I found you when my son applied for a job at MyStory, Inc, and I checked out Tasha’s ‘story’.
I have worked for myself a long time. I am a single mom with three boys, now 23, 22 and 20 and a long-time boyfriend.
I had worked for corporations for years, but there was something askew. My life was arranged for my employers and not for my sons.
I was pregnant with a fourth son, whom I gave to a wonderful family because of … it’s a long long story, but I needed or wanted my pregnancy to be kept secret. I couldn’t imagine letting people think I could give up my own son.
Just as I was starting to show, I was let go from a great job. They had one other person on maternity leave and I think the burden for them was too heavy to support two on maternity leave. While this was a shockingly horrible event for me (pregnant and three sons at home depending on me alone), there was magic in it. Self-employment began.
It is very odd how things work out for the best. Sometime the things you think will tear you apart actually give you the strength to carry on. I gave a little baby boy to a wonderful family and I gave myself fully to my own three sons. This started as a fearful and very awkward time for me, having always been a corporate ladder climber … but it was the miracle my sons and I were needing all along.
That was ten years ago, and I’m still doing it all wrong, but I find that may be another part of my story, that leads me to the life I want.
I will hang out here a while, check out what you do … but I have to say – I have NEVER felt like a networker. Or, the kind of person that wanted a mommy blogger label. I used to hide the kids toys so it looked as though I was living in a home without kids. I have changed it all … my sons art hangs proudly in my living room. My sons are the most important thing in my life. More than money. More than boyfriends or parents. And — WAY more important than any job I could ever want.
I work for myself. I love it. But I had a lot to learn. Even as owner/operator of a small web development firm. I thought success was measured by how large my little business got. Or how big my clients were. I found out, it doesn’t matter at all … none of that defines me. My kids. They define me. My life with them. Sadly it took tragedy for me to see all of this. My son lost his best friend to suicide in ’07 and it brought me home from the office I was so proud of. Nothing mattered but being near my 18-year old as he felt pain he’d never known. How could his best friend text him and then jump 21 stories? It was a terrible time, but we banded together, all of us, like never before. Now, I can’t imagine spending $800 a month to be in an office miles from home. Why, when I can do it all from here, and do it all better.
I still don’t make as much money as I spend, but I feel there is a path in that too … my story, the one I am going to tell starting today, is about finding happiness in the things that bring joy. In how doing it all wrong is actually the right course to doing it right.
I find inspiration in your story and how you aren’t the typical entrepreneur we are all told to be. I could never fit that mold, and now I see that I don’t have to.
I’m happy to have found you Amy Swift Crosby and I hope to learn much more about your adventure.
Thank you !
HotChickityDog (aka Joanne Miller, remembering.com and thirdstone.net)
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Hello Amy,
I found you when my son applied for a job at MyStory, Inc, and I checked out Tasha’s ‘story’.
I have worked for myself a long time. I am a single mom with three boys, now 23, 22 and 20 and a long-time boyfriend.
I had worked for corporations for years, but there was something askew. My life was arranged for my employers and not for my sons.
I was pregnant with a fourth son, whom I gave to a wonderful family because of … it’s a long long story, but I needed or wanted my pregnancy to be kept secret. I couldn’t imagine letting people think I could give up my own son.
Just as I was starting to show, I was let go from a great job. They had one other person on maternity leave and I think the burden for them was too heavy to support two on maternity leave. While this was a shockingly horrible event for me (pregnant and three sons at home depending on me alone), there was magic in it. Self-employment began.
It is very odd how things work out for the best. Sometime the things you think will tear you apart actually give you the strength to carry on. I gave a little baby boy to a wonderful family and I gave myself fully to my own three sons. This started as a fearful and very awkward time for me, having always been a corporate ladder climber … but it was the miracle my sons and I were needing all along.
That was ten years ago, and I’m still doing it all wrong, but I find that may be another part of my story, that leads me to the life I want.
I will hang out here a while, check out what you do … but I have to say – I have NEVER felt like a networker. Or, the kind of person that wanted a mommy blogger label. I used to hide the kids toys so it looked as though I was living in a home without kids. I have changed it all … my sons art hangs proudly in my living room. My sons are the most important thing in my life. More than money. More than boyfriends or parents. And — WAY more important than any job I could ever want.
I work for myself. I love it. But I had a lot to learn. Even as owner/operator of a small web development firm. I thought success was measured by how large my little business got. Or how big my clients were. I found out, it doesn’t matter at all … none of that defines me. My kids. They define me. My life with them. Sadly it took tragedy for me to see all of this. My son lost his best friend to suicide in ’07 and it brought me home from the office I was so proud of. Nothing mattered but being near my 18-year old as he felt pain he’d never known. How could his best friend text him and then jump 21 stories? It was a terrible time, but we banded together, all of us, like never before. Now, I can’t imagine spending $800 a month to be in an office miles from home. Why, when I can do it all from here, and do it all better.
I still don’t make as much money as I spend, but I feel there is a path in that too … my story, the one I am going to tell starting today, is about finding happiness in the things that bring joy. In how doing it all wrong is actually the right course to doing it right.
I find inspiration in your story and how you aren’t the typical entrepreneur we are all told to be. I could never fit that mold, and now I see that I don’t have to.
I’m happy to have found you Amy Swift Crosby and I hope to learn much more about your adventure.
Thank you !
HotChickityDog (aka Joanne Miller, remembering.com and thirdstone.net)