Infant Imposes Paradigm Shift

I've been a professional salesperson for about 28 years now. Overall, it's been a satisfying career that has yielded income sufficient to meet my needs and a good many of my wants including my deep desire and intention to maximize my time with my, now, 17-year-old daughter, Abigail, and to fully participate in her life. Remaining engaged in my child's day-to-day growth is the very foundation of my brand of  a mother's love. Fortunately, like many sales folk, I'm also entrepreneurial. My real estate career afforded me the opportunity to work a flexible schedule that enabled me to drive my daughter to and from school, attend her in-school activities and celebrations, volunteer with her schools, church, and clubs, and to have two meals a day with her for most of her life. Those are the things that are most important to me -- what I consider hands-on parenting.  I've never regretted a single moment spent with my child.

"The best thing you can spend on your children is your time." ~Louise Hart

Still, with all of the perks of being in sales, it can be stressful. I had worked myself ragged in preparation to be at home with my baby for the first year and a half of her life. Over time, I learned to reduce stress levels by anticipating and effectively negotiating the inevitable ebbs and flows of an ever-dynamic marketplace--the feast or famine aspect, if you will... and by changing my approach to my business operations. In fact, it was the year that I delivered my daughter that I made the very calculated and firm decision that I would, from that point forward, be running my business rather than allowing my business to run me.

One might suspect that this sort of paradigm shift would create uncertainty and insecurity on a personal level, not to mention professionally. One may certainly question the timing of such a major life change with a new baby depending upon my financial resources derived from a thriving sales career. I'm sure I had many a question and reservation myself. Had my business practices to date not worked well from a profit perspective? Had my business not yielded the means for me to essentially take off to provide primary care for my new baby for the first 18 months of her life? Sure, my mode of operation had exacted a toll, but wasn't that to be chalked up to merely the cost for success?

"Motherhood is near to divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind. ~Howard W. Hunter

Before I became a mother, my business was my top priority--the focal point of my life. There were rarely even a few moments of the day that were truly away from work with ringing phones in the office, at home, in the car, and strapped to my waist. There were many times when I had a handset to one ear and a cell phone to the other if you can imagine that sort of insanity. It was rare to get through a meal uninterrupted let alone a vacation. Everything in my life revolved around serving my clients and customers, and, interestingly enough, that had been acceptable to me right up until the day my daughter was born. You know what they say...having a child changes you.

So what about this shift?  What was the end result for my business and for my life when an 8 pound, 3 ounce infant came along and with one powerful push redefined my list of priorities, placing the business that I had nurtured and coddled, beneath her tiny feet? Curiously, this dramatic shift of priorities allowed me to take my business to a much higher level. Peculiar? Not really. When I decided that my business would not run me, I was forced to get outside of the box in which I had contained myself. This mental and emotional shift required that I develop systems that would give me control of my personal life. Designing, implementing, and executing on those systems contributed to my ability to manage a higher volume of business that resulted in, not only increased revenue, but increased profits, accompanied by what I wanted most, maximized quality time with my child.

"The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new." ~Rajneesh