Overcoming the Obstacles to Your Dreams

It breaks my heart to see and hear so many parents who want to be more involved in raising their children and yet feel trapped in their current situation unable to make a change. It's as if they are standing on the edge of a cliff and can see the promised land, but just don't know how to get there.

When I talk with my friends who are still working full-time, they often will say, "I wish I could run a business from home like you do, but..."

"... I would never make as much as I do now."
"... I have no idea what I would do or how to start."
"... I just don't have the discipline."
"... my spouse would never go for it."
"... it seems so risky."

Maybe you've said this, or something similar. The problem is, they are all lies.

I truly believe, that if your desire is to be more available to raise your children instead of being gone living in a cubical for nine hours a day, you can make it happen. To get there, you need to ask yourself what is holding you back from achieving your dream?

1. Money This is by far the number one reason I hear people say they can't be a Naptime CEO. But let's be honest, when we say that, we are saying we value our paycheck and our lifestyle more than being with our family. Would you be willing to scale back your lifestyle to achieve your dreams? When I quit my job to launch my consulting firm, we lost 65% of our income! Do you think I was nervous? Absolutely! But my husband and I were willing to make big sacrifices if necessary to make it work. We cut out eating out, we actually got on a budget, we were willing to sell one of our cars, and if necessary our house. Did I really want to sell our house, no, but if we had to scale down to be able to make our dream a reality we would.

2. Getting Started I hear this more so with the moms I talk with than the dads and I believe it's because moms tend to play down and undervalue their skill set. Knowing what your gifts and talents are is a huge first step to building a successful business. Once you know what you are gifted at, then you can begin developing your target market, products or services, and a marketing strategy. For this step it really helps to work with a coach or mentor who can help you see the potential. I've hired coaches before and paid to attend seminars and it was an invaluable investment in myself and my business.

3. Discipline Can you really stay focused on work when you're office is in your home? How many times have you taken a work-from-home day from your regular job and gotten 10x as much accomplished than you do in the office because you don't have the interruptions? Trust me, my husband is convinced I have OSS syndrome- Oh So Shiny syndrome - because I can be so easily distracted. The beauty of being a Naptime CEO is the integration of your work and life. The key is carving out chunks of time for work, home, and play time and being purposeful about what you want to accomplish. Besides, does it really matter if you decide to wash the breakfast dishes at 10 am and write training material at 10 pm?

4. Spousal Support This is a big deal. If you want to become a Naptime CEO, you need to have your spouse on board. Many times, we simply assume our spouse would never go for it without ever discussing the possibility with them. Other times, our spouse is hesitant because they don't know anything about the business we want to start or we haven't shown them a good solid plan. If you get your spouse more involved in what you want to do and have a solid, logical plan, including a reasonable transition, you might be surprised how supportive they can be.

5. Risk The other common reason I hear people say they can't do it is because they think it's too risky. Now some of that may be because they haven't laid out a plan as I mentioned in #4. Often though, it's because there is this false sense of security of being an employee. Yet, as someone who has been laid off in my career and seen other bright, strong performers get laid off, I really believe that entrusting your future and financial stability to a single income source (your employer) is a very risky decision. I would much rather be running a business with three, four, or five different clients plus two other income streams from say product sales and speaking engagements. Then if a client no longer needs my help, I still have other revenue coming in while I replace that one client.

So when you catch yourself saying, "I would love to do that, but..." really evaluate your reason to see if it is a valid reason or if it's just a fear that can be overcome.

If you want to be a Naptime CEO, or are now, what is or has held you back? If you overcame an obstacle, how did you do it?

Making a Difference in 2013

If you're like most people, by the end of January, you will have abandoned your New Year's resolutions and gone back to your same routine from last year.

Even with the best intentions, we slip up and go back to the familiar, what feels comfortable or what we are used to. I've done it myself - most specifically with this blog.

But here's how to make 2013 different. How you can be the one who does achieve their goals this year.

(And may I just say, I am preaching to myself and am doing all of this right along with you.)

1. Where are you right now? If you want to achieve anything this year, you have to know where you're starting from. I have slacked off this blog for most of 2012. I may still have some followers, but I'm pretty much starting off from scratch - again.

2. Where do you want to be? Basic goal-setting states that your goals need to be specific, time-defined, realistic, and measureable. What do you want to have achieved by Dec. 31, 2013? Then break that down into smaller quarterly, monthly, and weekly goals and activities. For me, by the end of 2013, I want The Naptime CEO to be a viable, revenue generating business, which means I need to blog at least once a week. Additionally, to achieve that goal, I plan to launch a teleseminar series and a podcast by June. My action plan  lists out all the steps I need to take and by when to make my goals a reality.

3. Have a clarity of purpose. Want 2013 to be different? Then you need to be very clear on why you are making changes. Hard days will come. Challenges will try to stop you. In those moments - and days - you need to understand why you are doing what you are doing or it will be just too easy to give up and quit. The Naptime CEO has been on my heart for nearly four year now! However, I haven't done much with it for a slew of reasons: not enough time, fear of hurting my consulting business, fear people would think this was a dumb idea (being honest here), unsure of the market, and on and on and on. What will make this year different? The pain of this vision has become so great, that the only way to heal it is to take action. (I have an entire blog coming on just this topic.) My purpose for this business is so clear to me that I simply cannot shake it or make it go away.

4. Who have you told? Accountability is a pretty frightening word for many people, but it's the best way to get anything accomplished. Want to lose weight and get in shape? Get a gym buddy or hire a trainer. Want to earn more money. Plan something fun with some of the extra money and tell your kids about it. A five year old and a six year old are GREAT accountability partners! For me, I'm telling almost everyone I know that I'm launching The Naptime CEO this year because that motivates me personally.

5. Ruthless evaluation. Finally, take a good hard look at what it will take to achieve your goals and honestly decide what you are willing to sacrifice. For me, I can easily give up watching TV and invest that time into my goals. For others, it may be getting up a half hour earlier in the morning. But look at every task you do and how you spend you time and decide if it's worth it. The flip side of this is discovering what you are not willing to sacrifice. For me, I'm not willing to sacrifice my family for my goals.

Following these five steps will get you much closer to your goals than simply making a half-promise to yourself. Share what goals you are working on for this year and how you plan to achieve them. I would be glad to help cheer you on!

5 Habits To Get Yourself Unstuck

As we are pursuing our goals, there are times when we get stuck. We start going in circles instead of towards our destination. I ran into this problem earlier this year in my business and spent too much time going in circles instead of breaking out and getting back on track to my destination. As I went through that process, I focused on building five habits back into my life. I can't take credit for developing these habits, I picked them up from the book of Proverbs. (If you read that book 12 to 15 times, you'll practically get an MBA, it's in there.)

The preface to all of this is you have to seek to get unstuck. Which means there must be an energy, a passion in your efforts and activity.

1. Don't Be A Loner. If you want to get unstuck or grow in a certain area, you need fresh information coming in to you. Go get counsel from someone who is where you want to be. Get advice from others who truly care about your success and don't have their own agenda.

2. Don't Make Excuses. This usually sounds like, "this isn't going to work, so I'm not even going to try." Listen, when you make excuses it changes your focus away from the real issue. Not only that, but it paralyzes you. You become very good at finding ways to shoot down every potential solution you come up with. Learn to change "I can't ... " to "I can...."

3. Don't Love Comfort and Ease. Don't be a comfort addict. Life is not supposed to be comfortable. If you're comfortable you're not growing. At the end of the day, it's not about how you feel, it's your destiny that matters. You were put on the earth to accomplish something. Change isn't comfortable, get over it, it will help you grow up and mature.

4. Don't Get Preoccupied. When we're stuck and going in circles, we are often just focused on what we are doing. Instead, focus on why you are doing it. If you're a financial coach, you're not just creating budgets, you're transforming families and saving marriages.

5. Don't Be Hard-Headed. Be teachable. Just because you thought it, doesn't make it right. Always be looking, gleaning, growing, seeking. Ask questions. Let others talk more, not you talking about yourself. Read. Five years from now, you will be in the same place except for the conversations you have and the books you read. Be teachable.

By incorporating these habits back into my life, I got myself and my business back on track. I would love to hear what you have done  or your thoughts on how to get unstuck.

You Are Not Just Filler

As I look around at my neighbors, acquaintances, and the people who work for some of my clients, I see a lot of people living life as though they are just filler. Their whole existence seems to consist of getting up, going to work, doing enough to not get fired, going home, tending to a couple family things, going to sleep, and then repeating the whole thing the next day. When you ask them about their day or what's new, they reply - in a very monotone voice - "Fine." or "Not much."

When I see them, I sometimes feel like their physical movement is the only thing that proves they are alive. And maybe that's true, because their spirit certainly seems to have died.

Maybe you can relate to this. Most of us have been there at some point. Here's the good news, you were not made to just exist, you were made to thrive!

To quote motorcycle racer Bill McKenna "Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in one pretty and well preserved piece, but to skid across the line broadside, thoroughly used up, worn out, leaking oil, shouting 'Geronimo!'"

Too many of us are just wandering through life, trying to not scuff our shoes, step out of line, or draw attention to ourselves.

Wake Up! You are not just filler in this life. You were not made just to take up space and exist until you die.

You are uniquely made with gifts, talents, and strengths no one else has. The perspective you have that has been shaped by your life experiences is different from every other person on this planet.

So for you to go through life, not realizing and living in your unique giftings and talents, is to rob yourself and the world from your special abilities.

Most people want to know that their life has meaning. To leave a legacy, to leave something beyond themselves.

Get inspired, get excited! Take some time to understand yourself better. What fires you up? When do you lose all track of time?

When you look at your life as it exists today, ask yourself, "If I disappeared, would anybody notice or miss me?" If the answer to that is "no, not outside my family," you need to change something.

The world desperately needs what you have to offer, so start figuring out what that is.

Relaunch of Naptime CEO

To those of you who have subscribed to my blog and have read it, I wanted to let you know a couple things.

First, I am relaunching this blog. If you haven't noticed, I haven't posted anything here in over a year. Most of that year has been spent having a really rough time with my business, rediscovering my passion, and reorganizing by business. Out of that journey I have discovered my passion and heart for parents working in corporate America who are burned out, stressed out, and barely seeing their children. My vision is to help them find a way to pursue self-employment so their life is more balanced, their marriages are stronger, and they are move involved in the lives of their children.

Second, this blog is going to be a part of that vision. Originally it was a nice way to jot down some humorous things that happened and give you a view into my life and how I try to balance all the pieces of my life. I will still include some of those glimpses, but mostly I am going to be talking about why I believe, as parents, we need to be pursuing self-employment, how to go about doing that responsibly, and the impact that has on all aspects of our families and communities.

As for me, I am still running my consulting firm and expect to continue doing that. However, I will be devoting a fair amount of time to this new focus. I hope to be able to not just blog about this passion of mine, but also work with individuals one-on-one, run some seminars, and begin speaking.

I'm hoping you will give me feedback as I start down this journey. I really want to know what you think, so we can all learn and become better. It's going to be a great journey!

Blogs, Twitter, and LinkedIn - oh my!

So as a business owner, of course, I have to learn how to stay on top of the latest technology for marketing my firm. The challenge is I don't have an IT person to help guide me through this. so here I am fumbling through all this stuff. Blogging isn't too bad if I can just find time to consistently post. LinkedIn is nice to keep track of people I had worked with before in other jobs or engagements. I haven't figured out yet how to use it to actually find buyers and land business. I think because it would require more time than what I'm willing to commit to it.

The newest outlet I've ventured into is Twitter. This is a really interesting and mind boggling medium. At first, I thought "Who in the world is going to want to follow me?" Let's face it, I'm just a girl trying to be a good mom while running and growing a business. Surprisingly, in the 3 (?) weeks I've been on there, I've actually attracted some serious followers - like the Pittsburgh Business Times and Manufacturing Crunch!

I will admit, I've avoided Facebook. Lots of my friends have asked me if I'm on there or tried to get me on. I just can't do it. I only have so much time to manage and stay on top of all these different outlets. I would rather spend that time with my kids than trying to manage one more social media. But if you can prove the business value to me of Facebook over LinkedIn, I'll switch - I'm not doing both!

The challenge for me - besides the technological side of it - is keeping everything (except this blog) strictly business. I value my family's privacy above anything else. Even here, I try to limit revealing any personally identifiable stuff about my family and I will never post pictures of my family. I have no control over who sees this information and as my son often says "People are crazy"

So I'm continuing my foray into all these new social media. I hope to figure out which are useful, which are not, and how to effectively use them. Wish me luck!

Happy Mid-Year!

I know lots of people love to celebrate New Years Eve. It gives them a chance to reflect on the previous year and set new goals for the new year. For me, the end of June is almost like another New Year for me. See I live in Pennsylvania and the state's fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30th. While I do not work for the state, several of my clients depend on state grants to help fund the projects and training they do with my firm. That mean's I'm usually very busy with work in June as everyone tries to finish projects and training before the year ends and July is rather quiet. So, I try to take the first week of July to evaluate how the first half of the year went, what worked, what didn't, and any adjustments that need to be made for the second half of the year.

Right now, not only am I looking at the projects I'm working on and training that we offer, but I'm also looking at where I'm focusing my efforts geographically. The first half of the year involved me doing a lot of traveling overnight for several nights in a row. My kids were not too fond of all that traveling. Of course to develop new business closer to home, I'm going to have to spend a lot of time prospecting and trying to build new relationships.

The cool thing now though, is the kids are just now getting old enough that I can take them down to my office for about a half hour and they will play while I check e-mail. Their attention span doesn't last much longer than that - but it's definitely progress. I'm hoping to install a wireless router in the next few weeks so I can do some work while we're outside playing in the backyard. At least, in my head this seems to be a good idea, we'll see how it plays out in real life!

The Economy Stinks - Now What?

It's been a pretty quite month here in our house and with business. No major overnight trips, crazy deadlines, or scheduling issues (you know those client calls when kids are wailing in the background or pounding on the heating vents.) While you would think that's a good thing, I'm definitely uneasy. As most of you know, I always have some major event happening or on the horizon. You figure, in just the last three years our family has experienced the birth of two children, moved once, launched two businesses, traveled to Europe, and my husband has changed jobs twice. And that's just what I can think of at the moment.

I guess what I've really be pondering is the current business and economic climate. Let's face it, it hasn't exactly been roses out there. Yet, when I'm in talking to my clients, many of them are doing well or at least they're holding steady. They don't seem to be getting hammered like the talking heads on the evening news or Pres. Obama would lead you to believe. That should be a good thing, right? So why is it that they are skittish about investing to improve their operating processes? I do have a few clients that are really going on the offensive in this market. Incredibly focused on eliminating the waste in their processes, improving their quality, and taking market share away from their competitors. These clients are fun to work with - they have an amazing energy, great leadership, and a clear vision. Then I have most of my other clients who might actually be in a better position with their backlog and cash flow that are afraid to make any changes. They are pushing out projects, holding off on training, all the things that could help them improve their profitability. I don't get it.

I've been talking to my clients since about August or Sept. about investing in these areas during slow times so they are in a better position to weather these economic storms and emerge stronger. It's not just talk either, I've been looking at my own business to make sure I'm offering the services clients want, watching my costs, and actually expanding (I'll be bringing on my second person next month.) At the same time though, I'm holding off on finishing my basement/office. I really think my clients would rather I use the funds they're paying me to provide additional services to help them instead of carpeting my floor. Plus, my kids love that they can draw on my office floor with chalk (it's still concrete.)

Ok, so this really is not my best blog entry, but it's just something that has taken up so much of my thoughts lately. I believe so strongly in manufacturing and the american work ethic and I want so desperately to see these companies succeed and grow. I guess I just get frustrated when I know I could help them and they don't want to invest in helping themselves. On the other hand, are those clients I would really want to work with? I don't know..... Thoughts?

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I have to say, I took off three weeks for the Christmas holiday and it was great! Working for yourself definitely has its advantages. It was so nice just hanging out with my kids and playing. We baked cookies, played games, watched movies, and read books. I can now recite verbatim The Belly Button Book, Dr. Seuss' What Wast I Scared Of, and Veggie Tales - Larry Boy and the Fib from Outer Space. Yet, while I love building tents and forts with couch cushions and blankets I also love the work I do, so here I am back in my office, my first day back to work.

For those of you who may consider starting a company or working out of your home, let me warn you, it is very difficult. I've always thought it was much easier to either be a full-time stay-at-home mom or work in an office full-time. When you work out of your home, it can be difficult to have a phone conference while you can hear your children banging around above you. (My office is in our soon-to-be finished basement.) This is especially true when you hear one of them crash (falling off the couch?, tackled by her older brother?) and start crying. There is always the guilt in the back of your mind that you should be there to pick them up and kiss the boo-boos. Luckily, we found an amazing person to watch our children while I work. Naomi loves my kids and does a great job taking care of them and helping me around the house. Plus, the kids love her. I've finally come to the realization that by working, I'm fresher with my children, I have more patience, and we do need a break from each other.

So as for now, I need to go make some phone calls and hopefully the noise my kids are making by running their cars, trucks, and planes back and forth over the floor vent directly above my desk won't be heard by my clients. Here's to the new year!

Proposals vs. Potty Training

Ok, so I really didn't think I would be able to post more than twice a week, so you can imagine my surprise at having two posts in one afternoon. If you read my earlier post you know I was trying to get some work done while my son was supposed to be napping. He wasn't and it was overly ambitious of me to think I could get much done.

We've been potty training for about a month now, and he's been doing really well and we don't have many accidents. He does still have to wear a diaper at night though. I do remind him about going on the potty through out the day. So as I'm here sending off a quick e-mail, my son takes off to the bathroom saying "I have to go potty mommy and I need help." followed by "It's too late mommy, it's too late!" I quickly try to minimize my e-mail and accidentally shut it down - shoot! - now I lost the e-mail I just spent 5 minutes typing. I run into the bathroom to see him in just his underwear, peeing all over the floor saying "I need help mommy!" (Thank goodness we have vinyl flooring). I pick him up as he's still peeing and plop him on the toilet. He still has his underwear on, but I figure they're already wet and that's less I have to clean up off the floor. I go to get the paper towels and the Clorox wipes to start cleaning up the floor and my phone rings. It's a contact I've been trying to get in touch with for two days. I need her commitment for a proposal I was tying to submit. I can't take the call and let my voice mail pick up. As I'm cleaning up the floor and my son, I'm thinking of the project I was trying to co-ordinate with this contact. It was one of those where you have to get the team and proposal together quickly and be ready to launch the project in the next two weeks. I've already spent almost a week on this proposal and know that I may have lost today as well. This delay might even cost me the project, but that's what happens when you try to balance this work with being a mom. And at this moment, potty training outweighs the proposal. (Maybe in her voice mail my contact said she's in for the project. )

Business and Babies Background

Let me start this blog by saying I don't know much about them, except for one or two that I occasionally read. I'm not even sure if people will find and read this blog. Before I had children, I enjoyed journaling, but have not been able to find the time to do that. I figure this will be a good outlet for me to keep friends and family up-to-date, and something I can look back on.

There are lots of challenges and joys of running a consulting firm out of your home - especially when you have two toddlers running around the house. The focus of this blog will be to give others a sneak-peek of my life and how I try to juggle everything.

So here's a brief background on me and my life. I left my full-time corporate job when my son was six-months old to start my own consulting firm. My goal was to be home with my son and still work in my field and bring in some extra money. Fast forward one year, and my daughter was born. Within that year, I had begun building my consulting firm and landed some nice projects. Of course, I had to do it all during naptime. When I did have to go to a client's site, I would have a close friend watch my son. Today, my son is 2 1/2 (soon to be 3) and my daughter is 15 months. I still run my business out of my house three days a week (plus evenings and weekends) and it has continued to grow.

It's taken me about 45 minutes to write this entry. As I've been trying to write this, my son decided he was not going to take his nap, so I got him settled on the couch to watch a VeggieTales video. Nap or not, he still needs some quiet time. After about 10 minutes, he decided he was going to crawl up on my lap and try to count the keys on my laptop. Then, a client called. Fortunately, this client knows I work from home with kids and I was able to take the call. I usually don't take business calls when the kids are up or our sitter is not here. While I'm on the phone with my client, my son is trying to hit the keys on my laptop and asking for the penguins game. I quickly minimize my blog and e-mail windows to try to prevent any mishaps, move the laptop, and pull him off the chair, all while still holding a conversation with my client. After hanging up the phone, I get him settled back on the couch, find his little green bear, and get his move restarted. I better get this posted since his movie is almost over - and he's not asleep yet. I hear his sister stirring - she actually did take a nap - and I'm expecting two more client calls this afternoon.