How One Mom Does it All: Through Creative Outsourcing

I am a work-from-home CEO who manages two of my own companies and am a principal in another as well as being a wife and mom to two active girls ages 7 and 9. My top three tips for managing my time are balance, outsourcing and building a network! 

Balance – For me, it’s all about balance. Often times I am burning both ends of the candle, either I will get up early or stay up late so as to be free and available during the times my kids are at home.  During the school year, my work hours match their school hours and if need be, I get up before them and or work after they go to bed. I am lucky, that I can involve my kids in my business, so they might be reviewing a new children’s book or a new Nintendo DS game because after all, they are the intended target market and many times their insight is priceless and much more thought provoking that mine.  My husband helps out in the business as well so we are all active participants in the company. So if mommy has a conference call after school, the girls are old enough now that they will close my office door and find something to occupy them until I finish my phone call. I am almost always home with them, they just know that sometimes mommy is on her home office on the computer answering emails but still available if need be. They know that the only time I am not available is if I am on a phone call.

Outsourcing – The ability to outsource is key for me!  I can’t do everything so I have given up the things I absolutely don’t like to do.  I’m a clean freak who used to vacuum daily.  I still spot clean every day and vacuum every other day, but I have cleaning help every Tuesday.  Deanna does all the heavy cleaning on Tuesday and I do my daily spot cleaning and Friday do a quick bathroom clean up and a clean house makes me a happy and a much more productive mom.  Brenda cooks three dishes a week for us.  They are low-fat and precooked from scratch, so we are always 1 minute and 30 seconds away from a meal.  She does all the grocery shopping and prep work for those meals and she cooks for a few of my friends, so the price is much more reasonable in bulk and delivers our meals on Tuesday mornings.  She also comes for a few hours weekly where she folds laundry, decorates for the new season and organizes closets.  It’s the best $70 bill for the week.  She saves me time that I can devote to my office and kids.  And her meals save me time at the grocery store.  I just need to get the milk, fruit, cheese, bread and other staples and out the door I go!  Kindergarten teacher Lynn does all my weeding and trimming to make all my bushes and roses look great for roughly $150 for the summer. 

Build your network!  We also have a contingent of girls who watch our girls.  The 15-year-old neighbor, Amanda is great for a quick errand.  Samantha is our college bound summer help who has a car and can take the girls to the beach, basketball and/or volleyball camp or swim lessons.  I also have Katie, a teller at my bank, who can come before work for me during the school year.  She can be at the house in the early morning, when my husband needs to leave for work, when I am travelling and take the girls to school and my friend Cheryl can pick them up or have them bussed to her house with her boys and Mike can pick them up from her house after work or if his schedule allows, he will pick them up from school.  I only need Katie when I am travelling which is usually a few days a month.

It takes everyone in the family to be involved and a crew of people to pull it off – but for us it works! And I like the fact that I am helping other girls save for college and moms who love to cook, clean and garden follow their passions, too.

Stacey Kannenberg is an author, publisher, motivator, consultant, spokesperson and MOM.  As the "Get Ready to Learn Mom", Stacey is a nationally renowned education expert and award winning author with an expertise in children’s education, and “Mom-entrepreneurship”.  She is the co-author of the award winning and state approved, Let's Get Ready series with Let’s Get Ready For Kindergarten! and Let’s Get Ready For First Grade!   Stacey is the Founder/CEO of two publishing companies: Cedar Valley Publishing and Stacey Kannenberg Unlimited, an imprint of Cedar Valley Publishing.   Stacey will be releasing the highly anticipated Spanish/English Bilingual Edition of Let’s Get Ready For Kindergarten!  in Summer.  Stacey is a Principal in Mom Central Consulting were she helps brands reach mom through a viral grassroots approach.  Stacey is wife to Michael and Mom to Heidi, 9 and Megan, 7.

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