5 posts tagged “self employment”

I just got back from having lunch with a great friend, Candy, who I met in our prenatal class, and whose son is just a little younger than ReRe. She is letting me test out a new business idea I have at her son's birthday this weekend (details next week if things go well), so we got together to talk about it, and she brought me what look like 4 great books, which she picked up at a book sale at her work. What is so funny is that she was spot on with her choices:

I have actually been thumbing through this book at the bookstore, but hadn't made the commitment to buy it yet. David Bach's book, Smart Women Finish Rich, is the only self-help book I've ever read cover-to-cover, and from which I have actually taken very useful advice. It's like this book was made for me, cuz I'm all about saving the environment, and getting rich. And there's a Canadian edition. Sweet!

 

 

 I have been looking for a book about women entrepreneurs, but hadn't found one that seemed to speak to my situation, but this one looks really interesting. It has all the financial and legal details that I've been trying to figure out, but had had a hard time getting all in one resource, and this looks like it could be the one. The authors run a web publishing company that caters to non-profits and small businesses, and I could really use some good advice when it comes to marketing in the non-profit sector. And again, it has a lot of info for Canadians in it. Two for two!

 

Because I need all the help I can get fitting 3 martinis and vacation into the same sentence.

 

Now this is an amazing pick. It is written by an Ethiopian author who immigrated to the US as a child, and is about the isolation immigrants can face, and nostalgia for homes they can't return to. I have a feeling this one will be passed around in our family. Good choices, Candy!

Well, it seems lil'ReRe is a pretty resilient little guy, because he was unfazed (I spelled that unphased the first time) by my absence. My husband and I agreed that, if he asked where I was, we'd say "At Work", since he was used to Getalife being gone to work for what seemed like days to him, leaving before he got up and coming back after he went to bed. We also opted to not talk on the phone, as the status quo seemed to be working, and we didn't want to upset him. He did ask his dad "mummy finish work soon?" often enough, but seemed satisfied with the answer. I ended up coming home a little early, so I was able to pick him up from school on Friday, and it was all I could do to respect the Montessori principle of parents waiting at the door for their kids to come to them. But it was worth it, cuz ReRe did that little run thing where he doesn't go any faster, but he's moving his legs as quickly as he can, which results in a little twisty dance. We went out for dinner that night, since I was in no shape to cook, and I had to hold myself back from having me some ReRe for the appetizer, main course and dessert. Getalife had to keep reminding me we were in public, but I didn't care, we had a lot of cuddle time to make up for.

And I just wanted to say thanks to Ron&Melvin, Eileen, Cath, Janette and my seestor for your encouraging, supportive words. I read them every time I opened my laptop to again look at pictures of my little guy.

I'm in the midst of packing to go up to Ottawa for a few days for a training workshop, and it will be the first time that lil'ReRe and I will be apart overnight. And it won't be just one night, but 3 nights. I feel just sick about it, but this particular course is only being held in Ottawa this year (it was in Toronto last year, but fell over ReRe's birthday weekend) so if I want to take it, I have to go. Getalife has taken a light work week, so that he'll be available to get up with ReRe, get him fed and clothed, and off to school, then picked up, entertained, fed, bathed, and off to sleep. I have joked with my husband that my biggest fear will be that they will be able to get by just fine without me, but I know that what I'm most dreading is a little boy crying over the phone. That will completely kill me. Just last night we were out for dinner with friends, and their 4-year-old son had the babysitter call them because his ear hurt. After some assuring words from his mom, he went off to bed, still crying, but 5 minutes later the babysitter called back to say he was asleep. Our friends were very calm and firm on the phone, but you could see how hard it was for them. I'll try to channel their strength when the time comes. I know the course will be jam-packed, and I only have 2 free evenings to fill, but it turns out my old employer is having their board meetings, so many of my old colleagues from overseas will be in town, so there shouldn't be any shortage of distraction. I'm just going to miss his little face so much. I've scheduled my flight to leave after his bedtime, so while that means a late night for me tonight, at least I'll get to give him his bath, and try not to bawl my eyes out.

Not surprisingly, I'm finding the hardest part of home-based self-employment to be maintaining focus. There are always a dozen important (paying bills, sorting out finances) and not so important (trips to the yarn store) diversions that keep distracting me from the task at hand, which is finishing my business plan, particularly the implementation time line, and then sticking to it. What I have to do is think of this as someone else's project; the deadlines are real, and someone else is going to be waiting for the work to be done. Isn't it funny that it is easier to commit to others than to yourself?

Of course there are those moments when I look at my brochure website, and think "can I really offer those services to people?" and then I get into a spiral of "I'm not ready for this - I have to get ready - what if someone called today?? - why am I doing this?!" and then I do what I always do, search Charity Village for full time job ads. And there is always, invariably, someone advertising a position that I could definitely apply for, that I'm qualified for, and then I spend a few minutes fantasizing about having a real job to go to every day. Then I remind myself that I'm working from home so that I can spend more time with lil'ReRe, and that me going back to work full time would require us to have regular home-based child care, given my husband's heavy and variable work schedule. Then I'm back to square one: ReRe is in day care, close by and only for part of the day; this gives me time to build a career that fits both my skills and ambition, and the sort of life I want to have with my family. Breathe in, breathe out. Click back to the business plan.

Maybe now that I've written this out, I'll be able to just stick to the business plan and get it finished.

But first a trip to the yarn store.  

While I should be putting the finishing touches on my business plan and continuing my marketing/networking for my consulting practice, this morning has been all about productive avoidance. It's productive because I did actually get things done that are important to that other thing I do, that is being a mom and wife. I spent part of this morning at Supperworks, a meal prep operation, where you place an order ahead of time for meals from their monthly menu, they prepare the fresh ingredients, and you go and assemble the meals in zip-lock bags, ready for the freezer. As my sister confesses, we're not great cooks,  and after my toddler son reacted to my last attempt at something new (I'll refer to it euphemistically as Huevos Rancheros for Toddlers) with a full body shudder, I finally admitted I needed help too. So I ordered 12 meals (I'll get to them later) and showed up with my laundry basket to carry them home. The location is in a strip mall close by, and is set up like a restaurant kitchen with different stations for each meal. They gave me an apron and said get to it. Within an hour and a half, I had everything done. Witness the fruits of my labour:

 

 I would NEVER have attempted to make Chicken Wellington had it not been facilitated like this. I just had this little bundle of tastiness for lunch, and it was awesome. So in addition to having a freezer full of ready to cook meals, I also have greater confidence in cooking these same dishes on my own.

I had planned on only making 6 dishes, but once I saw the menu, I opted for 12. This cost me around $300, but for that I got:

- 12 individual Chicken Wellingtons

- Asian Beef Wraps for 3-4 people

- a big pot of Black Bean and Corn stew, with 6 whole wheat rolls

- Cabernet Beef for 4-6

- 4 Broccoli Quiches

- 2 x Indonesian Ginger Chicken for 4-6 people

- 2 x Sirlioin Roast with White Wine Mushroom Sauce for 4 people

- 1 puffed Apple Bake for 4-6 people

This comes out to $3-4 per meal per person, with no prep and clean-up beyond actually cooking the dishes, plus the latent learning I'm doing cooking-wise, since none of these recipes were rocket science. I'm dropping a few of the meals off for a friend who just had a baby, and I'm going to keep this in mind for other friends as a baby shower gift.  

My second diversion is curtesy of abigailvr, who posted about the Winter Edition of Knitty. I have to say, whenever a new on-line edition is posted, my life comes to a screeching halt as I drool over the patterns, and discover all kinds of knitting ambitions, But this time is for real, as this edition has a pattern for the perfect toddler toque - it completely covers their head, ears and neck, and will never fall in their eyes. It also takes care of that dubious decision as to whether a scarf on a toddler is a good idea. Obviously, I MUST go straight to the yarn store IMMEDIATELY, since my son will be done with nursery school in 2 hours, and he NEEDS me to knit this, not work on overhead estimates, right?