Is Your Business Killing Your Family? How To Build Your Dream Together By: Aesha Adams Roberts When I stepped out to start an online business while staying at home with my kids, I couldn't figure out how I'd be able to do it all. The home business model I'd seen consisted of home parties, calling cold leads, and flying around the country to go to meetings and conferences. How are you supposed to do all that and still be a good wife and mom? Being a good wife & mom to me means being present, cooking healthy meals, keeping an orderly house, spending quality time with my husband and making happy memories with my kids. I really struggled in the beginng. My husband was supportive, but there were times when he felt I was touching my iPad more than I was touching him. There were times when the house was in chaos and I felt like I was losing my sanity! Then my business mentor challenged me: "Why do you think you have to be apart from your daughter to get stuff done?" Good question! I think the idea came from a mindset I picked up from church and my career. I grew up hearing people say things like, "You have to make sacrifices to serve God. I had to miss my son's baseball game (or my wedding anniversary) to preach. But it's all for the cause!" I heard a similar message from the academy when I was teaching college classes. The other working moms would talk to me about how guilty they felt when they spent time with their kids when they should be working (and, ironically, they... Read More
Time Management Secrets From A Homeschooling Mom of 12
Time Management Secrets From A Homeschooling Mom of 12 By: Aesha Adams-Roberts When I was single and searching for the man of my dreams, I quickly learned that I needed to think like a wife if I was ever going to become one. I started hanging around married women who I admired and asking questions of them every chance I got. This is one reason why I met and married my wonderful husband in just 11 short months. It's a basic principle of success. Find other people who have what you want and do what they do! I forgot this principle when I walked away from my career as a college professor to stay at home with my kids. It wasn't long before overwhelm, frustration and exhaustion overtook me. For some reason, the time management skills I developed in my career did not translate to managing a home and children. Time management concepts like "eating frogs" and "biting elephants" didn't work for me. I couldn't figure out how to squeeze a pooping, crying, bouncing, playing, unpredictable baby into neat little boxes on a calendar. Prioritizing a "to-do" list didn't help either–which is the higher priority? Feeding the kids, grocery shopping so the family can eat, or getting some sleep? Enter Charlotte Siems, homeschooling mother of 12 and expert on a happy home and enjoying life as mom. Charlotte has become a source of peace and wisdom for me because she's been there, done that. She's been happily married for 30 years and most importantly to me, doesn't have the "I'm a perfect super mommy" syndrome. She makes... Read More
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I Used To Hate The Proverbs 31 Woman . . . Until I Discovered Her Time Management Secrets
I Used To Hate The Proverbs 31 Woman . . . Until I Discovered Her Time Management Secrets By Aesha Adams-Roberts The secrets to time management have always eluded me, but even more when I became a mom. Dishes. Dirty diapers. Arts & Crafts. Grocery Shopping. Cooking. Laundry. Rinse, wash, repeat. Whenever I see a "super mom" who seems like she has it all together it makes me a little insecure. She's faster than a crawling baby, stronger than a preschooler's "NO!" and able to leap tall mountains of laundry in a single bound. She knows all the time management secrets. She's perfect, it seems. And she's not me. When I reflect on when the supermom image first entered my mind, I realize it happened in church. After years of hearing about the Proverbs 31 woman, I began to believe that to be a good wife and mother, I would have to be perfect. Perfect body. Perfect house. Perfect kids. I'm not sure if you've ever heard of her, but The Proverbs 31 woman shows up whenever the religious want to teach women how to be a virtuous woman and a wife of noble character. At first glance, she seems like the biblical version of supermom.She gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her houshold and to plan her day's work. She makes her family's clothes by hand with thread she made late at night. She's a business woman who is energetic and strong. She's generous and gives to the poor. On top of it all, she dresses in the latest fashions, her husband is famous and he... Read More