Building a Business in Real Life
“I do think it's important that our children can see that you can build a dream and you can build a business and you can do the thing that brings you alive and be present with them at the same time."Christina Blissmer
Building a business as a mom was never meant to happen in some separate, perfectly protected world, apart from real life.
In this episode of The Firestarter Podcast, host Willa Kammerer sits down in studio with her colleague Christina Blissmer, Firestarter's Strategic Integrator and Director of Client Experience, for an honest conversation about building a business in the context of real life as a mom and as a single mom. They talk about the drop-offs, pickups, meetings, and doctor's appointments that fill the space in between, and why so much of real life still hides behind the polished veneer of office presence.
Willa shares why she sold her big post-divorce dream house after realizing her top three priorities were herself, her son, and her business, and how that move gave her an office of her own for the first time in over 15 years. She explains why she built a business model that sidesteps the one-to-one coaching trap, how she uses alignment as a gut check before saying yes to an opportunity, and the daily non-negotiables that keep her grounded at home and on the road. Together, Willa and Christina unpack mom guilt, the village of support it takes to travel and lead, giving yourself grace through hectic seasons, and Willa's favorite hot take: getting help with household tasks without a shred of guilt.
If you're building a business while raising a family and wondering whether you really have to choose between the two, tune in to this episode of How to Build a Business Around Real Life as a Single Mom with Christina Blissmer.
Christina Blissmer
Christina Blissmer is a fractional operations executive, serving as the Strategic Integrator and Director of Client Experience at Firestarter. As Willa's right hand, she keeps things moving behind the scenes, turning fast-moving vision into clear priorities, real systems, and work that actually gets done across client delivery, team coordination, and all the moving pieces in between.
She doesn't rattle easily and she doesn't miss much. Quietly relentless about excellence, she helps visionaries with big ideas build businesses that run on solid systems instead of sheer willpower. When you're great at the vision, but need someone to make it happen, Christina's your girl.
When she's not behind the scenes making things run, Christina is a special needs mom, a devoted fan of extra-hot vanilla lattes, and living proof that color-coding something within an inch of its life can, in fact, spark joy.
