WMW #31: Anna Burgess Yang, corporate exec turned solopreneur, mum of 3, advocate of remote work

"I think the best path for moms is a flexible path - whether that's on your own or with an employer"

Me and my son on the left :-/ Anna on the right.

This is a really special interview for me because it demonstrates the power and beauty of the internet to make meaningful connections.

Anna is an incredible writer, a solopreneur, a tools geek and a mum of 3.

I relate to her on so many levels and I know you will too.

She has been working remotely since 2006 and is a strong proponent of remote work.

Being able to choose when to work and how to manage your own time is something every working mum looks for, which makes Anna’s writing inspiring and thought provoking.

Anna constantly seeks growth and offers resources that resonate with any working mum looking to “work better”. This means not being afraid to pursue career ambitions as a parent because there are more options than you think; and whilst you are doing that, to also embrace the ebbs and flow of being a working parent.

I’d been following Anna for a while and then I watched her on Brian Aquart’s podcast ‘Why I Left’. Next thing you know, I am on that same podcast (out soon) and I am interviewing Anna!

I was lucky to get a written interview and an opportunity to video chat with Anna, and you can enjoy both formats here.

Anna Burgess Yang, solopreneur, mum of 3, advocate of remote work

Q. Tell us a little bit about yourself:

I am a freelance content marketer and journalist. I live in a suburb of Chicago with my spouse, three kids, and three cats. Outside of the work I do for clients, I also write on Medium, Substack, my newsletter, and a blog - I write a lot.

Q. You are a prolific writer, content marketer, solopreneur / freelancer, and advocate for better flexible work. How do you manage it all?

I wake up incredibly early - around 3:30 a.m. - and start writing around 4:00 a.m. I'm sure about 99.9% of people think this is insane, but it works for me. I go to bed very early, so I'm working the same number of hours per day as most people, but my day is shifted. It allows me several hours of uninterrupted silence in the morning to focus and write.

Q. What is your ultimate goal as a working mum?

I want my kids to know that flexible work is the ultimate goal. Even when I was working for an employer, I was working remotely (since 2006) and had a lot of flexibility. I don't believe in work-life balance - you can never have true balance - but your flexibility allows you to decide how you spend your time. Sometimes work comes first, sometimes family comes first. And I get to decide.

Q. What is the biggest challenge you face as a working mum, and how are you trying to overcome it?

My oldest son will start high school this fall. The older my kids get, the more after-school activities they're involved in. So I have to adjust my afternoon schedule to, say, attend my son's cross-country meet. I want to do those things, but I'm also a very routine-based person so the shift is hard. I try to do as much as I can earlier in the day to avoid disruption.

Q. Where do you get your inspiration?

Depends on what I'm writing! But almost everything comes from my lived experiences and convictions. I want to share ideas with other people (especially working moms). It helps us know that we're not alone.

Q. What is your best productivity hack?

Time-blocking.

I plan out my day in blocks of time. For example, today I needed to write an article and record some videos. So I block off time on my calendar to do those things, around a meeting I had and doing things like checking emails and interacting on social media. I also have a small block of time in the evening set aside to watch a video from a course I'm taking. But I'm gentle with myself. Sometimes my blocks don't go as planned. I adjust.

Q. What is your parenting mantra?

Parenting is like the tv show Survivor: Outwit, outplay, outlast.

Q. What do you do in your 'me-time' and how does it help you?

I go to hot yoga a few times per week. I find the heat to be very cathartic and I'm forced to focus on different poses.

Q. Did becoming a mother change the way you work? How so?

I used to be very rigid about work. I really didn't understand how hard things are for working parents until I became one in 2009 when my oldest son was born. Then I realized that kids are sick all the time.

Or you're exhausted because a newborn was awake all night. I became more empathetic.

Then in 2015, I had a stillborn baby girl. And my perspective on work changed again. I cared a lot less about work - because it didn't matter. Only my grief mattered. That was probably the first of many, many things that led me to eventually become a solopreneur.

(Read: Anna’s piece on How being a parent improved my career)

Q. What are your biggest learnings from being a working mum?

Working moms are masters at juggling things... and many of us feel like it's never enough. I look at the things I want to do and there are never enough hours in the day. But the tradeoff would be less time with my kids (or less sleep, I guess). And I'm not willing to trade those things.

I've had to learn to be content with what I can accomplish in the hours I have.

Q. What is your advice to mums looking to start working again?

When I came back from maternity leave, after each of my kids were born, I was lucky enough to have an employer that allowed me to ease back in. I don't know how I would have managed otherwise. I needed that transition period because we had to completely re-think our routine at home and how work fit into that.

Q. Do you recommend the path of solopreneurship for mums? If so, why?

It depends. I have all the flexibility in the world. But I also have to be every role in a business - sales, marketing, accounting, project management. That's not for everyone.

I think the best path for moms is a flexible path - whether that's on your own or with an employer.

I spent 15 years with a company that was very flexible, and that's when my kids were the youngest. So it worked out.

Q. Favourite tool that makes your life easier?

I'm not sure I can pick just one!

I like Todoist to keep track of work and personal tasks - especially recurring tasks. I put things like "schedule a dentist appointment" on Todoist. If it's not on Todoist, it probably won't happen.

Q. Are you using any emerging technologies (like AI) to work better and faster?

A little bit. I think AI will become an inevitable part of our workdays. The type of writing I do is very human-centric, so I can't replace it with AI - nor do I want to. But I can use AI to do things like generate images for blog posts, instead of using stock photos (I use Midjourney). Or I use AI instead of Google search to do some background research for articles (I use Perplexity).

Q. What are your thoughts on AI and the future of work, and the future of our kids!?

It's hard to say because things are happening so rapidly. I think kids will learn AI skills in school, just like they learn to use a calculator. Or maybe it will become as natural to them as using voice commands on our Alexa devices (which we currently do a lot at home).

This feels like a period of transition when we're not quite sure how things will end up. I think the AI experiences of my oldest child (who is 14) and my youngest child (who is 6) will be quite different. My oldest child is in the figuring-things-out moments of AI. But by the time my youngest child is 14, we may have a better handle on how AI will integrate in our lives.

Q. Parenting book that was a game changer for you?

French Kids Eat Everything by Karen Le Billon. Kids in the U.S. are notoriously picky eaters. Reading this book changed my perspective on the relationship between kids and food.

Q. Favourite quote?

I'm a big fan of the musical 'Hamilton' and I love the line:

"Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?"

Q. Best thing you have read or watched lately?  

I'm late to the party, but I loved the Barbie movie - especially America Ferrera's speech about what it's like to be a woman. Every woman watching that speech thinks, "Yes, exactly."

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You can know more about Anna here.

If you have any comments or questions for Anna, feel free to comment here and I will make sure she gets them.

That’s all for this week,

Love,

Abha x