Finally Feeling Some Tangible (EMPLOYABLE) Results

When I started The Employable Mom, I wanted a space to organize my experiences of staying employable while on my "extended maternity leave": and so I began doing some talking (actually a lot of talking), plus some research and more research, and self-exploration and now I'm doing a lot of "doing!" To be honest it's keeping me really busy but a lot of where I am now is due to the things I was doing back then, like: goal setting, finding ways to get out of the house and be social, getting CPR and First Aid certified (which has surprisingly come in very handy,) and a ton of other things. I've loved all the self discovery but I'm even more excited to be doing something that makes me feel productive because I've finally found the mommy project I've been so desperately looking for!

Let me give you some context: a few posts back, I shared some potential BIG NEWS and now I can almost certify that it's official BIG NEWS because next week I'm going to finalize the paperwork for my purchase of a pre/post-postnatal fitness franchise! I'm really excited, I think that this will enable me to gain a lot of marketable skills in addition to trying a whole realm of new things!

Now buying a franchise isn't for everyone, and I still plan on peeking into other employable opportunities for SAHMs, because one of my goals for EM is to really flush out all of the options out there. However, EM will see a few changes, mostly in posting regularity, but possibly in content. And once I get over the newness hump of running my own business, I'll most certainly re-evaluate my plans for EM.

I guess what I'm trying to do here is give a little update on my project's progress and renew my commitment to my Employable Mom community. I don't want you to think I've forgotten about you as my posts move to being more far and few between. I'm anticipating that I will maintain this speed, but don't anticipate that I stop all-together. I've still got a journey to document; plus I've got big things planned and I'm excited to share them with you!

Sincerely,

FREE Document Publishing Site and Rotating Goal List PRINTABLE

I'm super excited to share this awesome free document publishing site and my first printable!

Lately, I've been talking a lot about working on my productivity because my to-do list has been feeling super overwhelming. For a while now I've been LOVING this Rotating Goal List that I found on pinterest because it will allow me to prioritize the important things without having to look at the whole list. Corn Flower Blue Studio gives a great tutorial on how to make it, here. However, as soon as I saw that it involved crafts, my heart sank! I am just not that crafty; but to craft something up on the computer - right up my alley.

So I got to work making my first printable, in Microsoft Word (I'm not that fancy,) but wanted to be able to display it and allow anyone to download it from my blog.

Enter Scribd, which enabled me to do this:
 
Rotating Goal List Printable

Isn't it pretty? (Click the fullscreen button for the best view!)

Scribd is great for self-publishing and can be embedded into your blog!  There are so many great ways to self-publish (another one here) but this one is super easy since you can basically upload any document in any format. It also keeps analytics for you. Awesome! (This isn't sponsored or anything, I just really like it and had to share!)

Ok, so back to the printable itself. When I was a teacher, I used to make coordinate plane white boards by slipping a huge coordinate plane into a sheet protector; then I had plenty of "white boards" to pass out to students for graphing practice. So - that's what I did with this: print, slip, write. Whenever I feel like I'm running around aimlessly, trying to accomplish too many things at once, I pull out this little sheet and refocus myself.

This rotating goal list white board has been so successful, I've come up with a few additional printable white boards that I'll be sharing in my next post.

Sincerely,

P.S. - How do you keep your to-do lists from overwhelming you?

Keep Your Head Up

I cannot get this song out of my head! So darn catchy!

So I've been kind of bumming all week. I don't know why but some days/weeks hit me really hard with urges to be working. I've been keeping really busy with other things too. Unfortunately, when I'm so busy, it takes time away from getting posts out, and then it starts to get to me. Ah, the double edged sword. (Also, my son isn't sleeping again...so that never helps.)

Just to catch you up on what I have been so busy with...

A few weeks ago I cleaned out my closet of all my old work related clothes (and other junk) and this week I finally took them to our local branch of Dress for Success. It was bittersweet. Obviously, I'm super happy to be helping other women look great at work; I donated some suits and I'm really glad that they will match them up with an owner who will love them as much as I did. But it's just kind of a reminder that I am not working, (albeit, for good reason.)

I've been working on some home projects: rearranging furniture, making a big chalk board, general organizing, and trying to find myself a little workspace in our little home. I'm also planning on staining some furniture, making some art for our super bare walls, doing some furniture repair, and picking fabrics for some reupholstering. I like doing home-y things but I'm so afraid of picking something that will turn out to be not how I pictured and becomes an expensive mistake. So, decorating the house ends up being a ridiculously long and time consuming process. I tell my husband, "I'm afraid of commitment."

We're also planning for another marathon 2 week trip to DC and having a little first birthday celebration for the baby (omg...I'm not going to be able to call him that anymore.) Of course I'm so excited, but there are lots of things to do.

I don't think I've mentioned this here before, but I volunteer as an adviser for the local chapter of my college sorority. A lot of the officers have had major questions and so I've been meeting with all 18 girls one-on-one to help sort things out before the year comes to an end. It's been interesting to learn all the intricacies of the organization, which is somewhat akin to a company. I've been giving advice on finance, marketing, HR, etc. It's been good but it's really really time consuming.

And the last thing is my BIGGEST NEWS: I've been exploring the possibility of starting a mommy business. This blog has been a great mommy project, but sometimes I feel like it's not enough. I like writing and sharing information but I don't like sitting behind a computer all day. I need to be around people. And actually, an opportunity has kind of presented itself. I'm still trying to figure out the details of everything. Sometimes, it sounds like a really great idea, and then other times I feel like I'm in over my head and that it wont work out. I'm not ready to share everything quite yet, but as I learn more about it I will def pass along the messy details.

It's funny because these things that have been keeping my busy are great things, but somehow I'm still bogged down. I'm sure his sleep issues have A LOT to do with it, combined with still working on a routine for organizing my time. Hopefully, this Andy Grammer song that I've got perpetually playing in my head for like the past three days will give me a boost.

Sincerely,

P.S. - How do you work through the exhausting, busy, unorganized days? I love tips.

Colourlovers: Design for the SAHM

In the "learn a new blog skill section" of this post I shared my discovery of a few color palette sites and apps I found while designing my blog. Well, when I was working on this weeks arty Feed Read post, I found another AWESOME palette site and it's so good and so full of employability potential that I couldn't just write one sentence about it, so I just had to write a whole post.

I found the site while playing around with twitter. While I was uploading my background to my page, I happen to click on the "Check out Themeleon" link which I though was cool because it lets you create an awesome twitter background and design a color palette, etc.

So I started exploring the site hosting this service, Colourlovers, and I have just about fallen in love with it.

(The first time, I skipped the tour, but in retrospect - do it; I learned more.)

I started with the pattern template generator, which basically enables you to make a template for a pattern, (it's best viewed in it's entirety, here.)

Then I was able to add color that resulted in this whole pattern.

And then you have so many options for your pattern:

1. Background

You can download the image for your desktop, for your iphone, or for your blog background!

2. Fabric

You can turn it into a fabric, that you can sell here. (Mine isn't for sale...yet!)

3. Art

You can turn it into framed, canvas or print art, that you can sell (however, they have put a hold on new artist sign-ups, so I'll keep you updated when I get in.)


So it was at this point that I went back and tried the tour, where I customized my Employable Mom color palette from the colors I use for my site.

I took these colors right from my site by typing my HEX#s right into Colourlovers. The COOLEST PART, was when I typed in my blue color they said that it was a "new color" to the site and they let me NAME IT (which I named after my son.) Check out Baby Blue! Also, and this is also kind of cool - it correlates to a Martha Stewart paint color that you can buy from Home Depot (however, it renders the "closest match" which for this one isn't really close at all...)

I basically spent my entire day playing with this site because it's so much fun! This would be such a fantastic site for a fashion/artistic/design mom to work on fabric design, or whatnot. If you decide to join, follow me, so I can follow back and check out all of the amazing designs your coming up with! I hope you enjoy playing with it as much as I did!


Sincerely,

P.S. - Have any cool sites that you think would enable a SAHM to get her foot in the door? (Like this one!) Share them below! (I want to try them all and report back!)

Not a Make Money From Home Scam

I searched our house high and low just to find enough to take this picture.

A few weeks ago I posted some recommended reading for career breaking, and in it was this article with suggestions about financially preparing for a career break. I thought all of the suggestions were pretty interesting but one of the ones that resonated with my SAHM-break was freelancing through an internet marketplace like Elance. (And I also re-posted the link in yesterday's feed read.

Elance is a digital freelancing site that allows you to make a profile and bid for jobs in a variety of categories like: IT, Design, Writing, Sales, Admin, Finance, the list goes on. What is really neat about it, is that all the work you do is from home and you can choose to work on projects based around your schedule (and what you agree on with your client.) This could be a perfect naptime project, mommy business, or a way to keep your skills up. And it's not one of those scammy ads: "make money from home."

I decided to try it out myself the other day.

First thing you do when you get to their site and sign-up is design a profile, this took me an entire naptime to complete (it was a shorter nap and there is a LOT to explore.) The site is packed with resources, including skills tests you can take that correlate to each industry, and after you take one it gives you a proficiency score that you can display on your profile. I thought that might be cool to take just to know where I stand. I tried one of the easier ones, I think it was called "phone skills." Somehow I got one or two wrong because I got around a 90%...oops. I also submitted two proposals and so I'm excited to hear back if I got the jobs. I just submitted for two little jobs that I thought sounded interesting and that I could get done within a nap or two.

I was actually pretty impressed by how easy it was and how little time it took to submit a proposal. Essentially, this site is a legit way to make some cash on the side, get some experience for your resume, and network.  Perfect for the SAHM.

Sincerely,
Jordan

P.S. - I didn't get paid for this or anything, this is just me trying out something and offering advice! Let me know what you think!

I Need an E-book to Publish

On Thursday night I attended a class at our local library about e-publishing. Now, I'm not a writer by any stretch of the imagination nor do I have plans to write a book, I actually went hoping to get inspiration on making some sort of e-portfolio, which is apparently a very different type of thing. Almost all the people at this class had completed manuscripts that they wanted to turn into ebooks, (very cool for them.) I stayed at the class because it seemed like it would be an interesting skill to have: the know-how to format, publish, and market an ebook. I learned so many random things about the publishing world that I never knew before, which I'm now going to share with you.

So the class was hosted by two authors who have published in both the traditional method and the self-publishing method, so they gave a pretty interesting comparison of the methods.

In the traditional method, you basically hand over your final manuscript to a big publishing house and they edit, format, publish, market, etc, your book and then you get back 10% of the price of the book. I'm an ex-accountant so your getting the numbers. For example, if the Hunger Games (because that's what I'm about to be reading - Mockingjay) cost $20 then Suzanne Collins would get $2 a book. In Feb 2010, she sold 800,000 books which makes her cash-money equal to $1,600,000 (that's over the course of the books life.)

In the e-book method, she gets 70% of the sale price, which is about $8.00. She has sold over 1 million ebooks, but lets say she only sold 800,000 for comparisons sake, she would get $5.60 per book and for 800,000 she would get $4,480,000. Wow - that's like a difference of more than 2 mil...omg.

Obviously she is a huge outlier because the Hunger Games was RIDICULOUSLY successful, but the authors recommend that if you are just in it for the $$$ then you should write in one of the two most popular genres: romance or thriller; the biggest cash cow is the genre "paranormal romance;" (this category made me giggle,) which is books like Twilight.  

E-publishing has become a real challenger against the traditional method because of it's incredible popularity amongst authors and the average-Joe. E-books are a win-win for authors and readers: lower price point for readers, more direct profit for authors, and low start-up costs for newbie writers. There is also a whole little home-grown industry coming up around the self-publishing of e-books. People are choosing to work out of their homes: editing, formatting, cover art designing, and marketing e-books, (which would be a FANTASTIC mommy business for a SAHM! Another great SAHM job would be actually writing your own book!)

The authors provided us with a bunch of resources like this formatting guide and this company that will format and make cover art for you (at a reasonable price) if you choose not to do it yourself. They also talked briefly about self-publishing hard books through this Amazon program. I took notes at the presentation so if you are interested in all of the nitty-gritty details feel free to contact me and I will pass along what I know.

Sincerely,
Jordan

Get Out of the House Week

I grew up in the great State of Florida, and now that we live in the chilly north I have a hard time getting out of the house, especially with baby. It is really hard to truck him around normally, with the car seat or the stroller or the shopping cart cover, but in the winter it is even harder to bundle him up and take things on and off, remember blankets and hats, and to keep him happy under all those layers. It is a real struggle for me to even leave the house at all because I just don't like being out in the cold. This can't be healthy though, never leaving the house leaves me (and baby) with little social interaction. So this week I am forcing myself to get out of the house at least once every day, with baby or without. I sat down and looked up every resource I know of for events and meet-ups and this week I will be doing it all (or at least one thing.)

Looking for some events for baby or just for you? Here are some sources to try:

Library

BABY: Our local library has several FREE baby playgroups through out the week at each of the different branches. They play a little music, tell a story, and then have some free play; plus you can get some time to talk with other adults = networking.
YOU: The library has tons of free/cheap classes in all kinds of things. Just a sampling of what is available at ours: book discussions, art speakers, computer skills, etsy-instuction class, learning languages, film screenings, meet-the-author events, performances, etc. A lot of events are available in the evening and some of the speakers during the day could be perfectly reasonable to bring baby to as well. This is a great way to build up some employable skills, or network with people of similar interests.

YMCA/Fitness club
BABY: I take a great baby-and-me swim class at a local indoor pool. I know he is too little to be really "swimming:" but his affinity for water has definitely increased and they teach great pool safety skills like how to find the wall, floating, and how to climb out of the pool.
YOU: A lot of local rec centers have free/small fee childcare while you get to hit the gym.

Religious Organizations
BABY: Our church's bulletin is filled with great family events. It also has a mom/baby group that meets once a week. When our son gets older they have an affordable preschool too. Our local JCC is also popular in our area, not just amongst Jewish families, for having events, mom's groups, childcare, etc. The same is true of lots of other faith-based groups.
YOU: Not only do most groups have events for baby but there are also book clubs, speakers, and community service opportunities (resume-builders!) My church even has a career builders network that hosts job search related events; and a great skill-building event that I will be going to this Saturday, (so more to come!)

Local Mom Blog
BABY: Our area has an awesome local mom blogger who posts weekly event listings and reviews of places to take the little ones. I found the site through a google search "[your town] mom blog."
YOU: A lot of the events that are posted are great ideas for a free/cheap date night with the husband.

Hopefully these resources help you to get out of the house too.

Sincerely,
Jordan

P.S. I'm always looking for ideas: share some of your own resources for how you stay busy!

My 2012 Employable Action Items

I recently read The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin and LOVED it. She offers a lot of great advice but what I liked the most was her method of turning resolutions into "concrete measurable actions." So a 'la happiness-project, I am here to present my much talked about, employable action items.

Using my Three Factors of Employability and my Employable & Enjoyable Skills Breakdown, I created an excel spreadsheet made of six employable action items, (things that I think will help me to get hired when I return to the workforce,) and six enjoyable action items, (things that I want to do because I want to make the most out of my career break!)

 Almost all of my goals are monthly so I'll be easily able to track them by coloring in a box for each successful accomplishment. You may be looking at this and thinking, "wow...once a month, big whoop," but for me, this is a stretch and will enable me to guarantee success for some of these. Plus, I can re-evaluate whenever I want to ensure the intentions behind these are being met. Being a new mom can be ridiculously time-consuming and so putting aside time to get through a book or get out of the house to take a class in something might be all that you can do; don't pile on too much and set yourself up for failure.

These action items are all about helping me to find my niche when I return to the workforce. If you already know what you want to do when you return, focus on that. If you are still trying to figure things out, jump around and encourage yourself to try new things.

I'm really excited to put this into writing because I think that it will help to hold me accountable. The timing for me to start this is ideal, since it's the beginning of the new year, however, you can start this anytime. Putting your goals, however large or small, into writing is crucial to success; it just makes them more real.

Sincerely,
Jordan

P.S. - I'd love to hear some of your own employable action items. Comment below or tweet me @employablemom #EmployableActionItems

The Three Factors That Will Keep You Employable

So one of the things I am working on is developing action items for my employability project, just some things I can do to keep the ball rolling on maintaining my resume and network.

Without using any expert opinions, I've kind of coined what I believe are the Factors of Employability, the things that effect whether you get a job or not. My Factors of Employability are networking, experience, and education. These may seem obvious and need no explanation but I feel like for the sake of experimentation I should define my "test areas."

To me, experience is probably the most obvious factor of employability. Most non-entry level jobs require you to have some level of experience working in their field before they will consider you for a position. 

Education is the next factor of employability. For some jobs, employers use education to make a correlation between job success and so it ends up as a sort of check box of qualifications that employers use to weed people out. So clearly, it's important that you have the level of education that is being required. For other positions, having current education requirements is crucial, there are tons of jobs out there that require continuing education in order to maintain a certificate. 

Networking is probably the least obvious but the most helpful. It can really come down to who you know when job searching. The majority of the jobs I have had in life have been because I happened to know someone and in speaking with friends and family going through the job search process, this seems to be a universal route to finding a job.

I'm going to use these three areas to define my employable action items, which I swear are coming soon.

Sincerely,
Jordan

P.S. - Lets make this a conversation: am I missing any factors? Tweet me some things that you think should be a Factor of Employability @employablemom #FactorsOfEmployability

I'm Saving Lives: CPR and First Aid Training (part 1)

Tonight I went to the first half of my CPR and First Aid Training series. I have had this planned for a while and was NOT looking forward to it. I've been trained in CPR several times and I thought it got pretty boring the second time around - and this is my fourth time. After I got out, I've been really glad that I am doing this for several reasons.

The main reason I had to attend this CPR training is to keep my teaching certificate current in my new state. I'm sure there are a lot of you out there that have jobs that require constant maintenance and continuous education which can be super daunting and easy to put off (at least for me it has been.) Plus, going to the class was a huge annoyance schedule-wise; my options were one 8 hour long class (impossible - my son is still nursing,) four 2 hour sessions (but it lasts two weeks), or two 4 hour sessions (it goes until 10pm, which is way past my bedtime, but it seemed more efficient plus he let us out a little early!)  I am really glad that I am doing it because this could become a HUGE obstacle later on down the road and if the obstacles start to add up, then the burden to re-enter the job market might be too discouraging.

One thing I was not expecting to get out of the training was that I found it to be a great place to network! All of the other people in this class are teachers and student teachers from all over our district. If I needed to get some insight about a certain school or get some contacts, these people would be super helpful.

Last and of course the most obvious benefit, is that having a current teaching certificate and being CPR certified, well that just makes my resume look good!

I have a couple more things to share about my CPR class but I'm going to have to save it for tomorrow because now it is way past my bedtime.

Sincerely,
Jordan

P.S. Click here for CPR and First Aid Training Resources