http://theselfemployedmom.com Welcome to the virtual home of the self-employed mom! Sun, 15 Mar 2009 15:46:06 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The other day I lost myself in a moment of nostalgia. I turned to my 7-year-old and said that one day I could train her to do what I did for a living. Wouldn’t she like that? She could work from home with mommy and I’d even pay her! Then ... http://theselfemployedmom.com/archives/the-harsh-reality-of-2nd-grade-logic/ For over four years I’ve been the primary breadwinner for my family while my husband has taken on the role of stay-at-home-dad. Although he has his own online business, his primary task was watching our two girls (among a multitude of other things). It’s been a boon for my business. In the ... http://theselfemployedmom.com/archives/a-change-in-perspective/ Self-employment was, perhaps, the first opportunity I’d had since I began working full time (back in 1992) to reflect on the process of my work, rather than the product of my work. Process versus product is an important distinction, as it turns out. For the first 18 years of my working ... http://theselfemployedmom.com/archives/putting-off-retirement-forever/ In last week’s article, I mentioned that I’ve made more than a few business mistakes over the years and how they’ve proven to be quite costly. One common mistake which is often impossible to avoid, even after years of being on my own, is signing on with a client who turns ... http://theselfemployedmom.com/archives/good-business-means-sometimes-having-to-say-good-bye/ I think if it had been left entirely up to me, I would still be working at the agency that laid me off back in 2002. There never seemed to be a good time to branch out on my own and I really had no reason to leave. ... http://theselfemployedmom.com/archives/a-few-words-of-advice-to-the-self-starters-out-there/ Last month I put my glass coffee carafe at the edge of the sink and then bumped it with my elbow when I reached for the sponge. I could only watch helplessly as it fell to the kitchen floor and shattered into a million pieces, waking my husband. He ... http://theselfemployedmom.com/archives/recovering-from-human-error/ One of the important things I’ve learned about running a business is that good customer service should extend through the entire life of a project, and is just as important (or even more so) when wrapping things up. An article on the U.S. Small Business Administration’s web site, SBA.gov, reports that ... http://theselfemployedmom.com/archives/tying-up-lose-ends/ Last week I deleted a proverbial “stack” of email from my computer going back as far as 2002. I couldn’t resist reading through my old messages nostalgically, kind of like I do when I rifle through old photos and birthday cards. I think what surprised me most is that my client ... http://theselfemployedmom.com/archives/revisiting-email-from-clients-past/ Last week I received a copy of a new book titled, I Brake for Meltdowns: How to Handle the Most Exasperating Behavior of Your 2- to 5-year-old by Michelle Nicholasen and Barbara O'Neil. The book is due out on the shelves on July 15th, so it was kind of neat to ... http://theselfemployedmom.com/archives/i-brake-for-meltdowns/ In January 2007, my husband and I downsized our vehicle from a minivan that guzzled about a gallon of gas per 15 miles, to a small sedan that goes a little more than twice that distance on the same gallon of gas. This change made me happy. I’d done something, however ... http://theselfemployedmom.com/archives/the-environmental-perks-of-working-from-home/