One of the hardest parts of building a personal brand isn’t creating content.

It isn’t staying consistent.

It isn’t figuring out the latest Instagram algorithm. (Although, let’s be honest… that one still throws me for a loop sometimes.)

It’s deciding how much of your real life belongs online.

And once you become a mom, that question gets a whole lot more complicated.

I don’t think there’s one right answer.

This isn’t a post telling you what you should do.

It’s simply how I’ve thought through this question for my own family and the boundaries we’ve decided to create.

Because while our businesses benefit from authenticity and connection, our children don’t get to choose how much of their lives are shared online.

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Becoming a Mom Changed the Question

If you own a service-based business, you’ve probably heard the phrase, “People hire people.”

And it’s true.

Whether you’re a photographer, designer, coach, or consultant, your clients want to know who’s behind the business. They want to feel connected to you before they ever inquire.

For me, motherhood is a huge part of my life.

It influences how I schedule my days, why I left teaching, how I run my business, and honestly, why I care so deeply about helping other women create businesses that give them more time with their families.

It would actually feel strange if I never talked about being a mom.

Ironically, I used to do exactly that.

When I first started my business, I barely mentioned motherhood at all.

Not because I wasn’t proud of it.

Because I was afraid.

I worried clients would assume I wasn’t available enough. That I wasn’t serious enough. That I couldn’t build a successful business while raising a child.

Looking back, those fears weren’t true.

Today, many of my clients are moms themselves. They understand daycare pickups, sick kids, and trying to fit work into the spaces between family life.

In fact, motherhood has become one of the biggest ways I connect with the women I serve.

But once I became comfortable sharing that part of my identity, a new question started to surface.

How much should I actually share?

I’ve realized there’s a big difference between sharing my experience as a mother and making my daughter part of my content.

That distinction has become really important to me.

It Started in the Grocery Store…

One day, while I was pregnant, I recognized a woman at the grocery store.

It took me a minute to figure out why.

Then it clicked.

I followed her husband online.

He shared a lot about their family, and because of that, I immediately recognized her.

She had absolutely no idea who I was.

Nothing happened. It wasn’t scary or even uncomfortable. But it was a lightbulb moment for me.

I remember thinking,

“She has no idea how much I know about her life.”

That thought has stayed with me ever since.

It made me realize just how much people can know about our families without us even realizing it.

Our Kids Are Growing Up with Digital Footprints

While preparing for this episode, I came across a term I’d never heard before: “sharenting.”

It’s the practice of parents sharing information about their children online, creating a digital identity long before they can understand it or consent to it.

Think about that for a second.

Most of us grew up with family photo albums tucked away on a bookshelf. Or maybe you remember being embarrassed when your mom posted an old photo of you on Facebook in high school or college.

But your baby photos, childhood memories, and the moments that shaped you were mostly shared with family and close friends.

Our kids don’t have that.

They’re growing up with searchable digital histories.

This Isn’t Coming from Fear

I want to be really clear that this decision isn’t coming from a place of fear or judgment.

I don’t think parents are making bad decisions.

I think most parents are simply proud of their kids.

They’re excited.

They want to share their lives with friends and family.

That makes complete sense.

What has changed isn’t parents.

It’s the internet.

We all remember the dad who pulled out a wallet photo of his kids. Or the mom who made a photo album after every family vacation and brought it out whenever friends came over.

Even social media has changed. Remember when we first joined Facebook? We were posting cringy song lyrics, one-line status updates, and blurry photos from our digital cameras.

When Instagram first launched, it felt like an online scrapbook.

Today, social media is different.

It’s a marketing platform. A search engine. A place where complete strangers can follow your life every day.

Somewhere along the way, kids became content.

And that’s where I start to struggle.

The Boundaries We’ve Chosen

Every family has to decide what feels right for them.

These are simply the boundaries we’ve chosen.

My personal Instagram is private.

Years ago, before I started sharing photos of my daughter, I removed people I didn’t actually know.

The people following me are people who would likely meet her in real life anyway.

Even then, there are things I choose not to share.

I don’t post tantrums, discipline, or difficult parenting moments.

I keep our daily routines private.

And I don’t share anything I think could embarrass her one day. I’m sure I’ll get some of those decisions wrong, but I want to do my best to protect her privacy while she’s too young to decide for herself.

My business account has even stronger boundaries.

That’s a public platform.

I’m actively trying to grow it and reach new people. Every day, complete strangers discover my content.

I would never bring my daughter into a room full of strangers.

To me, my business account isn’t all that different.

I’ll absolutely talk about daycare pickup.

Working during nap time.

Trying to record a podcast while life is happening around me.

Those stories are part of my experience.

But they’re not about making my daughter the focus.

The Question That Helped Me Draw the Line

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about where my line is.

For me, it all comes down to one question:

Would I be comfortable if someone recognized my daughter in public without me?

For me, the answer is no.

That’s why, if I do share her, it’s usually from behind or in ways that don’t clearly identify her.

Does that eliminate all risk?

No.

Nothing online does.

But it feels like the right balance for our family.

As business owners, showing up online isn’t really optional anymore.

Clients want to know who they’re hiring. They want to connect with the person behind the business.

But I also know I’ll never be the mom filming every family moment for content.

I never want my daughter to feel like she had to perform because Mom needed something to post.

I never want content to come before parenting.

And I never want to interrupt a real moment just because it would make a good Instagram Reel.

I want to build a personal brand around my story, not hers.

To me, that’s the difference.

Before You Hit “Post”

I don’t think there’s a perfect formula.

Every family is different, and every parent is going to draw the line in a different place.

But these are a few of the questions I find myself coming back to whenever I’m deciding what to share.

• Am I sharing this because my child would want it shared?

• Would they be proud of this in twenty years?

• Am I posting because I genuinely want to share it, or because the algorithm rewards it?

• If this never disappeared from the internet, would I still feel good about posting it?

Sometimes those questions make the decision easy and sometimes they don’t.

But I think they’re worth asking.

So… What Should You Do?

Our parents never had to navigate this.

We’re raising children in a digital world while also building businesses that often depend on showing up online.

That’s a unique challenge.

I don’t think every family has to make the same decisions.

Some parents won’t post their children at all.

Others will feel comfortable sharing much more.

Neither is my place to judge.

I don’t think there’s one right answer.

I just think it’s a question worth asking.

Because while our businesses benefit from authenticity and connection, our children deserve the chance to have a say in their own story someday.

For me, that means sharing my experience as a mom without making my daughter the center of my content.

It’s the balance that feels right for our family.

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