I cannot work without childcare of some kind. I cannot easily find reliable childcare in the rural Alaska community where I live. Without someone with my toddler during the days, providing her with undivided attention, my work day is fragmented and frustratingly unproductive.

So for the last month, I’ve been exploring the concept of a nanny living in our home. Trying to figure out the logistics of it nearly gave me a nervous breakdown.

First, where would she sleep? In order to accommodate her, the only logical space is our double home-office/recording studio in the basement which means finding a place for two desks and all of our equipment. We could move the upstairs guest room set up downstairs to be the nanny sleeping quarters, but our two desks would never fit in the upstairs guest room. My husband offered to move his desk to the weight room when he realized how crazed I was becoming trying to work out the details.

We couldn’t have the nanny sleep in the upstairs guestroom because then when in the world would my husband and I have sex? We’ve mastered the “we’ve got a toddler who could walk in any moment so we really should get that bedroom door lock fixed,” but the hubby knows that when we have guests, our home is a sex-free zone unless we can find a time when nobody is within earshot.
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by guest blogger Gina Blitstein

Have you ever been so busy, stressed, tired and overwhelmed by the sheer pace of your life, work and obligations that you lose all perspective of your self-worth? It seems the more hectic our lives become, the less chance we have to take stock of all that we do accomplish.

Everyone is busy these days, of this there is no doubt. Whether you’re a mom, CEO, WAHM or all of the above…chances are you’re operating at full capacity - or more. You are constantly bombarded with a never-ending stream of schedules, projects and details all requiring your attention and action.

When we are physically, intellectually and emotionally overstressed, we cannot see clearly or appreciate all that we do because it is lost in a blur, says Sylvia Warren, MBA and Consciousness Coach at Simply the Best Coaching.

“This leaves accomplished professionals feeling like they are not productive or effective enough, says Sylvia. “When I hear these concerns, I know these clients are suffering from a modern day work malaise I call Achievement Amnesia: no instant recall of achievements or successes.”
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this interview was conducted by pro-blogger Gina Blitstein

In the busy lives we all lead, we are barraged with a continuous stream of opportunities to take on more projects, more responsibilities and more tasks. If you’re like most women, between family and work obligations you squeeze in a plethora of other activities until - and despite the fact - you are feeling completely swamped and overwhelmed. Is this really the way to live your best life?

Ideally you want to have time among the many things you must and should do for some ‘want to’ time. You need time to spend on things that define your life as your own. We often unquestioningly accept every task asked of us - no matter how busy we already are. This stretches us too thin, depriving us of the ability to focus on our own priorities, like ourselves, our relationships and our passions, personal and professional.

Is it possible to claim more control over how you live your life? According to author Elizabeth Cogswell Baskin, the answer is not only, “Yes,” but “Hell, Yes!” In her new book, Hell Yes! Two Little Words for a Simpler, Happier Life, Elizabeth provides a strategy for taking control of the overwhelming demands on our time, attention and energy. Do you do too much? Then Elizabeth has some straightforward advice for you. She says that for those decisions over which we do have control, we should ask ourselves, “Is this a Hell, Yes! for me? In other words, is this something I have the desire, ability and time to take on? If not, Elizabeth advises that the answer is as simple as, “Hell, No!”
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I am still in love with my iPhone. It has been over a year now since I finally got out of a ridiculously binding two year cellular phone contract with a local provider (no moving clause so when I was moving out of cell service range, I was still going to have to pay monthly fees for the phone). The moment my contract expired, I raced to the AT&T store to join the ranks of iPhone devotees.

My iPhone is packed to the max with apps, four screens for me, four filled with educational games for my toddler (spelling, animals, colors, shapes, jigsaw puzzles, drawing, numbers). My iTunes is jammed with dozens of more apps that won’t fit on my iPhone but that I swap in and out depending on my current needs.

On any typical day, I use my iPhone for far more than just phone calls.

Here is what yesterday looked like for my iPhone:

8am - Sync CalenGoo app with my Google Calendar

9am - Tweet about heading to Anchorage. Give kudos to my favorite podcasters.

10am - Check email once more before heading out on the road for the seven hour drive to Anchorage.

10:15am - Call business partner before getting out of cell range.
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Are you still aspiring to go out on your own in business? What about a freelance business? Blogger Maia Nolan spoke with Michelle Goodman about diving into a freelancer’s life.

Nearly two decades ago, Michelle Goodman dove headfirst into full-time freelance writing. Although there were bumps along the way, Goodman has managed to come out on top, and in her new book, My So-Called Freelance Life, she has assembled her hard-earned knowledge into a step-by-step guide for fledgling freelancers in all fields. Goodman (who is also the author of The Anti 9-to-5 Guide) graciously carved some time out of her hectic schedule this week to share some of her insight with Entrepreneur Mom:

What keeps smart, talented women from taking the plunge into full-time freelancing? And how do we get over it?

Fear of not having enough work. Fear of having to sell yourself. Fear of making mistakes. Fear of having to buy your own health insurance, set up your own retirement fund, and deal with all the legal and tax aspects yourself.
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guest blog post by Gina Blitstein

Women wear many hats - some we love and some we loathe, yet we wear them nonetheless. It seems every day requires more of us as we pursue the many roles we play, be it partner, mother, businesswoman, daughter, sister, friend, good citizen…the list goes on and on. It often feels like it requires superhuman effort, endurance and speed to fit all we want to do into a mere 24 hours.

How do our lives get so crazed? If we step back and take an introspective look, we’d see that a lot of it is of our own doing. We tend to take on too much, never admitting that we have limits or boundaries that even we ourselves need to respect. So why do we think that we need to be “Superwoman” - and for that matter - that any woman is or needs to be?

Kathy Caprino, psychotherapist, women’s work-life expert, career and life coach, speaker, and author of the new book Breakdown, Breakthrough: The Professional Woman’s Guide to Claiming a Life of Passion, Power and Purpose, describes the phenomenon she calls “overfunctioning” in women. Kathy defines overfunctioning as “doing more than is necessary, more than is appropriate, and more than is healthy.” Sound familiar? Kathy explains that “Women are addicted to overfunctioning out of fear of not being in control, or not living up to someone else’s standards, or being judged negatively by others.”
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by guest blogger Maia Nolan

In a recent post at Brazen Careerist, writer Nisha Chittal opined that women aren’t as good at self-promotion as men are, for a variety of reasons. We asked Nisha to share some of her insight into why women have a harder time tooting their own horns — and, since self-promotion and entrepreneurship go hand-in-hand, how we can get over it.

So — what’s our problem? And why is it a problem?

In my experience, I have witnessed that women, much more so than men, are afraid to speak of their accomplishments and successes and goals. Men, I have often seen, are more aggressive in going after what they want, asking for help, talking up their accomplishments, and generally tooting their own horn. Women don’t want to seem as though they are bragging, or that they’re arrogant or self-absorbed. It’s a problem because in order to become successful today almost everyone needs to do a little self-promotion. And if women are feeling shy about talking up their achievements, then they’re holding themselves back from reaching their goals. There are fewer women executives, for instance. And one well-known Carnegie Mellon study also showed that women are far less likely to negotiate a higher salary than men — and thus, can cost themselves thousands of dollars in lost income over time.
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Image via Wikipedia

I’m growing me a company. It is a bit of a seedling at the moment, but by golly, it will be an amazing tree or even forest before you know it.

The truth is, growing from a company of one to a virtual team of 9 has been exciting and painful at the same time. I brought on a business partner earlier this year, emphasis on business. She’s savvy, financially intelligent, ambitious, motivated, seasoned, all the ingredients of a great business partner. Plus, we really like and respect one another.

Why did I decide to grow from an easy peasy single employee consultancy to a fast-growing virtual team? Because I felt I was on to something. Last year, I approached my friend/now business partner with this revelation:

I feel right now the exact same way I did when I started Cybergrrl, Inc. back in 1995. There is something happening with social media that hasn’t been seen since the introduction of the Web, and I want to ride this wave the right way instead of making the same mistakes I made back in the 90s.

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When moving your home also means moving your workplace, finding a good mover and getting packed can be the least of your worries. Detroit-area blogger and work-at-home mom Melissa Summers of SuburbanBliss.net and MightyJunior.com, who has moved twice in just over a year, shared her top five moving tips for home-based entrepreneurs. (Interview conducted by Maia Nolan).

1. Plan ahead.

After two moves with two kids and two home businesses, Summers can think of some things she wishes she’d done differently.

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I miss my family. I love my family. I have to say that right upfront because I don’t want you to get the wrong impression because of what I’m about to say.

But I’ve been away from my family for a week and damn if I haven’t gotten an enormous amount of work done in a short period of time.

If you’re married or closely partnered with a significant other, then you know how an intimate relationship can really impinge on work. For better or for worse, since I got married, the work side of my life has been reduced to a small window of time and my productivity has suffered greatly.

Maybe it’s just me, maybe others don’t experience the same thing or have a different perspective on work/life balance. I just had no idea that “compromise” meant that my work day would have to be reduced by half and tucked into a time frame when frankly I’m just not that productive.

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