Hooked on Books with Julie Cole from Mabel’s Labels

This month’s Hooked on Books features a super read from a supermom! Julie Cole’s Like a Mother: Birthing Businesses, Babies, and a Life Beyond Labels is our feature read, and it’s filled with useful life and mom hacks readers can implement right away, plus stories about how she’s achieved balancing the motherload all in Julie's honest, authentic, and humorous voice. We’ve sat down for an interview with Julie on how to learn to be the boss of your own life and to live it like a mother!

What is Hooked on Books?

Our team at Teachers on Call loves to read and encourage students and their families to do the same. With Hooked on Books, we introduce our community to the latest children’s book with a behind the scenes author interview to learn more. A large focus is introducing readers to Canadian authors and illustrators from across Ontario and coast to coast with a mix of emerging and well-known literary talent including Chris Ferrie, Jess Keating and Barbara Reid – just to name a few.

About our Author: Julie Cole

Burlington-area Julie Cole is a recovered lawyer, mom of six, and co-founder of multimillion-dollar business Mabel's Labels. She works out of Hamilton, Ontario where Mabel's Labels head office is based and lives in Burlington, Ontario with her family.

An Interview with Julie Cole

Check out Julie’s answers to our questions below!

We love Mabel's Labels! How did you decide to get into this business?

There were two main reasons Mabel’s Labels Inc came to be. The first was that along with my Co-founders (who were also relatives and friends!) we noticed there was a product missing from the market. We were young moms with babies and small kids who were always losing things. Tired of labeling their belongings with masking tape and marker, we looked for a solution. There wasn’t one, so like good entrepreneurial mamas, an idea was born. The second reason was that my eldest child was diagnosed with autism and I didn’t think the traditional work force would suit my changing family needs. These two factors came into play and Mabel’s Labels was born!

Many parents struggle with feeling like they're torn between two worlds. Is there a secret-sauce to achieving a balance between parent life and work life?

I feel like the secret-sauce for me is keeping everything in perspective. If I feel like I’m losing balance in one area of my life, I consider all the factors and see what can be adjusted. I try not to complain and get frustrated, but be pro-active and get in front of things. I don’t beat myself up and I gave up mom guilt four kids ago! If I feel out of balance, I make a shift.

Keeping up with six kids and a multimillion-dollar business sounds exhausting! Where do you get the energy? (and can we get some too?)

It certainly takes a particular kind of personality and temperament for this lifestyle. I happen to have a high threshold for chaos, I don’t sweat the small stuff, I delegate to my kids, I ask for help and I certainly do not take myself too seriously.

We all have one. What saying did your parents have that you swore you would never use, and then did anyway?

I’ll actually answer that in the opposite. My mom always said that she didn’t treat her kids the same because we were NOT the same. I have adopted that as well. To treat them all the same would be treating them with inequality. They all have different needs and that requires six different parenting styles from me!

What's your personal favourite mom hack?

I have sooooo many…. but, my most ridiculous but useful one?  With this many kids, when they were younger, I never knew when one was going to turn to me and say “mom, I don’t feel well….” and we know what happens next, don’t we!?

So, I would grab the vomit bags whenever I was on a flight and keep them in my purse, my car, and everywhere else my children were. They came in handy on many occasions!

Thank you for entering our giveaway!

A big thank you to everyone in the Teachers on Call community who entered our giveaway of Julie Cole’s book Like a Mother: Birthing Businesses Babies and a Life Beyond Labels, Mabel’s Labels Book Stamp and Starter Label Pack.

Click on video to find out our winner, selected by Julie Cole personally!