Biz Mama: Sharon Woodhouse of Lake Claremont Press & Everything Goes Media

Sharon Woodhouse is a publisher, publishing consultant and owner of Everything Goes Media and Lake Claremont Press. She has taken an entrepreneurial approach to just about everything since first becoming self-employed as a teenager almost three decades ago. She has counseled hundreds of authors, publishers, entrepreneurs, and job-changers in various aspects of publishing, book promotion, and business, emphasizing publishing options, strategic planning for new economic realities, inexpensive and creative marketing, social media, win-win partnerships, and developing an entrepreneurial mindset. Lake Claremont Press, which she started in 1994 when she was 26, has released 60 nonfiction titles on Chicago and Chicago history since its founding in 1994. She started Everything Goes Media, LLC, in 2011, a year after the birth of her son, to encompass all the non-Chicago, hybrid, tangential, and consulting publishing activities and projects she was becoming increasingly involved with. One of its newest enterprises is 40-Something Mama, a blog/support website and book for first-time moms over 40. I connected with Sharon several years ago after sending her book publishing company a promo piece (I love designing books). We’ve kept in touch via my e-newsletter—which recently helped us discover we had much in common, including toddler boys and an older “baby:” a business we started well before the birth of our child.

Sharon Woodhouse of Lake Claremont Press and Everything Goes Media, LLC

Tell us a little about your business/job responsibilities.

Book publishing: Shepherding, producing, promoting, and selling books. Consulting: Advising on all aspects of publishing, book production, and using content to further personal and business goals. Entrepreneurial content enterprises: developing enterprising ways to use existing intellectual property I already own and helping others do the same.

What are the ages/genders of your children?

Son, 3 years old.

Did you start your business before or after having children?

Before…16 years before my son was born.

How did your business life change after having children?

After being my “baby” for years, my business was no longer the center of my universe. And it was time! I was ready to switch my focus and maternal instincts from my “teenaged” business to a delightful little human being.

Describe a typical workday.

Two days a week I am a SAHM, three days a week I put in 7-hour days while my son’s in daycare, and I try to squish in the rest of a 40-hour week during naps, evenings, and weekends. My work involves lots of emails, phone calls, social media, scheming & deals, project management, coaching & cheerleading, juggling past, present, and future enterprises, as well as editorial and technical grunt work and sometimes box-packing.

What is one tip you can share with other Biz Mamas?

Slow down, get enough sleep, maintain perspective, and do whatever else it takes to remain centered, healthy, free of mental/emotional gunk. I never let the stress get out of control anymore–it got to devastating proportions for me when I was younger and that’s not in my realm of possibilities anymore. If overwhelm ever starts seeping in I work on bringing my experience back to enjoyment, appreciation, humor, creativity, service, love…anything that feels good.

Lake Claremont Press | Everything Goes Media

Chicago, IL and Milwaukee, WI www.lakeclaremont.com www.everythinggoesmedia.com @ChicagoPress | @EvthngGoesMedia Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-Claremont-Press/94618365327 LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/sharonwoodhouse/