Needless to say, though I dreaded venturing out into unfamiliar territory, I went to BGC to attend the 2nd WAHM 101 and got to socialize with the other moms who attended WAHM 101 last month. Once again, with our moderator – Martine De Luna of martinedeluna.com and makeitblissful.com we talked about business ideas that have been lurking behind our minds for some time now and it was interesting to hear about other moms who have these unique and fresh ideas. We brainstormed on community development, cheese making, investing, crafting, health goods, pet care and veterinary and my own idea of creating a website where moms can get inspiration and help on setting up a work at home lifestyle.
There were key points shared during the discussion from a book called Mom, Incorporated by Danielle Smith and Aliza Sherman. Its basically a book about being a mom-preneur with a baby (or kids). The book itself has an American “feel” to it but largely, the ideas, inspiration and guidelines can be adapted to a Filipina mom lifestyle.
Part of the book shares some key points in being sane when it comes to being a mom who takes care of a myriad of things in the home. Some key points discussed during the mastermind session were:
- Prioritize what matters – what motivated you to become a work at home in the first place anyway?
- Wear one hat at a time – you cannot be a jack of all trades; you simply cannot be everything to everyone.
- Be strict with work hours – since you work at home, there has to be boundaries set for each daily activity; if you are working, you have the right to demand respect for your work hours from other members of the family.
- Set boundaries – even if its hear-breaking to disentangle yourself the sloppy wet loving kisses of your toddler in order to finish a deadline, you have to. Absolutely.
- Commit to things that only matter to you and your family – you cannot spend sleepless days and nights on a work that takes you away from your family. Work should never be a cause to break your heart. If you aren’t happy with what you are doing, there’s no harm in letting it go. Work should work for you, you shouldn’t have to be a slave to your work.
- Embrace the emotions that come from having the guilt – yes, there will always be that guilty feeling that you are neglecting your husband, your kids, your baby, your friends, your mom and dad because you have to work. But who works in this world who doesn’t feel that way??? The guilt just becomes more pronounced and tangible when working at home because you see your child’s puppy eyes staring at you waiting for you to finish a deadline and you heart just breaks into a million pieces. But hey, you can always give them ice cream or chocolate or allow them to play 30 more minutes right? In exchange for peace and quite to do your work. Then once work is done, its party time.
- Schedule time for you and you alone – yes, you need me time!
- Plan time with the girls – bring out the tequila, go to your neighborhood coffee shop and sip coffee with the girl, go to a spa, pamper yourself. You deserve it.
- Quiet time everyday – just to reflect on the life you have, your passions, your crafts, or even meditate. In the quiet of it all, you discover yourself.
- Go for peace, not balance – I just talked about this in a previous post, remember? Whether you think a woman can “have it all”? Well, according Danielle and Aliza, instead of striving for balance, strive for peace instead. That point in your life when you start accepting that everything is already where it and as it should be.
The 2nd mastermind will discuss about how to work on the business ideas that we have and hopefully, my ideas will have been more cohesive and solid by that time.
Photo/Image courtesy of www.bigstock.com
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