Today I want to write to all those dreamers out there.  Those at-home-parents with a spark of an idea.  Those wanna-be entrepreneurs, on the very threshold of something big, with their foot extended, just about to take that first step…when guilt sets in.

Guilt over adding something to your already overwhelming life.  Guilty over carving out time for a business when the days already feel too short and too rushed.  Guilt over the decision to invest in yourself.  Guilt over that nagging feeling that you should just stop dreaming and find a way to be happy playing with the kids all day.

Guilt.

I get it.  I feel that too.

But hear me now, you wonderful dreamers.

Thinking of yourself and taking care of yourself, is not selfish.  Seeking personal happiness and joy and fulfillment is not selfish.

In fact, I would argue that starting a tiny business, and spending naptimes growing and understanding that business has made me a better mother and wife.  And it has nothing to do with the money.  I’m better because I’m happier.  

Like it or not, we are modern women.  Many of us have advanced degrees and worked professional jobs before marriage and kids.  And we were good at what we did.  We got paychecks, we figured out challenging problems and we were praised by those that saw us in action.  And all of that felt good, didn’t it?

And then we got pregnant and everything changed.  Yes, we love our kids.  Yes, we love taking care of a home and giving of ourselves to our families, but we are still those modern women.

Even though we love our families, we need something that is OURS.

Very often I have wished that I could be 100% fulfilled by my work as a mom and wife.  But I’m not.  I need more.  Maybe that sounds selfish or cold, but being honest about how I am and what I need is likely the greatest gift I can give my family.

Mom needs to be happy and ultimately mom needs to find that happiness for herself.

And I’m not alone in this need.  The life of a full time at-home parent is a bit treacherous.  It is so easy to just totally give up on ourselves–to stop getting dressed in the morning, to limit our reading to our Facebook feed and to eat two huge spoon-fulls of peanut butter for lunch.

It’s easy to get lost in this at-home-parent gig.

I know I have been preaching and preaching about it, but in order to stay grounded and happy, many at-home parents, myself included, NEED a passion project.  We need something to keep us sharp and driven.

Here is a story to illustrate what I mean–and very likely the root of my passion for helping you and other Nap Time Entrepreneurs.

Let me tell you about my sister Maria.  She is a mother of 5, a homeschooler, a military wife, and one of the most stubborn people I know.  And, as you can see in the image below, a huge dork.

This past summer all of my sisters and our kids gathered at my parent’s farm for a week and I started to notice Maria sneaking away to thrift shops and returning with huge boxes of books.  She has always been a bookworm, but this seemed a little excessive.  Finally I asked her what this was all about and, timidly, she explained that, even though it was silly, she had started a used bookstore online.  It was simple and run exclusively through a Facebook page.

She told me all of this and then looked at me, sheepishly, expecting, I think, that I would laugh at her or roll my eyes.  Say something like, “why?”

But I didn’t.  I didn’t laugh because I thought that what she was doing was AWESOME.  Buying used books and selling them online was the PERFECT micro business for my sister.  Like me she loves thrifting and, being a homeschool mom and book-aholic herself, she could easily zero in on books worth purchasing and reselling.  And have I mentioned that she is an organizational genius.  Seriously, you should see the excel spreadsheets she’s got.

So the business she started, played to all of those strengths and loves.  Genius.

It also so happens that at the time she started this little Nap Time Entrepreneurial project, her husband was very busy and, living on a new Military Base and far from family, she was feeling a bit lonely.  Of course nothing can replace a husband, but all those books and spreadsheets kept her busy and happy and those tough months were a little bit better.  Plus, not only was the work enjoyable for her, but very quickly she was turning a profit.  It wasn’t a ton of money, but it was money she had earned without having to leave her children, for even one minute, in the care of someone else.

In recent months a lot has happened to my sister and her family.  Like many military families, they are currently in the process of moving and a while back she liquidated her stock of books through a massive sale.  Until they are settled again her shore is on vacation and, when it feels right, she will likely head back out to the thrift shops near her now home, and get her shop up and running again.

I hope that little story inspires you.  There are a million micro businesses that could be started and run during the in-between times, during nap time or after bedtime.  And the benefits of these ventures are REAL.  With very little investment we can create a business we are passionate about, one that plays to our strengths and interests, one that can keep us motivated and sharp during these years of babies and traveling husbands and yoga pants.  And finally, as nap-time entrepreneurs we probably won’t end up on the fortune 500, or even replace our husband’s income, but there is a good possibility that we will make some money–enough to cover groceries or pay for a yearly vacation–and isn’t that so much sweeter?

And, as a reward for reading all the way through this post, I have something special to share with you.  The past 3 months I have been working my tail off on a full-fledged eCourse that will walk you through all of this.  From thinking like a business owner, to knowing your customer, to setting up shop, to creating a profitable product to running a REAL business, it’s all in there and it is made specifically for at-home parents.

It’s called The Naptime Entrepreneur

The course includes nearly 30 instructional videos, 30+ pages of valuable worksheets and a built-in community so that as you go through the materials you will have a safe place to ask for feedback and look for support.

Going through this course will help an at-parent set up a profitable business the right way, no matter what type of business you want to create.  Please, allow me to share all of the lessons I had to learn the hard way, so that your path to success is short and sweet.

The course will be available for only one week, beginning on May 1st, at which time I will be offering it for the absolute lowest price it will ever be offered.  Since the course is brand new, I want to get students through the course at a low price now so that I can work out all the kinks, and then raise the price in the future.  But don’t worry!  If you join the course now you will have life-time assess and be able to enjoy all the updates as they happen.

So, mark your calendars!  Starting May 1st we are really going to make this business happen.

I can’t wait!

Hey friend.  Today I’m going to take a minute to talk about something I’m quite passionate about: daring to be an entrepreneur as an at-home parent.  Perhaps taking on the risk of starting and growing a business while home with the kids feels a bit like a “modern” idea, but it really isn’t.  It’s old, quite old.

Let me explain.

The struggles of an at-home parent are real, but not for the obvious reasons.  Yes it is isolating and yes it is difficult to deal with the societal pressure to see family as an inconvenience.  But, even once we’ve dealt with these things, there’s something left, something that we struggle to get our arms around.  A sense of getting lost in it all.  A sense of monotony.  A sense of guilt over the fact that we aren’t 100% fulfilled by the work of raising kids and running a home.  I mean, women have been mothering from the beginning of time.

Why can’t I just be home and be happy?

Well, here’s the truth.  We face challenges today never before faced by at-home parents.  I realized this while reading, of all things, The Little House on the Prairie series to my kids this winter.

The Little House series takes place in the 1870’s and 80’s and depicts the adventures of a young family living in Wisconsin, Kansas, Minnesota and South Dakota.  The mother, referred to as Ma Ingalls, is isolated beyond anything we could possibly experience as modern mothers.  Her life is infinitely more labor intensive and she often faces real dangers, including bears and wolves and starvation.  Yet, she never seems to wrestle with issues of purpose and self and value, that all too often plague modern at home parents.  

Why?  Well, I’ve thought about this for a good bit of time.  It just doesn’t make any sense, right?  I mean, life is so much easier for us–we have washing machines, and drive through restaurants, and Netflix.

And yet, it seems that Ma Ingalls had something that, amid all of our conveniences, we seem to have lost track of.

I think this thing that Ma Ingalls had, that we don’t, is best understood through a simple comparison.  Let’s consider, for a moment, the act of keeping our families clothed and fed.

For us the quest to feed and clothe our families brings us to…Target…or if we are really up for an excursion, Costco.  Yup, an hour spent in a store, while we sip a frothy latte, would accomplish both of these goals.  Easy, with plenty of time to circle the aisles and find a cart-load of things we didn’t know we needed, and will likely regret buying later.

For Ma Ingalls?  The clothes were hand stitched from bolts of fabric purchased in a general store miles away, as were the bed sheets, curtains and everything else.  There was no pattern, no sewing machine, no shortcuts.  Just lots and lots of tiny stitches.  The food she put on her table was gathered from the garden she carefully planted, weeded, watered and harvested.  Or from animals she had helped raise, butcher, and preserve.  And her family’s meals were prepared on a wood burning stove that she tended, literally, all day.

Now, I love modern conveniences as much as, if not more than, anyone, but who do you think felt more pride and joy seeing her family fed and clothed?  And, what is more, who’s work as a mother, do you think, forced her to strive for personal growth and mastery of skills?  Us or Ma Ingalls?

Until this modern age, motherhood has always been more than just wiping butts and folding laundry.  For generations, when nearly every family lived on a small farm, mothers raised their families while playing an active role in a complex business.  They didn’t derive purpose exclusively from the work of babies and dishes, so why do we expect that we should?

And therefore, the solution to the struggles of a modern mother is actually quite simple.  Yes, continue to stay home with those babies, love them and take care of them, but use those in between moments, those naptimes and evenings and early mornings, to create a passion-based business for yourself.  A project, turned business that is just for you.  A business that grows out of what you love, what you are, and in the end turns out to be just what you need.

A passion project has the power to change your life.  It has the power to make you a better mother and wife and woman.  A true passion project, one that keeps you engaged and energized even on the most monotonous, tedious days at home, is very likely exactly what you need.

I know because a passion project is exactly what I needed.

What this passion project will look like is completely up to you.  Maybe it will be homeschooling and developing curriculum for your children.  Maybe it will be developing a community to support and nurture other mothers in your area.

Or maybe your passion project will be a business.  

A business.  Does that seem crazy?  It’s not.

If you honestly assess your passions and skills and strive to create something valuable–whether that something is a physical product, a digital product or a service–it is only logical that someone else would want to purchase what you have created.  You just have to give them the opportunity.

The internet has radically changed what a business can look like.  You can start a business with just 30 minutes a day and a tiny financial investment.  And even the busiest at home parent can usually find 30 minutes a day.

The businesses we create aren’t likely to land us a feature in Forbes or even replace our husband’s income, but they do have the power to impact our grocery budget or help fund a family vacation.  But, most importantly, these micro businesses have the power to give us a sense of mission, value and accomplishment.  Being a Naptime Entrepreneur, as I call it, has the power to transform your life.

I know because this is my story.  When the first baby came 6 years ago I quit my job and stayed home, but I struggled with happiness and often wondered who I even was without my work.  It is only through my own Naptime Entrepreneurial project that I was able to find happiness at home and love my family as I should.  Over the last 5 years not only have I earned money for my family while at home full-time with my children, I have become a better mother and wife.

It takes focus, time, a few practical skills, often a small financial investment, and passion, but it is possible.  If you believe in this possibility I’d love nothing more than to show you how.

Because fulfillment as a mother is not a thing of the past, it is not a thing only for Ma Ingalls and other mothers of long ago.  It is for us as well.

Sign up for the free email course, and let’s make this happen.

Your Profitable At-Home Business awaits.

Over the next 5 days I will teach you everything you need to know to start a profitable business you can run while home with the kids full time.

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