I spend much of my time working on figuring out what I’m going to do with myself when I grow up, what my ideal job is going to be – as I slog through the days of my current (not ideal) job and work away on Detours (ideal but not a million dollar venture quite yet).
And I find that as a mom it’s quite easy to be derailed not just by the antics and hijinks of my kids (funny, and not bothersome) but also by self-doubt and tiredness (not funny, and quite bothersome). Certainly some of my ideas aren’t great ones. When my oldest was in utero I taught myself to knit and then my cousin and I started an online sweater business which had a GORGEOUS site and an ok concept–customizable sweater designs–but not a great business model as the prices we ended up having to charge were a lot and yet we were still knitting for virtually $1/hour. One publicity stunt later (making sweaters for Julia Roberts’ twins; she was photo-ed in People Mag carrying them in a bag, unfortunately NOT emblazoned with our emblem, and that’s as far as that went) our hands clawed up and we pulled the plug on the business.
But I continue in moments of lucidity to have good (I think) ideas and I know a lot of moms that have the same…this great article was just sent to me about a team of moms in the Boston area who created a great Co-op…find out more. However in moments of doubt I’m my own worst critic. That’s why I feel sometimes I’m so lucky to be in the position of producing this conference (I feel less lucky when I’m stuffing 150 goody bags by myself but that’s rare). I get to talk to such great people who are so inspiring. And they put truth to the notion of “It’s not forever”…that smart people can have evolutionary careers in that they can succeed at many different things.
I spoke with Lisa the other day who was a successful attorney turned project manager/consultant turned recruiting/transition expert. I spoke with Sean who has a “real job” and also multiple blogs. These were just two conversations in two days that inspired me personally to say “I can do more than just the marketing job for (insert big company) I’ve always had…and I can do it well, and live on my terms”. That’s so important to me and it made me feel great to see other people succeeding at different iterations of their career.
I’m not saying anything revolutionary, I know. But it’s one of the reasons I love to BE at the Detours conferences, to be inspired by those around me. And it’s why it’s so important to have and make time for strong networks. Which brings me to the point of looking for a NJ-based business partner for a “big idea”–if you’re interested in the mom-market let me know. And it’s why I hope I’ll see you in March.
