Enterprising Moms Network Inc

One-Year Left to Live – By Eva Hamori   

What would you do? Where would you go? What would be important to you, and how would you spend your precious time left on earth? With friends and family or traveling to the places you have always wished to visit? Would you buy the fastest car your savings could buy and drive on the Autobahn or would you drink yourself into oblivion? All viable options but what if you weren't dying? Shouldn't we live each day as if it were our last? Why not live our best life now instead of waiting for that pivotal moment that awakens you from the day to day grind. Our auto pilot existence, where comfort and security are the bottom line of our needs, yet we ask little more from our selves. Heaven forbid we slightly move out of our comfort zone into uncomfortable change. But the question is, "Is this your life?" I know it is, but is it the dream life you couldn't wait to get too? Maybe you are stuck in a job you dislike, or a marriage that doesn't quite fit or debt you can't manage. Match your life with your true passion and everything else falls into place. 

These thoughts prompted our family into the next Hamori family adventure! 

Yes we have a beautiful life. Canada is a wonderful place to live. Money is not a problem. It steadily comes in and we steadily pay our bills.

I stay home with the kids. I have a support network of strong women I turn towards. Life is about what mattered to me. The causes I fight for and the people I surround myself with.  I volunteer.

With me home, Alfonz didn't have to share in the day-to-day stuff, and he started to get more and more successful, and had a soft place to fall at the end of each stressful day.

But this is not just my life to live on the back of my husband, who comes home exhausted. It's his life too. And why wouldn't he deserve the same luxury of self-growth he allows for me. I am not saying that staying home is a piece of cake, and that I don't work my tail off cooking homemade meals each day, or growing a garden or teach my kids, and all the things life as a parent entails. 

What I realized was being a parent was in fact my true self, being home with my babies was my life ambition, and I felt a huge reward having the time to figure that out. When I found my groove all the elements in my life started to jive. I found a passion for Montessori Education, volunteered at the children's school, started a block watch in our community and began to blog. My circle of friends grew around me with people I love and respect, people I truly learn from. So I wasn't idle eating bonbons watching soaps, I was my husband's equal partner, and my true self. As such I worked 100% of the time to the best of my ability. People seem to work much harder at the things they love. But how can we do the same for Alfonz?

Solution: A year of travel through France. With the option to buy a Gite, live there and run it. The idea is to spend as much time together as we can, while the kids are young enough to assimilate to a new culture. A land with warmer weather,  320 days of sunshine per year and a close journey to our home in Budapest. This would give our family the life we deserve, one that focuses on time currency and not just chasing the dollar. 

We are preparing by learning French, since January.

The vision looks like this. Buy a large home in the Languedoc region in the South of France. Close to tourist attractions and on route to the sea. It has a garden with a large table over looking a spectacular view of the Pyrenees Mountains or rolling countryside or something of that nature. Travelers’ are around a table and I’m serving them a beautiful Sunday Coq Au Vin meal or the like with ingredients from my beautiful garden. I see a house with a kitchen that we would live in and I an adjoining house with rental suites/rooms or floors for guests to stay in. There's a swimming pool to cool down in and a beautiful vineyard. The sun is setting as our glasses toast and our life would be restful, rewarding and happy. 

It's a funny thing. When we started to tell people we are moving to France, the first response is one of great disbelief. Many have dreams that seem implausible. People often wish they could move across the world to a land they visited once in there twenties that seemed perfect. Wishing to go back and live in that place that seemed unbelievably magical. And France being the most visited tourist destination in the world, I guess it's a common goal. 

The difference is I happened to have married a man that no matter what I have ever suggested, as crazy as it may seem, he never said as much. He always said, "If it's that important to you, we will make it happen." And in return I give the same courtesy. 

Great opportunities come along often and it really depends on character if you seize them. Our family is constantly dreaming, and wishing and improving and when something like this adventure presents itself we jump in headfirst.

If we end up back after a few months or ten months or even 2 years, at least we gave it a try. 

Better to have loved and lost than never loved at all? Better to have traveled and return than to never travel at all!

So if you think we are dreaming, yes of course we are. If you think we are crazy, maybe so. But if you need a rental B&B in the South of France, give us a call.

Visit Eva Hamori's website: http://www.thatshamori.com 

With preparations for Christmas well underway, I feel as though this year is the first year I've finally got it right.

I started buying gifts at the beginning of November and had the house decorated both inside and out by the first week of December. 

 Enterprising Moms Network annaul Xmas & Silent Auction was held in White Rock for the Ronald McDonald House and raised more than $850.

My own family has been able to donate to two other families  this year, that my son's school is sponsoring.

Usually, I am struggling with gift ideas, trying to figure out which charity to donate to, and driving myself crazy....

The kids have had their breakfast with Santa and Mrs. Claus, written their wish lists and the Christmas cards are done and mailed out.

So what makes this year so different from other years?  I'm guessing its because I finally allowed myself some time to get fully prepared.  Instead of reacting to Christmas, I am acting.  

I'm even hosting the Christmas Dinner this year at my house for my parents, in-laws and my sister and her family. 

I'm also planning on giving myself a break after the holidays for a quick getaway for myself and my friend at the River Rock. It's the first time I am allowing myself not to feel guilty about taking some time for me and have a night out filled with fun and relaxation. You can CLICK HERE to check it out what I'm doing.  I'm very excited.:)

This Christmas, I have chosen to put everyone I love and care about on my priority list, including myself. ;) And I hope you will too!

To all the mom entrepreneurs out there busy with their business, getting their families prepared for Christmas and really making it work - from my home to yours - Merry Christmas!

- Kelley Scarsbrook, EMN President

Are Tornado Warnings Affecting Your Business?

- By Tereza Kumric – Enterprising Moms Network Toronto

Business owners enter the business world with a no fail attitude. We’ve done our homework, calculated our margins, set our goals and are ready for success. But as our guest speaker Sarah Morgenstern of Savvy Mom Media said at the Enterprising Moms meeting in Toronto, business is not a Cinderella story.

Like  every business owner, when we have an important launch, important event or  meeting  we gear up, we plan , we dot our I’s and cross our T’s – like I did for the Enterprising Moms event that was planned for October 26 with Sarah Morgenstern. What I did not plan for however was the extreme weather warning for Toronto that forced me to cancel an event that I was planning for months (and you thought the tornado in the title was just a metaphor!).

So I did what all business owners do – I put out the fire.

I called all the members and guests, tweeted, emailed and rescheduled the event as fast as I could.

Not a big deal – life happens right?

Yes, it does and while your warnings might not come in the form of a tornado, one of the many “truths” that Sarah shared about being a mom entrepreneur was just that – “Bad things will happen… things will go wrong”.  So, all that cumbersome stuff that small business owners think they don’t need, like lawyers and contracts, insurance and a back-up plan… well, think again. Does that mean you need to dump that no fail attitude? 

Absolutely not.  Just know that despite your intentions and motivated spirit, things CAN and WILL go wrong. Have a lawyer, have insurance, make sure your goals are in line with your business partners goals (before you start the business!), be very involved and don’t leave your business on autopilot, and have support, whether  it is in the form of an advisory board, a networking group  or friends and family.

This way, when the tornado hits, you are prepared to react.

Guest post by Nancy Milton - www.lifedots.ca

Should sucks.  Really, it totally does.  I have been “shoulding” my whole life.  “You should call your grandma (daily), you should make a proper dinner (vs. serving myself a great plate of nachos with cheese and salsa), you should clean the garage, you should get up/ showered & dressed before the kids interrupt the process.”  See what I mean?  There’s a whole “here’s how it’s supposed to be done” guilt part of life that, to put it bluntly, I’m tired of.  So, I’m letting go of ‘should’, and have reintroduced  ‘would’. And today, I will make the introductions to you.

I’m a morning person.  Pre-kids, I would set the alarm in the morning (it’s amazing I still remember this, it seems so long ago).  When the alarm would go off (music, no shrilling “GET UP” ringing for me), I’d simply lie there for a couple minutes.  Listen to the news from the radio, open my eyes, do the mental check list on the body parts (and ailments), LOVE the feeling of the comforter cocooning me and the moments of pleasure without a to-do list running through my head like nails on a chalk board.

I gave this up 5+ plus years ago.  This 5 minutes of bliss. This ‘connect with my mind/ body/ spirit regime and all it’s benefits’ to instead thrust myself out of bed – to the point of sometimes dizzy – to begin the marching orders of my routine for that day. 

Then, one morning it all changed.  The kids “slept in” (for clarity, this is anytime after 7:00am) and I woke up independently.  I listened to the birds chirping. I stretched. I thought about the dream I woke from. I enjoyed a couple moments of “ahhh’.  Then it hit me.  I’VE MISSED THIS.  I NEED this back in my life.  Then my inner voice started with the ‘shoulds’.  “You’re now behind schedule. You should get dress FAST, make the bed, put on your make up, wake the kids and do it without seeming frantic because you’re late.”  Let me ask you this, does your inner voice know my inner voice?  This particular morning, I put a stop to it.

 Simply. I didn’t should.

Instead I “would”.

So, the kids come in within minutes of this blissful experience and the 5 year old literally asks me “Mommy what are you doing in bed?!?”.  I laugh out loud. Then asked them to both climb in (bed) with me so I could teach them to “would”.  So they climb in and I prep them for the “experience” (worded more kid friendly then I have for you). “Would it be nice to start every morning with a couple minutes giggling in bed? Would it be joyous to gaze out the bedroom window & enjoy the beauty of the start of the day? Would it be a better day to feel a connection (to self or each other) before throwing back the covers to rush to get to school?” 

It’s no shock to you I am sure, the answers to each would were yes.  So, every morning they climb in to wake me up.  We come up with shapes within the clouds & tree branches out my window, we talk about our dreams, we talk about our day.  We connect.  And the alarm is set for a specific time to allow us to wake each other up and have this “would” time in case anyone ever oversleeps again (ha...have only needed that alarm once).

Everyday my live was full of ‘shoulds’.  I ‘should’ empty the dishwasher. I ‘should’ get this stuff to the drycleaners.  I’ve got lots of ‘shoulds’ in my life that I’ve relabelled with ‘must’.  For the rest of them, I do my ‘would’ test to help me better access if the ‘should’ is a ‘must’.  If it’s not a must I then ask myself, what would be best in the situation? Or what would the benefit be for me to do that in the short and long term?  What would this do to make my (or others ) day better/ brighter/ easier? Then I let my gut answer.  My gut is always right, it’s the interpretation I’ve been screwing up on. What ‘shoulds’ are ‘musts’ in your life? And what ‘should’ needs to experience the ‘would filter’ to give your life connection back?

Nancy Milton is “the First Dot” of Life Dots; a Facilitation and Coaching organization that strives to assist all clients in making the change in their lives to give them the life they want to have. Life Dots is about connecting your Life Dots.  For more information on one or one coaching, corporate coaching or retreats check out www.lifedots.ca or contact nancy@lifedots.ca

Are you someone who loves (or lives) to write?  Do you have expertise or insight into a topic that you would love to share?  We'd love to help you share!

The Enterprising Moms Network is currently looking for guest bloggers to contribute to our blog.  Topics on the blog cover everything from networking and marketing to family vacations and summer fun.  We know that there are alot of women out there who have lots to say and share about life, motherhood and business.  And we'd like to hear from you!

If you are interested in writing for EMN, please check out the EMN Editorial Calendar by clicking here. Every month we have 2 different topics, one "Enterprising" topic and one "Mom" topic, and there is a submission deadline for each month.  If this sounds like something that would interest you, please email us for more info or better yet - send us your post!

Two quick things to remember regarding your submission - please keep your post to about 500 words, and also include any photos/graphics etc to give your post as much "eye-candy" as possible.  Also, be sure to include the link to your website!

Here's to seeing some "enterprising" entries - happy writing everyone!

Blog post courtesy of Dara Wyton, Chapter Director EMN Sunshine Coast & owner Dara Wyton Design.

Ladies this is not your husband’s office, a shared space, a nook in the corner, or a kid friendly den.  This is an office devoted to you and you only!  You are one of a number of women working from home or running a successful business - your office should leave you motivated and inspired.

Every woman needs a space of her own.  Going to work every morning can be a delight when you have a chic and efficient space.  Devote one room to you and make it multipurpose - this space can be an office, den, and cozy escape from the hectic world.  Think outside the box and make it as unique as you are because your oasis does not have to follow the standard rules of office space. Skip the institutional-looking furniture and coordinate with your décor.

In this glamorous yet elegant office, we took a number of beautiful furniture pieces and made them efficient and functional. The skirted parson chair was transformed with four basic casters into a beautiful and comfy office chair. The striking bureau was refinished and put to use as an elegant storage cabinet. A cozy nook in which to relax and unwind was created with the placement of a graceful chaise lounge in the corner. This room has been streamlined with highly functional items and minimal clutter, creating an office sanctuary with a feeling of leisureliness.

A variety of light levels can establish different moods while still providing enough light to work by. Here, a seductive chandelier was added to enhance the glamour as well as providing plenty of light as it sparkles off the gloss ceiling. We also placed stunning table lamps around the room so the mood could be brought down to a more intimate level for reading or sipping a glass of wine in the evening.

Here are a few do’s and don’ts for a perfect office: Do give yourself plenty of storage because the last thing you want is to feel overwhelmed in your fantastic space. Don't ever use florescent lighting; it is harsh light that will only give you a headache. Do use colors and finishes that reflect your personality- this room is for you and you only! Don't let your office become the storage room. Do splurge on a feature you love, whether it is the lighting fixture or the drapery treatment, which will make your office that much more special.

Ladies, do not sell yourself short-you deserve a space of your own!

I first became aware of a film called "The Glow Project" in February of 2009.  As a consultant with a Canadian direct-sales company, there were many consultants who had seen the movie and were sharing their thoughts and feelings about it.  The consensus seemed to be that this was a phenomenal movie that affected women from all walks of life greatly.

I soon saw the trailer for the movie, and eventually saw the movie a few months later.  The Glow Project had a huge impact on me as a person, as a mom, and as a woman in business.  The Glow Project showcases a full-length feature movie that spotlights 14 incredible women—seven of them corporate achievers and seven successful entrepreneurs. The Glow Project is the result of a dynamic grassroots movement fueled by the authenticity, stories and life lessons of the incredibly gifted women selected for The GLOW Project. Without question, The Glow Project has redefined the personal development paradigm for women and represents a breakthrough in helping women achieve like never before.

To find out more about The Glow Project and the impact it's had on women's lives, check out The Glow Project website here.  To see more on how women have reacted to the Glow Project, check out the video below... and spread the Glow....

Have you had that "ONE" bright business idea and let it go because you had no idea what to do with it? Or how about already owning your own business and being scared to take it to the "NEXT LEVEL"?       

Many of us have been there and know what its like. It's scary and exciting all at the same time. The risk of failure, the possibility of it not working - yep, that does exist.

However, what also exits is the possibility of its success and creating the life you always dreamed of.

If entrepreneurship was easy, everyone would be doing it. What separates those who succeed, and those who don't is simple: tenacity.

Have you ever read a bio about someone and thought to yourself "I thought of that!" or "I could have done that".  The only difference between that person and you is that YOU didn't try.

Entrepreneurship has its ups and downs. You will find that every successful business owner will have a story about failure(s) - of when the business really wasn't working very well. But they stuck with it - saw it through, and eventually it succeeded. 

These struggles build character, they define how you will handle business in the future. In essence, they make you a better entrepreneur because you  lived through the hard times - and so did your business.

So if you have always wanted to try your hand at entrepreneurship because you have that ONE great idea - or really want to grow your business and take it to the NEXT LEVEL; make 2010 the year you simply go for it.

Never live your life with regret - you'll never know if it could work, unless you work to make it happen.

Happy 2010!

Guest blog post courtesy of Jennifer Fong 

As those in direct selling and network marketing enter the holiday season, we begin to think about those things that make the holidays so special for people: giving to others, giving thanks. Interestingly, these are the same things that bring you success in social media when you are in direct sales. So as you enter your busiest season of the year, keep in mind how the very things we celebrate at the holidays can lead to more success as you market online. 

* Giving to Others: Social media success all comes from thinking about the other guy (or girl.) When you spend time highlighting the content and successes of others, sharing the good things they’ve done, and providing value to the people you’re connected with online, you are a giver. And people appreciate that! In an age where most people in business think only of themselves and their gain, people focused on others are a refreshing change. We ENJOY doing business with people focused on others. So as you interact on social networking sites, share useful links to content (your own, but also the content of others.) Always keep in mind what your network of folks (your tribe, so to speak) is interested in, and what will solve problems for them. And then deliver! That’s how you provide value that will translate into more sales and recruits for your business. 

* Giving Thanks: When was the last time someone sent you a thank you note or message? How did it make you feel? This is a trend that has gone by the wayside in recent years, but may be making a resurgence thanks to social media, because it is one of the key elements to success. It’s so important to let people know that you appreciate the effort they’ve gone to for you. So if someone retweets your content, always say thanks. If someone has hosted a live or virtual event for you, use a service to let that person know how you appreciate it. There are some great services out there that let you do so. And by taking that extra minute to say thanks, you position yourself as someone who values others. Everyone wants to be valued. Give that gift to others. It will pay off in a big way for your business. 

People are the engine that makes social media run. And people like to feel valued and appreciated. The tools themselves make it so easy to highlight others, say thank you, and provide the content that people need. By focusing on the needs of your connections online, you can make a significant difference in their lives, while you remind people about your business. And that is what leads to success. 

 What do you think? Have you used these principles to build your business? What will you do this week? I love it when my readers join the conversation and make a comment. I hope you will today!

Jennifer Fong helps direct sales companies, direct sales professionals, and other home-based business owners leverage the power of social media to grow their businesses. A former direct sales company CEO and serial entrepreneur, Jennifer is passionate about teaching direct sellers how to use social media tools to enhance their businesses. She helps business owners put the principles of social media to work in a profitable way, offering coaching and training to business owners.  She offers products and training courses that teach you step-by-step how to apply social media to your home-based business.  Visit Jennifer’s website at http://jenfongspeaks.com and subscribe to her newsletter by clicking here.