I recently interviewed author and parent-prenuer Julie Lenzer Kirk for www.theWAHMmagazine.com. She said something (well, a lot of somethings, actually!) that really resounded with me. Should you happen to read this post, Julie, let me thank you for such a wonderful talk!
The line that keeps echoing in my head is: "You can't build a business during naptimes."
To some degree, I agree, especially if she was speaking metaphorically. If you want to make money working from home, you have to be serious about it and run it as a business. It can't be something you "just do while the baby's sleeping."
However, I know that Julie meant it in quite a practical sense, and, for now, that is exactly what I'm doing. My business was "built" prior to the arrival of Ashley Lyn, of course, but as every freelancer knows, success means constantly RE-building -- especially in today's economy. Fortunately, I believe that if you have already built a reputation and a client base, and if you work hard and (most importantly) efficiently during those naptimes, I believe you can schedule your business hours, for the most part, around naps and other convenient times of day.
Maybe I'm wrong... ask me my opinion in six months. And if I am wrong, I will definitely let Julie know. (I'm also not the CEO of a major corporation or running a Fortune 500 company the way she is, either, so we are talking different ends of the business spectrum.
Anyway, I do have a point.
In the next few weeks, I hope to revamp this blog with the subtitle: One WAHM's journey to build a business during naptime. We will see if I'm right, that it can be done on the scale I wish to do it.
I have other motivations for re-creating this blog into more than just a clearinghouse for my clips and an ocassional rambling post. I want to create content that keeps people (and Parent-preneurs in particular) coming back.
So yes, continue to expect photos of my daughter. What's better for Web traffic than photos of cute babies? Forget it, don't answer that... I intend to keep this blog purely PG-rated!
But seriously, I'm turning this site into a resource for WAHMs and others who want to make a living on their computers in a crappy economy. What will you find here? Helpful links to posts related to business, marketing and freelance writing. More posts like "90 Minutes in the Morning," with tips on how to streamline your business efforts. (P.S... I have that down to about 10 minutes now!) More of an effort to stay connected to the rest of the blogosphere and create a community feel on this site.
Of course, this blog will remain a clearinghouse for clips, links and, yes...baby photos.
So please, come back often.
I'm attracting wealth, happiness and success with the Secret Abundance Files.
