Follow the adventures of a stay at home mom starting an internet business. What does it really take to get a business off the ground while still paying attention to the pitter patter of little feet? How do you balance marketing with market going, web development with child development, business plans with playground plans? A journal and a resource guide for those who are starting or dream of starting their own business.
Notes from the Park Bench
An Interview with Me
The Shane and Peter Blog has posted a set of interview questions for entrepreneurs. Here's my response:
What’s your personal mission statement?
Live each day so that if hit by a bus tomorrow I have no regrets. (Well,.. besides the fact I was just hit by a bus!)
What’s the biggest mess you’ve dealt with this year?
My 2 year old daughter's allergy to corn and it's 50+ derivatives in every processed food you can think of. Now I have to cook almost all her food from scratch. I'm also up a lot at night when there's an oops like an apple with corn based wax coating. We eat healthier but I have to get creative in finding time to work. I can now stir fry, chase a 2 year old and upgrade drupal software at the same time!
What current entrepreneurial efforts consume your time?
My new website From the Park Bench, a news web site for moms, which is launching it's beta version this Monday (12/10/07). (Does it count as a shameless plug if it's written on the site in question?)
(Breaking this into three separate questions)
Why do you do what you do?
I'm a computer geek and a mom. I finally found a way to combine the two and hopefully earn a living. It makes me feel good about my self and helps my family.
What inspires you?
The what is a who, my mom. This is a direct quote from her a few years ago, "Don't worry honey. The Maoist rebels go through the village I'm volunteering at but they don't hassle anyone." Twenty five years ago my mom was a single rural nurse raising two kids... then she put herself through medical school when I was in junior high... now she's an ER Dr and routinely volunteers in third world countries. When things get tough I look at what she's done and feel like I can do anything too.
When do you get most excited?
Solving complex problems, making anything with chocolate, watching my daughter figure out how to do something new.
Boxers or Briefs? or as Naomi says, Bikini or Thong, duh?!?
Please do not get me started on my opinion of the person who invented the Thong. It's bad enough someone invented high heal shoes.
What do you do when you’re not [designing | programming | managing | writing | toiling for the wo/man]?
For starters cook a lot of corn free food. Luckily cooking is actually one of my hobbies. I actually read cookbooks from front to back when I have the time. I just started Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods
I'm also a big fan of Science Fiction and Fantasy books. Occasionally when I'm brain fried I'll read a trashy romance novel. When it's not freezing cold outside I like to garden and go hiking in the nearby mountains. At one point in my life (prebaby) I did indoor rock climbing and yoga. At some point I want to start both again but I suspect it's not going to be anytime soon!
What one thing made the biggest difference when getting started?
Lol, I'm not sure... ask me when I'm no longer getting started. I'd say for now raw stubbornness and a strong desire to be the idiot who made the mistake instead of working for the idiot who made the mistake. :)
What’s your exit strategy?
I'm still working on my entrance strategy. My plan is to build the site and associated businesses to the point where they make a very nice income. After that it will just depend on where I am in life. I don't want to depend on having to sell it to be successful. I want it to make money without convincing someone else it eventually will.
What is the last thing that made you belly laugh?
No question the youtube video "Here Comes Another Bubble"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi4fzvQ6I-o
Have you ever been in business before?
Only if you count lemonade stands at my grandparents when I was 10.
At what point do you consider yourself successful?
Now, I have a wonderful family and I'm doing something I love. If you mean specifically for the business then when I make enough money it would equal what I would make as a programmer.
What was your first experience with a computer?
My elementary school had an Apple. You could write a simple program in basic that controlled how a turtle moved across the screen. It was a lot of fun!
Steve Jobs vs Bill Gates in a jello wrestling match, where’s your money?
Ohhh... that's a tough one! I think I'll have to give it to Steve Jobs because he's better at making a come back. I predict it will look like Gates is winning for the first round... but at the very end Jobs will land a crushing punch.
Where do you do your best thinking?
Nursing my daughter in a dark room before nap, bedtime and if she's sick at night. It's the closest I get to quiet time. I almost put rocking there since nursing over 1 is so controversial but that wouldn't be accurate. I used to think babies should be weaned at 1 but that was before I had a 1 year old on a food allergy elimination diet. Nursing has been a life saver multiple times when she's been sick so I'm a convert.
What does your average daily work / life balance look like? How much time do you work, play and sleep?
I actually wish a had an hour or two more a day to dedicate to work. Right now I fit it into the spare moments of life which usually means less sleep. So maybe I should say I wish I had an hour or two more sleep. :)
If I could introduce you to anyone, who would it be?
My initial gut choice is Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens). I think he would be fascinating to talk to and have great incite on the modern day. However he's not a very practical choice. I would say someone who understands the practicality of running a big company, finding good executives and getting financing. At some point I hope to grow my company and the only thing I know about all that is there are a lot of bad executives out there.
What stops you from giving up when you are frustrated?
Stubbornness and remembering how much I didn't like being stuck working for other people!
If Chuck Norris and Steven Hawking had a baby (hey it’s my damn interview), would you vote for her for president?
Lol, Tempting but it would depend on what political party she joined. I'm really sick of all the main US parties so she'd have the best bet with me as independent or a moderate Libertarian. However I can't see how she could be worse then the current choices!
My additional question: Knowing what you know now would you change anything in the past?
Yes, there is lots in the past I could change. The problem is most of those experiences taught me what I know now. I had to have a career that stagnated for a few years to realize it was up to me to fight for my career and self. That people weren't going to give me what I deserved just because I deserved it. So, I probably wouldn't change anything.
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Sci-Fi Fantasy and What I'd Change
"I'm also a big fan of Science Fiction and Fantasy books. Occasionally when I'm brain fried I'll read a trashy romance novel." I've said it before; I'm a hopeless romantic. And I love fantasy. I found the best of both worlds in Anne Bishop - I've eaten up over 9 of her books in the space of 2 weeks. They're amazing. Start with her oldest trilogy. Second place goes to Melanie Rawn's series.
"Knowing what you know now would you change anything in the past?"
I would tell my father I love him. When I was 13, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. The next five years were very long and very hard for all of us. Worse, our family was raised with an unspoken "we don't touch and we talk about love" rule. Once, long after my Dad had forgotten my name and just wandered about the house, he grabbed me in a hug and I froze - literally stiff as a board. I had no idea how to react to that. In one of the rare, lucid moments, he said he loved me... and then he was gone back in his mind.
I've never forgotten that. Knowing what I know now, that I'd lose my Dad forever (somehow, you never think your Dad will go away) and how much a difference three words would've said, I wish I could've been able to tell him I loved him back.
Thank you for the reminder
Wow, that is definitely a lesson. Thank you for the reminder to treasure those we love. Thank you also for the book recommendations. I haven't read Anne Bishop yet. I'll check her out. If you like ones with some romance you might like the author Lois McMaster Bujold.
Now and in the past
i suppose it would be distasteful for me to mention my story of my great grandmother losing her mind and, thinking i was a dog, telling me to sit. So i won't mention that story.
But I will say, i totally agree with James. My mom passed from breast cancer a few years ago. It wasn't her time. And I feel like she as well as the rest of the world was robbed of some good times and beauty.
That said, I think this illustrates how important it is to appreciate the people who are here now.
My mom was an amazing artist and one of my goals is to do an international show of her art. In a frenzy to document her vast body of work, my dad brought to my attention that i am forsaking the living for the dead. He's right. I slowed down.
Wow. That is a beautiful
Wow. That is a beautiful story. I'm going to call my dad and tell him I love him.
Thanks
ok I haven't even got past
ok I haven't even got past #1 - but this teasing has got to stop. How could you mention being hit by a bus all casual like .. and then drop it. No we demand stories, and tears, and dirt. Bring it on sister!!! ok now to finish the rest.
Lol, sorry to disapoint you
Sorry to disappoint you! I was trying to say I want to live life so that if I was hit by a bus that bus would be my only regret. :) No actual bus hitting here. But if you want a good injury story freshmen year of college a fell on my head and had temporary amnesia. For about 8 hours I forgot a critical few weeks of my life. Namely where I dumped my scummy high school boyfriend and started dating some one else who was much nicer. Poor new boy friend gets back from the hospital and calls a friend for support. "Remember that girl I liked. We went on our first date yesterday. Tonight she tripped and fell and forgot we were dating." All he heard was a phone dropping and 5 minutes of constant laughter.
Oh god thats awesome! Thanks
Oh god thats awesome! Thanks for the video, I must be last person on the planet who hadn't seen it yet. As for the cord thing - I hear you - mom can' have any wheat products. Can't be easy.
You know - peter & I were talking about that two days ago. 7th grade was hell for me. Not much good happened to me except that I learned that I did have a limit to how much I could get picked on before I would fight back (physically). Of course I still got my ass kicked and suspended even though they were throwing rocks at me. I had been going to a school that got split into pieces and all my friends ended up at the new school. I was all alone (sad violin music).
So the question we were debating is if I could just have skipped that year - would I have. I think honestly yes. I might have.
I have a few moments in my life where I have wave of shame I would drop.
Like when I was 7 and at my first swim team competition and they asked me to compete in a final event because another kid was sick. I got up to the podium and dropped my sweats, only to remember I had removed my spedos after the last event, and was buck naked about to step up to the diving block. So a quick run to the lockers, I was changed, got up on the block, whistle tweeter and I dove and started to kick and do the drawl as fast as I could. Got to the finish & I was first. Only to turn and see everyone else doing the breast stroke. I was disqualified.
22 years later, I still feel the emotions from that moment.
Crazy huh.
So true
Oh so true, so true... I'm now having some flash backs to my school age years. Man.. like the time my mom made me go to a violin recital. I was in 9th grade and just learning. I was too chicken to tell her the reason I didn't want to go. Every single child there was literally half my size and could play better! When it was over she went, "Oh, now I see"... sigh... definitely could have skipped that without hurting my character.
Btw.. glad you liked the video. :) Since my .com startup stock from my last job just officially became worth 0 I'm finding it especially humorous... it's either laugh or cry.