balance

I was in Austin, TX last Friday at the Women in Business Leadership Conference sponsored by the McCombs School of Business. I was invigorated to be amidst the energy of current and recently graduated MBA students. It doesn’t seem long ago since I was sitting in their seats with my own dreams of a new career. I realize my perspective of the work world was different then. I knew I would soon have to choose between a full-time career and taking time off for a family. I am excited that these women won’t have just two choices.

The other day I was driving my two daughters with me to Cubes & Crayons (www.cubesandcrayons.com), when my older one, a proud 2 1/2 year old, said to me "I love Cubes & Crayons." My heart melted. I built this endeavor, flexible office space in tandem with childcare, with parents like me in mind, but also for my children. While my daughter has been able to spout that the "cubes are for mommies and daddies and the crayons are for the kids," for months now, it has been a tough transition for everyone. Being a mom is the most important thing to me.

Recently, I was interviewed about my new company, Cubes & Crayons, by a local newspaper reporter. We offer flexible childcare in tandem with office space for parents and freelance workers. After several questions on the nature of our services, she asked me if this was a "feminist" business. A surprising question for which initially I had no answer. The question has gnawed in the back of my head for days now.

Since I decided to embark on founding my second company, Cubes & Crayons, life has been about balancing on a toothpick. I am standing on my tiptoes trying to stay up on a tiny point. While my 2 year old and I are marching in the "parade," I am frantically placing calls to find a t-bar ceiling specialist for the new campus and listening out of the other ear for my 2 month old to wake up.

When I found out I was pregnant with my second child last January, I was thrilled and scared all at the same time. I already ran a successful interior design company, but had been bored for awhile and looking for a new adventure. Initially, I thought I would be putting everything on hold while I researched what to next...school, new career, new business. But you know how it is when you start researching and reading and you get inspired, suddenly you just have to go for it, and I did.

Let’s face it: if you’re working and raising a family, you probably have very little time to pamper yourself with any of the various mentoring programs and coaching clubs available to working mothers. You know that the skills and lessons you would learn in coaching would benefit you and your family’s lives greatly if you could just figure out how to fit it into an already over-flowing schedule!

Ever make a “bad-day deal” with your significant other?
I’ve done it, and apparently I’ve been doing it more than I realized. The silent prayer goes something like this, “You can’t have a bad day because I just know I’m going to have a doozy. I’m going to need a cheerleader when I get home and I just don’t have it in me to be yours.”

Sounds pretty awful and selfish, huh?

I didn’t realize how many times I’d silently, subconsciously prayed those words and made that “bad-day deal” with my unsuspecting husband until a few weeks ago.