Working at home IS working!

I don’t think a lot of people really realize that when I’m home, I’m working. My husband got a call not too long ago from a work colleague who said to me when I answered the phone, “…so, off today?” To which I replied, “No…I’m working!”

Every day is a constant struggle, but its one I’m slowly winning.

Each day I carve out my 4-6 hours of work time (early morning, naptime, or after bed) and stick to my list as to what needs to get done. If there are some grant writing deadlines coming up, I focus on those first. And of course I always spend a good part of my day on several high-level tasks and power decisions for The Baby Owen Company.

And I make sure to constantly remind anyone that will listen that, “yes…I AM working while I’m at home!”

Of course, some things do suffer. Mine isn’t the cleanest house (I’d call it “clean-ish.”) Back when I used to watch TV I saw an episode of Roseanne where her husband Dan was in charge of rounding up the kids to clean. “Remember,” he said, “we’re going for the illusion of clean.”

Yup. I hear ‘ya Dan.

Today’s Baby O’Blog Quote: “The phrase “working mother ” is redundant.” -Jane Sellman-

The Two Things I Can’t Live Without…

…besides the love of my husband and son, of course, are my LAPTOP and my CELL PHONE.

Often I’ll get asked for “tips” that I can pass along to other moms that work from home.  My advice — invest in a laptop with wireless internet connection, and use your cell phone as a “work” number.

Having these two things has increased my productivity ten-fold.  I can make and receive client or business calls wherever I am with Owen — in the car, in the yard, at the playground.  (Provided its not too loud, that is.)  I make sure to always have pants or shorts with pockets — I keep my cell phone in one pocket and a piece of paper and pen in the other.  That way I can take notes while on a call or jot down messages if I need to return the call later.  And don’t forget that headset!  Its a great help while pushing the stroller around and makes talking on the phone much easier, especially if you have to take notes.

My other “can’t live without” item is my laptop.  We invested in a moderately priced Dell notebook; I also purchased a router, and wireless mouse.  We had the high-speed (cable) internet already, so it was just a matter of hooking everything up.  My office computer acts as my “server,” so I can access work documents as long as I’m in range.  I don’t HAVE to be in the office.

Together my laptop and cell phone have given me (literally) hours of extra work time at home.  I can check and return email without having to bring Owen into the office with me, and I can even work on small projects.  Several times a week I’ll make and receive phone calls on my cell, as long as its relatively quiet.  And instead of waiting for naptime to roll around, I can get a few things done and save naptime for the “real” work of research and writing.

Today’s Baby O’Blog Tip: If you can afford it, let technology help you be a more productive “working, stay-at-home” mom!

Love the Mess

People seem to be really interested in how working, stay-at-home moms juggle everything day-to-day.  So I thought I’d pass along my number one secret – and this is especially relevant for moms of toddlers:

Love the Mess.

Right now, as I sit here and type, my living room looks like a cyclone hit it.  The cyclone is (at the moment) fast asleep in his crib.  But he’ll be back downstairs tomorrow, charged and ready to go.  I figure, “why bother?”  He’s just going to dump all the blocks, grab all the books, and empty his trains on to the floor.  I’ll save him the trouble and leave it for him to find in the morning.

Of course, not everyone is going to agree with me.  But hey, it works for us.  I don’t stress out about the mess — I pick it up when it gets dangerous (those little blocks are ankle killers) or when we’re having visitors.  The rest of the time, its total chaos.

Once, I timed how long it took me to clean up — every block, book, train and toy.  It was about 20, 25 minutes.  Almost HALF AN HOUR cleaning up.  Multiply that by 7 and I’ve just lost 3 1/2 hours of work time this week.  And when you work at home, 3 1/2 hours is a lot of time to lose.

My husband’s technique varies a bit, and takes considerably more effort than mine.  While I prefer to totally ignore everything (and/or deal with it only when absolutely necessary), he prefers to stand in the middle of the room and sort of kick everything out of the way into one big pile.  That used to bother me.  Now, though, I could care less.

Now I know some of you are saying, “but you’re not teaching him to clean up after himself!“ I agree that learning to clean up is a critical skill, but at the moment Owen is TWO YEARS OLD.  I figure he has the rest of his life to get with the program.  I’ll let him be a kid a little longer.

Today’s Baby O’Blog Thought: I love our mess!  If I didn’t, it would drive me crazy! 

More on Mom Inventions

No question — lots of moms out there (and dads too, I hear) are coming up with lots of cool things for babies and kids.  I wonder, though, if a lot of these “new” products (including my own!) aren’t just re-inventions — or rather, a “new” take on an “old” product.

Some people may not even be aware that they are, in fact, ”re-inventing.”  As an example, about a year ago my mother and I were watching the “finals” of a nationally advertised mom invention contest.  As each of the finalists displayed her invention my mother turned to me and said, “I had one of those when you were kids; Tupperware made it.”

Yup,…..the world of “inventions” can be a tricky one. 

In fact, I could fill a blog and a half about going from idea to invention (or re-invention), to patent (or not), and then to market (or not!)  I’m learning that the hardest part isn’t the actual idea or even the production part (which is hard enough!) but rather the sales/marketing side of things.  Products don’t sell themselves (wouldn’t it be great if they did!?) so there is a lot to be learned on that front for all of us burgeoning (re?)inventors…

Today’s Baby O’Blog Thought: Be prepared to WORK HARD to bring a product to market.  It ‘aint easy!

Socially Unconscious

I was recently turned down for a business grant because I wasn’t “socially conscious.” Well, not me — exactly. The company, I guess. (Apparently a company whose flagship product is designed to conserve water — our planet’s most precious and fastest dwindling natural resource — doesn’t count.)

(…or (more likely) someone had a better business idea/product and said it better than I did….)

Either way, before I applied for the grant (and after I “lost”) I actually tried to look up “socially conscious.” Wikipedia had a sort-of helpful definition about being conscious of the hardships of society (or something like that.) Anyway, here’s the link if you’re interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_consciousness.

My favorites, though were the theoretical and utterly confusing definitions found on interesting and foreboding titled websites (like “angelfire!”):

Social consciousness is society’s consciousness of itself as a society.

Huh?!

It seems to me that a person or a company can be socially conscious without having to look up the definitions, know the buzzwords, or understand the theorists.

Here are some things I do/expect/try to do every day:

- be honest

- call people back when they call me

- expect to get what I paid for/ordered when I pay for it/order it

- read/watch the news to see what’s going on in the world

- get answers to my questions when I ask them

With the product development stuff I guess I am trying to find topical solutions to every day problems. I guess that could be considered socially conscious, but I can’t really be sure.

Listen, raising kids is hard. Working is hard. Working at home, staying at home, trying to do it all is hard. Running a company (even a start-up company from your home office) is hard. I think I represent a pretty good cross section of society, but apparently its the socially unconscious section.

Ah well….there’s always next year.

An O’Blog Thought: Sometimes when you’re trying to do it all you’re worried about just being CONSCIOUS (in other words, awake!) — on those days, social consciousness might have to take a back seat.

Mommys that Plan – Our Daily Schedule

Often I get asked about my daily schedule with Owen — so I thought I’d devote a few sentences here.  Since I work at home, there is a lot to schedule!  I started when he was 6 months old — getting him to fall asleep on his own and take scheduled naps.  It helps to start with a cooperative tyke!

But if not you can still get a little structure into your day, which I find it key to making it all work.  The days are almost always the same for us, although activities vary from week to week.

First, I’m usually up about an hour or so before everyone else. I get ready for the day, check email, check the news, take a shower.

Morning time is spent with breakfast, playtime and probably one morning activity which varies from a scheduled playgroup to a walk around town.

Naptime is generally in the area of 10:00 or 11:00am to 1:00 or 2:00pm.  This is when my “work day” starts, and although naptime varies,  I can generally count on 2-3 hours in the middle of the day for business phone calls, writing, etc.

After that its lunch and then playtime.  Sometimes we go to the park; often the grocery store and errands take up our afternoon.

When Owen is playing (most often in the afternoon) I can sometimes check and return email.  This helps give me time in the evening after bedtime for work (more writing, research, etc.) 

I think the key for us is predictability.  I talk about our day starting in the morning … “today we’re going to do this and then we’re going to have a snack and then a nap…”  This carries through the day.  “…next we’re going to go to playgroup and then start dinner…”  I don’t surprise Owen with anything and he responds well and feels like he’s part of the planning!

Today’s Baby O’Blog Thought: Tell your toddler what you’ll be up to each day.  They like being involved!

Blog for the Fun of It

You know, some of the blogs out there today are really priceless.  Since I work-at-home (being a mom, with a paying job AND a fledgling business) I get to spend a fair amount of time on the computer (gotta love those three hour naps when you can get ‘em!)

When I have a free minute, I like to search for mommy-blog stuff, or anything that’s generally entertaining.  (Hey, I can’t work through naptime everyday, now can I?!)

And let me tell you, the blog-o-sphere doesn’t dissapoint!  I can’t believe some of the stuff out there  — and while there is a lot of junk (think public access television) there are also some absolutely hysterical blogs.  People must be spending all day thinking this stuff up!  They should be writing for Comedy Central or one of the late night talk show guys.  Honestly.

Maybe down the line I’ll start linking to some of the ones that are particularly funny.  I just discovered Dave Barry has a blog (he’s always a hoot) and has had some pretty funny “kid” columns over the years, too.

Enjoy!

Lorraine

Oh, and here’s a Baby O’Blog Thought for you:  Find a blog for the pure entertainment value.

Products to Market, Chickens to School

Owen has a Thomas the Tank Engine video (several actually); one of the stories is titled, “Chickens to School.”  I sort of like that one (I’ve only seen it about 1,000 times so I’m not ready to poke my eye out over it quite yet.)  The general premise is that Thomas is overly tired one day and screws up his station stops.  Instead of taking the children to school (you guessed it) he takes the chickens. 

My odyssey through the world of product development is sort of like Thomas and his chickens…..we started out in the general (right) direction, but somewhere along the line we got sidetracked.

I started with what (I thought) was a simple idea and said, “hey – I can do that!”  But hold on a minute missy — not so fast!  First you actually have to get people to HELP you.  You think you can do it yourself, but you can’t!  You need people who are actually equipped to make things and produce things and supply things and design things. 

Where is my guiding force, my Sir Topham Hatt?

Like Thomas, I’m continuing to puff along (mostly by myself, but occasionally a smart-aleck engine will offer not-so-helpful tips from the train yard.)  If I’m lucky, someone will throw me a line and before the week is out I’m usually back on the right train track.  But, man, its exhausting. 

Its actually not as dire as I’m making it sound, I guess.  But getting a chicken to market just takes such a looooong time.  Maybe I should take my product to school instead.  I bet the kids could help me.

Today’s Baby O’Blog Thought: If you need helping getting your product to school, or your chicken to market, email me! I at least promise to email you back, whether or not I can help.  Us chickens have to stick together!

Mommy Blogs

I see there are quite a few moms out there “blogging” these days.  I think its a great way to connect and hope that moms are finding useful information out there!

I’m especially interested in hearing from moms who are “stay-at-home” but also “working.”  In my case I have two ventures — my part-time/freelance grant writing work, and The Baby Owen Company.  The two are so completely different!  My husband calls the company “my hobby” (an expensive hobby!) — but I see it as a real business, working to bring a line of products to market and negotiate the worlds of production, manufacturing, sales, and marketing.

I hope that I can help other moms along the way — what I’ve found the most challenging is tracking down the folks — (the names of actual people and their phone numbers) – that can help you with your product idea.  Maybe I should start writing down some names and see if they want to be included in my own personal resource guide! 

Thanks for reading and be sure to comment or email! 

See ‘ya next time,

Lorraine

Today’s Baby O’Blog Thought: Create a mommy blog, even if its just for yourself!  Stay connected!

Working at Home – Scheduling is Key!

Being a “working, stay-at-home” mom is a constant struggle for me each day. I find that setting a daily schedule (or trying to anyway) is essential for getting everything done. Here are a few of my own personal tips that seem to work:
 

* I set aside at least one hour in the morning BEFORE the household awakens. (Yes, this means getting up early, but who needs sleep?) What I do with that hour varies, but usually I check email, check the world news to see if there is anything I need to know about going on, take a shower, etc.

* Make a list the night before for the following day. Include personal and business items. The list helps me organize my thoughts a day in advance, and also provides some guidance (and priorities!) when nap time rolls around.

Be sure to set goals for yourself that are attainable, but above all be FLEXIBLE. Schedule your work time into the daily schedule. In general I can get a good 4-6 hours of “work” time in each day if I schedule it right. Sometimes I need to get up earlier and stay up later, but that’s what being a “working, stay-at-home” mom is all about – doing it all!

See ‘ya next time. Thanks for reading!

Lorraine

Today’s Baby O’Blog Thought for Working, Stay-at-Home Moms: Try a simple schedule. Make a short list for yourself in the morning, or the night before for the following day. Utilize nap-time to the fullest!