As the Membership Director at a local Country Club, April Schroeder, was looking for a path back to school. She wanted to pursue her BA in Advertising at the University of Florida, but she was not ready to leave the workforce. With the encouragement of her then-new husband Scott, April found that her way back into the classroom was through her living room. April took advantage of her background in graphic design to start a promotions company. Working from home afforded her the opportunity to focus on school full time. However, the launch of Marketing Mud didn’t quite go as planned. The Company quickly grew into a full-time commitment and April had to solicit the help of her sister-in-law. She also had to scale back her class schedule in order to focus more on her new company and newborn baby.

April took one semester off from school before completing her degree in the fall of 2009. While she had once thought that she’d be graduating and moving on to apply for jobs, she found herself on the other side of the spectrum when Marketing Mud hired its first full-time employee. Soon after her husband Scott joined the team, and for the first time, the business outgrew the Schroeder living room. The business also expanded its scope to include comprehensive advertising and marketing services.

This Spring Marketing Mud celebrates its 5th anniversary and the launch of its sister company, Liquid Creative Studio, “where ideas flow.” Liquid Creative Studio is home to web and graphic design, marketing, and branding, among other services; Marketing Mud continues to provide customers with exceptional promotional products and materials.
One part of Marketing Mud that is particularly close to her heart is the non-profit grant program. Non-profit organizations can apply for specified amount in marketing services assistance from Marketing Mud. For recent recipients, Girls’ Place the Company redesign of all of their collateral pieces and branding.

April is a philanthropist at heart, and takes part in many projects for the benefit of our community. From her membership in Junior League to serving on the board for Public Schools Foundation, April’s community involvement is a passion, and it’s paid off. Her network of philanthropy has led not only to many lasting friendships, but many business connections as well. She believes that good things come to people who do good things, and advises new up-and-coming business owners to get involved in philanthropic organizations to connect with others in the community while giving back.

While April may not have faced challenges related to her being a female business owner, she did struggle with the ever-elusive quest for balance that all women encounter. During her initial start-up phase of Marketing Mud, she was cultivating her education, new family, and business all at once and the areas that suffered the most were her fitness, friendships, and personal time. Just one year ago, her life resembled chaos more closely than balance, but she vowed to make an effort to do better in those areas. After completing a fitness challenge with Sweat Life Fitness, April stuck with her new workout routine and now hits the gym twice a week, no excuses. She also schedules time with her friends, family and her husband Scott. The key for her has been an extremely detailed calendar. By scheduling time for everything from errands and laundry to her workouts to at-home date nights with Scott, April has created the structure she needed to find balance in her very full life.

Today, April feels good about her division of time among her family, friends, business, and most importantly, herself. The key for her was patience… and an incredible support system. Her husband Scott has been a great supporter and motivator. A partner in every sense of the word, he has supported April from the time Marketing Mud was in its infancy. April feels blessed to be a business owner in this day and age when her husband is not only accepting of her success, but celebrates it. Scott joined the Marketing Mud team in 2009, and since then, the duo has spent their days working together, sharing successes, respecting and complimenting each other’s talents. They have enjoy a great work life together and have not struggled to integrate their professional and family life.

As a female business owner in our community, April is very focused. When asked if she faced any challenges related to being a woman, she laughs, “…maybe so, but I’m too busy to notice!”

April advises aspiring entrepreneurs to wear blinders regarding the competition and continue to look inward on what you’re doing right rather than outwardly toward what competitors are doing. April points out that even though it’s hard to stay focused; letting outside influences in can slow you down if you let it.

April attributes part of her success with Marketing Mud to the fact that she had no previous experience owning a business- she could blaze her own trail and discover what worked for them, and implement innovative solutions and effective policies without the idea that “this is the way it’s been done.” She started from scratch with her business model, and has learned through trial and error what works and what doesn’t for her organization.

For April, the most valuable piece of advice she can offer to budding entrepreneurs is to be open to change and flexibility. Five years ago, she believed she was starting a temporary promotions company that would supplement her family’s income while she attended school. She never imagined this path would lead her to ownership of not one but two successful businesses. Be open to possibility and adapt as your business grows- the path you’re on may just lead you to the success you’ve always dreamed of.

The modern day woman is a warrior. We wear a lot of helmets, as we balance responsibilities of family, career, friendships, household, community, education and more. Traditional gender roles have certainly shifted over time and we are still learning how to achieve balance with our many roles. Since 1970, the percentage of women in the United States in the labor force went from 43% to over 58%.1 Even still, women typically tend to the children, housework and meal preparation when they get home from work. One study found that working mothers spend about 10 more hours per week multitasking than do working fathers. Further, when working mothers multitask at home, they are more likely than fathers to engage in housework or childcare activities.
 
Regardless of the reasons, the reality is that some of us feel stretched so thin our quality of life suffers. We forego luxuries and downtime to conquer to-do lists. Over half of us reportedly feel pressed for time and more than a third feel stressed or overworked most of the time. 3 We are exhausted by the end of the day and our fuses are short. The reward of accomplishment often comes with high stress, which can harm our well being and relationships if not managed positively. It will require some reassessment and redirection but we can take action to regain work-life balance.

1. Prioritize. If you’re taking on too much, it’s time to spring clean your schedule. Evaluate your commitments and eliminate anything that is not worth the sacrifice. It can be hard to say “no” but think about the gain. A few more hours in your week could make all the difference.

2. Communicate. If you need more support from your husband, partner, roommate or kids, have a conversation about what your needs are. Express your needs in feelings rather than giving orders. “I am not feeling supported. I need to feel like I’m not alone.” This works a lot better than, “I need you to start helping out around here!”
 
After you’ve expressed yourself, work together to come up with solutions. People take ownership of results when they contributed to the solution. If you can’t keep up with the housework ask your partner to suggest what they are willing to do. After several housecleaning meltdowns, my good friend finally asked her husband how he could chip in. He agreed to do all of his own laundry (which saved her 3 loads a week) and to take over mopping. He was more willing to follow through with these tasks because they were his idea.
 
3. Houseplay. It’s the opposite of housework! On Saturday afternoon, pick chores out of a hat and blast some music. Use timers to help you get the job done. Timers work great with kids but even adults enjoy a challenge. Reward yourselves with a movie night and fresh baked cookies.
 
4. Kid Swap. If you have children, be creative in ways of trading childcare with families you know well. This avoids the expense of a babysitter and gives you a free night to go on a date with your partner or to have a night to yourself.
 
5. Buddy System. Let’s not forget our fellow warriors. Help your friends out with their projects and ask your friends to help you. Have you been meaning to organize your family photos or your boxes of holiday decorations? Invite a friend over for dinner, get some quality conversation in and knock out a project at the same time. Forget the guilty feelings – you’d be happy to lend a hand if a friend asked you.
 
6. Re-energize. Once you’ve freed up some time in your week, implement some healthy coping for the busy life you still have. A relaxing bath, yoga, reading in a park, brunch with your girlfriends, spa day… whatever it is you enjoy, gift yourself the relaxing experience because you deserve it. Schedule these events regularly into your planner because they are commitments to yourself.
 
We warrior women are always trying to be everything for everyone. You might be slaying deadlines but when you lay your head on your pillow at night ask yourself, “Am I winning?” If you’re going so fast that you don’t have time to enjoy the present, it’s time to make some changes. When we take excellent care of ourselves, everyone wins and the quality of what we put our energy into flourishes.
  
 
(1) U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Women in the labor force, 1970–2009”. 2011. http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2011/ted_20110105_data.htm.
 
(2) American Sociological Association, “Study: Working Moms Multitask More and Have Worse Time Doing So Than Dads”. 2011. http://www.asanet.org/press/working_moms_multitask_more_than_dads.cfm.
 
(3) Nielsen. “Women of Tomorrow Study”. 2011. www.nielsen.com.

About the Authors:
Isabell Springer is a survivor of divorce as both a child and adult. She has made it her mission to teach people how to find lasting love on the road to success. Isabell serves Gainesville as a licensed marriage and family therapist and is the founder of the relationship education organization, Driver’s Ed for Love. She is a devoted mother to her son, Nicholas.

Jorelle Laakso has dedicated her life to helping others find happiness in all they do. She is a psychology graduate of the University of Florida and is working towards her Masters in Counseling Psychology. She works with Isabell to deliver insightful and empowering relationship education workshops.

“The first home my mom and I cleaned took us an entire day,” recalled Erica.

The “hobby” is now the family business and within a few years her husband Rudy closed his business and joined A Personal Elf.

The Castano’s moved to Gainesville from Miami. Intent on taking her career to the next level, Erica was focused on opening a consulting firm. As the former Director of Development at an engineering and construction firm in Miami, she knew she had the experience and the know how to open her own consulting firm. There was just one problem – Erica and her family moved to Gainesville for a change. In her previous position she frequently worked long hours and after some consideration Erica realized that consulting would mean more of the same. Recognizing that a consulting firm may not offer the change she was seeking Erica needed a new plan. For a while she worked with her husband in his plant nursery business, which kept them both busy.

When she needed some help around the house, Erica sought out services to help with laundry, cleaning, etc. Although she was enjoying their new life in Gainesville, the limited services offered were frustrating.  After making a few calls she realized that she would need to work with several different companies to get the services she was used to getting from one.

“Everyone had their list of that they would and wouldn’t do,” stated Erica.

Frustrated Erica sought her own solution. She started a home concierge service offering her customers a one stop shop for the services busy families need to help their lives run a little smoother.

“I started looking into companies not because I love cleaning, but because I hated it,” expressed Erica.

The biggest challenge for Erica hasn’t been building the business itself, but finding the right employees. We have done a good job of hiring employees that care. Our leadership structure gives our team leaders a lot of responsibility. We respect and learn from our employees every day.

Another challenge? Everyone’s idea of clean is different. It’s all about taking care of the details and meeting each individual client’s expectations. Customer satisfaction is the top priority.

“I try to maintain personal contact with all of our clients. I never want to lose the feeling of being unhappy if one of our clients is not 100% satisfied with our services,” said Erica.

Six years later the company that started off as a hobby with Erica and her mom, now has 23 employees and has expanded into commercial cleaning.

The downside of owning of a home concierge service? “My house still doesn’t get cleaned. We are usually bumped off of the list for customers.”

Erica’s tips to building a successful business:

Work hard

Be honest

Don’t give up

Be fair

Be upfront – even if it means you may lose a client

Now, if you have hundreds, yes, with an “s,” then you may be better off having Scanmyphotos.com take care of them for you. They have high speed scanners that turn your lifetime of photo memories into 300 dpi files burned conveniently onto a DVD. Their prices are reasonable ($79.50 for 1000 photos), but there are some details you’re going to want to let Carley tell you about.

So check out this week’s Twirl for everything you need to know about digitizing your favorite photo memories. Then, just think of what you can do with all that space you freed up in that bottom drawer.

Digitwirl is the weekly web show that offers simple solutions to modern day problems.  In 3 minutes, Digitwirl brings busy women the very best time, money, and sanity-saving technology, and then teaches them how to use it, step-by-step.  Digitwirl was created by technology lifestyle expert Carley Knobloch, who uses lots of technology to manage her busy life as mom of two and entrepreneur.