Enter At Your Own Risk...Seriously!

So when you are a new mother + entrepreneur there are decisions to be made. How long of a maternity leave should I take? Will I get "mommy judged" if I come back to early? Should I work from my home office vs the corporate office for awhile? Should I bring her to the office with me or leave her at home with our nanny? Questions, Questions, Questions...which I have come to the conclusion has no right answer, the answer is what works best for you.

So for me it was working at my home office for the first 3 wks, around 3 wks I went into the office a few days for a few hours at a time to test the waters and at 4 wks I made my official office debut with baby in tow. I know 4 wks is crazy early but if Marissa Mayer (Yahoo's CEO) can do it at 4 wks, so can I right ; ) I am not going to pretend like I am super mother + entrepreneur and this week hasn't been challenging or exhausting - it totally has but I am so happy to be back in the game with an adorable mini me CEO by my side.

A few things that have changed regarding my day to day office duties but are not limited to: Interruptions for spit up messes; Diaper changes; I want to be held NOW moments; Feed me ASAP emergencies! My office furniture has become multi functional and I've added a few new pieces: My desk is a perfect changing table and I struggle to not trip over a Mamaroo; diaper bag and its contents that are strung all across the floor. My once private office space is now a shared space of 3 - me, Caylor and our nanny (who is amazing and comes up sometimes 1/2 a day or a few hours when I need some focus time or have meeting obligations). Finally, the biggest change for all parties in the office is the new implemented policy of "Enter At Your Own Risk!" addendum, this is crucial for all those who do not want to see breast feeding or a really gross poo diaper first hand.

So that's my new RE-DEFINED work schedule at the moment...yes, this option is a little more exhausting and at times stressful, but with careful thought during my re-defining process I decided to take advantage of being my own boss. Making my own schedule and bringing my baby to work are a few perks I decided to take advantage of after having my sweet baby girl. I know it's not going to last forever and soon she will become too active to bring her with me daily but while it lasts I  am going to enjoy every second of bonding with her I can because I can and that feels good to say : )

So far she has got to witness plenty of drug tests, lab draws, phone calls but I am pretty sure what she loves the most is the fact that she has 5 other women showering her with love all day and customers who just comment on how beautiful she is....if I had that kind of work day everyday I'd probably sleep this cute and peaceful too!

Come Check Out The MOB At ALTN/AMDM

Come network with us tomorrow from 8:30 - 10:30 am at our location for Marketing Over Breakfast (MOB)! It's a great opportunity to meet other local business professionals in the community and share your marketing experiences/efforts in your business! There will be coffee, juice & breakfast provided.

I will be the guest speaker discussing what has and has not worked marketing wise for my businesses, I would love to have you come check the Marketing Over Breakfast networking group, it's a great one to get involved in.

Place: Any Lab Test Now

Time: 8:30-10:30 am

Date: 10/16/13

1030 E Hwy 377, Ste 130

Granbury, TX 76048

(Directly behind Walgreens and in between Omni American Bank & Snap Fitness)

(817) 573-3600

Mother + Entrepreneur Redefined Blog Launch

And Then There Were 4...

Well life as I had grown accustomed to over the past 3.5 years officially changed on September 16th, 2013...for the better of course, with a dash of more chaos. On September 16th, my baby girl was born and so was a new kind of mommy, the working mommy of two children under 5 kind. Throughout my pregnancy my thought process was basically, "I will have my baby girl and life as it was before will continue as normal after she gets here and all settled", boy was I wrong. My life as a wife + mother + entrepreneur changed in a whole new way and I have had to find a way to make our new life work as it had before. In terms of our life the day to day aspects have all remained the same the only difference being the juggling of this new bundle of pink joy into our already crazy lives. We all have been forced to change and grow in our own new ways - my husband has had to take on more responsibility of our son and still manage to bond with his new daughter; my son has had to take a more individual responsibility of himself, along with sharing some once "only child" roles with his new little sister; and I have had to learn how to take care of everything as before while caring for two children, rather than one. It's been four weeks and I still am trying to figure it all out, although I don't considered myself changed by this experience from in terms of the person I was before, I have made the decison to redefine myself. I fought this whole idea intially because I really had the expectation that everything would continue as normal but I have come to realize that is not the case and that is not a bad thing either. So please feel free to join along with me on my journey of a mother + entrepreneur redefined, I would love to hear what you have learned on your journey that may be helpful to me and other moms out there who are searching for a community of like minded women who are trying to keep up with the many demands that get come our way!

A Little About Mother + Entrepreneur Redefined

Opening and running a start up business is hard; adding a franchise business to it is difficult; starting a family and throwing one child in the mix is challenging; popping out a second child 3.5 years later is chaotic and making the decision to start expanding my business into other areas is utter insanity but that is the beauty of entrepreneurship in my opinion, if you take advantage of those little gems of awesomeness above the more than not very diffcult and challenging aspects of owning your own business, you may just figure out a way to REDEFINE yourself and devise a plan that makes all that things you love about work, life, family and being a mommy possible.

This blog has is a NO TOPICS OFF LIMITS zone. It's been created as a personal journey as well as place for others who have or are in the process of RE-DEFINING themselves as a woman, mom, wife, friend, entrepreneur or whatever personal RE-DEFINING aspect it is you wanting to acheive.