Meet Onnie Michalsky | Therapist, Coach, and Recovering Supermom

We had the good fortune of connecting with Onnie Michalsky and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Onnie, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
In 2019, I was freshly licensed as a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor and had passed my certification exam as a Health Coach through the American Council on Exercise. I was working at a community mental health center and when the local office was moving to the hospital, I decided to take the changes as an opportunity to step away and start my own practice.

Throughout my life, I had owned my own businesses and was a leader in various organizations- in 2003, I had started a company where I matched employees with employers which evolved into me helping others create websites. I was a Girl Scout Leader, president of the Friends of the Pool, and on the board of the Chamber of Commerce and my local chapter of MOMS Club, was a Zumba instructor, and had a business where I taught tumbling and dance to little girls. It only made sense that I venture out on my own to start a business in this career.

Initially, I decided to start a single business that included both counseling and coaching but six months in, I moved to separate the two for ethical and legal reasons. My counseling practice was more general and my coaching practice focused on serving mothers. In the past three years, I transitioned to serving mothers in both of my businesses. In MT Therapy for Moms, I treat moms who are struggling with clinical diagnoses such as depression and anxiety. In Moms Without Capes, I offer solutions and guide them down a path of reclaiming their identity within motherhood.

What should our readers know about your business?
I identify as many things and wear lots of hats but the one that helps me most in my life and my business is that of a recovering supermom. For the first ten years as a mother, I gave my all by putting myself on the back burner. Everything I was involved in revolved around my role as a mom. I had wanted to be a mom since I was a little girl, so when I became one, I gave all I had which led to me completely losing my identity beyond “mom.” This, as you may imagine wasn’t ideal. I had all sorts of expectations around being a mom- that good moms should want to be around their kids 24/7, that we have to be happy and “on” all the time, and that we need to be the ones in control of everything. With some dedicated work on mindset, I was able to challenge these expectations and let go of them as they did not serve me in motherhood. As I shifted my belief system, I was able to reclaim my identity by pursuing passions and personal interests beyond motherhood.

As I started Moms Without Capes, my current business, I decided to focus on helping women who struggled with Supermom Syndrome to challenge the unrealistic expectations that keep them in a state of overcommitment and overwhelm. As business and personal growth tend to happen simultaneously, I gradually saw that the same expectations I held once in my mom-hat wiggled their way into my CEO-hat. Once again, I was holding myself to unattainable standards that were not serving me. Because I am almost as passionate about my mission as I was about raising my children, I quickly fell into problematic and rather familiar behaviors, although this time it looked like building courses, implementing a membership, holding workshops and masterclasses, consuming endless content, putting out a podcast, creating many lead magnets, email sequences, and landing pages. I found myself a victim of supermom syndrome again, although this time it was me trying to be a super-entrepreneur!

Like anything, awareness is key and when we know better, we can do better. In this season, I am working on simplifying. I am intentionally taking away certain aspects of my business and going through the weeds to see if there are any flowers hiding in there. I know there are, but sometimes when we are too close to something, it’s impossible to see the whole picture. I am working on pulling back and giving thanks for the lessons I’ve learned along the way. I’ve had launches that were a bust in that they didn’t bring in the revenue I had hoped, events I hosted that no one showed up for, and people in my Facebook community that decided I wasn’t for them, at least in this season of their life. And I’m okay with that. I am evolving as I learn how to build my business(es). Even that in itself, is a remnant of supermom syndrome- the fact that I have TWO businesses that I am building. Eventually, I want to have one amazing business that serves mothers but for now, I am okay with taking on the challenges that each presents as I am learning how to navigate entrepreneurship.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I am NOT in Arizona, but I can answer this for Billings, MT, where I live now. I would invite them to stay with me but if they insisted on staying at a hotel, I would recommend either the one that one of our oldest daughters works at, one of the few hotels that have pools, or the one that hosts an indoor waterpark, which of course I would bring our kids over to swim at while we caught up over pizza from a local place. As I am from out of state, I am going to assume that the person visiting is also not from Montana so while they were here visiting, some of the foods I would want them to try are pork chop sandwiches, a pastie (a Butte, MT favorite), and I would take them to a Greek restaurant we have here in Billings- their gyros are amazing! For entertainment, I would likely buy tickets for a show at the local theater- perhaps a Broadway show, and we would go axe throwing. If it was during the summer, we would go float the Yellowstone River and would probably drive through Yellowstone National Park where we’d likely see bison and grizzlies. Or maybe, we would go to Mount Rushmore if they were interested. Both are about 4-5 hours from here. One of the best views here in Billings is on top of the Rims, where you can see the whole city below, and we would have to catch one of the sunsets from our back deck, because they don’t call this state Big Sky Country for nothing!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Shoutout first to God of course! All credit goes to Him. To my husband who believed in me before I believed in myself. He continues to stand by and encourage me every day. To each of my six children, who have shaped and molded me into the woman I am today. I definitely wouldn’t be who I am today without each of them!

Website: www.momswithoutcapes.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/momswithoutcapes

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/onnie-michalsky/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/momswithoutcapes

Youtube: www.youtube.com/@momswithoutcapes

Other: www.pinterest.com/momswithoutcapes

Image Credits
I took all pictures myself