. And I think too, like, one, it’s very stressful as a new mom because you think that whenever something is amiss or isn’t going as perfectly as it could be, that you have to do something in order for the situation to change.

[00:35:23]   

 And I have found that to not be the case at all. I am not in control. I am not in charge at all. I will do all the right things and then I will change nothing. And then suddenly my son starts sleeping amazingly, or the opposite will happen and nothing’s changed. I have done nothing.

[00:35:40]   

 And I think that that was a really important lesson to, like, the hard things end, the hard times eventually end, even though it just doesn’t feel like it in the moment. And I think too, you know, going back to the planning aspect, I would get really in my head about, like, thinking like, you know, like, well, in two months he’s going to be down to two naps and he’s going to nap at this time of day.

[00:36:01]   

 And how am I going to juggle this? Because, like, the cookbook, lab, live classes at this time. And you, you, you cannot think like that. Like, it just doesn’t serve you well to think that way. And I, that was a really hard habit for me to unlearn that there are some things that I’m just going to have to tackle as they come because I’m truly not going to know what it’s like until I’m in that time. And most things are figureoutable. Like, even with, with my daughter that I am pregnant with, I was looking at photos the other day, and when I was at this stage of pregnancy with my son, his nursery was done. Literally have done nothing to prepare for this baby. Like, not. I have bought her a few cute outfits. That is the extent of preparation that has happened.

[00:36:46]  Megan Porta 

 And I am okay though, right? I mean, that is like, okay. Everyone does that for their first baby. They go nuts.

[00:36:52]  Chelsea Cole 

 And then it’s like, for the second, it’s like. And I’ve just. But I’ve been telling myself, because I also, like, want to do things, but I just don’t have the capacity right now. And I’m like, in May I can start prepping for her. Like, then that’s when I have that time to do that. And it’s. I don’t feel as stressed about it. I feel much calmer about it. So lots of, lots of lessons have been learned over the past few years.

[00:37:12]  Megan Porta 

 And yeah, what you said is so important. I think just you can have the best plan laid out. But it’s going to have to be adjusted. It’s just a fact of life. You can’t follow the plan, any plan, to an exact T. Because life happens, especially when newborns are involved. You have no idea what kind of sleeper or I mean, there are so many variables. So. Yeah. So to be flexible, adaptable, and like you said, almost everything you can figure out and just trust yourself on that. Right. You’ve. You’ve got to lean on your ability to get things done.

[00:37:49]  Chelsea Cole 

 Yep. And you can get things done, especially if this is something you’ve been doing for a while. Like, you know, the, you know the rhythms of your business, you know, the ins and out, you know, you know what needs to be done. And so you’re just going to find new ways to slot that into your life when your life changes.

[00:38:02]  Megan Porta 

 Yeah. Chelsea, you’re living proof that you can be a mom and run a very multifaceted business. You have a blog, you have multiple cookbooks. You have the Cookbook lab. Oh, my goodness. You can do it. If you really want to do it, there is a way to do it. So no excuses.

[00:38:18]  Chelsea Cole 

 Absolutely. And all of those things are vital to my business. They’re all important to me. I am the breadwinner of our family, and I still am, even though I’m taking care of my children full time. My husband’s very lucky man.

[00:38:33]  Megan Porta 

 Yeah. Yeah, my husband, too. No, but this is very inspiring. I think this will be encouraging. And I don’t want to. To not mention the fathers, because I know there are fathers as well in our position, and I don’t often think about that. So I apologize. But, yes, you too. This applies to you as well.

[00:38:56]   

 I am not leaving anybody out here.

[00:38:58]  Chelsea Cole 

 And I will say I couldn’t do what I do without a very, very supportive partner. He is amazing. Such a good dad. Such a good partner. As I mentioned mentioned, like, my son right now is going through a pretty intense mommy attachment phase. That has been tough. And my husband has been great about being like, you need to leave the house, go to a coffee shop and work, because I know you need to get work done or you’re gonna explode. Or like, he’s like, we’re going to leave the house. You know, like, very, very good about those things and being aware of the situation. So I’m very grateful for an excellent co parent.

[00:39:30]  Megan Porta 

 That is a massive help. More than I could even, even say. Yes. Good. I’m so happy for you that you have that. And then I would love to end our conversation with the topic that I kind of teased in the beginning, which is the fact that this book that you’re creating has absolutely nothing to do with your niche and that it worked. So give us your quick thoughts on that.

[00:39:52]  Chelsea Cole 

 Yeah. Even, like, when I had the idea, I was like, it was funny because I had the idea and I was like, I need to write this cookbook. And then I was like, wait, why am I the person to write this cookbook? Like, I do. My platform has nothing to do with this.

[00:40:04]   

 Like, but I, I just, it’s. It kind of. Oh, my gosh. Why am I forgetting the author’s name? Big magic. What? I’m forgetting her name.

[00:40:12]  Megan Porta 

 Oh, Elizabeth Gilbert.

[00:40:14]  Chelsea Cole 

 Oh, Elizabeth Gilbert. Thank you. She talks in there. I hope I’m attributing the right book about, like, how ideas, like, come to exist and if you don’t pounce on the idea, then it’s going to float away to somebody else. And that’s how I felt when I had the idea for this cookbook. I was like, okay, it needs to be made.

[00:40:31]   

 I am going to make it. I know this is a good idea. Like, one of the examples I like to give, when you look at these fan cookbooks, it’s like a Minecraft fan cookbook or a Lord of the Rings fan cookbook. And it’s like, there might be a little overlap in the audiences of people who buy cookbooks and who are fans of those things, but it’s not a lot of overlap with this book series and cookbooks.

[00:40:51]   

 It’s like a full blown circle when you’re looking at a Venn diagram. And so I was like, I have to do this. There’s just no way I don’t do this. And so I honestly spent, I got, I got the book done and then I spent like last fall in summer being like, like, now what?

[00:41:07]   

 How do I pivot? Do I start laying groundwork now? It feels really weird to just inexplicably start talking about books when it’s not something I’ve done before. And like, people. And another thing that was tricky about this is we made the decision to not. Usually with my cookbooks, I would be teasing them like crazy.

[00:41:22]   

 Like, people would be. Know I’m writing, would know I was writing one. And we made the decision to not talk about this book until January because we, we wanted to be first to market. And so I was like, like, I. It feels weird to just randomly pivot. And I had a really hard time with that.

[00:41:39]   

 And I tried to do some like, bookish inspired recipes on social, and it wasn’t really working. And so I just kind of chose to sit on it and was like, I’ll start promoting the book when we announce it. And that’s kind of how it’s gone. And it’s honestly been totally fine. I really overthought it.

[00:41:55]   

 And one of the big things that I did do, a change that was agreed upon by everyone I talked to, was my, like, social media is now Chelsea Cole versus A Duck’s Oven. And so I kind of think of like my blog as being its own thing. So that’s like my sous vide thing.

[00:42:12]   

 And my cookbooks fall into that category. Like, that’s my sous vide thing. But then Chelsea Cole, she does that, but she also writes cookbooks about pop culture. Because I would love to write more books like this in the future. So, yeah, so that was like in and of itself a big pivot. And within that too, I teach a whole community about self publishing.

[00:42:33]   

 And I’m going to go traditionally publish a cookbook. Like that was also part of that identity crisis. But I’ve never been anti traditional publishing in people. I’ve been. I’ve explained why I chose traditional for this one, which is largely one. Like, the big reasons I like self publishing are creative control and timeline. I like to. Because I like to get my books done faster than two years with this. I needed the long timeline. I needed help. I could not design my own cookbook this time. I could not do my own photography, and I needed the distribution that comes with a traditional publisher. Because the great thing about this cookbook is it sells itself.

[00:43:10]   

 People see the cover they see the title, they will immediately know what it is and they know if it’s for them or not. Whereas with other cookbooks you have to be like, this is why what it’s about, this is why you’ll like it. This is how it’ll benefit your life. So it just was a much better fit for traditional publishing.

[00:43:25]   

 I will definitely self publish another cookbook again, it’ll probably be sous vide related or I have like a more meat focused one generally cooking in my head that I’d love to self publish eventually. But yeah, so I just kind of had to embrace it and people have been very receptive. I’ve had great growth since this.

[00:43:44]   

 And I think it helps that I’m also just like, even though this isn’t my niche, I am the key demographic for the core book series. And so a lot of my followers were also very, very into this book series and very excited I was doing this. So it just worked out that way.

[00:43:59]  Megan Porta 

 Yeah, I think it’s great. I think you do have to follow those pursuits that are calling your name. We get so hung up on, is it part of my niche? Does this align, that sometimes we miss those opportunities that could be really not just fruitful, but also just things that incite that passion in us, which I think is so important as creatives. So I love that you follow this.

[00:44:26]  Chelsea Cole 

 Yeah. I think it’s really easy for us to, as creatives, like, feel stale, feel burnt out. And I had been in the world of sous vide only for about six years, and I wasn’t I don’t know. I wasn’t necessarily burnt out, but, I mean, I had to the point I kind of felt like I had almost tapped out sous vide. Almost every sous vide recipe that I could think of is. Exists on my blog.

 And, like, I was just like, I feel like I’ve almost done everything that I can. So the timing for this was really nice because. And as I mentioned earlier, creatively, it was so wildly different from anything I’d ever done before. And it was really exciting and really, really fun. Like, I had a blast doing it.

[00:45:06]   

 Even the marketing now, like, I’m having so much fun, like, and the marketing for this book has been so Rihanna. I, like, thrive on the marketing aspect of a project, and it’s been so energizing and wonderful. I’ve gotten. Gotten more press than I’ve ever gotten for any type of project. A really prominent, like, exciting press. And so that’s just been very good for me personally, in addition to being good for my career.

[00:45:29]  Megan Porta 

 Oh, Chelsea. And the. The word fun. We. We all need a little bit of fun in our lives. And after a while, blogging can get a little stale, let’s admit it.

[00:45:38]  Chelsea Cole 

 Yes, absolutely.

[00:45:40]  Megan Porta 

 Yeah. So kudos to you. I’m just so happy for you. And not just about the project, but about your growing family. And it has been so great to catch up and chat with you here in this conversation.

[00:45:52]  Chelsea Cole 

 Thank you so much.

[00:45:53]  Megan Porta 

 Yeah. Is there anything you feel like we’re missing that we need to touch on on any of the subjects. Topics we’ve talked about before we say goodbye?

[00:46:01]  Chelsea Cole 

 I don’t think so. I think we’ve covered.

[00:46:05]  Megan Porta 

 We’ve covered a lot. It’s a lot to ingest, but hopefully this is very helpful for a lot of people. Do you have a favorite quote or words of inspiration to leave us with today?

[00:46:15]  Chelsea Cole 

 Today, this is. We pretty much, like, kind of said this already, but just reiterating when you’re a mom. Like, I can do hard things and you can do hard things. And even though it’s a bit of a cliche, I think embracing that, like, feeling of being superwoman is amazing when you’re a mom.

[00:46:34]   

 Like, I feel unabashedly so proud of myself that I’ve done this. And that’s a very, very good feeling. And I’m so proud that even now I’m, like, marketing this cookbook with a toddler. He came with me to sign books this morning at a bookstore. And just like that, I’ve been able to do this with him. My whole book is dedicated to him. And so I think, just like, as you’re entering motherhood, know that you can do hard things and, like, embrace feeling proud of yourself for doing them, don’t that. That isn’t to say that you should needlessly do hard things and, like, make life harder on yourself than it needs to be.

[00:47:06]   

 But when you are able to tackle these things and fight through them, when you can do that, embrace feeling proud of yourself and remind yourself, okay, I am capable of doing really great.

[00:47:16]  Megan Porta 

 Way to end. Thank you, Chelsea. That was so inspiring. We will put together a show notes page for you, Chelsea. If you want to go peek at the show notes and everything we’ve talked about Today, head to eatblogtalk.com/chelseacole Tell everyone where they can find you again, Chelsea.

[00:47:33]  Chelsea Cole 

 Yes. So I am on social everywhere @chel.seacole S E A Cole and you can find a feast of thorns and roses anywhere you buy books. Barnes and Noble does have an exclusive edition with a cloth and foil cover and a secret menu and five exclusive recipes. So if you want to go big, get the Barnes and Noble edition.

[00:47:54]  Megan Porta 

 Oh my gosh, that sounds so cool. I can’t wait to see it. Well, thank you again, Chelsea. It was so great to talk to you and thank you so much for listening, food bloggers. I will see you next time. 

[00:47:54]  Outro

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Eat Blog Talk. Please share this episode episode with a friend who would benefit from tuning in. I will see you next time.