My Mom Inc. life

I wrote this post a few weeks ago, but readiing Shell's Pour Your Heart Out on Things I can't Say this morning inspired me to link it up.


The other day, there was an article in the Toronto Star about a new book called Mom Inc. by Amy Ballon and Danielle Bottrell. The title is pretty self-explanatory -- it's all about mompreneurs.

I think I need to buy this. Just to see what they have to say.

I started my 'business' with the thoughts "hey, I know how to write so, um, maybe when I'm at home with the kids, I'll pick up a little writing in my spare time'. Now, almost two years later, life has turned out way better than I could've ever imagined. I love working for myself, building my little business and making a name for myself. I've gone from having just a couple of clients who called on me to write for them to having about half a dozen people (maybe even more) who call on me on a semi-regular basis to produce copy. I've made connections and it's just spiralled (and continues to do so) from there.

But along with life turning out way better than I could've ever imagined, it's also turned out way busier than I could've ever imagined. Working night after night after the kids go to bed is exhausting. Working on weekends when I could be hanging out with my family or doing things around the house, or heck, even relaxing for a change, is frustrating. Working in the afternoons while the kids are sleeping/resting or while they're watching TV is guilt-inducing.

So to sum it up, being a mompreneur is exhilarating and exhausting. There just isn't enough hours in my day to write, liaise with clients, play with the kids, ferry the kids to and from school and to and from activities and then, at the end of it all, have a little time to myself. Thankfully, the nature of what I do is contract work. Meaning at times I'm so busy that I need 26 hours (at least) in every day, just so that I can catch a few hours a sleep and then there are times when there's absolutely nothing going on and I have time to have a life and catch up on everything else (like my blog).

This isn't a post looking for a shoulder to cry on. We all have our lives busy to the max -- whether you work in an office while the kids are at daycare or you work at home while the kids fight around your ankles -- there just isn't enough time for everything when you have two kids under the age of 6. You work (maybe you even go to school too) and you want to have a life in there somewhere.

It'll get easier as time goes on -- and it'll get harder. The kids will get older and both be in school (although that's another post for another day that I'm kicking around in my head right now. And that post will actually be completely contrary to everything I'm writing about now...but anyway) and I'll actually have 6 hours a day to work -- instead of just an hour and a half if I'm lucky. That'll mean more working during regular business hours and less working at 10 p.m. It'll get harder, because then, more will be expected of me. Having 6 hours a day to work is great when I have work. But what will I do when I don't have any contracts on the go?

I'm done rambling about my Mom Inc. life. I'll leave with a comment from the article I read -- a comment that inspired me to ramble about my mompreneurship world and that made me laugh out loud at how true it is:

"You’re never more popular with your kids than when your work phone rings."