Launching a Money-Making Side Business

I am thrilled my recent article about launching a successful side gig was picked up by Forbes this week!

Check it out: 7 Insider Tips For Launching a Money-Making Side Business

And don't forget to check out The Economy of You: Discover Your Inner Entrepreneur and Recession-Proof Your Life by my amazingly talented friend, Kimberly Palmer.

Want to Launch a Side Gig? Here's How!

I had the pleasure of working with my friend, author Kimberly Palmer, on a piece looking at her new book: The Economy of You: Discover Your Inner Entrepreneur and Recession-Proof Your Life.

If you're looking to bring in some extra money with a side gig, Palmer lays out how to make your dream into a reality.

To get some tips, check out my article on LearnVest: 7 Secrets to Launching a Lucrative Side Gig

Have a successful side gig story? Feel free to share!

A Better To-Do List

Here's my newest LearnVest article on to-do lists: 4 Ways to Make a Better To-Do List

I learned a few things from both the experts and "normal" folks who were brave enough to share their real to-do lists with me (thank you!).

Hope it helps you out a bit, too!

The Telecommute...Banned

Last year, I wrote about the brave new superwoman, Marissa Mayer.  This post isn't going to be so glowing. 

Mayer caused quite a stir this week.  She will no longer allow Yahoo employees to work from home.  This is the same woman who has a 5 star nursery set up next to her office, because, after all, her baby may need her.

I'm not going to review all the stats that show how productive telecommuting workers can be.  I just want to rant about how ridiculous a policy this is.  If I were a Yahoo employee, I would be really pissed off.  Actually, I'm not a Yahoo employee and I'm still really pissed off. 

It is unfortunate that a closely watched leader such as Mayer could make such a lame move.

While I understand the need for face time at the office, banning all telecommuting arrangements seems to be an inflexible decision that could cost Yahoo some dedicated employees. Hopefully the backlash will help draw attention to the need for flexibility in the workplace. And hopefully other struggling companies don't decide to follow Yahoo's lead.

High Expectations

Wow.  Where did that month go?

Well people, it's good to see you.  I think of you often and can't wait for life to calm down so I can sit at my computer and type out my joys and sorrows.

I've recently realized that when you volunteer time, you have less of it.  You may recall I have been serving as the editor of the little guy's preschool's newsletter and that I am also writing for our local community newsletter.  These things take time, and when I agreed to take them on, I didn't really think about how it would effect my blogging.  Apparently it has effected my blogging quite seriously.

So here I am.  I have so many subjects I want to write about, I don't really know where to start. Instead of backtracking, I will start with today.

My dear Mother left for the airport this morning at 7am.  She had come for a short visit and it went by so very fast...as her visits always do.  While shuttling my kids to and fro this morning, I was struck by how badly I felt.  You see, my kids were not well behaved during her visit and I was constantly feeling upset, stressed, embarrassed and frustrated.  I felt like I had no control of my offspring and that I looked like a frantic, crazy Mama who was hanging on by a thread.  And while some of that is certainly true, I know in my heart that the past few days were extreme because the kids had an audience (other than their parents).  There were times when I was at a loss and just wanted to yell and scream, give up, turn on some "educational" TV and go hide in a hole.  My Mom reassures me they were very well behaved whenever my husband and I were out of the house (like on our date night or our furniture shopping escapade).  And while that makes me feel a bit better, why couldn't they have been like that when I was around?

During her visit, I asked my Mom a lot of questions about how she juggled all the craziness of having three small kids back in the day.  She admits she doesn't remember all that much, but she did point out that she always worked part-time and that gave her a chance to get away from the house, socialize and work with adults (not spouses or relatives), and gain perspective on her family life.  She encouraged me to get out of the house more and do things for myself.  She also told me (in a nice way) that my life revolves around my kids. 

When I sit down and look at my family's life, I will be the first to acknowledge that I am the one who is home and running the show the majority of the time.  And without family back-up, there isn't much relief.  Frankly, my life does revolve around my kids and I am not sure how I would be able to change that right now.

The two mornings I get alone when both of the little monsters are at school (3.5 hours a week (after drive time)!), I am pretty overrun with a hefty to do list.  Frankly, there are just too many errands I am not willing to do with the little guy anymore because he has become such a fan of public meltdowns.  And that means there are a lot of things to accomplish when he is not around! 

But I am trying.  I have actually been to a gym six times since late January (thanks to a Groupon deal).  I get out to dinner or brunch with friends every few weeks.  I took an anger management class for parents (which made a ton of sense in theory but is proving rather difficult to implement in reality).  And I just started a leadership training course at PEP (the Parent Encouragement Program) which offers the parenting classes I've been taking over the past year.  Now seriously, what else can a girl fit in??

Anyway, I'm babbling a bit here but I just had to share my frustration over the constant stress of being a stay-at-home parent of a challenging five year old and a defiant, moody and physically abusive three old.  I used to complain that babies were tough (which of course they are--especially the grueling sleep deprivation and loss of self), but man oh man, it's nothing compared to the physical, emotional and mental demands I now face daily.  And when everything gets even more ramped up during a five day visit from Nana, it certainly forces me to ask: "why is this (parenthood) so freakin hard and how do I make this (parenthood) better?"

My solution for today was to rush to the gym, run on a treadmill for 25 minutes, sit in a hot sauna for 10 minutes, and buy an overpriced fancy latte before grabbing a few groceries and rushing to pick up the little guy at preschool.  Endorphins combined with caffeine can be a pretty awesome thing.  It certainly help put things in perspective this morning.

My Mom mentioned that perhaps Mothers today are too hard on themselves.  Our expectations and standards are too high and we set ourselves up for failure because there is no way we can achieve our lofty goals.  There could be some truth to this.  But is it too much to ask to just have kids who listen and don't give you attitude or physically attack you when they don't get their way?  Is that really asking too much?  And if I am embarassed by my kids crazy behavior because I take it as a reflection on my parenting abilities, does that mean I am being too hard on myself?  The truth is, I just don't know.

Mama Brain

Once you get "Mama Brain," does it ever go away?

I have heard a variety of pretty impressive Mama Brain stories in the past few weeks and just have to share.  I am not naming any names, except my own.

The week before last was the bake sale at the babe's school. I whipped up some nut-free chocolate muffin cupcake kinda things during the little guy's nap time.  At 3:00 pm, we ran out the door to pick up the babe.  About 5 minutes into our journey, I had a panic attack.  Did I turn off the oven?  What to do?  Do I risk being late for pick up (for the first time ever) or do I swing around and go check?  As we were headed to an after school play date I decided I had no choice but to turn around.  It's a good thing I did, because the oven was on.  And there was nothing in it.  This was not good.

I recounted this story the next day to another Mama while purchasing tasty treats at the bake sale.  She one upped me (and I was thrilled she shared this story with me so I could share it with you).  This Mama, who will remain nameless, had gone for a manicure in her precious down time.  When it came time to leave the salon, she couldn't find her keys.  After retracing her steps and walking to the coffee shop she had visited just prior to the salon, she walked back to her car (which was parked on a major road) expecting to see the keys in the ignition.  Yes, the keys were in the ignition.  But hold on.  It gets better.  Not only were the keys in the ignition, the car was on and the doors were unlocked. 

Last night an email message came in from one of the school list serves I am subscribed to.  A Mama admitted to leaving her stroller in the parking lot of a grocery store and was wondering if anyone had an extra they could spare?  At least she didn't forget the kids, she joked.

And another Mama I know just admitted she had left her Snap and Go in a folded down position by the side of the road for a few days before she realized what she'd done.  It was still there when she went back to pick it up.

No one was hurt in any of these stories.  And hopefully you feel better about yourself now.  Because remember, "we're not perfect...no we're not."

The Alarm

Sometimes I think that new ideas from my parenting class will never work in our home.  This isn't the best attitude because how do you really know unless you try, right?

So the other day, when it was almost time to leave the park, I asked the babe if it would help if I set the alarm on my phone to go off when it was time to go to the car.  I wasn't sure what kind of reaction I'd get as I only pulled this on her about 10 minutes before my desired departure time.  She looked at me from mid-swing and said "Sure, Mama." 

I fiddled around with the phone until I managed to set the alarm (it was my first time) and I let her choose the ringer sound (a Rooster crowing).  I told her it was now set to go off in 10 minutes and when it went off, we were going to have to listen to it.

I highly doubted she would pay any attention when it went off and I was fully expecting a battle over leaving.  When we were close to the 10 minutes I took the phone out of my pocket so the alarm would be heard loud and clear.  And off it went.  Cockadoodledoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I looked at the babe, smiled and asked her what that meant.  She said "It's time to go, Mama."

Amazing.

When someone had suggested I set an alarm at the park during my parenting class this week, I had been laughing at the idea in my head.  "The babe will never fall for that," I thought.

Well guess who's laughing now?  Yep, still me.  I am hoping that I have discovered a new magic way to end our regular battles over leaving the park.  The alarm speaks for itself, and I am no longer the bad guy.

The Up Side of Monday

My favorite time of the week used to be Friday at about 5:00 pm.  No need to explain that one.

I am sad to say that my new favorite time of the week is now Monday at 9:30 am.  While I used be filled with dread at the thought of Monday morning, it has now become the time I look forward to.

Don't get me wrong, I love the feeling of anticipation that I have on late Friday afternoons, because there are always some great parts of every weekend.  I especially love the evenings when my husband and I get to hang out after the kids are in bed and the pizza is ordered.  I always stay up a bit later and we try and catch up on all the good TV stuff we've taped but don't get to watch during the week.  It's the little things that make it special.

But I really love the return to peace and calm in my life by Monday morning.  Catching up on laundry, shopping, dishes, and all the mundane stuff is quite rewarding for me and makes me feel good.  Who would have ever thought I'd say that!

I also love the fact that the little guy and I get to hang out alone with each other.  Despite his young age, he really is a very good companion.  His needs are simple and he is fairly willing to let me direct our activities.

So here's to Monday mornings....even when they are wet and gray like today.

Tuesday

Yesterday ended with blood all over my shirt sleeve (the little guy had a bad tumble), frazzled nerves (the babe punched me in the face after I dragged her inside to have dinner at 5:30 pm--needless to say, I did not handle it too well), too much wine and coffee in my system and not enough plain 'oll H20.  I keep saying I'm going to drink more water and attempt to be healthier and calmer, and I keep pulling out the red wine with dinner and the dark chocolate for desert.  I suppose they are the "healthy" indulgences in terms of benefits to the system...but it doesn't make up for the lack of water.  But is does make me calmer. 

What I'm really trying to say is that I went to bed a little too late and didn't sleep very well.  As such, I am wiped out today.  And Tuesday is not a day to be wiped out around here.  After bringing the babe into school, the little guy and I hit the grocery store, dropped off the groceries at home, went downtown for music class, came home and had lunch.  He's now napping.  I've cleaned the kitchen, made the beds and should be doing the laundry and packing up for our next outing.  But since I made a promise to blog every day (and I needed to check my email), I decided to sit down and write. 

After nap time we will pick up the babe at school, drive to Bethesda, play at the park and hopefully have a successful soccer experience.  It will be the babe's third time out with her new "team" and coach.  She is doing really well and I think she may be a natural (or perhaps my mommy meter is not exactly accurate).  But really, another soccer Mom actually asked me if the babe had ever played before.  That must mean something, right?

Then we will race back home, eating snacks all the way, and have an unorganized and chaotic dinner and then clock some chill out time in front of the TV before bath time. 

Believe it or not I also have dinner plans, AGAIN!  The Montreal Canadiens are back on the ice tonight so I'm heading out with a good friend for some wining, dining and catching up.  She is pregnant with her first and I am trying to be supportive and honest with her (no one ever told me how hard it was going to be!).  But I do try not to overwhelm her with too many gory details.  Although she's been over to my house enough that if she isn't freaked out yet, I'm not sure what will freak her out!

Anyway, must get back to my domestic bliss....the laundry and preparing my husband's hockey dinner (a healthy pizza concoction) awaits.  Aren't I a good stay at home Mom/Boss of the house??? 

Something Changed

A few months back I was miserable bringing the babe into school every morning. There was drama (the babe pitching fits), danger (insane DC drivers coming way to close to my kids at intersections), and theatrics (me having melt downs in front of the general public) almost every day. I broke. I started using the "rope line" 3 days a week. I just couldn't take it anymore. The process of finding street parking, hauling out the double stroller (or the single stroller for the little guy and risking it with the babe on foot), and walking across very busy rush hour streets was just too much for me.

I also found the new school rule of "no strollers on the second floor" (where the babe's classroom is located) to be another major pain in the posterior. I was being forced to carry my heavy diaper bag (not because of the diapers but because of my wallet, keys, phone, etc.), and the little guy, while holding the babe's hand. Luckily there is an elevator, but unluckily the babe has to hit the elevator button every time or else all hell breaks lose. Once upstairs, I walk her down the rather busy hall to help her hang her coat, while trying to control the little guy and not get run over by other kids/parents going through a similar experience. I then help her deposit her lunch in the assigned spot and drop her off at her classroom. Good byes and kisses follow (that part I like).

The babe was not such a fan of the rope line (a bunch of teachers stand at the corner near the school and you can do a drive by drop off where the kids all hang onto a rope and make their way to the school at 9:05 am). But it made my morning so much easier that it was worth the trouble of dealing with the babe whining that she didn't want to do the rope line. Although I must admit I felt quite guilty. It's not like I needed to make it to the office or something.

Recently though, something has changed. I stopped relying on the rope line so much and have started bringing the babe into school, unless I have an appointment. I guess I just made a decision that taking her into school is one of the things I should be trying harder to make work. I am a stay-at-home Mom and I can do this.

So I now resign myself to the fact that nothing about the experience will be fast or smooth. Parking will be a pain, the stroller will still be heavy and awkward, and lugging all that stuff and the kids around won't be a breeze. But there is a joy I get out of seeing the babe's big smile when she sees her teachers and friends. I can also tell it means a lot to her when I make my way into her school every day. I also love the big hug and kiss good bye. She is always happy when I leave her at her classroom door, and she is always unhappy when I leave her at the rope line. And I really want the babe to be happy.

Don't get me wrong, it's still a pain in the posterior, but once I resigned myself to the major hassle part of the experience, I got to start appreciating the joy part of the experience.

Whoa...

Last weekend was crazy. Yesterday was crazy. Today is crazy. If you don't know me, you probably won't care to read anymore as it is really just me blabbing.

On Saturday the little guy and I got up at 6:15 am to go stand in line (in the rain) at the H1N1 vaccination clinic. My son needed a booster shot and I wasn't going to let our first dreadful H1N1 vaccination experience be for nothing. We were about 11th in line which felt really good. Everything was remarkably under control at the clinic (it helped that it was in a municipal building and not the yucky high school we were at last time). I was pleasantly surprised by the whole experience and applaud the DC government for a well run operation. To find a local provider in the United States, click HERE. We were back home before 9:00 am which felt nice. So much already accomplished!

Upon our return, my husband ran off to help a friend move (the rain had turned to snow at this point).

The kids and I hung out and even ventured outside to play in the snow and build a snow man (how neat that it snowed in DC before my home town of Ottawa). The little guy got to sit in the snow for the first time. He thought it was awesome until he fell over in all his puffy gear and lost his mitten. Then it wasn't so awesome anymore. Time to go inside.

Got the kids to bed and our realtor showed up. Yes indeed, we are potentially buying our first home. We spent a chunk of time putting together an offer and felt like it was all under control. We have been battling with the fact that the house in 3 metro stops further than where we are now, but decided we were willing to make the sacrifice to be in a sweet little house near great schools (how responsible of us, eh?). Hello suburbs...good bye hipness (my father tried to console me by saying I shouldn't worry as I had lost my hipness a while ago).

We then raced off to my dear friend's house as her daughter, who was born the same day as the babe, was having her 3rd birthday party. Sugar and balloons!

Sunday had us driving around Bethesda checking out our potential neighborhood, and then darting off to meet out-of-town friends at the zoo. I must say that the National Zoo in December wasn't much to write home about. Where the heck was that giant panda, anyway??

Yesterday was crazy birthday day, and I must admit I was exhausted and slightly emotionally sloppy. Things were starting to get to me and I really needed sleep (and a chef, a cleaning lady, a driver, a hairdresser, a masseuse and a nail technician)!

And I'll wrap it up with today. I struggled to get both kids out the door (it's cold so the amount of outerwear required has multiplied dramatically), dropped the babe off, went to the post office, returned to my car to discover that it wouldn't start. This has never happened in our Honda. I called my husband, then called AAA, and before I knew it there was a lovely man helping me out and telling me my battery was done. He just happened to have a new battery to sell me and was able to install it right there. Good deal! Membership finally has it's privileges.

Rush home, change diaper and feed the little guy, then rush back to pick up the babe at school.

Get lunch sorted, get kids to nap (very difficult and involved too much yelling--the babe and I, of course).

Check email--our agent informs us there are 8 offers coming in on the house we are going after. Offers will be reviewed this evening at 7:30. If it's meant to be, it's meant to be, but this whole experience has caused so much stress and sleep loss that if it doesn't work out, I think I will be taking a break from the home hunting business.

Stay tuned!

Perspective

I just returned from a bulk shopping trip to Costco with the little guy. Our awesome new babysitter was with the babe at the park, so I was free to do my thing. I've only made it out there once since the little guy was born as it's a 40 minute drive and I just can't handle 2 kids there. So I have been making a HUGE shopping list (in my head) for a few months. Today was the day to make it all happen.

While I was there I spoke with 2 other Mamas. One was struggling to get a baby in a car seat into the top portion of the cart and I asked if the carts were difficult to use with the car seats as I was about to do the same thing. We briefly chatted about our babies and she then informed me she had 3 more kids in the car to deal with. Wow. And I can't handle going shopping with 2! I saw her later getting juice samples for 2 of the 4 kids and it looked a little crazy. I don't know how she could manage to shop and keep an eye on all of them. Madness, I say!

The next Mama was in front of me in the check out. She had a 10 week old and a 2 year old. I told her she was stronger than I as I had left my 2 1/2 year old behind. She then told me she had 2 other kids at home and shopping with just 2 was a treat. Yikes. A treat indeed.

So, I guess what my morning shopping trip taught me is that I need to keep things in perspective. Although having 2 kids is a constant challenge for me, it could be way worse!

It's 2008. Time to Get Out of the House

I've been feeling anxious about not having enough to do with the babe. The only reasons we leave the house are to shop, go to the doctor, meet up with people, or to randomly walk around DC. That's not enough. After much thought (mostly over the Holidays), I admitted to myself that it was time to get involved in some organized activities. I'm always a little hesitant about joining things as there's never a guarantee I'll like the activity or the people I'm doing it with. But in the babe's best interest, I had to do something.

My mission of the day was to track some activity down and register. I quickly realized that there are many more toddler programs in the suburbs (not a big surprise there, I guess). After some research, I signed up for two classes in Arlington (Virginia) that sound like a good match:

1. Mom and Toddler Workout, which is apparently a child-friendly workout for Moms that includes everything from step, to yoga and free weights. I don't know how I'll do all that while keeping an eye on the babe, but I'm willing to try.

2. Kindermusik Sign and Sing, which will teach us 130 new signs for the babe to communicate with. Music is somehow incorporated into the learning process. If this class helps the babe communicate, that will certainly be worth the price of admission. I have a friend in Canada who teaches baby sign language. She's encouraged me to find a class and I'm relieved I've finally gotten it together enough to sign up for one. This course uses American Sign Language (ASL) which, according to my friend, is very important.

This will give us two activities a week which will give us ample time for plain old socializing, shopping, cleaning and chilling out in the play zone. I am hoping it's a good balance, because after all, isn't that what all Moms are after?

Time

I'm wondering how all the Mommy bloggers out there have time to write? I was so excited to start my blog, and had a billion wonderful ideas about what I could write about. I'm now wondering when all these ideas will make it into written format?

When I have a free second, the last thing on my "to do" list is write. Not that it's not important, but compared to the other items on the list (brushing teeth, combing hair and putting back in pony tail, going pee, eating something other than a granola bar, doing laundry and trying to get poo stains out my daughter's clothes, etc., etc.), it just can't compete. I never know how long she will nap for. It could be 5 minutes, it could be 2 hours. This makes sitting down and actually writing difficult to execute. Perhaps I should try harder? When I do get a free second, sometimes it's nice to do nothing as well!

I also have to share that I FINALLY finished a book. I was sick with a cold last week, which really sucked, but it did give me the chance to read a lot in bed when my daughter slept. It's the first book I've read in 6 months (sad but true). Up until now, I've only read magazines and newspapers (barely). I have trouble keeping up with Time magazine, let alone all the parenting information that seems to make its way into our home. The book, "Wiped! Life With a Pint-Sized Dictator" by Rebecca Eckler is, of course, about baby stuff. I really enjoyed its frankness and related to a lot of what she went through (at least up until 6 months as that's as far as I've gotten). I was rather jealous of her 2 months in Maui post-partum and full time nanny. I wonder how I would have felt if I'd had that kind of support?

Right now I need to run and make dinner. But I had to vent about not having time to write. I honestly do spend a lot of time thinking about what I actually want to write about.