A Year in the Life Series: Sherri Edwards Has a Busy Month and Wonders About Time Management for the Busy Working Mother!
As you might remember, Sherri Edwards opened a brick and mortar shop four months ago called Cutie Poops and Bottoms. The absolutely phenomenal news - after just four months the store is supporting itself!
This is wonderful news in today's economy. I know that many moms (and dads and single folks, too!) are concerned about beginning a start up business now, but the majority of people to whom I have spoken over the past year have said they've found it to be an excellent time to do so. Rents are low, funding continues to be fairly available (although some entrepreneurs are having a difficult time getting loans from banks), and with layoffs and cut backs many people have additional time on their hands to pursue other interests that can turn into money-making projects.
So what is Sherri finding difficult? She says:
Things have been going really well with the store. We are in our fourth
month and the store is already supporting itself. I continue to
struggle with my "to do" list. It just seems to grow and grow with new
ideas, however, I cannot find the time to implement everything I want to
do. I have always prided myself on being an organized person, but with
a full-time job (yes, I still work full-time as a realtor) and a store
to run along with managing a household and 4 kids I feel as If I am
becoming more un-organized and frazzled by the day.
Sherri admits she used to keep a very detailed calendar about activities, lunches, and appointments for each family member: now her calendar is stuck on January, and the squares remain blank.
Sherri is also finding that she, like many working mothers and mothers in business, is having difficulty with fitting it all in. We tend to think we should - time with our friends and spouse and children, time for ourselves, free time, work time, housework time - and yet in reality I'm not sure it can be done (and I've owned my own business for almost six years now!)
She says:
I feel as If I have to please my business partner, my husband, my
boss, and my kids. I still want to get to the gym to work-out, and every
night as I fall asleep, I say to myself....I promise I will go work-out
in the morning. After all, if the babies wake up for a bottle at
around 5am, I can feed them and since I am up anyway I will just go to
the gym. That has never happened. I am just too tired.
To be successful, Sherri knows she has to work hard. I do understand this, but I also believe Sherri will find it will get easier after the store has been opened for a while. But, it will never be easy! She adds:
I wait for the babies to get a little older and delude myself into
thinking that I will just start bringing them to the store with me more
(as even now I laugh to myself at this thought) running a store with
twins? I have done it a few times already...but they are just now
learning to crawl so I can no longer plop them down and expect them to
stay.
Overall, she knows it is worth it at the end of the day.
Aside from too much to do and not enough time, the store is my
sanctuary. The place I love to be, the smell is still new, the
customers are still coming and at night when I am alone in the store
and all is quiet, I still look at what I have accomplished and am filled
with pride. Then I go home to my sleeping babies and look at what I
have accomplished and am filled with pride once again.
We will be posting some great tips on trying to manage time at the end of this month, as I believe this continues to be the main concern of most working mothers and mothers in business.
We are always struggling to find time to do it all. And I do believe part of our problem is the thought we CAN do it all. We really aren't built to do it all, or we'd be able to clone ourselves! Sometimes we have to let some things go, and make a list of priorities in the order in which they fall.
As I type this, I am trying to determine how I can work on my business, novel, and get my house cleaned in the next hour, before I pick my daughter up from daycare! (I'll tell you how - I can't, and I'm going to let that go!)
If you would like to share tips on time management, please leave a comment. We would love to hear them! In the meantime, we will check back with Sherri next month!
