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Happy Mothers Day to Supermoms Everywhere

May 9, 2008 by lorimercer

Every Mom is a SUPERMOM! Sacrificing your body, your sanity, your cleaning standards, your hobbies and oh yes, your privacy in the bathroom.

I believe it is the most important job you will ever do in your life. As moms we have the ability to feed and grow a human mind and heart. One person at a time (or 4 in my case!) is how we make a difference in the world.

Here are some of my favorite little things that give the appearance of a true “Supermom” to my little tykes:

- Letting them play out in the rain and get as wet and muddy as they want

- Allowing their favorite articial rubbery fruit snack of the month when its our turn to bring snack to soccer

- Staying up late to finish a movie that goes past bedtime

- Sneaking a piece of chocolate together during the baby’s naptime

- Drawing the world’s biggest chalk mural all over our driveway on the first day of spring

- Skipping dinner clean up to get back outside and enjoy the late sunshine on summer evenings

- Taking turns to sleep with Mommy on nights that Daddy is at work

Hearing I’m the “Best Mom Ever” is the biggest paycheck I’ll ever receive in my life.

(Check back in 10 years from now when they are 4 teenagers :)

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Having Your Cake and Eating It Too

April 28, 2008 by lorimercer

I like my job. Yes, its true and hard to understand for so many people who are in jobs they hate. I enjoy the people I work with. My team. My boss. My company atmosphere. My projects. And I do like the work I do day to day. How it helps me grow as a person and truly makes a difference in the world, even if just in the day to day interactions I have with people. I even don’t mind the occasional travel I have to do.

But at the end of a working day, or at a break time, or during lunch time, what I want most is my family. I want to hear my husband’s voice. Hear about what the kids have been doing. Share some good news or vent a frustration that only someone close to you can understand.

I can only love my job because the focus I put on my job to do it well, does not outweigh the focus I put on my marriage and family. Doing what I’m good at in my career is a purpose in my life. God gave me these talents to share with the world. As well, he gave me the best purpose in life which is to love and honor my marriage and together with my husband raise our children. And of course the ultimate purpose in life is to love and worship God. I can worship Him best by most fully utilizing these wondrous gifts he gave me. For me this means working and having a family.

But when work takes over my life, no matter how much I know it is one of my purposes in life, I hate it. Too much of the late meetings. Early AM conference calls to Europe. Late night conference calls to Asia. Working lunches. 12 hour days. More than 40 hour weeks. That’s when work takes over life and the balance becomes a problem. Funny how when life/family take over my life, I don’t wish I was working more!

On a recent trip to Europe for work, we had very long working days and even longer evening durings filled with ‘team camaraderie’. I really enjoyed beating around the challenging business problems during the day. And sharing a friendly meal and taking in the country culture is fine too. But when every second is filled with work and/or work people, I burn out so quickly. At those times, all I want to do is go home and be with my family. Tuck everyone in and sleep in my own bed next to my husband. And when my work takes over, my family is unhappy too. My husband feels too much of the burden of taking care of the kids and the kids act out against the babysitter and misbehave more often. I hate that feeling.

So when I get home late on Friday night, after having been gone all week, I completely turn off work and focus solely on my family. Look my kids in the eye and give them my full attention when they speak to me. Plan fun activities for us all to do together. Just be with them.

It works the other way too. When family life gets out of control, work suffers. Sick kids. The busy season at the end of the school year where soccer and softball overlap, school programs add to the evening chaos and scouts are coming to a close. Or even just an argument that weighs on my mind and my heart can really get in the way of my focus on my job.

In those moments, I can feel like throwing up my hands and giving it all up. But then the storm calms and life gets back in balance.

It’s important to remind ourselves to not surrender in the storms. Wait them out with patience and endurance. When they are over, your job will still be there. With the right balance, you can have it all, the best of both worlds. You can have your cake AND eat it too!

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Who’s on your team?

March 17, 2008 by lorimercer

We were not created to live in isolation. We are not expected to do things on our own. We cannot deliver as much by ourselves as we can with others.

We can only move mountains when we have a large team pushing in the same direction.

We need people to go in front of us to show us the way. Mentors, coaches, leaders. Who are the leaders you look to in each of the areas of your life? In your job? In parenting? In starting or running your own business? In living a Godly life? In being balanced and happy?

We need people to stand beside us. Trusted friends and acquaintances who will listen to us vent. Give the difficult advice we don’t want to hear. And hold us accountable to our goals.  Spouses and business partners who believe in our dreams and do not talk us down.

We need people to follow us. To divide up the tasks that need to be done to achieve the goals. To believe in the mission and share in the challenge. If you are the PTA President, you need financial minds, organizers, communicators and do-ers to really meet the goals of your organization.  If you are the President of a company, it should be obvious.  If you are self-employed, you need clients who will trust you with your product or service.  And even if you work in an environment where you do not have any direct reports, there are moments where you are the leader and need people to follow your lead in getting a job done.

We are not in this alone.

If you feel called to a large mission to change the world in your specific niche, whether that is a neighborhood block watch or the search for a cure for cancer, you cannot do it alone.

What happens when you choose the wrong people?   It can make you so ineffective.  A team member that needs more hand holding consumes a lot of time.  You are only as strong as your weakest link.  Hiring decisions are the most important ones you can make.  Being too careful is not a concern.  Interview and do your due diligence and be ready to make the hard call, say no, and trust that someone else is going to be led into your life for that position.

What happens when the wrong people choose you?  Customers!  Can’t live with them.  Can’t live without them.  There are customers who are more difficult and painful than others and you certainly just wish they would go away.  Take inventory occasionally of your customers.  Who are your most profitable customers and why?  More than likely, the difficult customers either don’t know exactly what they want or your product or service does not match up exactly to their needs.  Spending time to get to the bottom of this and telling them you cannot provide a solution for them may be the best business move you ever make.   And how about in direct sales when you have a new associate join your team.  It is strictly their decision to start their own new business.  And teaching them to be empowered is key to everyone’s success.  Some associates require more support than others but realistically, if they cannot do the job on their own, will they ever be the leader of a strong downline of their own?

What about conflict amongst the team?  Everyone needs to ‘push in the same direction’.  Conflict within the team can bring everything to a grinding halt.  Sharpening your listening, motivating and negotiating skills is required to get beyond these challenges.  Are you communicating your vision clearly enough for all to understand?  Are the roles carved out in a way that does not compete with each other?  Are the team members rational, stable, supportive and not limited by their own issues or beliefs?

What happens when your spouse is not on your team?  I cannot even begin to go there in this blog post as that is a deep, deep subject.  But certainly if your spouse is not on your team, it presents an enormous set of challenges towards your mission.

People decisions are the most difficult you will ever make.   So choose carefully whom you decide to keep close by your side.   And take the time to cement those relationships so they stand through the thick and thin.  In the end, relationships are what really matter.

Who is on your team?

Posted in Business, Marriage, Relationships, Self-Growth | No Comments »

Now on a new host

March 6, 2008 by lorimercer

Welcome to my new “How We Can Have It All” website.  I just moved to a new host that gives me much more functionality.  So for anyone who was subscribed to my blog under the previous site, you will need to re-subscribe.  I will be adding a form for you to do so in the next few days.

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Is your life running you ragged?

March 3, 2008 by lorimercer

Last month I attended a luncheon discussing Work-Life balance with a business networking group here in Columbus. We started off our discussion with a little self-assessment. You can find it here at this blog on WebMD.

As I completed the self-assessment, I was actually pleased. My results weren’t bad. In general, I am very happy with what I have going on in my life.I like my house and my job(s). I don’t dread getting up and I don’t even dread Mondays. I have a hobby (that also happens to be my business). I like my friends and social circle (I have friends!) Most of them don’t blog so I can’t link to them.

But nothing is perfect and I haven’t figured out how to put 48 hours into a day yet :) So I found myself falling short in a few areas. Here is how I rationalized them:

  • Sleep. Hmmm. Well I’ve been short in the sleep category since my first child was born in the year 2000. But I don’t really see this as a problem. When I’m working on what I love, I don’t feel a desire to sleep in until even 8 am. I want to get up and get cracking. And I am the kind of person that can fully function on 5-6 hours a night. Actually, I didn’t even start the bad caffeine habit until a couple months ago. So I rationalize the sleep deficiency in this way…….I never artificially stimulate past 8 pm when I’m too tired to keep my eyes open. Health is important. I see my thirties as the ‘work horse years’. With young children, God just kind of designed us to be strong and resilient to be able to get up in the middle of the night all the time. And although I don’t feel like I’m on a downhill slide health wise, I know that once I reach my 40’s and 50’s I won’t have the energy I do now. So, can I sacrifice a little sleep to keep working on my dreams now? That’s my rationalization. And hats off to all those other moms that I’m conference calling, emailing, blogging and chatting with past 9 PM EST.
  • Vacations. Traveling with young children is NOT a vacation for Mom’s. The only way I’ve found to pull this off is to take 2 weeks and to go somewhere beautiful that you just stay put. For instance, the very remote 160 acre property in upstate NY we vacationed last year. We packed the minivan AND loaded a trailer to pull behind. And we leisurely explored the nooks and crannies of nature. Three years ago, we did the same thing in San Diego in a cottage on Mission Beach where we did nothing but play in the sand and water and go to the grocery occasionally. But you see, it takes me a couple years to rev up to one of those big adventures. So in between, I like to take my vacations in bite size portions. A Friday off here and there. A half day in the morning when school has late-start so we can have a family breakfast together.
    minivan vacation
  • Silence. Guilty as charged here. I just can’t sit still and focus. It’s impossible with my multi-tasking mind. Even with my car time these days I feel lost if I don’t have at least 3 phone calls to return.
  • Clutter. Can you find everything you need? Is it clean? Then do we care so much about clutter? Not me :) I do have standards in place in the high traffic areas and teach my kids (and husband and babysitter!) to meet these standards. With 7 people in our house, that’s the only way. But organization of my personal office is no where on the priority list. The important stuff is organized but everything else gets piled and looked at on occasion when I’m in the mood. We can’t be everything right? And life goes on with my clutter.
  • Quality Time with Children and Loved Ones. This is the biggy. Do you ever feel like you have enough? Even if I never worked, would there be enough time to spend with each of my loved ones to be sure they know how much I love them and to “train them up in the way they should go” according to Biblical scripture? How do you know you are doing enough? This is a constant point of re-assessment. Some days require more time. Some days require more profound statements and conversation and listening skills. Some days require more play. Some days just require time! As we approach the 1 year birthday of my daughter and I see her go from rolling to crawling to pulling herself up and walking around furniture, I realize over and over and over again how fast it goes. And if I don’t make a change today towards more time with my family, I will miss all of it.

What does your assessment look like? If there is something that doesn’t feel right, make a change today. If you had answered this list 1 year ago, would your answers have been different? What kind of answers do you want to give 6 months or 12 months from now? What changes do you need to make to get there?

Posted in Life, Parenting, Self-Growth, Work-Life Balance | No Comments »

Life Stands Still

February 15, 2008 by lorimercer

For the next 5 days, every single event, task or appointment that was scheduled in our busy family of 6 has been cancelled or postponed. No blog posts, emails, sales transactions, meetings, workshops, coaching sessions, dentist appointments, boyscouts, dance, school, work, Saturday morning chores and laundry, birthday parties, church, reading and sorting mail, homework, bible study or conference calls. Essentially our life as we know it is coming to a stand still to honor another life that has come to a stand still. My husbands grandfather has passed away. In his 80’s and battling some serious medical conditions for the past few years, we knew the day would arrive sooner than later.Death is cause for much reflection on the life of the deceased as well as your own life.

Is my life really coming to a stand still because we are heading out of town, unexpectedly for 5 days to a really remote area of upstate New York without reliable cell phone access and no internet coverage?

No way! It is so sad to me that those thoughts even cross my mind in this moment of our life when we take time to reflect and honor the life of a loved one. It is at these junctures that life really continues to grow and blossom and move forward and we find new meaning in the menial tasks that fill each of our days.

Life is about the people, the relationships, the emotions we share, the blessings we give and the blessings we receive. Yes, many times in today’s day and age these things happen over email and blogposts and conference calls and text messages. But even without those convenient tools at our disposal, life does not stand still. Love doesn’t stop. Grieving doesn’t stop. Anger doesn’t stop. And life certainly doesn’t stop because all the events we had planned for the next 5 days will happen without us.

It is during these next 5 days that we do the most important and purposeful job here on this earth. We strengthen our family bonds and instill core values into our children as we reflect on the life of Grandpa. He exhibited a strong work ethic. Providing for your family. Humor. The importance of lifelong friendships. Surviving long, dangerous snowbelt winters with 72 inches of snow. Leaving a legacy for his children’s children. We honor, commemorate, grieve and rejoice the blessing he was to his family, employees, co-workers, friends and anyone who crossed his path. And certainly we will all chuckle and reflect on some of those moments when the firey Scottish redhead, who’s name is known all over the small county in the middle of nowhere New York that he lived his life, was not always the ‘blessing’ we wanted to receive

Grandpa’s life has come to a stand still. And I trust that he is now at peace and rejoicing with Grandma and reflecting on 80+ years of a life that truly did leave an impact.

If you do not wake from your sleep tomorrow, what impact has your life left on this earth? Have you left the legacy you want to leave for your children’s children? Have you fully exhausted your God-given talents and glorified the Lord with your daily tasks? Are you doing what you want to do with your life?

I think it’s said best in the words of this Rascal Flatts song (http://www.metrolyrics.com/my-wish-lyrics-rascal-flatts.html):

My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
your dreams stay big, your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
and while you’re out there getting where you’re getting to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this, is my wish.

Or maybe said in another way from the song “Legacy” by Nicole Nordemann:

Not well traveled, not well read, not well-to-do or well bred
Just want to hear instead, “Well Done” good and faithful one…

I want to leave a legacy
How will they remember me?
Did I choose to love? Did I point to You enough
To make a mark on things?
I want to leave an offering
A child of mercy and grace who
blessed your name unapologetically
And leave that kind of legacy

Remember Grandpa “Red” McGregor and let his passing be an opportunity for you to reflect on your life.

Are you living the life you dream of? Are you going after goals that will make this world a better place? There’s a reason those burdens were placed on YOUR heart, you know. Because you were designed with the ability to accomplish them.
Are you taking steps towards those goals? It can all be taken away tomorrow, at God’s discretion and will you be able to face Him and hear him say “Well done”?

Posted in Life, Work-Life Balance | No Comments »

Do You Believe in You?

February 11, 2008 by lorimercer

There are 2 magazines that I take the guilty pleasure of reading cover to cover each month. This is the sum total of my entertainment reading. They are Working Mother and Family Fun magazines.

Yesterday, I was forced to slow down and focus entirely on my daughter who was not feeling well. It’s always great to have an excuse to just take it easy and turn off all the other work, and at the same time, sad that these are the kinds of occasions for which we take time to do so. So as I sat in my comfy chair resting with her, I poured through my newest issue of Working Mother.

In the article, Score Your Dream Job, I found a paragraph that was so very applicable to all of our lives. Now, I am nowhere near looking for a new job. I like the corporate job I have and at the same time, I’m working part time on one of the greatest business opportunities that may ever cross my path in my lifetime. But this excerpt from the article is true of so many women I know. Women who are intelligent and witty and great relationship builders and networkers and creative and all the things that go into being successful. Yet they are so unsure of themselves! So I’m going to stop here and let this article do the talking.

Read this if you are trying to make the next sale, trying to build your direct sales team, aiming for a promotion, looking for a new job, or just feeling like you’re not being effective in your current job.

Amp up your ego
If you want people to believe in you, first you have to believe in yourself. Pour yourself a cup of tea (or a martini), get comfortable and write down all your accomplishments. Seeing right there in black and white how capable you are just might motivate you to take the leap, whether that means making a strategic move in the same industry or jumping to another field entirely. A teacher, for example, may have excellent managerial skills from years of keeping a room full of first graders on task. A marketing manager may have what it takes to run a nonprofit because she can raise funds by highlighting the organization’s strengths.

Focus on what you have to offer, not on what you don’t.
Include any volunteer or community work you’ve been doing— or even the coordination it takes to get everyone in the family where they’re going on a tight schedule.To get the job you want, you need to conquer your insecurities, transform your thinking, tailor your behavior and demand the professional recognition you deserve, says Rebecca Shambaugh, author of It’s Not a Glass Ceiling, It’s a Sticky Floor. “It’s incumbent on women to look beneath their own feet to see what behaviors, assumptions or beliefs they have that may be self-limiting or keeping them from achieving their own career goals,” she says. Gaps in your skills set? Fill them in. Take courses at a local college or online university and immerse yourself in the world you want to join. Attend conferences; speak with others in the field; check the Web and read trade journals. Find a mentor who’s doing a job similar to what you’d like to do, suggests Shambaugh. “If you want to be CFO of your organization and you’re not quite there, find a mentor and ask her what she did to get there,” she says. “Set up an action plan. You’ll be shocked by how empowered you feel.”

If you’ve been out of the workforce for a while caring for your children, don’t apologize. “Recognize yourself as a competent professional instead of wasting time explaining an absence from work,” says Michelle Tillis Lederman, founder of Executive Essentials in New York City, which provides executive and career coaching. “If you come from a place of insecurity, it translates that way.”

Upgrade your identity
Now that you’re brimming with confidence, you have to visualize yourself in your new job. For instance, if you’re in the No. 2 slot aiming for the No. 1 position, you have to start thinking and acting like a leader so that the world starts seeing you differently as well.

“There are parts of your identity you’ve just accepted from childhood and take into adulthood,” says Mary Lynne Heldmann, an executive and team coach and author of When Words Hurt: How to Keep Criticism from Undermining Your Self-Esteem. “Identity becomes destiny if you keep looking at yourself that way.” Take an inventory of everything you believe about yourself—both good and bad. It’s likely that many of those beliefs are limiting, such as I am not very organized or I could never be the CEO of a successful business. “You need to challenge each and every item on the list,” says Heldmann. “Limiting beliefs aren’t reality. They’re just something that we make up. So why not change that to beliefs that work for us?”

While you need to ground your intentions in reality, you don’t want to limit your goals or become tied to a specific outcome. Your new way of thinking may lead you into something completely different from what you’d originally envisioned—but just as rewarding. “As you get clearer and clearer about the future you intend and you keep connecting to it,” Heldmann says, “you actually move closer and closer to its becoming a reality. I’ve seen so many lives change for the better simply because people created a new belief system.”

I believe in YOU. Me, Lori Mercer. I may not even know you personally. Do you know why I believe in you? Because you are taking the time to read this blog post. It’s not “the man keeping you down!” as some people like to quote. Look inside. What is it in ourselves that’s holding us back? And when is the last time you heard someone say they believe in you? I’d love to hear your feedback and I’d love to be the person in your life who believes in you.

Posted in Self-Growth, Work-Life Balance | No Comments »

Mind Mappin’ Mama

February 4, 2008 by lorimercer

I have a Mindmap for practically everything. Sometimes it is a mindmap I make and manage for a long period of time - like my personal scheduler. Other times it’s a quick throw away mindmap that helps me think through a difficult conversation.

What is a mindmap?
Here’s the official definition from our generations “Encyclopedia Brittanica” AKA Wikipedia:

A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks or other items linked to and arranged radially around a central key word or idea. It is used to generate, visualize, structure and classify ideas, and as an aid in study, organization, problem solving, decision making, and writing.It is an image-centered diagram that represents semantic or other connections between portions of information. By presenting these connections in a radial, non-linear graphical manner, it encourages a brainstorming approach to any given organizational task, eliminating the hurdle of initially establishing an intrinsically appropriate or relevant conceptual framework to work within.A mind map is similar to a semantic network or cognitive map but there are no formal restrictions on the kinds of links used.

The elements are arranged intuitively according to the importance of the concepts and they are organized into groupings, branches, or areas. The uniform graphic formulation of the semantic structure of information on the method of gathering knowledge, may aid recall of existing memories.

Here is an example of a hand drawn mindmap:

And one that is generated with a computer:

All the way back to Junior High School, my class notes looked like a mindmap. There’s just something about this format with multiple colors and lots of arrows and boxes that helps me really process information more quickly, not dwindle on decisions and be most productive and effective.

Here’s just a short list of how I’ve used Mindmaps recently:

  • My personal organizer mindmap I use at least 3-4 times a day. It tracks my meetings appointments, goals, tasks, idea brainstorms, bible verse to memorize, personal journaling, notes from meetings, you name it. It is like command central for me.
  • Brainstormed a website layout
  • Organized my thoughts for writing an eBook
  • Focused myself for a difficult conversation
  • Created a meeting agenda
  • Picked apart ideas for a marketing plan
  • Took notes during a phone conference
  • Put together a presentation outline before moving it into Powerpoint

Why I like Mindmaps:

  • It’s fast and easy to add items. Mindmapping actually keeps up with the pace of the thoughts pouring through my brain!
  • The levels, branches, legs make it easy to separate and differentiate ideas
  • There is no wrong or right way to organize! You can start quick and get your thoughts out then very easily drag and drop to move your ideas around

Mindmapping allows you to be more efficient in organizing your thoughts. You can focus on the outcomes you are trying to achieve and not be distracted when your brain runs in another direction. I can spend 5 minutes mindmapping in preparation for a difficult conversation that will lead me to a better outcome in a shorter period of time.

My personal favorite Mindmap Software is by Mindjet. There are also a variety of free mindmapping applications but I do not use them so I can’t give a personal recommendation. But I do suggest you visit Mindjet’s website to understand the potential of how it can used.

Posted in Productivity - Get Things Done!, Self-Growth, Technology, Work-Life Balance | No Comments »

Would you pay $5 per voicemail to have someone return messages for you?

January 28, 2008 by lorimercer

Time or Money.
It’s always a trade off. Or is it? Spend more money. Save more time. Save money. Spend more time. Here are the typical examples that come to mind:

- Paint your own house or pay someone to do it
- Spend 6 hours bargain shopping around town and coupon clippling or 30 minutes dashing into the department store….or even better, paying a personal shopper
- Making your own scrapbooks or paying someone to do it for you
- Cooking from scratch dinners with fresh veggies and meat and bread bought daily or buying “Meals Made Easy” that must be heated up within 2 weeks of putting them in your fridge.
- Clean your own house or hire a cleaning service

We are always having to decide where is the most effective place to spend our time because there are simply not enough hours in the day. For me personally, I chose to short cut the bargain shopping, the home made meals and pay a housecleaner. But it is because I have been blessed with a profession that allows us those luxuries so I can spend my precious free time with my children. It also means I have to spend a lot of time working. And most entrepreneurs trying to start their own business don’t have much of either - time or money - and must chose very wisely how to spend both for the first couple years of their business.

Think about how this applies to your business and your own strengths and skills. What tasks should you outsource versus those you should spend your time and talents on? Where are you going to get the most bang for the buck? Here are some things to consider outsourcing:
- Writing the content for your website or marketing materials
- Website design and development
- Logo creation, graphic design and branding
- accounting and tax preparation

There is a website called eLance.com that allows you to find freelancers who will do practically ANYTHING for you. This includes things for crazy busy people like “listen to my voicemails and transcribe them into emails for me daily so I can chose how to respond”. Can you imagine being so busy that you have to outsource your voicemail answering???? Now there’s either a business that is really exploding or someone who has set the wrong priorities and is not being productive enough. Either way it’s proof that you can outsource anything.

No matter what you decide to outsource remember YOU ARE IN CHARGE. Be sure that you have a well-planned and scoped project to be outsourced so you get what you want. Think ahead about the outcome you are looking for and definitely spend the time interviewing and finding the right person for the job. Even if you get a personal referral for someone local, be sure you fully know and understand everything you are getting.

Of course there are so many things money can’t buy and time is all you have. And for those, we need to hold tight. My 3-year-old son this morning. Shaking his finger at me and looking me straight in the eye and saying “You promise you will stay home and have breakfast with us tomorrow?” It’s priceless. And THAT, is exactly why I am burning the candle at both ends. Working full time at the corporate job and part time on my dream that will allow me to be home more and be the influence I want to be on my children….before someone or something else takes that role.

Time or money trade off? Personally I want both. I want to have it all. With both you can make a HUGE difference in the world. Think big and you will find a way.

Posted in Productivity - Get Things Done!, Self-Growth, Work-Life Balance | No Comments »

They have it ALL!

January 25, 2008 by lorimercer

Came across this one of my ‘Mommy emails’ today. I don’t know this couple but they are near me geographically. What I love most about this is that they are finding their own way to “Have it ALL” via this QuickBooks “I resign. Just Start” contest for $50,000 to start their own business. Whether or not they win, I think they have it all because they have a great focus on family and life and are working hard to make it even better for their kids.

Here’s their story…..go vote for them and for the future of people achieving their dream of family / work balance:

Help Us Start a Kid-Friendly Cafe with Just a Click! - Alissa D

Hi Everyone. My Husband and I were selected as finalists in a contest sponsored by QuickBooks. We are only one of 5, out of 2000 entries! If we win the contest, we will be given a $50,000 start-up grant to start our business. We want to open a cafe that caters to families and children!

Our idea is to have a place with healthy food options, things that kids will eat and parents will like, too. We will also have a play area for the kids so mom and dad can eat in peace, and great little extras like WiFi.

The way we win the contest and get started on the road to opening this business is by gathering the most votes between now and January 31st. All you have to do is visit this website: http://jumpup.intuit.com/start/?version=noflash#finalists Sign up for an account, and then vote!

You can view our video entry and listen to our interview. Our profile name is ‘aderouch’ that’s me and my husband in the picture!

Vote for us and vote once per day for the next week! We need all the support we can get to make this dream come true in Columbus!

More info is available on our blog: www.votecafeandplay.com
You can also sign up to receive a daily email reminder from us to vote!

A little about me: Mommy to two wonderful boys, a flourishing web business www.SproutSoup.com and aspiring owner of a kids-oriented cafe style restaurant. www.votecafeandplay.com

Posted in Business, Parenting, Work-Life Balance | No Comments »

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