Mompreneur Mastery: Simple Instagram Strategy for Busy Moms

The Business Audit That Will Change Everything for Mompreneurs with Sammy Bohannon

• Sydney O'Brien • Season 1 • Episode 78

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Feeling like you’re working non-stop but not seeing real growth? You’re not alone. Sammy Bohannon is here to talk about why so many mompreneurs feel stuck and how her Business Efficiency Audit helps them figure out exactly what to fix.

We get into:
✅ The real difference between a VA and an OBM and why it matters for your business
✅ Running a business while homeschooling and trying to keep your sanity
✅ The biggest time-wasters keeping you from growing
✅ One simple tweak that can free up serious brain space
✅ How Sammy’s audit helps you pinpoint bottlenecks so you can move forward

Oh, and we swap stories about bribing our kids with screen time just to get work done. Because, mom life.

Mentioned In This Episode:

Get Sammy’s Business Efficiency Audit 

Follow Sammy on Instagram


Create a month of Instagram content that is strategized for sales in the free 5-day Plan it, Post it, Profit Challenge


Music courtesy of Pixabay

Welcome back to another episode of Mompreneur Mastery. Today I get to talk to Sammy Bohannan. She is the founder of Bohannan Virtual Solutions. She's an online business manager and OBM who helps online business owners streamline their operations, implement scalable systems, and build trusted teams. She started as a VA in 2022 and she quickly recognized that her expertise extended beyond typical VA tasks, which led her to transition to OBM in 2024 with a dedicated team, Sammy empowers entrepreneurs to confidently scale their businesses with clarity and ease, all while reclaiming their time and achieving sustainable growth without the overwhelm. I got so much great information from talking to Sammy. She has some really great insights and knows a lot and I'm really excited to implement the things that we chatted about, so I'm extra excited for you to learn what she has to share as well.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

Sure. So I am Sammy Bohannon. I am an OBM and I have a VA agency. Currently, there are four VAs my agency. before I. All of this. I was a virtual assistant and before that I was an online tutor. And before that I was a teacher. So I've been in the online business world since 2020, but it's been in different capacities. You know, I had had a business before this one, and then this one's kind of evolved as I found what I'm good at. But yeah, I taught, I taught the public schools for six years before switching to online tutoring after Covid happened. And, I am currently living in Mississippi, but I'm from Kentucky and I have two children. They are homeschooled, so they're with me all the time. And I also have two wonderful dogs and two wonderful cats that need almost just as much attention as the children. So

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

I feel that we homeschool too. How old are your kids?

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

six and eight.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Nice. Mine are four. Gonna be six next week and seven. So very close.

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

Yeah.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

How do you like working at home while homeschooling?

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

Very stressful. And it is never the same, so. We try to get into a routine and as soon as we do, it has to change for one reason or another, whether it's a new sport or, you know, something wasn't working or I have a new client and I have to meet at different times. So that's the worst part is that we haven't been able to establish a routine and I really want a routine, but we just can't figure it out.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

I feel like I am in the exact same boat like every day. I'm like, man, if I could just nail down a routine, like so much like stress would just be out of my life. But it never happens ever. Like once you even start hitting a groove, it's like the world just kind of knows and they're like, Nope, we can't let that happen. We have to screw this up somehow.

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

Yeah. So I've had to learn to become very flexible, which I assume you have as well.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Mm-hmm.

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

another one than I do, so I'm sure that that yeah. Adds even more. But yeah, we've had to be very flexible. We do most of our schooling in the evening when my husband's home that way. I have help with everything else going on.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Yeah.

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

The kids really like that because they get to play while I work.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Yeah, that's nice. Like right now my kids are, being bribed with, Daniel Tiger and Popcorn to like, stay away from me for a little bit to record this.

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

with iPads. We

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Yeah.

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

screen time lately. We haven't always, but lately we have limited screen time and they have extra screen time today so that they'll be quiet and they're pretty excited about it.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Yeah. Every time I do a podcast interview or something, it's like, all right, let's throw on the tv. And it's like joyous for them.'cause we try to limit it to, it just leads to a lot going on in our house when we have to turn it off. So,

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

Yes.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

yeah. So you started as a VA and you're now an OBM. What made you decide to wanna change that?

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

When I was doing VA work, I didn't really know what I was doing when I started out which I think a lot of people kind of do, and I pick things up really quickly. And then some of the other people in the spaces I was working in were telling me, Hey, you, you actually do a whole lot more than most other VAs. And this was coming from other. Higher level VAs. And the more I worked as a va, the more I realized that I was doing a lot more than other VAs and I was charging a lot more than other VAs. And at that? point I didn't know what an OBM was because I, I've just kind of learned things as I've gone along,

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Mm-hmm.

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

the more I looked into what I was doing and what people needed and learned about what an OBM was, I realized, hey, that's, that's what I'm doing. That's what my job is. So. Technically, I've been doing OBM work for a couple years, but I didn't make the shift in my messaging until August of 2024. It just made more sense because I was already doing that work and I was already charging way more than most VAs. when people realized that I was changing my name to OBM instead of va, they were like, oh, that makes sense why she charges so much. So it just, it made more sense.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Yeah. That makes sense to me. What is the difference between a VA and an OBM? Like what were the extra things that you were doing?

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

Yeah, so. There's still a line between OBM and consultant, but it's a lot more consulting and a lot more being a partner in the business instead of someone doing tasks, so a VA does more tasks. And then an OBM is more of a partner who helps make decisions and helps plan things out and helps manage the team, manage the workflows. the bigger picture and breaks it down like how we're gonna get from point A to point B,

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Mm-hmm.

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

is the one who's doing the stuff to get from point A to point B.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Gotcha. That makes sense. And I can imagine that would be very helpful for like do you work with online business owners specifically or

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

Yes.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Yeah.

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

I have worked with a couple of in-person businesses. It really just depends, but I find that online businesses need more of what I offer.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Yeah, I was gonna say, it seems like it would be very helpful, like specifically for online business owners who are normally like on their own, like solopreneur it and they know like what they do, but not much of like the other business stuff. Until you Yeah, there's a lot, lot to learn about that for sure.

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

And it's overwhelming to try to do it all.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Yeah.

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

that's what I find too, is that people who hire me. They just can't do it all by themselves. Even if they don't have kids or, you know, they wanna have a life. And it's really hard to do all of it by yourself. I mean, we all started there, but when you're growing and getting more clients, it's almost impossible to continue doing it all by yourself.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Yeah, for sure. That makes a ton of sense. Do you find that a lot of business owners like think they need a va, but they really need an OBMI?

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

copywriter and they think they need a va. So I think the term VA has been thrown around, especially by some of the supposed leaders in online business about what a VA is, and that has really confused everybody and that like, they act like a VA is a do all, do everything. One person can handle it all. And that is just not how it is.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Yeah, that is asking a lot of a va, like for sure.

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

Yes,

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

A lot more than

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

pay them$10 an hour.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Yes. Especially then like that blows my mind. Seeing like in Facebook groups for small business owners, people like putting out job requests for VAs and then listing like all this really intense like work and they're like$12 an hour. And I'm like, what? All of that.

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

I'm

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

And they expect it to be done like,

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

more than that at Walmart, so,

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

yeah.

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

and he sits there and plays on his phone so.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Yeah, that's wild to me. Something I hear from like, mompreneurs, because that's my typical audience all the time, is that they feel like they're working all the time, but not seeing any big changes. Can you tell us about some like big bottlenecks you see in businesses from working with them so closely?

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

So a lot of things come to mind when you say that the first thing, which is my problem is being easily distracted and I have to continue to like, I have to stop and come back and stop and come back 50 times to the same thing. And that is really where I see with a lot of moms that that's a problem as well. Because we're just often interrupted when you like there are studies, and I can't remember exactly what they say, but basically anytime you have to stop a project and restart it, it's like completely restarting it. It's not picking up where you left off and your momentum is completely messed up. and your motivation and all of that. So I think that is one problem that a lot of moms have, but business owners in general. Sometimes really struggle, and I don't know if this is another A DHD kind of distraction thing that I see'cause I work with a lot of people with A DHD, but some people really struggle with focusing on what is important, even if we put in their project management system. Like flags that say priority and things like that, they really struggle with what's most important. So they focus on things that are not gonna move the business forward. And that's where support, like what I have and what other VAs and other support. Providers, offer is trying to take over those little things that don't move the business forward so the business owner can focus on that. And I find that is a lot. So for example, one thing I see that a lot of people spend a lot of time on is social media. People spend a lot of time on social media and then, you know, they feel like they got nothing done at the end of the day because they spend all day on social media trying to network and make connections and all of that. You know, it's all stuff that needs to be done. But it's not, you know, a new offer and you didn't actually get tangible clients. So they don't feel like they see that result from their work.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Yeah, it. Social media is also like such a time suck. It's very hard to stop once you start and you do get like those dopamine hits, which but yeah, business wise. Even, I mean, I do social media and when I tell people to do it for the networking aspect, I'm like, you gotta set a timer, 10 minutes tops, and then you're out. Like go find something else to do. It's not worth the time. Especially like for mom business owners, when there's kids, there's a million other things. Yeah, for sure.

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

And I think another thing is well, just another thing that I see people spending so much time on is creating these new digital products and passive income methods that really aren't gonna get them any, they're not gonna make them any real big money and it's doesn't have much to do with their main offer. And they just focus on that because they're like, oh, I can make easy. Easy income because that's what we hear all the time. so they're, they're really just focusing on the wrong things and need someone to bring them together and follow a path forward.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Yeah, I was talking, the last interview I did, we got talking about passive income. It was someone who was saying she has like genuinely passive income, but it took like six or seven years of like very hard work making that happen. It's not gonna happen in like a month or two. But when you see people talk about it, like on social media, they're like, they frame it as like this very quick win. But it never is

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

no, it, it's never. as quick as it looks.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Right, for sure. Can you think of like one tiny tweak business owners can make today that would actually give them some like breathing room or like a plan forward for their business if they feel that bottleneck?

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

So just kind of thinking about little things that you can do that don't take a lot of effort. One thing that has helped me and helps a lot of my clients is setting up labels for your email. You can set them up however you want, but I have like an important and unread and a section where I've read it, but I don't wanna get rid of it yet because I also keep labels down the side. And then that way when I log into my email, I don't see a hundred emails. I just see, you know, the starred ones or the ones that need to be responded to. And they can be set up in various ways. I've set them up where they like I have one client who has a tutoring business, and I set it up to where if she gets an inquiry, it goes to the main place where she's gonna see every day. And then everything else goes somewhere else because she doesn't hardly look at her email. And when she does, she needs to see, you know, this is when I have a meeting. So just setting up little things because. Email can take forever. It's just little things that really take forever that people get stuck on because they're like, oh, I. have to do this, and you think you have to do it, and you really don't. So just anything that can make that a little bit easier for you is always, you know, always a top priority.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Especially when it's something that you do so often, like emails come in every day.

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

Yeah.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

and so even that like. A little bit of organization also for me at least, takes away like a whole bunch of stress. I need to like make a note of that. I need to do that to my inbox. I leave like everything unread that I know I need to get to, but then it just piles up so quickly. It's a lot.

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

Yeah, it is a lot. There's lots of tips out there and there's even AI that'll help you with it.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Oh wow.

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

AI helps with it. I haven't used it very much because I really don't like ai and that's just a personal reason, it's not a good reason, it's just me being silly. But there is AI that helps with that too, that is like really good to look into.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Yeah, for sure. I'm gonna need to do that. I don't love ai, like I feel like how it could be used is really interesting, but how it is being used for something, yeah, it could be a whole nother topic of discussion.

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

Yes, it could. yes. it could for like hours.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

yes. Let's see. Do you ever find it hard for clients to kind of like, let go of things in their business and like. If they've been on their own for a while and like, do you have tips for people who are looking to find an OBM and be able to kind of work with someone more on their like little, not little, but like their project, their business?

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

Yeah, so that feels like a couple of questions. So, let me start with, so tips for if they're struggling to let go of things.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Mm-hmm.

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

Yes. Very common, very common for people to be, you know, to struggle to let go of things. Especially if they've been in business a long time and they say, well, you know, this is how it works and all of that stuff. I do like to give examples of ways that things have worked before. So definitely ask if you're working with someone else for examples of how, what they say. Is going to work or how it is going to make things better or easier or more efficient. But also I think it's important to just be aware that change is constantly happening and even though it feels uncomfortable. That is what's gonna move your business forward. You, you know, you hired someone or you bring someone in, or you bring in a new technology. Even if you don't bring someone in, you always do that stuff because you want to make some sort of change or shift. It's, it's really a mindset thing. If you're gonna let it bother you or feel controlling about it, then you're really not getting your investments worth. and you don't have to agree with everything someone says or use every function of a software, but just taking the time to kind of play around with it is always, beneficial and things are always evolving. So even the technology that you've been using, if you've been using it for 10 years, think about how that's changed over the 10 years and how that felt and how you felt making those changes and how it affected your business. And just kind of use that mindset to make decisions moving forward. And nothing's permanent. That's something I always tell people. Nothing's permanent unless you're in the middle of a huge launch and your whole business is riding on it it's okay to make changes and then change it back if you don't like it. Like nothing's permanent.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Yeah, that is such a good point. I never thought of it like that, but like what you said about. You know, you're making changes in your business all the time, even if it's just like adding a new software or something. But that is what moves you forward and helps you grow. And yeah, that's an excellent point. I had never made that kind of comparison before. Part of your, like the work you do is like helping people get their time back by being able to work with them and kind of strategize, I guess, is that the right word?

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

Yeah.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Is there like one system or automation that you wish more people did that help them save time that way?

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

The biggest thing is a project management system. And most people have one, but I have found that. Quite a few of the people who come to me don't use a project management system consistently. So they have all these ideas and all these places, and we're not keeping track of them. We're not keeping track of what they wanna do, what they've already done. And so really just having a place to put everything, even if that's. I mean, even if that is notion or wherever, it's just having a consistent place to put everything. Because I find that some of the best business owners are some of the most unorganized. And then it's really hard to implement new things or remember what your great ideas were if we can't find it.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Okay. I am feeling very personally attacked right now, like. I have like my notes, app has some stuff. I got Google Docs with other stuff I've tried like Notion and I tried Trello and I just didn't love it. Do you have a favorite that you use a lot or that you recommend to people?

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

What's your level of comfort with technology?

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Not super high, but like sufficient.

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

favorite is Clickup, but I think you have to have a certain level of comfort with technology to use it. But I think Asana is a really great starting point. It's a little more robust than Trello, but it's nowhere near as. Complicated as Clickup.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Hmm.

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

if you didn't like notion, I would also say really just, just using what Google Do you use Google?

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Mm-hmm.

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

Just using what Google has to offer. Like they have Google Keep and you can organize things by colors and dates and take notes that way. And then they have their own to-do list and it'll show up in your Google calendar and. It's really, it has a lot of stuff that people don't know about.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

yeah, I've never heard of any of this, so I'm very excited to check it.

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

in your email. They're all in your email and you can add'em as apps on the side. But yeah, a lot of people do not know the full functionality of Google.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Yeah, that's really cool.'cause yeah, I have Google Workspace and I use like the regular stuff like email and calendar, but that's about it.

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

Yeah. it. does weigh more than that.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Good to know. One of the hardest parts of running a business is knowing like, what the heck to fix first? And you have an audit that helps with that. Is that right? Can you tell us about it?

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

Yeah. so it is basically a Google form where people fill out things in their business and it may be 15 minutes to fill it out. The more information you can give, the better. I've had some people fill it out and not give that much information, and I can't really give advice. But yeah, I'll give advice on what's going on in your business. So for example, one person who did end up working with me was telling me about how she had this. CRM that really wasn't working out and it wasn't connecting, right? The automations weren't working, all that sort of stuff. So using that information that she gave me, I was able to create a video and I also do a form where I give links to different CRMs you might wanna try based on your budget. And things like that and why I think it would work for you because of your business. Because again, there are so many CRMs out there. But yeah, the more information you can give me, the more I can give you back. But I, they've been very helpful for people and a lot of people have gotten some good things that they've implemented in their business from the feedback I've gotten. But yeah. And then I'll also tell you places where you could delegate to save time. I'll tell you places or give you recommendations for. Software. So one person told me that they were struggling with bookkeeping and they were doing it on spreadsheets, things like that. So I recommended found to them, it's an online banking account and it will do the bookkeeping stuff for you. You could, it's kind of like QuickBooks in there,

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Yeah.

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

all free. So just being able to offer people those ideas and suggestions on things they can do a little differently just to make their life a little easier.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Amazing. That sounds really cool. What is one of the wildest things someone has realized after taking the audit?

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

I would say I had somebody who had about 50 different. Technologies. And I was like, honey, I. don't think you need all those. I, I don't think you need all of that. Like, I don't even know bigger businesses who need all that. So we did end up working together. We were able to knock some stuff down like in half of what she was using. So some people do have, because you hear all these things are great tools and you have to have it, and you really don't.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Yeah. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I'm sure like you want to have the things that seem to make your life easier and like make processes simpler and things, but if you can use less and get the same amount done, why wouldn't you?

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

Yes, exactly. Some people just over complicate it and it's very easy to do.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Yeah. I fear I may be one of those people. I'm gonna have to look into this audit. I feel like a lot of my audience struggles with keeping up with Instagram and like running literally every other part of their business, but obviously I only help with like the Instagram part. How do you think your audit could help them figure out a system to manage like the different areas of their business?

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

Yeah. So I mean, I guess it depends on what all you tell me because I can only give back information on what I understand, but. I can help you think through ideas on how to make more time for different things that you find important. I had someone fill out the audit the other day, who has a nine to five, is freelancing, trying to run a business and has three kids. And so. She

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

Hello.

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

me some of the things that she was struggling with, and so I was like, okay, well what if we time block and what if we do this and do that? And so really, I guess it depends on what you say, but definitely give ideas and suggest anything that can be automated. So for her, they were manually. Sending out proposals, things like that. So I suggested Moxie for her to send out those proposals automatically after someone booked a call with them. Like you can just automatically send over your pricing guides, things like That So sending that sort of, you know, small changes like that, that really don't cost you a whole lot or aren't gonna be something that's gonna be very difficult to implement on your own. Those are the kind of things that I suggest.

sydney--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_143152:

That sounds amazing. I'm gonna share a link for that in the show notes. But yeah, that sounds like such a big game changer. Thank you so much for chatting with me all about business and. All of OBM related things, I, it's something like I'd heard the term before, but I wasn't super sure exactly what it all encapsulated. So I appreciate all of the insights.

sammy-bohannon--she-her-_1_02-12-2025_133152:

Yeah. Thank you so much for talking to me today. I really appreciate it.