Helping Hands

I attended a "New Business 101" workshop last night. It was a very high-level presentation of starting a business. Topics ranged from picking your business type to researching demographics. This was a free workshop hosted by the Seminole County Library System and Seminole State College's Business Development Center. I want to tell you how I made it to that workshop and that it actually wasn't until 10:07 pm last night that I realized how I made it to that workshop but I'll take you back to 4:30 pm first...

I had email after email yesterday at work about how things were going wrong. I'm the Director of IT and Software Development, something is bound to break at any given moment and I'm the first one people try to get a hold of when it does. Around 4:30 I was having a conversation with the System Admin who actually forward me someone's issue that came from Accounting that came from a claims third party member but it should have went right to me. Anyway, we were trying to figure the whole thing out when the the VP of Underwriting walked into my office and patiently waited for us to stop talking before she presented her issue. 

I knew that I needed to leave work on time yesterday because the workshop was to start at 6. However, yesterday I had a few errands to complete before the workshop because the workshop was kinda getting in the way of the fact that I offered to help with a baby shower set for today. I just kept glancing at the clock as our conversations rolled on about the problems at hand and it turned out to be a user error from Underwriting so the VP caught up on the scenario and freaked out about so many people having to get involved because of one silly mistake.

I finally jumped in the car at 4:58 and ran into the grocery store to get leeks, potatoes and canned pumpkin for the baby shower. I was asked to make a soup for 15 people, 6 tissue paper pom-poms for the cake topper and as last minute request, I needed to make mini pumpkin pies because I was originally only supposed to pick up the 4 oz mason jars but the girl who planned to bake the pies did not work in the office on Wednesdays so she called me that morning telling me that she would try to bake them in the office on Thursday in the toaster oven! My boss would love that (sarcasm there) so I took the task.

I walked into the house at 5:14 pm then started to wash and cut up the leeks. My husband said he would worry about dinner and I asked him if he could watch my soup if threw all the ingredients in. He also offered to cut up the potatoes for my soup. 5:55 came around and the soup had not quite reached a boil but everything was in the pot so I took off to my workshop. I sat down with the other entrepreneurs at 6:09. Right on time.

I learned a lot even though I was just gathering general information and I just keep circling around to one question, "Can I really do this?" I'm worried that I won't have time. I'm worried that my job, or worse, my family, will feel neglected. Starting my own business is not a leap but rather a hobby that should support itself until I'm ready to make the leap.

8:10 pm was when I returned home from the workshop. I devoured a plate of delicious stuffed shells and sweet peas that my husband left on the counter covered for me and started right away at mixing the pumpkin pie filling. I asked B to help with the tissue paper flower/pom-pom toppers before I left for the workshop and requested that she make them a small as possible. She showed me her prototypes at this point and I approved them so she went back into her room to construct the 5 needed pom-poms.

I called G out to the kitchen and asked if she wanted to help me by putting the pie crust into the tiny mason jars so that I could fill them and bake them. She washed her hands and we started chatting while we both pressed thawed pie crusts into the 4 oz jars. Meanwhile, I tasted and added a little to my soup that was just about finished so I turned the burner off for the favors to mingle and B brought out a couple more pom-poms. I told her that I was almost ready to put the jars into the oven and when I did I would join her to help her finish up.

Pies, jars and 1 pie for the family, went into the oven at 9:07 or so and I headed for B's room. She had her little musics going and tissue paper all over her bed. She was also wearing Spock ears which doesn't have any relevance to this story but I thought it would be good to note it. We chatted and laughed and finished the last two pom-poms until the oven timer went off around 9:40 pm.

Everything was done. It was time to clean up and put the foods away while I tucked E into bed several times because I was making a lot of racket in the kitchen next to her room. I reflected during this time (almost 10:00 pm) and I realized that everyone played a part in my chaos and were very supportive to my needs. No one grumbled or groaned and best of all, we all spent 1 on 1 time together. Maybe having a craft/sewing studio will go down the same way. Maybe everyone will just pitch in instead of being resentful. Maybe my worries are lies trying to get me to quit. Taking the time to be thankful for my family has really put things into perspective. I can't do this business venture without them and I believe that they want me to do it because that's what families do. They support one another.