2010 Wrap Up

As I have been "closing out my books" for the year I've been thinking a lot about what brought me to this point: owning my own business. I guess it makes sense that this is a route I would choose to take at some point in my life. My dad started his company when I was five years old and continues to do what he loves http://www.fivesenses.com (it started in our house nearly 30 years ago and only moved to an actual office space just over 10 years ago now). I have also worked so closely with Nancy Jones, the owner and Executive Director of The Children's Farm http://www.childrensfarm.org and have seen how she has built and sustained a healthy and successful school community. I have known enough to know that most people who start small businesses do not get rich off of them. This has never been my intent; however, I always worry that people think this.

I have been leading classes for almost 8 years now, yet had dappled in some other forms of parent education prior to this (there is always some during conferences as a preschool teacher and then leading parent nights and of course, my education for my Masters program). However, at this time I did not see myself quite yet as a Parent Educator. It became easier to see myself in this role once I became a mom and was able to put the tools I had learned from my schooling and my teaching and see how that fits into parenting. This is when parent education moved from something that interested me into something I am very passionate about. My first born challenged a lot of what I thought I knew prior to becoming a parent. I found myself baffled with so many things. I remember thinking, "I have been teaching preschool for years and have a degree in Child Psych, this will be easy right?" WRONG! I began to wonder what others who don't have the child psych background and hadn't worked with numerous young children were doing if I was struggling and I did have this background.

From 2003-2008 I was leading parenting classes here and there and I did a few staff development trainings during that time as well among my other work. I finally decided to formalize it into a business in January 2009. I really didn't follow the normal process people probably do when they start a business: I didn't have a plan...I just did it and decided I would figure it out along the way. I have learned a lot in the past 2 years and am still learning a lot. My biggest goal was for me to do what I love in the way that feels right to me and of course, the reason many people move towards owning their own small business, is the flexibility. It's no wonder that my top priority in life would be my family. I want to be available to my family and this work provides me with it. In fact, with every class I teach and every Personalized Parenting Session I do, I feel like I become a better mom. The biggest reward though is hearing from the parents after the class or the session how much more confident they feel in their parenting and how it has impacted their relationship with their child in positive ways (in my mind things don't get much better than that!) Such a win, win for everyone!

I am not in this for the money. I plan to continue my work at The Children's Farm as I love this part of my life as well. If and when my family gets to the point where money seems to be something we need more of, then I will look at making some other choices for my career. For now, I want to continue to do what I love and continue to have positive impacts on the families I work with.

I mentioned earlier that I didn't really have a business plan when I started. I had goals and a mission, but in this past year I have been more thoughtful of how this may look beyond my direct work with families. It's extremely important for me to "give back" to the community. This is a big priority for our family as well, but I realized Parent & Teacher Support Services can take part in this as well. I believe this "giving back" will take on different forms each year and I am yet to determine how this might look in 2011.

I am proud to say that in 2010 that over 20% of the Net Profit was donated to local causes. Below is the summary of how I chose to support this community in 2010:

46% went towards donated Personalized Parenting Sessions for Silent Auctions

• Power of the Purse Silent Auction to benefit FamilyMeans http://www.familymeans.org
• The Pam Kreyer Benefit http://caringbridge.org/visit/pamkreyer
• Stonebridge Elementary School Silent Auction http://stonebridge.stillwater.k12.mn.us
• St. Michael's School Annual Golf Tournament/ Silent Auction http://www.stcroixcatholic.com

54% went towards the memorial fund and items to enhance the Celebration of Life Ceremony for Annie Bahneman, the child (our family friend) who died suddenly from a sudden, rare illness. http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/anniebahneman When I heard that the family wanted pinwheels for the parade from the church to Annie's burial site and snacks for the children along the way, it seemed only natural that this would be something my company would help with. My friends, Annie's parents were so careful to think through what would help all these children grieve http://parentteachersupportservices.blogspot.com/2010/09/celebrating-life.html and what would help the very youngest that joined their families for this ceremony last just a little longer, so the rest of the family could do what they needed to do on this day (grieve, share stories, hug, cry, etc.).

As I continue to wrap up this year and look to 2011, I will look back on the past two years and consider them a success. I hope it rings out that I don't want to look at success based on how much money I have made (or I might get a little sad!), but rather look at how many families this business has touched in the past two years. I hope the answer can be many! In 2011, I will continue to do what I love and continue to find ways to best meet the needs of the families I work with.