© 2010 Lisa Robbin Young

=====

If you’re ready to make the leap from Reluctance to Renaissance, join us at The Renaissance Mom Experience this August! This 3-day retreat features amazing mom entrepreneurs sharing their success secrets and giving you the tools you need to find balance in your work and life without apologies or excuses.

Did you miss a day? You can catch the entire 30 Days to Renaissance E-course here. It’s free, and no salesman will call.

You may remember Steve Carell’s performance in the film “Evan Almighty.” Evan was a man with a plan.

Sadly, it was the wrong plan, and as God is quick to point out in our own lives, His way and our way are rarely the same. Thus, Evan is set on a new mission: to build an ark. Everyone thinks he’s crazy, and at one point in the film is referred to as “The weirdo with a beard-o”.

Welcome to my world.

As a direct sales coach and trainer for the past three years, I’ve been contently building my “empire”, helping these men and women grow successful direct sales businesses. We launched Direct Sales Classroom earlier this year to provide a comprehensive learning environment for direct sellers at all levels. And the response has been tremendous. I truly believed I had my “plan” all mapped out.

Enter God.

He’s been dealing with my heart for two years now. I’ve known for quite some time that my real mission and passion in life was to reach out to entrepreneurial moms – hard working moms – to help them put balance and focus in their lives.

But I didn’t know how.

So I kept doing what I knew how to do – coaching direct sellers to success.

But God had other plans.

“Build an ark.” He says.

“Um, pardon? I already have this successful plan. What do you mean build an ark?”

And so, I’ve been on a path for the last few months that is driving my family crazy. I’ve been driven to make The Renaissance Mom Experience a successful outreach to mompreneurs, and in the process have met with so much resistance, that I have frequently wondered if this is how Noah felt when he was building the ark.

“You’re doing what?”

“Are you crazy?”

“How are you going to afford that?”

“You’ve never done anything like this before!”

And yes, my own husband is probably one of my biggest opponents in this project. Understandably so. I’ve essentially put my company on the hook for a roughly six-figure financial commitment long before we sold a single ticket.

Now, I don’t pretend to be as righteous or honorable as Noah. I’m more like Evan, I suppose. I’ve got ambitions, aspirations, and desires of my own, and often they cloud whatever vision God might have for me.

And most would call me stupid. I’m sure some people are buying tickets just to see if I will crash & burn.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the flood. Every time there’s been a need for this event, the money appears.

Need to pay a speaker deposit? A matching amount from a sponsor or vendor would appear.

Need to build a marketing plan? An affordable smart marketing consultant appeared.

Whether you believe in God or not, I do. And I hold firmly in my heart that God is working his purpose out in me through this event.

I still have family needs, too.  I visit my son in camp every other week, and tend to my toddler at home. A mom’s day is never done, you know.

So how does a mom manage to keep work, life, family and risk in balance?

It’s like building an ark. Most people think you’re nuts until they see the finished product. The finished product is often far more impressive than anyone imagined – and provides shelter for those that would need it.

How do you build an ark?

One plank at a time.

© 2010 Lisa Robbin Young

==========

USE THIS ARTICLE FOR FREE IN PRINT OR ONLINE!

Simply include these paragraphs with active links as appropriate:

Chip Conley, author of Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow, is one of my recent heroes. I found his book at our local library, and paid a substantial late fee to said library because I couldn’t stop taking notes long enough to return the book. Should have just bought the book.

Conley’s TED talk is one of the most promising I’ve seen to date. On par with Jill Bolte Taylor’s talk about her stroke and how the human brain works. Conley’s book gives us a new way of looking at what makes business worthwhile. Chip’s talk extends that possibility to what makes life worthwhile.

As a mom entrepreneur, it got me thinking about the ways Maslow’s heirarchy of needs plays a big role in my life and work. Chip talks about a happiness quotient – “gross national happiness” – that when applied to our small businesses can be even more transformational in our work, as well as our lives.

Take my kids for example (no pun intended). When they are sick, scared or feeling instability in their lives, they cling to me. Even my 13 year old generally addresses his letters from camp to me, not my husband. He knows there’s a stable, supportive voice on the other end of the line. This is the base need of our children. As Chip points out, it’s the base need of all of us: to feel stable, and secure.

In a business relationship, we look for financial security of products that perform consistently, and business partners we can count on to say what they mean and mean what they say. Until we can establish a relationship of trust and stability, a business will rarely move forward.

When my kids start to assert their independence, they need affirmation, encouragement, and recognition for a job well done. My 4 year old son craves it as much as my teenager – albeit in different ways. Conley suggests that recognition needs to be specific and personalized. recognition means different things to different people. When my 4 year old publicly applauds me for “going pee pee in the potty”, he’s reflecting his own desire for recognition. Likewise, if I publicly applauded my teenage son for the same accomplishment, he’d probably hang a picture of my face on a dart board for target practice. This is the middle layer of Conley’s pyramid – recognition as a means to develop self-actualization.

In business, our clients as well as our team mates need to know that we appreciate them – and they want us to speak their language of recognition.

When the recognition needs are met, and children develop a sense of self worth or self-actualization, they set off on independent adventures. They are confident, and excited about the possibilities their life can hold. As a mom, this is where I’ve stumbled with my teenager. It’s part of the reason he’s in this wilderness camp in the first place. I didn’t have the tools, the knowledge or the understanding of how to help him transition from kid-hood into adolescence. I was too busy worrying about myself, to be frank. The results of my shortcomings nearly cost me the life of my son. I’m not berating myself here. I’m acknowledging that even a smart person can overlook some very important cues – in life and in business. At this camp, my son is completely immersed in projects, activities, and an environment to help him re-build that confidence, give him the recognition he needs (in his own language) and bring him to a place of self-actualization. This is the top of Conley’s pyramid, and it’s a difficult summit to scale. That’s why the top of a pyramid is so much smaller than the base. Not everyone can ascend to the peak.

In business, we owe it to ourselves, our clients, and our team to be mindful of the experiences we’re creating or providing.  Our clients WANT to have mountaintop experiences with our company. We have to be willing to do what it takes to make it happen: providing the right tools, the right environment, and the right guides along the way. It’s not just about making it easy for clients to work with you, but making the experience of working with you positively remarkable.

As mom entrepreneurs, we have a unique skill set and experiences from which we can draw to create that environment in our lives and in our work. First, we must choose to make it happen. Then we must take action.

Skip ahead to the 3:37 mark of the video. That’s where the meat of the story lives.

I don’t watch much television, so the premiere of Sex and the City 2 really didn’t mean much to me until I saw this video. Here, the stars of this incredibly popular movie are speaking out about the juggling act that so many working mothers face. Trying to “do it all” or “have it all” is out the window. It’s a myth that never really existed.

The truth is that working moms don’t want “it all”, we just want what we want: We want a lifestyle we can be proud of, a family we can be proud of, and to not feel guilty about being who we really are.

As mompreneurs, we work to build a business AND maintain a family. We shouldn’t feel guilty about that. In fact, this is a role we’ve played since the early days of our existence on planet earth. One look at Proverbs 31 outlines exactly how hard moms have worked for centuries – both in and outside the home. It is our mission to keep the peace on the homefront as well as in the business arena.

Moms are great leaders. We rally the troops out of bed, to breakfast, to school, etc. All day long we’re directing and executing plays on the field of life. When trouble comes, Mom handles it. It’s what we do. It only makes sense that we would also fill a similar role in the workplace. As more women embrace the power of working from home, more moms are assuming the leadership roles they’ve so long neglected.

Moms are great organizers. We are notorious multi-taskers, spinning multiple plates, even when our own health is at risk. We’re do-ers for others, and sometimes we go too far. We want to support the people that matter to us, and only ask for the same in return.

Instead, we may feel marginalized, or guilty about building a life that balances our needs. Often in my coaching practice, clients confess their guilt over running a successful business because they think it means neglecting their family. There couldn’t be anything further from the truth.

Moms need to put on their own oxygen masks and recognize what’s really important to their well-being, both in terms of self-care and in the business arena. It takes work, most certainly, but balancing your life and work demands is something that must be done if you ever want to feel truly successful as a business mom.

Copyright 2010. Lisa Robbin Young.

==========

Tickets are now on sale for The Renaissance Mom Experience, a 3-day live training event for mompreneurs. If you’re struggling with work-life balance, and want the tools, systems and resources to build a life and a lifestyle that you love, join us this August. To learn more, visit http://TheRenaissanceMomExperience.com and sign up for the free telecourse, “The PEACE System: 5 Simple Steps to Save Your Sanity & Bring Your Business and Life in Balance Without Apologies.“