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Archive for Mompreneur

The Problem with the $10 an hour Job

Posted by admin 
· December 30, 2016 
· No Comments

I have spent my life covering everything with sparkles or gloss, making even the bad seem ok. I think most of us do that. I hide my tears. I hide my fear. I smile when I want to cry. And heaven knows I try not to ask for help, and when I do I hang my head in shame.

However, this year has been different. Ever since I lost my job in October, 2016, I have struggled with my shiny facade, the cracks in my demeanor have shown and finally this week, I swallowed my pride and sent out a mass email to most everyone on my contact list. No shame!

It went something like this:

As you may or may not know, I have been mostly unemployed for the last year. I do have two part time jobs that help keep us afloat, but if not for the generosity of another family, we would have become homeless in April. Unfortunately, the camper we have been living in has been damaged in the last month (and really was no suitable for winter living to begin with,) and is no longer available to us.
We were planning to return to Williamsburg next week after an extended holiday stay with my grandmother in GA and short trip to TX to see my immediate family. But now we have no home to return too.

I am writing to ask for your help. I NEED a job. Or several more part time jobs with reliable hours. I am willing to relocate ANYWHERE.

Would you be willing to share my LinkedIn profile with your network? You can find it here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hopehunt

And if I have done any type of work for you, would you consider posting a positive recommendation there as well?

I am not looking for a handout, but a hand up.

Things are pretty dire at this point. My family is not able to offer us any housing at this point other than short term stays. And my funds will run out quickly staying in a hotel/motel. (Food is covered by food stamps as I just qualified again, which was a complete blessing in the timing.)

Your thoughts and prayers are coveted, and I appreciate your consideration in sharing my information with your network.


And the responses from my friends and network were absolutely AMAZING. Sharing my contact information, recommending me to their network, even offers of places to live temporarily. I was brought to tears so many times that day, that by the end, I was just emptied. But once again, my HOPE was restored and I was ready to continue to fight.

But there is one thing that kept popping up…those $10 an hour job recommendations. That “something is better than nothing”. I’m sorry I have to disagree. And here’s why…

First, the math…

Income:

  • 40 hours a week x $10 per hour = $400 per week, approximately $1600 per month.
  • Child support (maybe, but no court ordered) = $600 per month.
  • Odd jobs = $200 per month (average from 2016.)

Total Estimate Income per month: $2,200

Household:

  • I am a single mom of four teenagers/almost teenagers = five of us.

Bills (based on the city where we currently live:)

  • Rent = $1,400 per month for a 2 bedroom/2 bathroom, 900 square foot apartment.
  • Utilities = $150 per month (average from 2015 in said living environment.)
  • Gas for Paid Off Car = $70 (minimum for life stuff.)
  • Life Insurance = $25.
  • Car Insurance = $250 (3 drivers, 1 car, includes rental and car.)
  • Groceries = $500 (low but doable.)
  • Phone = $100 (low but necessary for life and work.)
  • Total Monthly Costs for Very Basics per month: $2,495

    Do you see the problem here? And I didn’t even include medical costs, health insurance (which I don’t qualify for making this amount,) clothing and other misc like toilet paper!

    It just does not make sense for me to go after a minimum wage job, or even a $10 per hour job. I appreciate the recommendations, I truly do. But if I can’t support my family…why?

    I do work two part time jobs making a decent hourly rate to keep us afloat, I am in no way saying “don’t work”. What I’m saying is that I need to focus my energy on jobs that will actually support us, allow us to get off food stamps, allow me to get us health insurance and eventually allow me to give back. Anything else is just keeping us in this terrible cycle of poverty! *steps quietly off my soapbox

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Categories : Mompreneur
Tags : finding housing, food stamps, government aid, it is who you know not what you know, job search, linkedin, medicaid, minimum wage, Mompreneur, monthly budget, networking, over qualified, single mom, unemployment

Why I wore Workout Clothes every day After I lost My Job

Posted by admin 
· October 11, 2015 
· No Comments

It took me all of one day to turn off work and turn on hit the floor running!  As a work from home, homeschooling mom-preneur my daily wear was lazy wear for as long as possible then throw on whatever was clean and head out the door.  I rarely wore shoes except for flip flops or slide on fuzzy boots when it was chilly.  And I was going….

That all changed the day I lost my job.  I read YEARS ago on FlyLady.net that to be your most productive, you had to get dressed all the way to the shoes every morning when you got up.  That was my favorite tip I ever read.  She says “Shoes are a tool! and she made a point to say they must be laced up shoes for this to work.

So the morning after I lost my job, I changed my habits immediately…no more getting up and working in my PJs.  I was up, showered, breakfast cooked and dressed with my laced up shoes before the kids even saw the sun.  workout-clothes-300x204

I have been the most productive and the most joyful I think I could be in this last week as I face this job transition.  And I quickly realized that.  So while I know you are supposed to dress for the job you want, not the one you have…I’m going to be wearing my work out clothes for this time in my life.  Because frankly, I have the job I want, raising my children, teaching my children, coaching my children, now I just need to find a way to support that job.

And my laced up shoes…well, there are step one to getting me there! So this mama, mom-preneur, teacher, coach is going to be wearing her workout clothes and tennis shoes as a uniform for the time being!

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Categories : Mompreneur
Tags : feeling determined, hit the floor running, workout clothes
Hannah, Cade, Mom face May 2006

Striking Out on Your Own

Posted by admin 
· February 4, 2011 
· No Comments

I had a perfect life.  I was living the American dream.  A family, a house, a car, plenty of food and a job I loved that enabled me to do just about anything I wanted.  We paid our bills on time, had a someone clean the house once a week, a part time nanny and the ability to dabble in some hobbies and travel.  Then one day it all changed, one phone call and my job was gone. My nice stable, organized and relatively easy life – poof gone!

Now the major holes in my life appeared.  No savings, a husband who worked constantly and a life filled with ‘stuff.’ My life was in shambles.  My confidence shot. Everything I valued a waste.  And I had two children under three years old depending on me for everything.  So I had to pull on my big girl panties and stand up again . . . and it was hard, really hard.

To continue my life, to provide for my family, I had to make some hard choices.  I wanted to a good job, making good money, but more importantly to me, I wanted to be a stay at home mom and raise and educate my children.  I chose to strike out on my own. It wasn’t pretty and it certainly wasn’t easy.  Hell, it took me a year and a half from that phone call to make enough money to pay even part of my bills and here I am three and a half years later and I work significantly more hours than anyone I know.  But you know what, it has been well worth it and I am SO GRATEFUL for this unexpected blessing.

So if you are facing similar challenges for whatever reason, I thought I would gather my thoughts on how I got back on my feet and lessons learned over the last few years.  Hoping they will help you to tackle your challenge with confidence and assurance that you can make it.

Here are some guidelines that I hope you will find useful that applied to my life:

research

  1. Do your due diligence, explore your options, see this setback as a blessing in disguise to really find your calling, your dream. I spent those late nights when I would have been tossing and turning with stress and worry searching the internet for possible work at home jobs.  It was really productive.  I eventually through happenstance found out about virtual assistants (VA,) a brand new term for me, and eventually established my own VA firm.
  2. soccergoal
    Create a goal. something concrete to work toward, it makes it much more achievable. I made a budget.  I needed to know exactly how much money I needed to make in order to live.  I had to reevaluate my priorities, see what luxuries could be done away with and learn about frugal living.  Now I still struggle with this step, but have found ALOT of knowledge and support via online resources.
  3. Find your motivation, find a reason to get out of bed and hold on really tight! I focused on what is important and learned just how important it is all over again.  When life gets hard, if you are like me, you isolate yourself, you become a couch potato, you do the bare minimum in life, constantly declaring yourself a failure.  My kids forced me out of that and I am so glad!  I needed a site like this.  I needed a group of women to hold me up, support me, advise me and tell me they had been there before.  But for me, my kids did the tugging.  No matter how I was feeling, they had to be fed, clothed, bathed and I wanted the best for them so I had to take them out of the house sometimes.
  4. Hannah, Cade, Mom face May 2006

    Hannah, Cade, Mom face May 2006

  5. Use your imagination, get and stay inspired, over and over again til it sticks. Read – self help manuals, novels, news (I avoid the news because it’s always so depressing, but you can.)  Don’t let your brain turn to mush.
go for it

go for it

You will find over the coming weeks, months that striking out on your own is hard.  It’s challenging.  And there are plenty of nights that I have felt all alone, like such a failure, but really, truly every single moment has been worth it.  I now work at home, homeschool my kids and LOVE MY LIFE EVERY SINGLE DAY.  You can too!

I want to help, I don’t think we should have to do it alone and that is why I am here.

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Categories : Mompreneur, My Life Before
Tags : job loss, Mompreneur, overcoming challenges, starting a business, virtual assistant, work from home
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