Moms on the Move
We want to support and acknowledge moms. Each of you is making a difference whether you are a stay at home mom, working mom, or volunteer mom. When you become a mom, it is often easy to forget the side of you that is also a woman who may have had a career, hobbies and education before you became a parent. As a mom we spend our days multi-tasking and juggling. We are now the CEO of our households. Our job description includes diapers, dishes, carpooling, and an endless amount of laundry. Email us to nominate a Mom in the Spotlight or an MVP Dad.
Click here to submit your Spotlight Profile.
Mom of the Month
Each month we will feature a mom making a difference in our community. We want to acknowledge working moms and moms that volunteer. Feel free to suggest a mom by emailing us.
Tips for the Working Mom
Balancing Family Life
- Don't fight change, just plan on rearranging your sleeping and waking schedule to ensure that you get quality time for you (i.e. working out, reading, correspondence etc.)
- Force yourself to get into the habit of cleaning up, moving/folding laundry, preparing lunches, and planning breakfast every night, before you go to bed.
- Prepare extra food on Sundays to use during the week (i.e. chop veggies and large fruits and prepare storable meals).
- Always have crackers or other snacks and water in the car.
- Utilize some of your lunch breaks at work to run errands (grocery shopping and post office), but also reserve some of them to refresh yourself (take a walk or eat with a friend).
- As a working mom, you need to be good at multitasking and staying organized.
- Try to make lunches the night before.
- Pick out kids outfits the night before
- Make sure to get kids to bed early enough that they get the sleep they need.
- Work as a team with your spouse, Get yourselves ready first in the morning. Wake up kids so that they have enough time to eat, get ready and play a bit before you rush out the door to daycare and school.
- Try to talk about something you will do together that night before you all go in different directions. That way, you start the day on a positive note and have something to look forward to at the end of the day.
Tips for the Momprenuer
1. Phonetag.com--This website is a must-have. It's a service that transcribes phone messages, which are then sent to an e-mail account. With all phone messages transcribed, you can discretely check voicemail via smart phone while at school assemblies, standing in line, etc. The service provides the entire voicemail message including call-back phone numbers. It's great for checking the status of voicemail messages left on the office machine without having to call in all the time.
2. Daycare--My must-have is fantastic, reliable daycare. Your hours might not be 9 to 5 as a mom entrepreneur, so you need to be able to depend on your child care situation so you can attend essential meetings, answer phone calls and work.
3. Housekeeper--A good housekeeper is my No. 1 must-have. It doesn't matter who makes your bed or does your dishes. Get those household chores off your to-do list and you'll have much more time to spend on the important things in life. Plus, a good housekeeper can watch your children when you have to take a call or leave for a last-minute meeting.
4. Husband--OK, not everyone has one. But if you do, appreciate him and acknowledge that he can offer great support for you as you run your business. Not only can he can help with the kids, he can also be your sounding board. If he thinks he's a part of your business, he'll be more likely to lend a hand.
5. A Smart Phone--Whether it's an iPhone, a BlackBerry, a Treo or something else entirely, it allows you to juggle multiple priorities anytime, anywhere. It lets you balance work and motherhood.
6. Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn--Get profiles up on all the social media sites; it's free and some of the heavy traffic these sites get will be transferred to your site as people find your profile and click on your business's website and blog links. Be careful not to let it suck too much time from your day; designate a specific amount of time each day to attend to social networking sites and stick to it. Use sites like twitterfeed.com to feed your information from Twitter to your other social networking profiles.
7. Dedicated Work Space--Your hours might not be traditional and you may be homebased, but you need some adequate work space if you want to be productive. Create a home office that's organized and inspiring. Make sure you have enough time each day to work while someone watches your children.
8. A Good Accountant--Get somebody who will help you make decisions to prepare for the growth of your company. While this may seem like something you can do yourself, it's best to have a professional make sure your business is financially sound from the start.
9. Virtual Office--Make sure you have a web-based system so you have access to your e-mail, faxes, files and calendar wherever you go.
10. Time set aside specifically fro your family and time for yourself. 'Nuff said!
Mom in the Spotlight
Stacey Schwarz
Profile: IndyParentSource Mom of the Year 2009
Stacey inspired us at IndyParentSource by her ability to handle owning a business and raising a family with four children. Kudos to SuperMom Stacey!
Profession: Owner and Designer of Noktup, fun fashion for the chic maternity mama
Each month we feature a mom making a difference in our community. We want to acknowledge working moms and stay at home moms. Suggest a mom by clicking here.
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