I also like the feeling that I can contribute to helping improve other people’s lives through generating jobs and purchasing goods at fair prices to all, and be a positive role model to my children.
There is no denying that this keeps me busy. I sometimes have to be away from home a lot and work very long hours. Yesterday, my husband and I were stuck at the Belfast airport as our flight back from some friends’ wedding was delayed, we set up camp at the comfy sofa at the coffee shop and started planning next steps for 2010. We talked business strategy, learning needs, project management tools etc... and the fact that it looks like I’ll have to work away from home a lot. “Do you think the children feel that I am not around enough? I asked him. Conflicting thoughts... I have heard them speaking about the fact that their mum is an entrepreneur and has a business, and that I sometimes appear on the paper and on websites. But then they are growing up really quickly and I say to them that though I may not be physically at home, they can contact me and I am around to talk to them.
Can you work really hard, be away from home sometimes and still be a good mum? I ask my children. They both say “yes” and I sigh with relief. They tell me that they know that I care for them and this is, I think, the bottom line. I ask them what they are learning, if anything, about the fact that I have to put a lot of time into my work. “It’s a lot of time, but hopefully if I try really hard at something I really want to do, I can be successful”, my daughter says, and well, I think this is a good lesson...