We all survived!

 

I’m in the airport in Houston waiting for the final plan in my journey home.  My first business trip was full of surprises and somewhat successful.  I learned an amazing amount about the training and shipping dangerous goods.   My colleagues were very kind and generous with their knowledge and experience.  I had to stretch myself, but I made many good contacts and hopefully at least one or two prospective sales.  I may even have a chance to write an article for a trade publication…very exciting!

I also learned the Comfort Inn in Parkside has great breakfast and mediocre rooms, and that Nextel gets lousy reception on a windy Florida day.  If anyone read a recent article (maybe in Fast Company?) about a former computer guy who has become the head of a prestigious design school let me know.  I have a project that will make the world a much safer and better place, but requires really innovative design.  It teaches me to clip those articles, just like my mom loves to do!

The kids seemed to have survived thanks to the loving care of both Grandmas.  I am very lucky to have such wonderful support.  I’m happy, energized, exhausted and ready to get home.   I’m trying to balance work and fun during the journey home:  studying federal regulations in between chapters of my novel.

Well, time to get home and get back to the business of being a mom and running a business.  There’s lots to be done!

 

-Bridget

Mommy’s Business Trip

Tomorrow I am off to the Labelmaster Dangerous Goods Symposium in Deerfield Beach, Florida.   With two Grandma’s taking care of three kids there is  a lot of planning involved in getting out the door. Funny how the gender divide works.  Today my husband hopped on a plane to a conference unencumbered with a bag packed by yours truly.  Tonight I am working late, putting together detailed instructions for Grandma, packing suitcases for each child, cleaning the toad aquarium, buying dog food, packing up my laptop, putting down every last contact number.  How do guys get off so easy ?

I’m aprehensive, but excited.  My goal is to learn more about training, network with other Dangerous Goods trainers, and maybe explore partnering with a very big company.  I’ve collected all the good advice, packed my bags, now it’s time to take some risks, and turn Class7Training into a successful business!  Wish me luck.  I’ll try to post an update midweek.

In the mean time for more frequent mommy business travelers, how do you pull this off on a regular basis? Hats off to you.

-Bridget

What’s Important

Due to lots of holidays and fieldtrips, I am very short on childcare this month.  The two major projects I am working on are in crisis mode right now.  I had two sets of grandparents lined up to watch my son’s double header baseball game, so I could get something accomplished…housework…proofreading…cd development… who knows? 

Then I found out that Justin would be pitching for the first time this season.   I realized that my butt needed to be in those seats!  I took a five hour hiatus from work…no sneaking in a laptop or a book on business, and sat and watched two baseball games.  I spent the first one watching with my Dad.  My dad is in his eighties, so I treasure having time alone with him to hear stories about his childhood or review current events.  We shared our pride in how Justin is improving in baseball and how his attitude is so much more positive and respectful than it was a year ago.

The second game, I cheered for all the members of Justin’s team, and caught some very good at bats for my kid.  As I took a tired grouchy Justin home at the end of the day, I knew I had made the right decision.  Sometimes you have to leave the laptop at home, put your butt in the chair and take time to savor your kids’ triumphs and failures before they slip away.

Tommorrow, it is back to work.  It is Columbus Day at preschool and I have used up my grandparental goodwill, so I’ll just have to try to squeeze in some work between making snack and mediating disputes.

Wish my luck!

Bridget

Mom as Manager

As I attempt to transform my home into a functional place to raise my children and grow my business (I say this with Legos crashing in the background), I have been reading and thinking  alot about how as moms we serve as managers. ( I can’t take credit for this idea,  I got it from a lady named Sandra Felton founder of Messies Anonymous).  Sandra is right,  as parents we have the very important job of managing our households and our children.  This endeavor presents challenges that are equal to most that we will encounter in the business world.

A few months ago, in a really awesome issue of Business Week, I encounter an short article that has keep me thinking for several months now.  It was entitled “Forwarned is Forearmed: Give Your staff a user’s manual- to you”  http://www.businessweek.com/print/magazine/content/08_34/b4097050771261.htm .  The article suggests that managers need to come up with a guide to help their employees know everything from their work and communication styles to what they will not tolerate.  I thought this was a great idea and wished that I had received a user’s manual to some of my more challenging bosses.  Still, I didn’t see how it applied to me a solo entrepreneur.

Today I realized that as a manager for my family and kids, perhaps they would benefit from an User’s Manual to Mom.  Here’s my personal user’s manual.  It is mainly written with my nine year old in mind.

Mom’s User’s Manual

 

How I work

If you want me to say yes when you want to do something fun, you will have more success if you are a good citizen in our family. This includes helping out, cleaning up-including your room, and being kind to your brothers and sisters.

 

My Style

My goal is to be firm, fair, and kind.  I may get grouchy sometimes, but I will always love you.  I will try hard every day to stay true to my goal.  I want to have fun, but not at the expense of the house or other people’s feelings.

 

When to Approach Me

I do not like to be interrupted!!! If I am talking to another adult, please do not interrupt.  You can catch me a soon as I am finished.  If it looks like I am working hard on something, please feel free to say, “Mom I need to talk to you about something.”  I’ll talk to you or tell you when I will be available.  Do not interrupt me while I am putting others to bed.  In a few minutes you will have my full attention.  Interrupting makes the bedtime process longer so I have less time to spend with you.

Values

I value kindness towards others.  I also value time spent together having fun as a family.  I value a family where everyone contributes to making the house and life better for each other.  I am working towards that goal.  I want to raise my kids to be kind, organized, responsible adults.  I’m trying hard to be this kind of an adult myself.

Communication

I like it when we can talk in a positive way without name calling, rudeness, or interruption.  It is very hard to listen to you after you have said hurtful things to me.  I am willing to consider your position whenever possible, but sometimes I will need to say no.  If you are rude or fight with me, I will not consider an appeal.  If you can use positive words and reasoning to describe what you need, I may change my mind.

What I Will Not Tolerate

I will no longer tolerate you saying hurtful things to me or others.  It hurts me too much inside.  When you do something that I cannot tolerate I will ask you to stop…please listen!  Because we are trying to make a change in our house, there are certain messes that I can no longer tolerate.  There may be consequences if you keep making the same kind of mess over and over!

Feedback

I know that I need to work harder on giving you praise when you do something good.  This is one of my goals.  I will also give you more hugs and kisses.  If you see me doing a good job as a mom, please let me know.  It is what keeps me going and working hard.  If I need you to do something differently I promise to call you over and look you in the eye and check for understanding.  I hope that will mean less yelling and misunderstanding.

How to Help Me

I am working on a lot of things right now and can be overwhelmed.  Please try to do the jobs you are responsible for (tidying up your room, putting away your clothes, not leaving Legos everywhere).  If you want to play with Destiny and Jared do it in a way that is fun and helpful, read a story, play legos or animals, play tag outside.  Don’t play in a way that hurts others feelings or destroys the house.

 

Love Always,

Mom

You know you’re an entrepreneur when…

You start having wierd dreams about business!

Last night I had what my Jungian high school religion teacher would characterize as a “stress release dream”.  It was a wierd combination with two business projects that I have been trying to avoid.

For one company I am preparing to approach a major entity with a proposal to co-brand our product.  We have a good product, but haven’t been successful in identifying potential customers.  Our product would provide the company with an easier less worker intensive way to accomplish their goals of producing well trained customers.

I plan to market my guidebook to local hotels, so I need to get moving on producing demo books, figuring out my pitch and setting up meetings.

Both these projects paralyze me.  They are very large scale, and I feel unprepared to take them on.

In my dream I was trying to sell co-branding for our CD-Rom training project to the city council in Oceanside, Ca.  I found myself using the angle “we sell lots of copies to the military” among others.

What does my dream mean?  How can I find the courage to embark upon these challenging and possible life changing projects?  What crazy business dreams do you dream as an entrepreneur? 

-Bridget

Ladies Who Launch Gives The Courage to Follow Through

One of my kind readers posted, “My head is buzzing but is keeping me from acting…got ideas…just not (courage) or maybe its follow-through…”  This has been one of my biggest challenges as I have started both my businesses.  There are still times that fear paralyzes me and actions I know I should take, but I am inhibited by the fear of failing.

A few months ago, as I was searching for work at home oportunities, I came upon a website entitled “Ladies Who Launch”.  The site is geared toward woman entrepreneurs.  The founders offer incubator workshops across the country.  They sound really exciting, but I don’t think I will ever have the time or resources.  I find the articles informative and motivating.  The groups are less helpful.  We are all just starting out, so there are may people asking for advice and few people answering it.  I continue to post in the hopes that the community will grow more vibrant as it continues to grow.

The founders of Ladies Who Launch have written a book by the same name.  This was an invaluable resource and motivating force for me as I worked on my book this summer. The excercises in Ladies Who Launch help you to clarify your vision and gives you the motivation to act.   This book is definitely worth the purchase price!  Although I must confess I found it at the library.  Check it out, it is a source of courage for the fledgling entrepreneur.

-Bridget

Attending a Webinar with Preschoolers

My parents used to take me to conferences in San Francisco.  I’m not quite sure what their secret was.  Perhaps it has something to do with me being a only child who was a quiet  bookworm instead of one of a boisterous group of siblings.

In any case, I was very thankful for modern technlogy yesterday, as I attended a webinar on looking good for video courses in the comfort of my own home. Despite being surrounded by quarreling preschoolers, I managed to hear most of the seminar presented by Ken Molay and sponsored by I-linc.  It was an amazing seminar. My husband and I are thinking of using webinars in the latest training we’re developing and this presentation gave me a lot of food for thought regarding whether or not we are ready to employ video in our training. I had not considered subjects such as lighting, backdrop, and presentation, but Mr. Molay demonstrated how crucial each aspect can be to producing a professional product.

You can visit Ken Molay’s website http://www.wsuccess.com/ for more info on webinars and upcoming broadcasts on the subject.  He also has a blog thatmy husbadn has found useful.  The I-linc software that enable the presentation was pretty impressive. It may be too pricey for our shoestring budget, but I plan to learn more at http://www.ilinc.com/.

Lacking childcare I put in a movie and hoped for the best.  The kids did great coloring and watching TV for the first 45 minutes, but then the battle for Mommy’s lap began in the last 15.  I was very greatful, that the conference call feature muted my phone so my fellow webinar participants missed the tears and screams .

If anyone out there has good advice on getting work done with preschoolers at home I could use it ASAP!  My childcare time has been sucked up by field trips, doctors appointments, and conferences this month.

-Bridget

My Head is Buzzing…

Welcome to my blog!  This morning I was contemplating what a crazy few months it has been.  I have written and published a book, started a blog about family travel, and gotten much more serious about my Environmental Health and Safety training and consulting business. 

 My brain has been making so many connections, sometimes I feel like it is about to explode.  In the midst of it all I’m trying to keep the Smith household going.  Sometimes I am a royal failure .  Sometimes there are moments of triumph.  In the midst of it all, my brain keeps generating new business ventures and/or adventures.

I decided that I need a place all my own to document this crazy journey.  I want to blog about my journey as a mom, small business owner, and entrepreneur.  This is the place for me to put my ideas on “paper” so I can go on with the rest of my life.  I’ll try to stay on topic, but I may occasionally include a few random rants and musings since sometimes I just need to vent.

I will try to post with some frequency, but as my husband points out sometimes I need to focus on conducting business instead of just writing about business. 

I hope this collection of thoughts will help you in your entrepreneurial adventures.  Feel free to chime in.  It’s always fun to have a two way conversation.

-Bridget