309. Building a Business Without Sacrificing Family Life | Laura of Joy Food Sunshine

Simple Farmhouse Life

Lisa Bass

Home & Garden, Leisure

4.9 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 30 September 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Homeschooling six kids while running a thriving food blog is no small feat, but Laura of Joy Food Sunshine shares how she’s made it work without losing sight of her priorities. From the postpartum depression that first pushed her to start blogging, to the viral chocolate chip cookie recipe that still ranks #1 on Google, Laura opens up about building a business alongside motherhood. We talk about sharing responsibilities with her husband, letting go of perfectionism, setting boundaries, and creating content rooted in real life. This conversation is packed with encouragement for moms who want to pursue something they love while keeping family first!

In this episode, we cover:

Connecting with Laura Sandford, homeschooling mom of six and creator of Joy Food Sunshine
How postpartum depression after her third baby lead Laura to start her food blog as a creative outlet
The viral chocolate chip recipe that grew her blog and continues to rank #1 on Google since 2017
Building a business in the early years by tag-teaming childcare and homeschooling with her husband
Learning to let go of control, hire help, and find the right people to support her business
Monthly check-ins with her husband to ensure every business maneuver is still serving their family– not the other way around
Saying no to opportunities like writing a cookbook until the season is right
Structuring work hours during afternoon rest times and keeping the business sustainable in busy family seasons
Letting go of perfectionism in homemaking and setting up simple systems for chores, cleaning, and laundry
Laura’s honest story of postpartum depression during nursing seasons and how she chooses to slow down and savor the baby years
Why both of us believe sustainable content has to come from real life, not just chasing trends
Advice for moms who want to start something online: focus on passion, authenticity, and consistency rather than sensationalism

View full show notes on the blog + watch this episode on YouTube.

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RESOURCES MENTIONED

Laura’s chocolate chip cookies recipe

Join my FREE masterclass to learn my 4-step framework for making money on YouTube

Master the rhythm of sourdough with confidence in my Simple Sourdough course

Gain the sewing knowledge and skills every homemaker needs in my Simple Sewing series

Turn your content creation dreams into a profitable business with my YouTube Success Academy

Keep all my favorite sourdough recipes at your fingertips in my Daily Sourdough cookbook

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Transcript

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0:00.0	But my husband and I were always really intentional.
0:02.3	Like we had monthly check-ins and we would say, how is this business serving our family?
0:06.6	Because we really didn't want to be serving the business.
0:09.4	Even though we liked the extra income, all of that, we were just able to pause and say,
0:14.6	okay, what needs to change?
0:16.2	How are we feeling about this?
0:17.4	Hold it with an open hand of this is an amazing gift and blessing, but the goal
0:22.1	is for it to be fun and enriching our lives, not draining us. My name is Lisa, mother of nine
0:29.5	and creator of the blog and YouTube channel Farmhouse-Amboon. On this podcast, I like to talk
0:34.2	about simplifying your life so you can live out your priorities. I help you learn how to cook from scratch and decorate on a budget through this podcast and my
0:41.8	courses simple sourdough in the simple sewing series.
0:44.8	I also help people reach their goals from home through my business courses, create your
0:48.8	blog dream, and YouTube Success Academy.
0:51.0	I will leave links to these resources in the show notes and description box below. Now let's get
0:55.2	into the show. Welcome back to the Simple Farmhouse Life podcast. Today, I am bringing on a fellow
1:06.1	mom blogger. I say mom blogger, but we both actually write content on recipes that we're making for
1:13.1	our families, recipes that are tried and true, family-friendly recipes, Lara from Joy Food, Sunshine.
1:19.8	We had the opportunity to meet at an event that the ad company that our blog is both on over the
1:25.6	winter, and then I learned that she also had quite a few children
1:28.5	in homeschooled. And I'm like, well, this would be an interesting discussion because so many
1:32.9	of us want to do something in our homes or just figure out how to juggle life with lots of children,
1:40.7	the home, the cooking, all of the extracurricular activities that you might have.
	...

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