A Balanced Life? 
Mom at Home with the Children and Her Own Business!
By Sheri Rouse

You might see her in the pediatrician's waiting room. She is professionally dressed and well spoken with several children in tow. You secretly wonder, "When will I be able to trade my blue jeans for career clothes?

Wouldn't it be nice to feel like I accomplished something that mattered in the modern adult world?" You observe her as you both wait the hour until your child's name is called. She strikes up a conversation with you and you discover that she has the best of both worlds!

I have been a stay at home mother for seven years. There have been times when I thought diaper duty would never end. Once, at the end of an exhausting day, my two year old took the Bisquick and decorated her walk-in closet and our jet-black poodles. Times like these gave me admiration for those women who were able to stay at home and run a successful home based business. 

I began investigating this idea. Two books, which were especially inspiring, were The Millionaire Next Door and Rich Dad, Poor Dad. These left me with the understanding that I needed to create a business that could make money for me even when I wasn't working. I had previously thought I needed to attend law school in order to have the home business I dreamed of having. I was always thinking, "Wait until the kids are in school, I'll really make it big!" As so many moms of preschoolers do, I was living in the future without seeing the opportunity of today.

Many of you may wonder how you could consider taking on a home business on top of your already stretched schedule. I have found that I have more time than before working from home. I sacrificed many hours of television. My husband pitches in more because he knows I am working. People no longer say to me, "Since you are not working, would you mind?" I know my time is valuable in real money now; therefore I am more careful how I spend it. My children are more independent and respect the times when I am in my office. It is refreshing to enter my office to temporarily leave the mommy zone. However, those times with a child on my lap for a story are becoming more precious.

The year before starting my business I asked God to teach me how to live a more disciplined life. Little did I know how this prayer would be fulfilled. I am often reminded of a simple verse, "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might." Ecclesiastes 9:10

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