Did you check out the Leadership and Influence Summit yet? The one I invited you to by the end of November a few posts ago?
Good news. It has been extended through the month of December and new content has even been added. Think of it as an early Christmas gift 
.
I had occasion this week to be at a conference with many of my contemporaries from my pre-work at home professional life. It felt good to appreciate their successes and it felt super to be secure in my own very different, but successful, career path. I did a little looking back, but mostly I am looking forward with great excitement!
A friend of mine, working in retail, is at the store today. And she’ll be there Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I realize this may not be the case for all work at home moms, but one thing I really, really appreciate about being a WAHM is that I don’t have to work this Thanksgiving weekend! As the CEO of my own home-based business, I get to set the hours, the days off, and the holidays.
I certainly have a lot to be thankful for, and working at home is right up there on the list! Happy Thanksgiving!
Do you consider yourself a leader? I posit that any work at home mom is a leader. She leads her family, her own work experience, and possibly an entire home-based business. And so, we WAHMs join the ranks of leaders looking for encouragement, ideas for improvement, and training.
The Leadership and Influence Summit is an excellent place to find these things. Available only until the end of November (2010), this is a free online event featuring over 30 leading experts sharing 6-20 minute video strategies on how to maximize leadership and influence effectiveness.
I appreciate the fellow leader who shared this resource with me, and now I pass it along to you.
Right after the most recent post about saying no, an e-mail came into my inbox titled “Routine….saying No”! How timely! Well, I addressed that topic already, I thought to myself. And then I clicked open the e-mail. Guess what? That’s right, you’re about to find out that it offered not the same, but a complimentary take on the same idea.
When I blogged last time about saying no to requests for our time, I was thinking of the biggish time commitments, the weekly, monthly, long-term kind of thing. Like joining community choir (which I’d love to do, but have had to say no to for now), or leading yet another community committee.
But what about the daily use of our time? The many decisions we make every single day about how to use our time, whether to say “yes” or “no” to the myriad of possibilities that confront us each day? This is the whole time management thing, and in order to successfully manage my time as a work at home mom, I do have to ask: what will I say “no” to today in order to accomplish the stuff that is most important to me. AND, on the flip side, to what activities will I have to say “yes” (even activities that may seem unfamiliar or kind of scary) in order to get the results I want.
This is perhaps where the lesson of learning to say “no” for the work at home mom (and any of us!) becomes most important. For, as that e-mail from a business mentor of mine advised: “Today, make it a point to do the things you consider to be the most important. I’m sure you’ll be glad you did once the day is over.”
In order to be successful, there is one word the work at home mom should become comfortable with. That word is “no”.
There are always tons of things vying for our time and attention. And, because we are “at home”, others sometime think we have more of that precious commodity of time, and so are more likely to ask for some of it. But, of course, working at home takes up time, just as working in the corporate world would do.
And so, we must recognize the wisdom and self-discipline of saying “no” as needed. I have a quote from Steven Covey on my bulletin board: “The enemy of the ‘best’ is often the ‘good’.”
It’s not easy for me to say “no” to good things. But the best for me reflects my highest priorities: faith, motherhood, family. Those arenas are where I strive to put my yes-es.
I want the best, don’t you?
A fellow worker at home introduced me to the Pink Bat Movie, a short, free, entertaining online introduction to a book all about turning problems into solutions.
Perfect for the work at home mom. We’ve got some problems, don’t we?….I mean solutions!! And also ideal for the woman with nonmom skills who wants to be a work at home mom!
Check it out: www.pinkbatmovie.com. What do you think?
I received a solicitation recently for a franchise offering. As a work at home mom, I’d apparently been targeted as someone who might be interested in purchasing a franchise business arrangement. There certainly are benefits to a franchise, such as business brand recognition by potential customers, pre-developed systems and training, and corporate support and assistance. But the up-front and ongoing costs of those benefits are considerable. I don’t think many work at home moms are in a position to pay franchise fees.
What I’ve realized, though, is that my home-based business model offers these same benefits without the expensive fees! Because it has been in business for over 50 years, the company I have partnered with enjoys positive brand recognition. It has business training programs in place. And it offers a 500 million dollar infrastructure of corporate support. It’s like a franchise, but with no franchise costs or fees! A perfect combination for the work at home mom 
.
Being a work at home mom has lots of advantages and plenty of benefits. But it can be rough, you know? You can become discouraged. You might feel lonely. You may question the decision you’ve made to make a change. Perhaps you’re having a day where you just want someone else to tell you what to do. Or any one of an unlimited number of other scenarios, all of them dragging you down.
Which is why it is important to surround yourself with encouraging people. As a work at home mom, you need a support team that will encourage and inspire you. People who will help you remember those advantages and benefits of your situation, when the going gets rough.
I’m blessed to have encouraging people inherent in my home-based business model, as I am in business for myself as a work at home mom, but not by myself. My business support “team” is all things encouraging. Other places to find encouraging people: trusted family members and friends, blogs like this (!), business networking groups, other work at home moms in your community. They’re out there — persevere until you have found encouraging people with whom to surround yourself. And stay connected to them in order to keep the encouragement flowing! It will help you succeed as a work at home mom.
One of my state universities recently sponsored a “Young Women in Business” conference for high school girls. According to the article about the upcoming event, it was designed to “help female high school students explore business, encourage them to have confidence in their abilities, and give them the opportunity to learn about the wide variety of fields and leadership opportunities available to them.”
Reading about this kind of event makes me wonder if there is a vehicle for letting young women also know about the option of having their own home-based business if they wish to be a work at home mom. Some way to let them know what a viable, professional option it can be (along with the “career options, internship opportunities, [and] study abroad programs” promised in the university press release).
The only vehicle that comes to mind is me! (and you). I guess it’s up to us to spread the word!! (Reminds me of the old adage, “if it’s to be, it’s up to me”!)
Subscribe to feed