Personal Issues

Can’t believe the holidays are almost here…how did they get here so fast. I’m not ready…are you?

Summer seems to be a challenging time for moms who are running a business and raising a family under the same roof. Many of us arrange our work time around school schedules…whether it’s nursery school or high school…and summer wreaks havoc on that plan! Plus, we all remember those days when we were in school and had the summers off. Even if we worked a summer job or two, the warm weather and lazier pace made summer more relaxed. Some of us want to feel that way again!

If summer is creating a desire in you to spend more time with your kids, laze around on the beach or in the backyard or simply chill out a little, go for it. The beauty of being a mompreneur is that you can more or less adjust your workload when you need to or want to. You might have to play catch-up in the Fall, but that’s when most buyers of products and services are more enthusiastic.

If your business demands are too big to ignore, perhaps you can set aside just one day per week for a “staycation” with your kids. Go to the local town pool or beach, play mini-golf, take in a movie….any  of these “breaks” will energize you and your family and make you appreciate summer!

As moms who are trying to balance work and family, we have to make many transitions in our lives. I’ve always found transitions to be tough. I guess I get used to the status quo and am fearful of changing it.
The first transition I made was when my first son was born. I thought I’d be going back to my old job at my publishing company after my maternity leave ended. To my surprise, I couldn’t do it. I loved my job as a magazine editor, but I loved my newborn son much more and I couldn’t leave him. That’s when I became a mompreneur, although I didn’t know I had that “name” in the beginning.
I wanted to get some part-time work, so I sent out notes to everyone I had ever worked with…publicists, other editors, people in the food industry (I was primarily a food writer) and told them I was going out on my own. If they had any work they could throw my way…anything that involved writing, recipe development, whatever…please throw it my way! I was hopeful but had no idea what to expect. We really needed two incomes. Would I be able to bring in enough as a freelancer? How would I juggle taking care of my newborn son if I had a tight deadline?
Three weeks after my son was born, an editor called me up and asked if I could come into the office to develop some recipes and help with the photo shoot. I jumped at the chance! But it involved being away from my son for at least 8 hours. My husband had a job to go to, so he was not available. I quickly called my parents and they offered to help out. So I thought I was all set. Wrong!!!
I couldn’t believe how much I missed my baby in those 8 hours! I called several times just to make sure he was OK. And these were his grandparents watching him! I realized that this whole work-family balance thing was going to be much harder than I thought! And I realized I wanted to do most of my work from a home office so babysitting could be kept to a minimum. Transitioning from a full-time magazine editor to a freelance writer who felt a huge tug between motherhood and work wasn’t going to be easy. I sort of winged it along the way…sometimes more successfully than others!