Yes, You Can Have It All
Topics: advertising, home business, family, elderly, judi lynn lake, humor, entrepreneur
My business has no boundaries creatively or demographically. Thanks to 21st century technology, my virtual team is scattered throughout the United States: I have proofreaders and editors in New York and Texas, IT personnel in California, Philadelphia and South Carolina, camera crews on the west and east coast, public relations associates throughout the country and the list goes on. The irony of my business is that within a team of many, I have only personally met two members but our connection is strong and the professionalism is unsurpassed.
Within the past seven years, I have moved my office to my home so I could be accessible to care for my elderly father and be ‘home’ for my daughter. I certainly have the best of both worlds. Advertising is hectic and my life is hectic but when there is a field trip for my daughter’s school, I am there and when my dad needs to see a doctor, I, too, am there. The beauty of advertising is that a great deal of the work can be done ‘after hours’ and because of the personal choices I have made, there are many nights that I do indeed burn the midnight oil but the rewards are tremendous.
It is not easy juggling work and home and I am convinced that some people are actually better suited to work within the structure of a traditional work environment. Working at home is not for everyone and strong discipline must be applied otherwise work will only be a hobby. Also, for many self-employed, the hours are longer and the responsibilities are many but for those juggling family a sense of humor is a must.
Due to my dad’s failing health, I recently had to hire a home nurse so that I could concentrate on business commitments and meetings minus the interruptions. I knew the time for a nurse was approaching during a phone meeting I had a few months ago. While I was in the process of explaining a project to a client, my dad barged into my office and ranted aloud about what brand of toilet paper he should use. I began waving him off, trying to maintain my professionalism with my client and before I knew it my dad grabbed the phone from me and surveyed the client as to what brand he should use. Of course, I was humiliated, but then again, I make it no secret to my clients what my circumstances are and, to my surprise, the client had recommended Kleenex over Charmin. Well, that broke the ice and since then that client has become one of my top ongoing clients. My dad, however, is not allowed in my office any longer because…well just because.
A few years ago, when I was still in New York I had a meeting with Mattel regarding a package design job for a Barbie campaign. At the time, my daughter was only 18 months old and I kept her home with me while I worked. Midway through the phone meeting, my daughter began to get restless and I knew I had to become instantly creative in order to continue the meeting. While discussing new Barbie products, I immediately put up a caterpillar tent in the middle of my living room and conducted the rest of my meeting crawling within a two feet high tent with my daughter. It was a win-win situation and both my client and daughter were well satisfied. To Mr. DeMille, however, I would insist on not having my camera close-up that day.
Many people think of advertising as a ‘glamorous’ business and while I was on Madison Avenue, it was glamorous. Meetings at Sardi’s or The Russian Tea Room were not uncommon and tickets to top Broadway plays or upscale gifts were just some of the many perks of running an advertising agency in Manhattan. During the summer months, many clients would have elegant lawn parties on their estates in the upscale North Shore of Long Island where the best food and service was available. I have worked with the best and been with the best. These days, however, although the quality of work my agency puts out is the same, I am sad to say the glamour from the Manhattan era has faded. People who drop by my office will often find me in a tee shirt and jeans and when they are lucky I will be wearing my favorite jeans, which are ripped at both knees. Unknowingly to the youth of today, these favorite jeans were not purchased with the rips but rather ‘developed over time’.
My daughter attends a private school and I am her transportation. The school is one-hour commute in the morning and one hour in the afternoon, therefore, during weekdays every minute is accounted for. I must say that in the morning, my daughter and I have the minutes down to a science; we are a good team, especially while I am shoving the food into her little mouth and dressing her at the same time.
Last year, while waiting on the pick-up line for my daughter a teacher approached my car with a huge brown bag. Apparently she noticed my ‘ripped’ jeans and felt led to donate some of her clothes to me. I didn’t know what to say and it took all I had to hold in from laughing out loud. I graciously thanked her for thinking of me and suggested that perhaps her generosity would be better suited for someone in need. She stared in my eyes and assured me that she was sure that ‘I was that someone in need’. It occurred to me that she had no idea what my profession was and assumed that I was a struggling at home mom. Well, as I said, I have the best of both worlds and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world but maybe it has come time to retire my jeans… at least for when I pick my daughter up from school.
Judi Lynn Lake successfully runs her own advertising agency which handles everything from logos, branding, videos and websites while continues to work closely with self-published authors from design to promotion. To learn more visit www.judilake.com
Previous Articles Highlighter:
Safety First For The Handyman (1)
Topics: electrical home repair, electric general repair, electric repair tool, electrician A mistreated connecting cord is often the cause of an appliance's breakdown. See that wires are well-insulated and don't abuse them When a plug is removed from its outlet, a knot often forms in the cord because of the curl in the wire.
Choosing The Appropriate Birthday Invitation Wording: What Is Enough And What Is Too Much (2)
4. Emphasize the importance of the invitees. The invitations should be addressed by the celebrant and the guests' name should be spelled out. Aside from preventing confusion on who's being invited, writing the full name of the guest will make it more personal and will give the impression that her or his presence is highly desired for the occasion.
Home Based Businesses For Moms (3)
Content is huge when it comes to online marketing. The current advice for getting a high-ranking on search engines is to provide quality content and consistently provide new information for readers on your site.
Making Your Very Own Hats (4)
Trimming is optional. Method For Draped Whimsey: If you want a whimsey with a short back, do not join veiling ends. Gather one side of veiling and pin to block.
How To Entice Visitors To Your Site (5)
Your affiliate gets a commission from the sale. And your customer gets to feel great for the discount they get from doing business with you. It's a win-win-win!
Make A Fortune With Other People's Products (6)
With a lot of options available and a lot of ways to earn money, affiliate marketing is undoubtedly the most popular and the easiest way to make money by selling other people's products online.
Equestrian Self-discipline: Discover The 5 Secrets Of Enduring Motivation (7)
If you lack self-discipline, you may find yourself procrastinating and putting your duties aside which can create a colossal mess if it's done too frequently. Ingrained unhelpful habits and an undisciplined mind may eventually prevent you from achieving your horse riding dreams; and without some kind of inner or outer motivation you are unlikely to develop the discipline you need.
How To Have More Fun Investing (8)
You know what also makes investing more fun, online investing. You may have already been doing this but this is for those people who refuse to break away from their beloved brokers.
First Time Home Buyer Mistakes (9)
Buying a home can be exciting and fun, however it can also be frustrating and exhausting unless you have done some prior preparation to determine affordability, future plans and needs.
Earn Money Online Today (10)
Now you can take this one step further and create your own online business to make money. One of my friends use to make candles and sell them from her home.
Newer Articles Highlighter:
Want To Know More About Alligators (1)
As the presence of the gastroliths (stomach stones) in the stomach of alligators they can eat anything. Young alligators depend upon crustaceans, fishes, snails, and insects for their food.
Professional Bowling Around The World (2)
Some tournaments use a different name for the sport such a candle pin bowling. This is the common reference that Canadian use for the sport that Americans call bowling.
Obtaining Personal Insurance For Automobiles (3)
There are other ways to receive discounts on automobile insurance. When a homeowner chooses to insure their automobile with the same company that provides them with homeowners insurance, they will undoubtedly notice a reduction in the automobile rates for the drivers in the home.
Ad Agencies: Separating The Divas From The Pros (4)
The best to each of you and may your journey be enlightening, encouraging and educational! A native New Yorker, Judi Lynn Lake resides in South Carolina, with her husband and 7-year-old daughter.
Debt: It All Adds Up In The End (5)
For most consumers, this is the hard. Financial discipline is never easy, especially when we have to discipline ourselves to not buy those things that we want. An example of this might be something as simple as lunch.
Conquer Your Learning Disability To Be Successful At Work (6)
Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solution's Six Sigma Online ( www.sixsigmaonline.org ) offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.
It's All About The Money, Isn't It (7)
Having been in this industry for over twenty years, I have seen many changes: some good, some bad but the core basics of the business remain constant. What used to take weeks to accomplish fifteen years ago virtually takes days but the flip side of that is that in order to do that, you have to stay up with technology and constantly learn.
How To Become A Home Health Care Nurse (8)
The career of a home health care nurse is rewarding. Advances in medicine and decreasing mortality and increasing morbidity bring new challenges and opportunities. It provides an opportunity to make a difference one life at a time.
Secrets To Being Successful Online (9)
It is important to note, that to be successful online, you will need the knowledge, skills and mindset without which it becomes more difficult to succeed. Mark Ashbridge is an Online Marketing and Life Coach specializing in helping people to achieve their life goals and generating cash through their online business.
Is It Time All SMEs Thanked Sage Software And The Personal Computer? (10)
Start-up companies who saw a gap in the market for an SME business technology niche, for example Pegasus and Sage kicked off the growth of the business software industry in the early 1980s.