Having Your Mom Cake, and Eating it Too

Mom Life January 9, 2014

How long does a woman need to be out of the workforce to start feeling like she has nothing to offer in the professional world anymore? Does it take 8 years? 6 years? 3 years? One year?

For me, the feeling set in at about one year out. I had unexpectedly resigned from my law firm while I was out maternity leave, and as we were coming up on my little man’s first birthday, I knew I was ready to do something new, but I had no idea what.

Or how. Or whether I was even qualified to do anything, especially something new.

Actually, intellectually I knew I was qualified to do a number of things – important things, in fact – but emotionally, I just didn’t have the confidence.

When I would try to visualize myself in some new professional capacity outside of the practice of law, my mind would go blank. The only image I could draw up – over and over again – was of me greeting people in a retail clothing store, Banana Republic, to be exact.

Working retail actually sounded very appealing in some ways. I could get a discount on clothes, be in a social atmosphere, and I’m actually pretty good at retail sales. I even managed an upscale retail ski clothing store in Breckenridge, Colorado after college – loved that job.

But would the pay be enough to offset the cost of childcare while I was at work? Hardly.

The truth is, it wasn’t just the pay that stood in the way. It was the whole idea of giving up my quality time and presence in my son’s life.

How could I go back to work and still be home with my little man?

I wanted both.

I was an ambitious high-achieving woman, trapped in the life of a stay-at-home mom, with a firm intention to have my cake and eat it too.

And today, that remains exactly what I am.

Except rather than feeling trapped, I am elated, fulfilled, and free.

I work for myself, from my home. I have turned my passion, skills and talent into a business that works for me, not the other way around.

I want to help you do the same. I’m hosting a FREE one-hour call Tuesday night, Jan. 14, 2014, 8 pm (EST), where I am going to share with you the 3 Keys to Take You from Stay-at-Home Supermom to Modern Mompreneur without all the dragging, second-guessing, procrastinating, and self-doubt that gets in the way for so many of us.