       |
I am kind of obsessed with the idea of loving my job. Out of my 7 job/career changes, I’d say 5 or 6 were motivated by the fact that I didn’t love what I was doing. I’ve now had enough jobs to understand that it’s impossible (and just plain silly) to expect to love everything about my job, but I still believe that spending 10 hours a day doing something that doesn’t tickle my mind/heart/soul in some way is a sad notion.
My mom thinks I am nuts. Read the rest of this entry »
On Tuesday we’re moving to our new house.
I despise moving. I am pretty sure everyone despises moving, but right now I feel like I hate it more than anyone. This is the second time we’re moving in a year. Before that we moved three times in six years. Yes, I know this seems insane and I want to assure you that it absolutely is.
The first of these moves took place when our daughter was three months old and sleeping exactly 29 minutes at a time. Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve been having a tough few weeks, as this post probably indicated. Many of the comments you guys left there sent me right through my ceiling and into the sky of gratitude of being able to be part of this incredible community. If I could run and hug all of you, I would.
And then the other day I opened up my email and saw this:
I was getting really bored reading this article about the different options the Labor Department has identified for flexible work arrangements. Sure, it’s great to see the different ways you can implement flex time (, but how many companies are actually doing this?
But then I got to the part that made me un-bored:
“The latest research by the Families and Work Institute in New York found that small businesses with 50 to 99 employees are significantly more likely than bigger companies with 1,000 or more employees to allow workers to change starting and quitting times on a daily basis (17 percent vs. 4 percent); return to work gradually after childbirth or adoption (66 percent vs. 49 percent); and gradually phase into retirement (25 percent vs. 14 percent).”
In other words, if you want a more flexible environment, work for a smaller company. Read the rest of this entry »
For the past month or so we’ve been raising capital for Work It, Mom!. As a young company we need investment capital so that we can grow to a scale where we can be a real business. And having been on the other side of investing for many years, let me tell you, it is SOOOO much easier there than here.
On an average day of dealing with potential investors I feel mostly like a punching bag after a really brutal workout. Being questioned endlessly about everything from our mission (”Are there really enough working moms out there who would care to connect with each other?) to our product (”Your site doesn’t show that you have a good sense of what women want — where is all the celebrity content and diet tips?”) is difficult, but it’s also very personal. (When I said that business is personal I really meant it.) Sometimes I truly feel beaten down.
But here’s the upside: Read the rest of this entry »
My parents have been on vacation in Europe for the past three weeks (I know, lucky, ha?) and this has meant that I am the first call for my grandparents, who live nearby. Our calls have mostly been filled with exchanging information about my parents’ whereabouts and my daughter’s latest escapades, as well as arranging times when we could come and take them out somewhere (to the lake, where they can escape the heat.) But I admit that every time I saw their number flash on our phone my heart did skip a beat. This isn’t the first time I’ve been put in charge of their primary care and I can’t forget what happened a few years ago. Read the rest of this entry »
I recently spoke at a great conference for women entrepreneurs and there met up with a few of my friends who don’t have kids. One of them runs her own successful business and two are plugging away in the corporate/financial world. All three are in their mid-30s and I guess the clock is ticking because all three asked me the same question at some point during the day:
I am petrified about having kids and balancing my demanding career with being a mom — can you tell me the truth about what it’s like?
Talk about pressure. Read the rest of this entry »
A while back I wrote a post, right here on this blog, about the unfortunate way that confident women are often perceived in the workplace. As I’ve witnessed in my own career and as too many studies have suggested, they are viewed as aggressive, overbearing, and bitchy.
But recently I’ve come in contact with too many women who actually are bitchy to other women they work with. As I was dealing with one of them I started to wonder if there was something I was doing to cause her rudeness and bitchiness in communicating with me. I began to load my emails with all sorts of niceties and infused my phone conversations with her with an extra dose of politeness; her behavior didn’t change one bit. Then I met two other women who have dealt with her in the past and was relieved — how sad is that? — to learn that it was nothing personal towards me.
This certainly isn’t the first time this has happened. Read the rest of this entry »
Over the past year I have met a number of moms, including many Work It, Mom! members, bloggers, and contributors, who have two jobs. Many of them do it out of necessity — they can’t provide enough income for their family from just their day job so they take on another. This appears to be a common trend: According to one recent survey 50% of moms said that if they had more time they would take on another job. While I work a lot and often late into the night my hat is off to these moms — I think your stamina and energy are amazing!
But I also know several moms who work on their second job at night, after the kids are asleep, because they are passionate about it. Read the rest of this entry »
My husband and I have one daughter, who is four years old.
At this point we’re not planning on having another child. I never say never for anything in life — having learned enough lessons — but it’s not in the short-term or long-term plans.
When people ask me when we’re having another (and I’ve noticed that it’s almost always “when” and not “if”) I say that we might just be done with one. This is usually greeted with utter surprise or treated as a joke. “No way, really?!” (Unless of course the question is asked by my parents or grandparents, in which case the answer is greeted with a long lecture about how they need another grand/great-grandchild or how crazy we are to not have another great kid like the first one.)
But a few times in the past year when I said that we’re likely having only one child what I heard back wasn’t just surprise, but judgment, and harsh one at that. Read the rest of this entry »