"How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these." ~George Washington Carver
As a mother of three it was always a challenge to balance raising them and earning a living to provide for them! I did so many different things, waited on tables, cleaned offices, home health care, things I could do while they were with their dad so I could be a stay at home mom. Then the time came when they were all in school full time and I was able to go back to the corporate world. I became the Director of Marketing for a graphics company in NYC as was able to somewhat work my schedule around the kids. We would walk to the bus-stop together in the morning and then I would continue my walk to the train station and commute into the city. Wednesday and Thursday afternoons I left at 3 so I could pick the kids up at the after-school program - the other days their dad had them so I could stay at the office and work late. The balancing act was working fairly well and I was earning an excellent living instead of just getting by.
Well - the day came that my daughter got sick at school and they called me at work. I went into the bosses office and told him what was going on and that I would have to wrap things up here so I could go and get her. Now, when I took the job it was with the understanding that on the rare occasion that one of the kids was ill - or became ill at school - I would work from home. This was the first time this happened in the six months I had been working there and my boss told me that he was paying me X amount of money and that I couldn't leave. It took me all of about three seconds to tell him what he could do with my paycheck and gave him two-weeks notice. It was the first time as a mom that one of my kids was sick and someone else had to pick them up for me. Well - my kids are now 21, 20 and 17 and it was the last time that ever happened!
Becoming a Mompreneur was a choice that I made when my youngest was 6 and I have never looked back. Mompreneurs are the group of women who run a business and raise children with the children always coming first. My Three Wise Girls co-hosts can attest to this the day we had our power call scheduled and my daughter, who is now seventeen, got sick! Mom had to take her to the doctor and I had to bow out of the call to be with her. Thankfully my kids didn't get sick too often, but when they did, appointments were changed, networking events were missed and the home office was put to great use.
All of us out there that have found ways to be at our kids ball-games, or dance recitals or class trip while working on growing our businesses have created a workforce where we don't have to sacrifice time with our children to become successful. We invite all you Mompreneurs out there to share your stories with the Three Wise Girls Thursday March 4th from 12-1pm EST on http://www.blogtalkradio.com/threewisegirls or email us at threewisegirls@gmail.com.
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I'm not surprised when I see mumpreneurs (as we spell it in Australia; mompreneurs in the States!) in action. Working mums have great insights into markets gaps and my experience of running my own business while raising my small son has been that when you're not chained to the computer all day (because you can't be - there's so much else to do!) there is plenty of time for thinking and strategising. This makes the time I do spend at the computer (my main distribution channel and where I capture my blogs and book content) so much more effective. Good on all the mums for giving it a go... and I hope we'll continue to see the rise of mumpreneurs into the future leaders of our businesses and communities.
ReplyDeleteHi Jen-
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. We have a 2nd part to the series on mompreneurs on the 25th with 3 mompreneurs that have different insights to share. One works to help mom's find that balance raising their children, another is a mom-coach and the third supports those blended families and the step-mom's that don't have that support out there. It should be a wonderful show and hope you can tune in - or listen to the archives. www.blogtalkradio.com/threewisegirls and our show airs on Thursdays at 12pm EST. Thanks again for the comment - Dori - one of the TWG's and the mompreneur of the bunch!