How To Do It All ~ Work at Home Mom Bliss

People have been asking me lately how I do it all. Here is my take on it:

Frankly, I don't do it "all". At this point, I'm just fakin' it 'til I make it. Here is a list of things I haven't done lately....

Laundry
Dishes
Cook

Trim the hedges

Winterize sprinklers

Clean up the jelly kidlet dropped on the carpet... 8 days ago

Renew passport .

MANY MANY THINGS.... including:

Sleep

You can't have it all and you sure as heck can't do it all. So you may as well stop dreaming. We all make choices. I love what I do and I love that I've figure out how to do it and still be home when my kids get home from school. It is hard and it is a lot of work. There is no way to sugarcoat it - I make choices and every day there are things that I let go (which for this Type A freakazoid has not been easy!).

My children are happy and healthy and well cared for, and they know that I work all day and again when they go to sleep at night. They know when to tell me that they are on their last pair of undies and will go to school nekkid the next day if I don't throw a load of laundry on. They know that I cook three awesome meals a week and that the other days are going to be less than fabulous. They also know that Mom is happy and excited about the work she does.

How do I do it?

1. I am a mom and wife first and a business woman second. My clients know that there is likely to be chaos in the background if they call after 3pm or before 8am. They know that I spend Tues/Thurs with Katherine and that I will never answer the phone between 4-8pm.

2. Avoid mirrors and invest in a good concealer. The bags under my eyes are not attractive but thanks to Too Faced cosmetics, I look human on most days. (Why yes, Too Faced, I do accept sponsorship and/or add placement just email me bryandotfionaatgmaildotcom I've turned many a girl onto your bronzers!)

3. Two words: Crock Pot (or slow cooker as some call it)

4. This is my new secret, and the key to how I will retire the Costco sized bottle of TUMs sitting on my desk. Back Of The House. I've blogged and vlogged a little about this service as I was getting onboard, but today the power of B|O|T|H really hit home. My personal advisor at B|O|T|H walked me through all of the online banking, bookkeeping, etc. today. At first I was feeling intimidated, realizing how "non-compliant" (NOT ON PURPOSE) I have been. My business records are fairly non-existent and since most of my clients pay me online, I have several checks sitting on my desk from as far back as August.... perhaps now you see where the bottle of TUMs comes in? As she told me how she'd have administrative access to my billing records and banking account, that she'd be able to see when a check came through that I hadn't accounted for, that an accounting firm would be producing a r-e-p-o-r-t each month, I felt a little overwhelmed. And then, AND THEN, I wrote my first check from Fiona Bryan LLC for a Home Occupation Permit application. Yay first check right? I started to feel the heartburn come on again when I was told I needed to create a receipt for it. I could scan and keep a copy, or write it on a sticky and figure out what to do later (oooh that is appealing), or (drum roll please) send an email with check number and amount to my PA and she would take care of making sure it ended up where it needed to be! (I don't remember where it needed to be - I'm skeeeered of that type of thing.) AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Holy COW. If you consult like I do, you get why this tiny thing made me so giddy. I want to be "compliant", I want to keep good records, I want to be "legit". I'm just a little frazzled because I can't do it all. I think I've been in denial about the other "back of the house" aspects of running my business. This is NOT smart and I'm a smart blonde, really I am. I appreciate the opportunity to write about this product more than I ever imagined I would when it all got started. I'm optimistic and I'll be back at ya soon with more of my experiences with B|O|T|H.

So there ya go, you can't do it all, you can't have it all, but you sure can have more and enjoy it along the way!