I am a business owner. I am a mom. I am a wife. I am an individual. Balanced? I am not!

We all know that there’s a mountain of information, discussions, blog posts and magazine articles out there in the quest of finding a work/life balance. So, I thought I would throw my two cents into wishing fountain and talk about how I think it’s an impossible quest.

I’ve done my best to put some basic structure into my life to ensure that one day doesn’t blur into another. I go to the office 5 days a week. I spend quality time with my son after work. I do my best to put work aside on the weekend and spend time with my family.

Note, nowhere in the above list do I mention where I maintain our house, have a hobby, hang out with friends (or my husband for that matter) or attend business functions.

Oh, did I mention that my husband is a tradesmen and, typically works 18+ hour days in the summer?

Please, don’t get me wrong – I’m not complaining. I quite enjoy the fast paced, craziness that is my life. I chose all of the roles that I find myself juggling each day.  Of course, there are days that I wish I walked into a clean, un-cluttered house. There are days at work that I wish I was at home. There are days at home that I wish I was at work.  Life isn’t perfect. But, let’s face it – if we lived with a perfectly scheduled and balanced day, well, we’d all be pretty bored!

Disagree? Believe you’ve found the secret recipe for balance between your work and life? Let me know! Until then, I’ll continue on – content with the idea that maybe having toys scattered over the living room floor while I work on my laptop and chit-chat with my husband about his day is okay.

-jenn

It’s 2:30 and I just sat down from putting my little dude down for a nap.

As you may have guessed, I’m at home today.  A nasty ear infection has thrown our daily routine into a bit of a whirlwind.

As I was upstairs rocking Jack to sleep, I got to thinking about how wonderful it is that I can stay at home with him and spend the day snuggling him back to health. I have no worries that projects are falling behind or that clients are left stranded. The team at kitestring doesn’t miss a beat when a hiccup is thrown into the team mix. Having this kind of team behind me lets me to ‘be in the moment’ when life happens and I need to wear my mom cape for the day.

I came to realize pretty quickly in my mompreneur career that working from home was not for me. It was too tempting to throw on a load of laundry in between emails and perhaps a batch of muffins if I was lucky. Turns out, I’m much more productive and happy when I have focused time for both work and home.

Having said that, I knew that to accomplish this structured work and home life, I also need a strong support on the childcare team as well.  Having this allows me to ‘be in the moment’ when I’m at the kitestring office. I never worry about Jack or feel guilty that I’m not at home with him.

Figuring out this work / mom formula has taken me some time but in the end, I know it makes me the best mom and business owner that I can be.

Okay, Blog post done! Maybe I still have time to vacuum before Jack wakes up…

-jenn

Jack received a really awesome ‘early’ Christmas present last night. We came home to a special package waiting for him wrapped up in pretty red paper. I made him wait until after dinner to open it (mostly because I knew it would be a great ‘negotiating’ card to ensure he ate his dinner!)

When he ripped away the paper, he found the cutest present ever – The Elf on the Shelf.

I had never heard of this neat idea before. We opened the special box to reveal a storybook and little elf perched on a shelf within the box. As we read the story, it revealed that this was actually a special little tradition to start with our family. Our first job was to give our special elf a name. It took a while but, in the end, ‘Doc’ was the winning selection.

The story revealed how Doc was one of Santa’s special helpers here to check in on Jack throughout the holiday season. He is to report to Santa each night while Jack’s asleep. When Doc returns from the North Pole each day, he finds a new spot in our house to sit and observe the naughty and nice behaviour (I’m really hoping for more nice than naughty . It’s then Jack’s challenge to find ‘Doc’ in his new location each day.

I actually went online this morning to check if they had a site – and what a site I found! A fully animated site that lets you check in on the North Pole, register your elf’s name in the registry and more.

What a great gift and tradition that was started for our family! I would definitely check it out. I wish I would have known about it earlier as I definitely would have been purchasing this set for some of the little guys on our list this year.

Check it out for yourself! http://www.elfontheshelf.com/#/home

At kitestring, we often blog about how important building a strong brand is. And, if you’ve been reading our blog posts throughout the year, you also know that a strong brand is not just about the logo or name. Rather, its about the promise and experiences that provide to your customers.

Last week, in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the holidays, I heard a radio commercial promoting ‘TD Holiday Comfort Zone’. It’s a special area that they’ve created in the Upper Canada Mall for any and all TD Canada Trust Card Members. They describe this special ‘zone’ as a place to unwind after the long shopping hours – enjoy free coat check, complimentary hot chocolate, lounge seating (I bet it’s those big comfy green leather chairs…) and even complimentary gift wrapping.

This is my dream! Spending hours in the crazy mall is one of the most stressful elements of the holidays for me. The idea of having a sanctuary in the middle of craziness makes the whole experience feel a little less daunting. Unfortunately, I don’t live very close to Upper Canada Mall but, if I did, I would be there -checkin’ my coat and sipping on hot chocolate!

As I said before, building a brand is all about the experience and feelings you leave your customers with. Kudos to TD Canada Trust for thinking outside of the bankers box and offering their clients a wonderful service and experience this holiday season.

I know, it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything. I got the guilt trip from Chris yesterday…it’s been a very busy December. The projects at kitestring are going great, and life with twins and a 2 year old is draining me. Although, the twins did sleep for a full 8 hours last night! Amazing.

I am going to get my Christmas post out of the way now, and tell you what I’m thankful for this year. No techy stuff, just fluff.

I had a great talk with Jenn yesterday, and we discussed how things just feel right, like everything has fallen perfectly into place. I think we are some of the lucky people in this world who love their career, love their job, and love the people they work with. For that, I am thankful.

How many times have you said “I really love my job”, only to hear someone else say “give it time, you’ll hate it soon”. A very depressing sentiment, but unfortunately, for the most part, it’s true. I have had many jobs that started off great, only to drown slowly in company politics, gossip, red tape, and a sea of jaded, depressed people. Suffice it to say, those jobs didn’t last long.

I have been working with Chris and Jenn for over 5 years now, and it has only gotten better. We all respect each other, have fun together, and appreciate what everyone else brings to the table. And with the recent addition of Meg, whose energy and quirkiness are very contagious; it’s a perfect mix of fun and professionalism at the kitestring office.

I don’t know about you, but having a career that I love is a great gift. I’m also thankful for caffeine, my new best friend.

Do you love your job? If not, what are you going to do about it?

Have a happy holiday season!

Last year, my husband told me that our Christmas was ‘too grown up’ and that we needed to bring some kid elements in. As he was saying this, I think I actually blacked out for a minute and, in the blackness a lit marqui flashing the word ‘tacky’ appeared. Since then, I contemplated his words and chatted with many about it. I don’t think I’m ready to give up my nicely coordinated tree decor and all of the other pretty things that are in my Christmas collection. It wasn’t until the last few days that I realized that maybe a kid christmas doesn’t have to mean tacky.

This Christmas season is turning out to be a lot of fun in our house. Jack is now 2 1/2 and it’s the first Christmas that he’s actually cluing in to what it’s all about. He squeals at the excitement of the lights donning houses and is super intrigued by the presents that are starting to collect under the tree. The other big change this year is that he gets what ‘Santa’ is. He’s mesmerized by him actually. As a parent, its added a whole new element into Christmas that I am absolutely LOVING! Granted, he’s not quite old enough to start using Santa as a vehicle to get Jack to do the things I want for fear that he’ll be put on the ‘naughty’ list but, creating the magic of Santa is a blast!

Today I setup a neat video message from Santa  that Sympatico is providing for the holiday season. I simply inputted his name, age and a few other details and voila – a personal message to Jack from the big guy himself. I loaded it up for Jack to watch as he was eating breakfast. It was so cute to see his eyes peeled to the screen as his picture showed up in Santa’s big book. “That’s Jack, mamma”, he yelled! When it had finished, he insisted “again, again”. How much fun is that!?! (The link to Jack’s message is included below for you to check out and craft one of your own!)

So, in the end, I still have a pretty Christmas but, the season is enhanced for me by being able to sprinkle a little magic into the mix for Jack as well! Don’t get me wrong – I’m no pro at being Santa. Let me know some of the tricks and surprises that you added into your kids Christmas to make it extra special – I welcome the advice!

Link: http://santa.sympatico.ca/watch/c372b5ce6cc8980d6a7c2dfaa45fc3fc

- jenn

Chris’ post about creativity got me thinking about a great little interaction I had this past fall. Although it was short, it stuck with me.

A few weekends ago, we were at one of the wonderful Fall festivals happening in the area. At the end of the ceremonial parade, one of the firefighters came up to Jack and I and gave him a colour book and crayons.  ‘Mamma, I draw!’ Yes, Jack takes any opportunity he can to break out the crayons and scribble! It’s one of his most favorite activities.

As we were thanking the generous fireman, he admired Jack’s innocent excitement and shared a little story…

“I remember exactly the moment in life that I realized that it wasn’t acceptable to draw outside the lines. I was in grade one colouring away like a mad man. The teacher came around and admired the girl sitting next to meet for how well she was colouring. As I looked over, I noticed that there was something distinctly different about our two papers. Hers was neat and tidy and all inside the lines. Mine was a free-for-all a big splash of colour – and certainly not inside the lines. Hmm, I thought, I guess that there are some rules here to be followed…from then on in – I did my best to colour inside the lines.”

This story not only stuck with me but also made me think that maybe the ‘colour inside the lines’ philosophy isn’t always the best route. We need to reach outside of the lines – not only on our colouring sheet but in life in general. Reach for the stars as they say! As a mom, I keep this story in my mind as Jack grows up. I think its important for Jack to understand that sometimes its okay to colour outside the lines – it makes life interesting!

-jenn

I’m not a bookkeeper. I don’t like bookkeeping, I’m not trained as a bookkeeper and, I’m certainly not good at bookkeeping. Believe me – you do not want me in charge of bookkeeping!

So, how does our bookkeeping get done? We hired a bookkeeper!

Too often, entrepreneurs take on all of the functions involved in managing and growing their business – bookkeeping, purchasing, marketing, sales – you name it, there’s a hat in your closet for it!

The problem is – you’ll spend so much time on trying to do the things that you’re not so great at that you’ll have no time to add real value using your real skill set.

My point? Use your core skills to contribute to the business most effectively. Whether it be a bookkeeper, lawyer or marketing firm, find the right partners to help you with the areas that you’ll just end up wasting your very precious time on. After all, your business deserves the best!

- jenn

I didn’t do any work this past weekend. Yes, I admit it! I didn’t answer emails, I didn’t work on next year’s marketing plan, I didn’t even think about my schedule for the coming week. I had a totally un-kitestring weekend.

What I did do this weekend included watching morning cartoons with my son, seeing a movie with my husband on Saturday night, playing with my son at the park, and cooking my family a big Sunday dinner.

It’s not that I never do these things but, too often, I only do them half-heartedly (and usually with my iPhone in hand).

I always say that finding balance between my many jobs (entrepreneur, mom and wife) is one of the toughest things I face each day. I love having an office because I need the structure of ‘going to work’ and having focused kitestring time. Sometimes, it’s difficult for me to remember that it’s also okay to have focused family time as well.

Does this ‘balance’ happen every day? Absolutely not! It’s not uncommon for Jack to hang out at the office for an afternoon or for me to be answering an email while cooking dinner. It’s actually part of the reason that I love what I do so much.

So, I woke up thinking this morning, “Does my mini-break this weekend make me a bad entrepreneur?” After I got over my Monday morning guilt, I came to realize that maybe it actually makes me a better entrepreneur. I was ready to hit the week – energized and ready to tackle the tasks at hand.

- jenn

With Bjork and too Much Denim.

What are you going as for Halloween?