Mom's School for the Gifted Part 1: Running a "Home" business

So imagine you show up to the first day at the job.  Your employer says it requires some patience and the ability to multitask.  Then he sits you down at the receptionist desk.  Your job is to field phone calls, make appointments, etc.  You'll also be required to design and maintain the company website, process payroll, go on sales calls and maintain a relationship with current clients.  After hours, the office will need cleaning, so you'll need to do that.  You'll also need to make him lunch and pick up his dry cleaning.

Except no employer is that stupid.

When I was little, my dad used to take me downtown to work with him.  I mostly went because I liked to twirl around in frilly dresses and the more people there were to look at me, the better.  I guess if you're the boss's daughter, they have to pretend you're really cute.  Also they had really good food in the cafeteria.  Somewhere along the line though, I did pick up on one of my dad's most successful business secrets.  Hire people to do what they love doing.  Don't make them do anything else.

He was ahead of his time.  I certainly don't believe most corporations did that then, and most still don't do it now, but I've never heard of a company that asked their receptionist to design a web page or had HR do their taxes.  You do the things that align with your skill set.

Personally I'm good at big picture thinking, I can create "systems."  Also, I went to grad school for child counseling and worked as a teacher and curriculum developer, so I write behavior plans, develop our home-school curriculum and have spent a lot of time researching and discussing a cohesive approach for my husband and I to co-parent.  But if you asked me to bake a loaf of bread....well you might as well ask the cleaning lady to write a corporate vision statement.  Big picture people don't do details well.  And baking requires details.  The last loaf of bread I baked my husband was kind enough to refer to as "Elven bread" because it was so "sustaining."  In other words, two bites filled you up because it didn't rise at all.  It's the kind of dense, tasteless stuff I imagine sailors ate because it tasted just as disgusting after 3 months at sea as it did the day it was baked.  Coincidentally, John has brought home a loaf of whole wheat bread from the local bakery every weeks since then.  There are some things you're great at.  And there are some things that are just worth outsourcing.  

How to outsource is Part 2, but for now lets figure out what your gifts are.  What is your skill set?  What things could you do effortlessly and efficiently all day?  If you were writing a resume and applying as a mother to your own kids, what would you say?