Get Dressed!

As most of you know I'm a WAHM...which really, is such a stupid term. All moms work at home even if it's not where they collect their paycheck. Anyway, point being is that I run two businesses. I'm a Premier Designs jewelry lady and part owner of the amazing and fabulous Love Knots Photography.

Now before you get all ohhh ahhh over the fact that I can set my hours, work when I want to and when I don't want to, sleep until 12pm and work until 3am...let's be realistic. I have 2 kids, 2 cats and a husband. I fit work in between laundry, dishes, carting kids from one friends house or activity to another and playing peace keeper. Is this still a pretty sweet deal? Of course it is but it's HARD. It's hard to keep the distractions to a minimum when I have things to do. It's hard to force myself to work on marketing research, catalog labels and customer calls rather then sitting around with a cup of coffee and chatting with my friends abut couponing (which is pretty awesome, btw) and Game of Thrones (also awesome).

So for those of you that might read this and are thinking I'm crazy and I should just shut my fat face for complaining about the fact that I don't have to report to a shitty office 8 hours a day. I get it, I do. I'm super lucky in that I have the opportunities I do and that my husband 100% supports me even though it's putting a serious crimp in his beer brewing hobby (hello budget 2013!). HOWEVER, there are plenty of times that I wish I had the structure of working hours.

Which brings me to the point of this (so far) pointless post! Yep, I do have a point, I swear. Here are a few things that work for me but I've been seriously slacking on in the working at home arena:

1. Set work hours. Don't make them ridiculous, be realistic. On Tuesday and Thursdays I have no kids from 9am-3pm (so really 9:30-2:30 with drop off/pick up). Am I going to sit down and work for those 6 hours? Um, probably not. I'm realistic and I know I'm going to catch up with friends, have coffee, play on Facebook and maybe throw a load of laundry in. Instead my goal is to make a list of what needs accomplished in those hours and DO IT (no, blogging was not on the list for today, but whatever)

2. Get dressed. It's hard to feel like a professional while sitting at your desk or on your couch in PJ's. Don't do that. In my case I need to shower, get dressed, put some make up on and put my jewelry on. How we feel about ourselves reflects in how we talk to people. I hate the phone, I hate calling people more then anything else and it's 100x worse if I'm in lazy mode. This also means I appreciate those lazy days when I don't have to be dressed even more.

3. Put the phone away. If you are constantly attached to your phone (GUILTY!!!) I've found that you're more likely to put things off. How many times have you read an email when you're in the middle of something else and then you forget to reply? Come on, you know you have. I do it all.the.time. It's not at all intentional, I'm better off if I wait for my work hours to sit down and read my work emails and then reply to them all at once.

4. We're not that busy. Everyone has their own definition of "busy" and we all get so caught up in what we have going on but the fact is...we're not that busy. Stop playing the busy card, stop acting like nobody else can possibly understand what is going on with your life b/c it's SOOOO busy. It's life. Make the time for work, make the time for FUN, make the time to visit with friends, sip a cup of coffee or set up that playdate your kid has been begging for.

Like I said, these are ALL things I need to work on but I figure if I need to work on them someone else out there may need to as well.

Now I shall return to my regularly scheduled work hours!

Work From Home Mom

I'm pretty sure anyone reading this already knows that I work from home. I've been working from home since December of 2008. First for another company and now for my own company(ies). In so many ways it.is.awesome. I mean, who doesn't want to work with a glass of wine or be able to decide when everything gets done. I'm the only person I have to answer to. (Well, and my kick ass business partner...and my clients.)

The problem? I have myself to answer to. I'm really really hard on myself and it puts me in to this funk I struggle to get out of. Recently it's been over money the lack of it and it's made things worse. To the point that I just wasn't getting anything done because I had a hard time seeing the light at the end of the tunnel where things would all work out. They always work out, I know this, but for the last several weeks I couldn't SEE it.

Another big issues is that you can't leave your feelings, your mood, your bad day or whatever it is that's bothering you at the door and just work. The laundry is still there, the dishes need done, games of candy land need played and it's all pulling me in 1400 different directions. Days like that I wish I could get in my car at 8am and drive to an office and leave everything else behind and actually be forced to do ONLY work. I know, if you're sitting in an office reading this you're thinking I'm fucking crazy...but I'm not, I swear. I'm not saying I want to work a job with regular hours any time soon...I don't. I have zero desire to punch a time clock. I just sometimes miss the structure and as crazy as it sounds, the fear of letting someone else down. Okay, maybe I lied, maybe I am crazy.

I woke up today after a LOT of soul searching, thinking, talking and I'm feeling better. I've learned some things recently that I don't love but weighed against what I do love...and knowing where my heart is, I'm good. I'm confident in where I am...and now I just need to find a way to leave everything else at the door so I can enjoy the rewards of working from home. It's kind of an evil cycle.

Looking for the money tree

thank you google images!

As I mentioned before, we moved. The house we moved in to is considerably smaller and was built after 1930 so bonus. Although, I adore old houses. I'm so NOT a new construction person...but that's not my point. My point is that in the end this move was supposed to save us money...and I'm sure it will...at some point.

Right now, we're just struggling. I really truly can not complain, the house was a gift and it's amazing and I'm so so thankful but that doesn't make paying the bills any easier. They still have to get paid and in reality, we're just swapping paying a high gas bill for putting more gas in our cars because commutes are longer. Back to school shopping, doing things like building shelves in the garage and putting in a new bathroom floor. It's all things that we're happy and THRILLED to do, really, but omg, it's killing us.

We're not big spenders. I love to shop but I'm much more of a Target clearance girl then a Coach girl. We occasionally splurge on a night out but it's pretty rare. I love a cup of Starbucks but I try to keep it in check. I haven't even been to my all time favorite cupcake place (Main Street Cupcakes. You should go. mmm, cupcakes) because it's not in the budget.

Must.Stick.To.Budget.

It's just a rough week and I'm trying to find ways to make it better. Who out there in cyber world wants to host a Premier party? Anyone?? :) Catalog or in home, I'll travel! LOL No, seriously. Anyone? It's a kick ass good time with some fabulous jewelry. And me, I'm kind of a big deal you know. Just ask my 4 year old ;)

How about pictures? I work with an fabulous photographer. Mini sessions at the end of the month! Find us on Facebook ;) Love Knots Photography

How do you cut corners when you feel like you've already cut the paper in half?? Help me out. I coupon, I shop clearance and I love a good second hand store. I wait for sales. A friend of mine recently did a no spend month, has anyone tried this? I may need to look in to it for November, before the holidays hit. Today is budget day!

This Crazy Beautiful Life

Who decides to start a second new business while in the process of moving and agrees to consider taking on a 3rd part time/work from home job? Oh wait, that would be this girl right here.

I've clearly lost my damn mind. Either that or I'm just really broke and trying to fix it. Yea, that's more likely.

Regardless, I am now the owner of not one but TWO new businesses. The first one is part owner of a photography company here in OH. We do everything but specialize in weddings. Callie, the creative genius behind the camera is pretty amazing. I can not wait until she gets to put her full heart in to what she loves. Baby steps, we're getting there! Check out: Love Knots Photography for more info. We're pretty fabulous, if I do say so myself.
Today we signed our first official wedding contract. You have no idea how HUGE this is. We're just babies starting out even though Callie has been doing this for 10 years now. For the two of us, this is a big deal. We're kind of a big deal!

My second new venture is all about sparkles! Back in March I hosted a jewelry party with a friend of mine (Andrea, you should check out her blog: Are You Listening? ) She sells Premier and I'd been looking for my yearly party. I've done Pure Romance a few times, Pampered Chef and I wanted something different. It was super fun and after I ran in to a slight issue with a pair of earrings and had a replacement in less then a week I decided it was a no brainer. This was a company I could get behind...plus, they have super cute jewelry and what girl doesn't love that?! So I emailed Andrea and here we are. I become an official Premier Designs Independent Distributor tomorrow after my training/kick off show. I'm SUPER excited about this. I've done direct sales before with Pampered Chef and Avon....and let me tell you, 7 years makes a huge difference. I was so awkward and uncomfortable in my own skin then. I was nervous I was going to do or say the wrong thing or somehow screw things up. Now? Eh, I've got this. I'm still nervous but I'm not that girl anymore. If it works? AWESOME!! If not? Well, then I'll know it's truly not for me. The best part of this though? The jewelry sells itself. It's beautiful, it's not outrageously priced and it's FUN. I gave up my accessorizing skills when I had kids...I just ran out of time and wore my wedding set and the same simple necklace every.single.day. Do you know what I've learned since March? If I'm wearing a kick ass necklace or fabulous earrings...nobody is paying attention to the fact that I'm rocking clearance Target tank tops and Old Navy Jeans. It's like using the kids as a distraction so people don't notice you skipped showering or putting make up on. It's great!

So, that's my update! We're in the process of moving which is a whole other post! What a whirlwind. Loving this crazy beautiful life though!

Changes, they are a comin'

I admittedly don't like change. It makes me nervous and when I get nervous I tend to get bitchy. My husband just loves that about me. ;)

Oddly enough, even though I don't like change, every few years I tend to make some kind of major change in my life. Sometimes planned but most of the time not. It's been this way for as long as I can remember. It's like some kind of outside force realizes I'm getting just a little TOO comfortable in my daily life and throws me a curve ball. I've been lucky in the fact that the majority of the changes have been GOOD. Some even great.

Right now I'm taking a huge chance and I left the job I'd been at for the last 3 years. The job that helped pay the bills, gave me extra play money to do stuff on my own and with the kids, the job that let me stay home and not have to pay for daycare and babysitters. I truly liked my job but as it happens with most jobs, it was time to move on. It was time to do something for ME and to take a leap and hope it all works out. I'm now part owner of my own company. My.Own.Company. How crazy is that?! In a lot of ways I still feel like a kid just playing house, playing "work" and waiting for someone else to tell me what to do and how to do it so I don't mess it up. It's a hard habit to break but this is my baby (our baby!) and it has to be up to us to stop playing dress up and actually DO THIS. I'm super excited and scared as hell all at the same time. Oh, and really really bitchy nervous.

There's also talks of relocation this summer. No where crazy far away or anything but a good 40 minutes from where we live now. We'll be moving farther from a lot of my best friends but I have other really good friends that I'm excited to live closer to. The house is really small, which will be a big change and the kids will be in new schools. Oddly enough this change will be temporary, we'll live there for a year or two until we save enough to find out forever house. Again it all makes me really bitchy nervous.

Changes...they're definitely coming. Like it or not.
So, to keep with that theme, changes to this blog will be coming as well. It's time for a makeover!