I get a lot of funny looks when I say that I run a business from home. I suppose most of the time that means I sell Avon. And when I say that I have a Nanny there are usually rolled eyes, and wouldn’t that be great looks from others. When someone needs something at school, they assume I’m available because I work from home.
Today I want to share what I’ve learned over the last 3 years of owning a small business. I have, and will continue to be, on a quest for wisdom that I can use in this journey. I have spoken to 100′s of small biz owners at tech conferences and through email. And I think the more stories we share the more wisdom we can learn from each other. Each piece of advice we can incorporate from each other brings us one piece closer to solving our own puzzle.
Here are my three pieces of wisdom that I have learned in my Work at Home travels:
1. Everything I do has a goal. Currently while my girls are so young, my goals are to have quality(after supper) & quantity(after school) time with them. We, women and moms, tend to wallow in a lake of guilt over everything from our work habits to our meager efforts at self-care. My daughter just came over to the couch where I’m sitting with my laptop. Our conversation went like this:
Me: Megan, can you pass me that pillow please?
Megan: Can you please call me Dr. Megan?
She doesn’t seem bothered by my laptop at the moment. And the guilt immediately vanished. Of course this changes when she wants something. Which brings me to point #2.
2. Work-at-home Moms are still WORKING. Unless your children can watch themselves, you need help. Or perhaps you think that your job is less than your hubby’s who needs to work at an office (or other place of employment) uninterrupted? You don’t need to focus? Great! You’re good then. For the rest of us, we need help.
I don’t do it alone. I have a Nanny who picks up the Kindergartener, fixes lunch, helps keep my house in order, does the un-ending laundry, and picks up the others after school. And I STOP working at 3PM (okay, not always, but thats the plan).
3. The children(& home) belong to my husband and I. So of course, our duties with the children are shared quite equally. Different times in our lives these chores are divided differently. The house is shared by all five us and as such we all have (age-appropriate) duties to keep the place a nice comfortable home.
For our family, my husband does bathtime, and bedtime. He does Saturday outings and Sunday School. He does Hapkido with them once a week. He does supper 2-3 times per week. I do the other meals, deep cleaning, kids day-time activities. We both volunteer on the Parent Advisory Committee. Then we each have our own interests and volunteer opportunities that we are happy to participate in in the evenings.
My Mom can’t believe how “lucky” I am to have a guy that participates. I’m always astounded when people (women) say this. Of course he participates!! Its HIS life – why wouldn’t he? If you have to call me anything, please don’t call me ‘lucky’! We have earned each others’ respect and forged this path through many compromises. Now I couldn’t admire and love him more… but that’s another Valentine’s post. :)
Of course there are so many areas in which I’m still trying to come up with a solution for – namely hiring help, expanding the business, book-keeping, consistent blogging, etc. Which brings me to a resource that has just opened up this week – its called Kitchen Table Companies by Chris Brogan. He has done some Kitchen Table Talks on ChrisBrogan.com which I’ve enjoyed recently. The KTC group and forum seems a bit pricey to me, but the resources are promised to be great – I’d love to know what you think if you go exploring the site. For the month of February, there are reduced charter-member rates.
Also, I’d love to hear words of wisdom you’ve gained through your experience working for yourself, or being a pro blogger over the years… how do you manage to balance it all??
Till next time,
