Virtual Job Fair for Stay at Home Moms

Good morning everyone! I have something very exciting in the works that I would like to share with all of you. I'm in the process of developing an opportunity that will hopefully allow moms stay home with their children longer and earn some money while doing it.

When I was on bedrest last year, the economy continued to get worse and our bills began to pile up. My husband and I were extremely stressed about what we were going to do to bring some additional money in. He told me that after the birth of the baby, I may have to go back to work. Well, there was no way! I gave up a great job to stay at home with my son; but it was the best decision I ever made and was not going back down that road again. Anyway, this was May, the baby wasn't due until August and I, of course wasn't even trying to look for a job until 6 weeks after I had the baby. So, I did some research and discovered how to start my own business at home as a Virtual Assistant.

Now, a virtual assistance business is definitely a viable idea for work at home moms, but there are also lots of other things that can be done virtually also. And maybe you don't want to start your own business, but you would be more than happy to join a team of other virtual workers or partner up with someone who already owns a business. Then this might be a great opportunity for you!

My goal is to create a bi-monthly job fair that will be available to stay at home moms. I want to create a balance of "hire-ers" and "hire-ees" so that there is a measurable success rate for the moms. For instance, I would like to hold two job fairs a month. There will be twenty spots for moms to sign up and twenty-five spots for people to hire the moms to sign up for both dates. My idea is to have a site where moms and potential employers can sign up and create an information page about themselves. From there, both parties need to sign up for the next virtual job fair slot that is available. On the day of the Virtual Job Fair, I would like the format to be similar to speed dating. Everyone signed up that day gets to spend at least 20 minutes with each other before moving on to the next potential employer. If the potential employer is interested in a mom, they will contact them after the job fair.

I'm really excited about this opportunity and hope that I can get it up and running by the second week of May, but I need your help! Spread the word! If you are a mom who is interested, a mom who could use some additional assistance and would like to hire a mom or an employer looking for additional virtual assistance, please email at rbuscemi@creativevirtualoffice.net

I look forward to working with everyone:)

A Dose of Cuteness

Last night was a tough night to be a mommy of a three year old. "Z" had the case of the "I don't want to listens" all day long. This isn't uncommon in our house; he is three of course! But it ended badly tonight with "Z" under the dog, pulling the dog's hair, the dog crying and trying to get away and "Z" with a badly scratched face. Then the baby started to cry because she was freaked out by the whole thing and all the noise.

So, I told him that was enough, we are going to bed! Needless to say, he was not happy. But once we got upstairs and he realized the we were still following the same bed time routine (just much more abruptly), he calmed down and went with the flow.

After an episode of Dragon Tales and two library books were read the lights went out. He was laying on his bed, looking out the window and said to me, "Oh mommy, look at that star it is so pretty." I said, "You are right. It is very pretty. Now stop talking and go to sleep." And he said, "I need to find a ladder first. A very tall ladder, so I can climb up to the sky and give you that star. It's so pretty."

Don't you wish you can bottle these moments up and open them when you are feeling sad? Whoever can figure out how to do that, I think I would love forever:)

Let's talk about mommy guilt

We have all felt it...mommy guilt. It really is one of the worst feelings in the world I think. I had a huge dose of it this summer when I was put on bed rest at 25 weeks with the pregnancy of my daughter. My poor son (at that time two) had absolutely no idea why his usually semi-energetic mommy was suddenly in forever time out on the couch. He would ask me to do the simplest things like go get him a drink or help him with the potty and I had to tell him that I couldn't because I wasn't able to get up. He was so confused and distressed over the whole situation. After the birth of our daughter, if we would go out somewhere, my son would ask me, "Are you coming too mommy?" He would do this to me for months, he was so used to going places without me.

On Friday, I thought that me and the kids had a great day! We went to Starbucks for coffee and milk and shared fruit and yogurt for breakfast and then we headed to the new library so my son could get his first library card and spend some time reading and playing. I got home slightly behind schedule and started working as soon as I walked in the door.This is another area of huge mommy guilt for me, choosing to work from home. My son, in general, has adapted well to me and my decision to not give him all my attention all day long. But of course there are days when he can't understand why I can't put that track back together right at that moment or why he can't talk to me for 30 minutes because I'm making phone calls for a client...it stinks.

So, mommy guilt. Do you ever have it because you really want some time all to yourself? I think that type of mommy guilt should have it's own category. Like, Friday night, I wanted to take a bath...all by myself. I had to sneak upstairs and hope that no one knew I was missing. WRONG! I just got in the tub, stretched out, got my book when I heard, "Can I get in the bath with you?" Sheesh! How did he find me so quick?! I found myself pleading with my son to leave me alone just I can be myself. How do you effectively explain this to a three year old? He finally said, "Okay mommy, I will. I will go back down to daddy." But not before he gave me his dolphin and a boat from his bathtub. So, he did leave, but I wasn't left feeling happy about my time alone, I felt horrible! Once more, guilt ridden. I felt so bad that I asked him to leave me alone just so I could get a bath. All he wanted to do was spend time with me and play in the bathtub and I shooed him away. What's wrong with me?

Then I realized, I'm a work at home mom, that's wrong with me. I constantly surround myself with my children (by choice) so that I can work at home and I can watch them grow with me. I shouldn't feel guilty for wanting some peace and quiet to myself; all parents deserve that time! So, what I learned is what I need to learn to deal with is the feeling of guilt. It's a natural feeling and very deal-able. The problem with guilt is it's an unsettling, almost achy feeling and it's hard to shake, but as parents we need to learn to shake it. In the end, the majority of things that we feel guilty about are good for the whole family. It may not feel good initially, but it probably has good intentions behind it. For instance, my bath: 1.) I needed a few moments to myself to de-stress and wind down from the day which creates harmony in me, 2.) It gave the kids a chance to hang with daddy for a bit and 3.) I was clean again!

Now you tell me, when was the last time you felt mommy guilt?