While I stay at home with my children, I am not a stay at home mom.
Apparently its become a little known "fact" about me that I am a "stay at home mother". Well, I am here to bust that bubble because I haven't been a stay at home mom for nearly 3 years now. THREE. Yet, I still have people asking me about being a SAHM and hear others telling people I am a SAHM. (not that there is anything wrong with that) But guess where I am right now? I am currently sitting in someone else's home, at midnight, to support another new mother with her twins. Some times, this is what my job looks like. Sometimes I am gone midday and cannot tell my children when I will be returning. Honestly, most of the time I am sitting on my phone or my computer responding to texts, emails, documenting my income & expenses & miles, reminding myself for the millionth time to send my check to my accountant, writing a blog *cough cough*, making Facebook posts, or learning about the newest things in my field. What do I do? I am a birth & postpartum doula. I am a placenta encapsulation specialist. I am a Reiki practitioner. I don't get "office time", because mostly my kitchen table is my office, but the playground is too. And the grocery store, the coffee shop, the doctor's office, the parking lot, and occasionally I am actually at the hospital with a laboring mother. So while I stay at home with my children nearly 90% of the time, I am not a stay at home mom.
What am I then? Am I a work from home mom? Kind of? but not really because I work outside of the home too. I prefer to call myself a small business owner. I legitimately run my own small business. I do the tedious things that people don't even know about, like filing legal documents, working on certifications and continuing education, networking, branding, accounting, website creating, and all the FUN things of running a small business! And. I. Love. Every. Minute! So I would like to officially put in my resignation letter as a Stay at Home Mom, and let you all know that I have officially become a CEO, CFO, President, Owner & Operator of my own company: The Grosse Pointe Doula, LLC.
When I became a doula, I knew in my heart of hearts its where my passion is, and it absolutely still is without any doubts. Lets be honest though, no one told me I would be running a business. Here I am though! This is not my hobby. This is not my cute side thing to keep me busy and entertained because I am bored. This is not something I do for fun. This is something that I love, that I am passionate about, and frankly, that I am REALLY freaking good at. I have built a business. I am working every single day. I mother, at home, but I am not a Stay At Home Mom.
Also, I have been a classic "Stay At Home Mom", can we just cut it out with that title? Because women who raise children full time are SO much more. We are mothers, yes. Who stay at home, yes. But we are also women, wives, daughters, aunts, friends, with needs and interests outside of our home. We are not just child bearing and child rearing vessels. We are individuals, who happen to take care of the tiny army we created to the best of our abilities. So if you run your own small business from home, I would love to hear what YOU do! Feel free to comment with a link to your business and give yourself a pat on the back! If you're a SAHM, give yourself an even bigger pat on the back because THAT is the hardest job I have ever done!