Sometimes, you have to chose between your business and your life. I'm not talking about whether you 
chose to breathe or stage, I'm talking about making a choice to continue your business as is or change to better suit the needs of your personal life.
Over the past few months, I have known this choice was coming. Let me backtrack a little....
When I started my staging business 3 years ago, I had been a focused and dedicated stay at home mom for 10 years. Faced with empty and unfocused days as my youngest was starting full day kindergarten, I decided to follow a new path - start a business doing something I love. It seemed simple enough to work during the day and be home when the kids were home ... and it was, since no one had heard of staging at that point and I was spending the majority of my time teaching people what I do...not actually doing it. :(
As the business grew and I spent less and less time at home, I thought it would be okay, since the girls were getting older and much more independent. I was kidding myself. This past year has been the most difficult for my family, especially my oldest daughter. As we struggled through the last part of the school year, I denied that my job had anything to do with her issues, that it was just a bumpy year. This past week, I had an eye opening conversation with her that revealed just how unavailable I had become to this child who was on the verge of becoming a teenager.
While my business was flourishing, I was failing my child. And I find it completely unacceptable.
So, here are my choices? Keep growing my business, try to right everything in the mean time and hope we look back on this some day as a learning experience..... or make some changes to the business and make myself more available to the people who undoubtedly need me the most?
Well, this may be a hard decision for some people, but it is actually a no-brainer for me. I'm not a big believer in the 'having it all' lifestyle. I've seen too many moms who've kidded themselves for years that they are sacrificing nothing when in reality they are just not seeing what has been lost. So, I am adjusting the business. Drastically.
In reevaluating the past few years, I have determined that the portion of my business that takes me away from home the most and is the biggest drain on our lives is staging vacant homes. Not to mention that the inventory is taking over our house - and putting a huge strain on how we live in it. So, effective immediately, I will be phasing out his service from my business.
I will continue to consult for those I have partner agreements with, but will no longer be marketing myself to new agents or offices. Will my business survive? Well, I don't really know, but that is really not my main concern. My main concern is geting my relationship with my precious girls back on track so that they will have the stability they have been missing and need so badly. For now the business will just have to wait.
So...Your business or your Life? I choose life....
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