It’s been a good week. A long week. A lot of mistakes-made week. But a good week.

One night this week, I put the kids to bed and then went out and made meat deliveries. In the dark. And I’m pretty sure I ran over a squirrel. I got home late and reconciled invoices. Then woke up at 4am, not because I wanted to but because the COO thinks that’s his new wake-up time this week (I I LOATHE you Daylight Savings Time). And then had another long day of being a mama and a small-business owner.

It reminded me of a conversation I had with my dad about 15 years ago. I was in Chicago, living the single life, working for an advertising agency and we were launching a new product. I was in the office at 5am and not leaving till 9pm. I was working my tail off. And my dad questioned why I was working so many hours. I said, “Well isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black?” He worked a billion hours a week as a dairy farmer. How could HE question MY work ethic? But his response was, “But I put all those hours in for myself. For my business. I’m not the middleman”.

Hrmmmph. Dads. They’re so wise. And annoying, all at the same time.

Skip ahead 10 years and I found myself working overtime again, for someone else. But this time I had a family.

I would be traveling 2-3 days a week, every week. Staying in hotel rooms many nights, watching re-runs of Fixer Upper and Keeping Up with the Kardashians (don’t judge me) and falling asleep sitting up with my breast pump still on. Missing the kid’s bedtime, all the time. And even if I came home that night, I didn’t count it as a night home if I didn’t put the kids to bed. That’s a big deal in our household. Bathtime, reading books, talking about the day, saying our prayers. And I missed that, a lot.

Until we realized a life could be made doing what we love. Raising our children like we were raised. Being present for them. Creating a legacy for them.

Is this you? Do you want to be in charge? In charge of your hours, your salary, your life? Are you considering quitting your hamster wheel of a job to start your own small business?

Then grow a pair and make it happen.

Your children aren’t getting any younger. And neither are you. Create a business plan. Set goals. Determine your monthly expenses and what you can “live” on. Eat beans and rice, as Dave Ramsey would say. Look at it from every angle possible. Do your homework. Make sure you can make money at some point. (Remember Gross and Net are two very different things!) Then tell the bank you’ve never been so sure of anything in your life (even if you have your fingers crossed behind your back) and get that loan.

PLEASE be sure to include your family in this process. Tell your spouse you’ll need his support now more than ever and that you’ll need extra help with your children. And tell him he’s awesome, because he is.

Know that you will work twice as many hours being self-employed than you ever did working for your company. How does the saying go, “Entrepreneurs works 80 hours a week so they don’t have to work 40 hours a week”? You will put your children to bed and then get your laptop out and work another 2-3 hours. And you won’t sleep. If you do, you’ll have nightmares about QuickBooks and your freezer

breaking down.

But at the end of the day, you’ll know you are working for yourself. On your own awesome hamster wheel, that you decorated in hot pink feather boas and Bedazzled rhinestones because it’s your damn hamster wheel and you don’t need permission to do what you want. Take a leap and work your bootie off….for you. For your family. For their future.

We certainly have a long ways to go learning all the ins and outs of being small business owners. Self-employment is awesome, and very hard and kinda scary.

If you want to know more of what, why and how we made the decision to get Pilaroc off the ground, leave a comment and I’ll reach out to you. Eat some dirt in the meantime; it tastes better when it’s your dirt.