Shara Lawrence-Weiss and her husband Rick Weiss run three businesses between the 2 of them. They are motivated by their role as parents, the two children they are raising, and the community that supports them in their work. Read about how these self-employed parents do it all!

Shara Lawrence-Weiss
www.PersonalChildStories.com
www.mommyperks.com

1. What businesses do you and your family run?

Three! Design Media Pros (Web Design and Hosting), Personal Child Stories and Mommy Perks (co-owner).

2. What made you decide to work from home?

I think it just fell into my lap by the grace of God, really. I was going to school to become a teacher (still am) and all of these shifts and changes began to occur in my life. I just decided to allow the changes to happen, knowing it wasn’t me in control, anyway! Until I began working from home, I never fully understood just how hard people work to own and run their own home business. I stand in awe of all the people who have done this before me and succeeded at it.

The reason I got into the business of creating custom books is because my son was born was a disease in his eye. His right eye had to be removed when he was a year old. He would pop his prosthetic eye out and chew on it or hide it. I created two custom books for him, laminated and bound (so they would be lasting and durable). I used personal photos so that the books would really draw him in. The books talked about the importance of leaving his eye in and taking good care of it; also of leaving his glasses on for the sake of safety. The books worked so well that years later I decided to start offering custom books for others; anything and everything they could possibly think of to have a story written about for their own child!

I have been a freelance writer for many years and have published probably 100 articles by now. I nannied for over 16 years for all ages so between writing and understanding kids…I know how to write stories that draw them in. Using custom photos is a proven emergent literacy strategy and truly pulls the kids into reading like no other book can do.

THAT is why I work from home now.

3. What kind of support have you gotten from your community?

Well, this is an interesting question! To be honest, it has been very mixed. Some of my family members have been incredibly supportive. Some of my friends have also been supportive. Others have decided it’s best to ‘ignore’ what I do; I suppose they fear I will expect them to BUY something, eh? It’s been a real lesson in human psychology, though, I’ll tell you. I think some of my biggest support has come from other WOMEN and MOMS who also run a home business and know the challenges. Women who are confident in what they are doing and don’t feel at all threatened by the idea that another woman can be successful. Those are the people I have found the most support from, to tell the truth.

4. What sort of things does being self-employed allow you to do, for example, being involved in your child's life, school projects...etc?

Being self-employed has really opened doors in so many ways. We can head to our cabin any time we want. We can wear our PJ’s all day long if we don’t have any meetings in public (smile). We can take our kids to school and pick them up every day and never hire a sitter unless we WANT to. We can live anywhere we want to live because we both work from home…so we are not “stuck” in regard to any one option with schools or homes, etc. We love that!

5. How do you feel your child sees you as an entrepreneur?  What things are they learning by watching you work?

Oh, boy. This is a good one! Last year, I was chosen as the “Working Parent of the Year” runner-up by a panel of judges in Arizona (the Diamondbacks coach, Sherriff Joe, Arizona Moms and Sunrise Preschools). My son is 9 years old and said, “My mom is such a hard worker! Some day I want to be her partner in the book business!” He asked me what I would charge or if I’d allow him to partner with me for free ï�Š Then he asked if he could buy me OUT! So funny. My kids both sit and help me with the books when I create them. I enlist their participation because they give invaluable marketing research input as the very demographic I am working for! It couldn’t be a more perfect lesson to teach them right from the comfort of our home – hard work, commitment, dedication and passion…all rolled into one “job.”

6. How is being a self-employed parent difficult?  What sort of things (if any) would make your job easier?

The hardest issue, by far, is lack of quiet time to just focus. With kids around, we rarely get time alone to work without interruption. Our daughter doesn’t like to sleep and takes but one nap a day (a short one!). Our son is very chatty and energetic and needs a lot of attention. If we had a little office away from home we could take turns leaving the house to go and work from time to time. That would sure be helpful.

7. What would you most like for consumers to know about you and the businesses that you run?

I suppose it would be that both my husband and I stand behind the things we do. We do not run our businesses because we have to. We do it because we want to and because we love it. My husband loves doing web work and I love Mommy Perks and creating custom books for children. We are passionate about our businesses and we attempt to present that in everything we create. We are not in this for the money. We want to live what we love and love what we live.

8. What are you most proud of as a parent?

Hmmm…that although I cannot keep plants alive, I have managed to keep two human beings alive? Just kidding…I think I am most proud of the fact that I have tried to learn from the mistakes my own parents felt they made – I try to take what I learn from the people around me and turn everything negative into a lesson; and everything positive into something I can pass on. I do not dwell on what goes wrong but rather on what can be learned and made BETTER. I hope to pass that outlook on to my own children.