Hidden Gems: Meet Micala Quinn

Today we’d like to introduce you to Micala Quinn.

Hi Micala, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I started my career as a high school English teacher and landed my dream job. It was great and I really thrived my first two years, but my third year teaching — something changed.

I became a mom and the working out of the house mom life just didn’t work for me.

Waking up when it’s still pitch black out, trying to get myself ready, a baby fed and ready, rushing out their door praying and hoping I grabbed everything for her and to pump.

Rushing to drop her off at daycare- so I could make it to work on time & without getting in trouble.

Rushing out of work the second my contract time was up just to get Mclaren, rush home, sneak in a little family time before we RUSHED through dinner and bedtime because little babies go to bed so early… like 6:30.

And guess what I got to do? MORE work for my teaching job that barely covered my daycare expenses.

There was So.Much.Rushing.

The incessant rushing caused me a lot of stress, anxiousness, and anger…which quickly turned into resentment.

I resented my job, myself, and my husband. I felt stuck. I felt trapped and like there were NO options.

I would sit at my desk at work googling how to become a stay at home mom… everything came back to budgeting and cutting back. I didn’t want that either.

I started looking at ways to become a WAHM — found a whole lot of dead ends… home daycare, MLM, handmade, clean houses, call center, nothing was what I wanted.

I needed to work. I needed an income.

⁣⁣But I wanted something different. Something where I could snuggle and read books in bed extra long in the mornings, explore our city and do the mommy and me classes, and spend our afternoons playing at the park. I wanted it all.⁣⁣

⁣⁣Everyone told me what I wanted didn’t exist and to just suck it up.⁣⁣

⁣⁣But I refused to settle.⁣⁣

⁣⁣I refused to believe that this was just the way it was going to be. ⁣⁣

⁣⁣And I refused to just suck it up.⁣⁣

I tried a baking business.

I tried a bow business.

I almost tried an MLM business…

⁣⁣But thankfully, I found freelancing instead. 🦄 ⁣⁣

I started searching for my first client in January of 2016, landed my first client in August of 2016 and in April of 2017 when I went on maternity leave with baby #2 – I walked out of the classroom for good to finally become a work at home mom.

As a freelancer, I was working 15-20 hours a week and brought home $3000 after I paid taxes — compared to teaching where I was working 50-60+ hours a week and taking home just $1000 after taxes and daycare was taken out of my paycheck.

It truly was everything I was looking for and wanted.

Now, as I was building my freelance business up and positioning myself to quit — I kept seeing other moms who were just like post in local KC mom Facebook groups… I’m desperate to be a SAHM, but we need two incomes what are my options besides joining an MLM? or some very similar variation of this.

This question was getting asked every day, sometimes multiple times a day. I naturally just started telling everyone what I was doing, shared some resources and became known as the lady who can help you work from home without joining an MLM.

One day about a year after I landed my first official client, there were 30 women wanting me to help them all get started. I couldn’t keep up with all the DMs, so I started a Facebook group and decided I’ll just share all of my information and resources in one spot for people. That group grew pretty fast and eventually, I created my own group coaching program and digital course to help women build their freelance businesses. I started out with ten students and to this day have helped over 2K women build their business and tens of thousands through my podcast, free resources, and IG tips!

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
So many challenges!

The first challenge was first and foremost seeing and believing that I had skills I could use outside of the classroom.

For the longest time, I thought I had no skills or strengths that I could use as a freelancer. It was really hard to picture and imagine getting paid to do anything outside of teaching English to a group of high school kids.

That’s the only thing I knew. That’s what I went to school for. That’s what I get paid for. Surely there were no other possibilities out there for me.

I was SO wrong.

Other challenges became not having the time to do All.The.Things and balancing my desire to grow my business and help more women have what I have but also not lose sight of WHY I started my business in the first place.

I still to this day, try to only work about 15-20 hours a week. BUT I have big goals. My answer/solution has been growing a team to help support me.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am on a mission to revolutionize what it means to be a working mom. I’m known for helping women start freelancing businesses (no matter what their current job experience is or isn’t).

My students are extremely successful and able to replace their income in less than six months and they usually end up working less hours too!

Overwhelmed to Overbooked (OTO for short) is the ultimate program for overworked, underpaid, OVER IT moms ready to end the family vs. finances battle.

And it has everything they need + the support to build a freelance business from scratch.

From setting up your business legally, picking services, pricing services, creating contracts, to landing AND working with dream clients + everything else in between, my step-by-step course provides it all!

So all you have to do is dive in, do the work, and lean on me when you need support!

The program also includes:
>> weekly coaching Q&A calls
>> daily access to freelance job leads
>> skills training in the top freelance services
>> student-only community

Plus, I run boot camps and 30-day challenges quarterly to help build momentum and provide accountability. I’ve had students start the challenge with zero clients and end with 4.

All the program details can be found at micalaquinn.com/overbooked

We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Happiness.

Contact Info:

• Email: hello@micalaquinn.com
• Website: micalaquinn.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/micala.quinn/
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/show/2NNYXJbCpShp0nREJriuVh?si=OrwF0T3sRdaUAf3-JRkkrw&dl_branch=1

Image Credits
Molly Kuplen