I had one of those rush around days yesterday with clients. I’m a business woman, but it wasn’t that I had many appointments, just traveling an hour to spend maybe fifteen minutes tops with one, and another client on the way home. But from the moment I pulled out of the garage, I was already thinking about my return home.

The business meeting grew longer and it hadn’t helped that before that, I had found myself with the closest of parking spots to be the furthest in the lot. This had made me even more anxious as I was barreling my way at a fast trot through the people I was passing. Usually, I’m more relaxed. I would normally walk a stroll on a warm spring day like this, but that wasn’t the case today.

Though I felt “it had to be done”, I found it tedious and necessary to personally research, and not take anyone’s word as to rather or not I was getting apples for apples, or apples for oranges. As a business woman, I do have responsibility and won’t let anybody sell my job for me.

Luckily, it was apples for apples. But is it our intuition that makes us do this. Go to extreme measures and don’t take the word of a client fully. Don’t underestimate the importance of our own professional image. I do tend to dissect a client when I only have word of mouth to go on, but my reputation is on the chopping block if I don’t deliver. In this case, it was a new client and one of my most important ones, so overseeing it was my responsibility.

Go Figure.

My adrenalin maxed out from the rush of getting the day over with, and from dealing with the obstacles mounting before my eyes (with the unavailable parking spaces and the long winded clients). Working solo is the pits at times. I am quite comfortable with the amount of clients I have right now, and my intentions were not to become so big that I would have to hire an employee - but the potential is there.

Knowing the right time to hire an employee is important. Having someone around to give myself some space is something that doesn’t just pops to mind. Yes, it means more work when you have to interview and train an employee. Then the idea of actually letting someone else have the responsibility… That sends cold chills up my spine.

I have been doing everything, and of course I would love to have someone I could delegate tasks to, so my time could be used to sign more clients (and with Thumper). Even someone to just take on the researching or the accounting would be helpful. I have to admit though, it feels more like I am hiring a nanny to care of my baby, than an employee.

What Is It Like For Moms Working At Home?

How work from home moms do it - I haven’t got a clue. I would have to say, I would rather hire someone to do the books than a babysitter, but then I have yet to learn what working at home plus having children is like first hand. You again must know when to stop, and realize that you are physically burning the candle at both ends, before one or more of your responsibilities suffer along with your health.

Women building careers - rather work from home, or go to an office? Having the capability to structure your time, but then you can be thrown off track when a wrench gets thrown into the fire. And then the children. Little Lexi’s ride home from ballet class canceled, and you have to think fast.

You are in the middle of a business meeting with a potential client. Well this would be a no brainer for me. First I would call my Thumper to have him pick her up, but if he couldn’t, then excuse myself from the meeting because my child is more important to me. Where if I had more backups, it would probably be to my advantage.

A Business Woman Who Wants It All

I have thought about how many business women have little children, or kids in school, and are successful working from home or with their office job. I can relate. They are spending more time utilizing abnormal hours of the day to maintain a rhyme in the household, and in their relationship with their significant other, without becoming burnt out. That itself makes them a success, and it is something that they develop the technique and strategy for.

I think recognizing that you are first human, and in order to do any job you need proper rest and diet - with time away from the daily routine to refuel - is very important. If you are stressed and sleep deprived, you aren’t going to be on top of your game in any aspect of your life.

The fact is, I would only need part time help, and that seems to be the going trait in today’s business world. Avoid paying overtime and benefits.

Well this is something in the future I will have to consider. But for right now, I am doing fine. I’m a business woman and in whole, all went well today. Finally, my feet were able to breath and reshape back to normal after wearing high heels all day. But the true reward at the end of a long day was as I walked in the door my fiance offered me a foot massage and a glass of wine. Suddenly the only thing I was thinking about was him and his hands.

It was one of those moments. It became one of those nights. He has great hands.