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Category Archives: Resources for Working Moms

June 4 Virtual Book Launch Party For My Parent Plan & Other Authors

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Photo Credit: Emily Scheinman @BananaSeedBooks

Last week, I shared information on my trip to Book Expo America NYC to announce the revised version of my book “My Parent Plan: How to Create a Family Project Plan to Organize Your Life and Kids” . At the Book Expo book signing, I enjoyed discussing the concepts of my book with enthusiastic readers. This experience confirmed why I wrote the book in the first place: to help parents find a system to manage their family – one of the most complex and rewarding examples of project management. I talked to brave military moms who need to manage their family while their husbands are on deployment for long periods of time. I talked to single parents, educators and nannies who want to learn family project planning tips. And I talked to many parents who shared their family management struggles.

 

My Parent Plan explains that a plan is a journey, not a destination. My Parent Plan empowers parents to step back and think about their daily, weekly, seasonal and yearly activities. This gives families the time to find the right information, identify budget-friendly options, consider the needs of each family member and make informed choices to create the optimal family plan. The planning process also gives families the freedom to live in the moment and engage in family time.

 

 

To celebrate the launch of “My Parent Plan” I am joining in with the other authors in the Best Seller In A Weekend program with a Virtual Book Launch Party June 4 from 1-3pm PST.

 

First of all – HERE IS THE LINK to “MY PARENT PLAN” on Amazon available NOW (CLICK HERE to buy) on JUNE 4 2013. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is information about the Virtual Book Party:

 

 

Join me on June 4, 2013, for the long-awaited celebration of the (revised version) release of my book, My Parent Plan: How to Create a Family Project Plan to Organize Your Life and Kids. Organized  by Alicia Dunams, founder of Bestseller in a Weekend, we will hold a virtual book launch party and author spotlight for me and eight other amazing non-fiction authors ( (including Barb Gottesman of How to Slay A Pirate – Lessons on Success from Sailing the Pacific). You’ll get to be one of the first to order your copy of the books (my revised book), and you’ll get to hear all of the authors share their book-writing experiences! You’ll also get free information from every book featured, providing you with real solutions and tips you can use in your own life.

 

 

 

 

Those who attend the virtual book launch party between 1 pm and 3 pm PST on June 4th will be entered into drawings to receive their own autographed copies of the authors‘ books, as well as some special bonus prizes. It’s going to be a lot of fun, but I know the celebration won’t be the same without you. To attend, SIGN UP HERE: http://bestsellervirtualparty.com and you’ll be part of the fun. I can’t wait to see you there!

 

 

 

#FamilyFriendlyWork – Social Media “Meme” Edition

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I was one of the lucky ones.  As a Senior Manager at a top consulting firm with a 4 year-old son and twins on the way, I was offered options. The firm was very serious about providing a family friendly workplace, so I could have taken maternity leave and then come back to flexible assignment. With twins on the horizon, I decided to leave, but felt fortunate that the choice was mine and I had great options should I decide to stay. Many parents don’t have it so easy, working for companies that don’t have family friendly workplace policies, and forced to make difficult tradeoffs to achieve work/life balance.

 

 

After my twins were in preschool, I explored options to get back to work and decided to start my “career 2.0” by working in social media. Writing and consulting projects in social media offer the flexibility to work at home, but there were, and years later still are, many tech events and meetings that I needed to attend.  so I did the juggle of working with my husband’s work schedule and finding a sitter.

 

I was lucky to have a husband who contributed an equal partner in parenting, as well as a mother nearby and some reliable sitters available. While our family’s work-life balance was truly a balancing act, with multiple support options available I have been able to pull it off so far. In my book, “My Parent Plan“, I talk about the process of planning for childcare. Even if it is well anticipated and managed, it is still a challenge because there is never an easy solution to manage both the anticipated and unanticipated in life. Balancing the schedules of younger kids needing a sitter, as well as working through after school programs for older kids, is sometimes nearly impossible to plan.

 

 

If I had a national task force to solve this issue, I would try to do the following:

 

1. Use the power of local communities: I would love to see each local community accept the responsibility of helping organize local (safe) afterschool programs. There are so many people out of work (including teachers). What if local governments could help match qualified local professionals with nearby afterschool programs. Communities could team up with fitness centers (such as the YMCA or JCC’s) to use available space for needed family services.

 

 

2. Take Your Kids To Work (when possible). Let’s face it, not every workplace is a good fit for parents to share with their kids (and many kids are in school all day). How about expanding telecommuting options so if it fits with the job -  parents can utilize all the modern communication technology out there and work from home more often. Or what if some conferences and workplaces that were flexible offered childcare, allowed parents to bring their kids or offer supervised activities for kids?  After years of seeing parents taking their kids to the BlogHer Conferences, I was not surprised to see yet another year of childcare announced for BlogHer13. BlogHer is a great role model for incorporating a family friendly “conference” environment.

 

I have already seen many great examples of parents (moms and dads) taking their kids to work.  The Huffington post shared a picture of Licia Ronzulli with her toddler at European Parliament and Mom101 discussed what a family friendly work environment looks like with a picture of Senator Kirsten Gillibrand being sworn in holding her child. Unicef and many other organizations recognize “Parents should be afforded the necessary protection and assistance to fulfill their responsibilities within the community and to their children“.  The New York Times just recently published an article that discussed “For more than two decades the demands and hours of work have been intensifying. Yet progress in adopting family-friendly work practices and social policies has proceeded at a glacial pace. ”

 

To help move the discussion of family friendly work environments forward I want to call on the power of social media to share #FamilyFriendlyWork success stories. I hope this will ignite the discussion and show that creating a family friendly workplace is possible. Keep in mind, I do believe a family friendly work environment does not mean everyone should bring their kids to work, it means that parents can have the support to either find the right childcare or include their kids in relevant work experiences when possible.  What better way to inspire our own kids to create their own career goals?

 

CALL TO ACTION:

 

Please comment below with your family friendly work environment ideas, success stories or links to blog posts (or any social media) or websites that discuss this. For those parents that want to share links to pictures of their #FamilyFriendlyWork please do so. It can happen!

 

MY EXAMPLE:

 

I took my 14 year old son to a tech conference (he even received his own press badge) as my cameraman and video editor!

 

 

If you post or share, please use the hashtag #familyfriendlywork and share your ideas (and links) as comments to this post.

 

Disclosure: This post is just my own way of trying to further the discussion of family friendly work environments…

 

 

 

 

Book Is Out: My Parent Plan – How to Create a Family Project Plan

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**New version of My Parent Plan coming out May 30 2013 while I will be at the Book Expo America in New York City (CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO). Please check back May 30 for info on the UPDATED VERSION!

The Amazon Kindle version will be available May 30 as well as June 4 on iBookstore, Google Books, Barnes & Noble Nook formats.  You can also wait until June 4 VIRTUAL BOOK LAUNCH PARTY and join in the fun of our virtual book launch party ! If you are interested – please sign up here.

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While I’m known today as “TechMama“, discussing family technology across social media platforms, I started my career (before kids and blogging) in Corporate Finance, Computer Auditing, Computer Programming and then Technical Project Management at a top consulting firm. After marrying TechDad and having my first child, I quickly realized that while I had mastered the art of managing technology projects, managing a family was the toughest – yet best – challenge of all.

 

Four years later, my son was joined by twin brothers. Years of parental trial and error mixed with sleep deprivation brought the realization that when I applied professional project planning concepts to parenting – the process worked. While there are always surprises with parenting, using professional project planning concepts helped me lay out a path I could use to understand my family’s needs in advance and create a flexible plan.

 

My family plan helped keep the family on track and, just as important, helped me, the mama, enjoy motherhood without getting too bogged down in the logistics. For example, instead of just buying the coolest or latest technology gadget, I first documented what features our family needed and how the technology would be used – then purchased the technology that fit with our needs and budget. This helped me make educated buying decisions that would benefit the boys instead of spontaneous purchases that would not hold up over the long haul.

 

Through my experiences, I hope to help parents and families create their own parent plan based on their individual family’s needs and personalities. My book, called “My Parent Plan” , will help you learn to apply project management concepts for parenting, the toughest but best project you will ever have!

 

At the end of my book I have a link to the growing “My Parent Plan” online resources section.  I will also be reaching out to my community (yes, that is you) to address your questions, share your family project planning tips and generate the online knowledge and support to complement your own IRL (In Real Life) support system.

 

 

My Parent Plan by Beth Blecherman is available now (soft cover) on Amazon. The Kindle and updated version will be out by May 2013 when I will be the the NYC Book Fair.  Do you have any parent “project plan” tips or challenges to share? What online sites do you use as resources for information? Please share so I can add them to the online resource section I am developing.

 

*Big Thanks to Alicia Dunams – Best Seller In A Weekend (the program that helped me make a plan to create this book). That is a plan and process that works!

 

 

 

Free Online Safety Service From Norton Makes It Easier To Keep Kids Safe Online

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**Guest post by Marian Merritt – Symantec's Internet Safety Advocate

I have three kids who love the Internet in all its forms. The oldest is just 15 and the youngest is 7. Like a bunch of bumper cars, their online activities occasionally dent the family rules for being safe online. Sometimes they forget what we’ve discussed or they are into things I never dreamed would capture their interest. It feels like I’m always a step behind knowing what they are going to download or visit and then protecting them from the mistakes they might make.

The youngest one doesn’t understand why I’m concerned about her using search engines when she was taught how to use Google and Yahoo at school. (How do I know the “safe search” settings haven’t been tweaked?) The middle child, 13 years old, wants to game online and has no problem downloading cheat codes or visiting sites with gaming tips. He rolls his eyes when I lecture about visiting these “who knows who runs them” sites and downloading files. And of course, my oldest is into all the normal teen stuff: social networks, chatting, Skyping with her friends,and YouTube. So I admit it, I need some help here.

Norton has just launched a great and easy to use service that should make my life a lot easier. It’s called OnlineFamily.Norton and is a simple way to give me the insight I need into my children’s online activities but without the usual associated headaches of traditional web filtering or parental control software. And, during the introductory period (through next January 1st) the service (a $60 value) is entirely free!!

Continue reading →

 

“Seeds for Success: Empowering Women Entrepreneurs” Grant Program

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I have posted often about how I am a big "The Apprentice" fan. So I was interested to hear that past judge Carolyn Kepcher and Yahoo Small Business launched a grant program for Women Entrepreneurs. Here is an excerpt from the press release:

"Yahoo! Small Business and entrepreneur/television personality Carolyn
Kepcher today announced a new grant program to promote women’s
entrepreneurship enabled by the Internet. The new program, called
"Seeds for Success: Empowering Women Entrepreneurs," will award three
women entrepreneurs with business grants including cash, mentorship,
and technical services valued at more than $25,000 each. Kepcher, best
known for her appearances as an advisor to Donald Trump on the NBC
television show "The Apprentice" in her capacity as executive vice
president of Trump Co., will help select grant winners and connect them
with mentors from a team of business leaders. In addition to the grant
award, Yahoo! and its partners will provide recipients an array of web
design and marketing services."

Women can apply for the grant here, the deadline for submissions is April 6.

 

Does Working At Home Work?

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Seems like moms are discussing the challenges of working at home lately:

Please share your work at home challenges….

 

Office 2.0 For Moms: From Starbucks to Cubes and Crayons

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Now that my youngest are in preschool, I have more time to work – but no office space (I am typing this post from laptop using a laptop desk on my living room sofa). My office was turned into a bedroom for my twins….

Just this year two things have started to take off that offer great alternatives for moms needing work space outside of the house. Here are just a few, please add more if you know of them:

1. Cubes and Crayons: The most creative solution was founded by M.F. Chapman -  a business in Menlo Park, CA that offers office space and childcare in the same space. Revolutionary you say! I say it is about time. I went over to take a peek and saw multiple office spaces with WiFi – and then two rooms that are for childcare with ample playspace and an array of toys. There is even a kitchen to heat up food for yourself or your child.

2. WiFi at Starbucks - Just today Starbucks announced "announced plans to deliver AT&T Wi-FiSM
service at more than 7,000 company-operated Starbucks locations across
the United States". Cardholders will get 2 free hours of WiFi a day from AT&T. Paid services will also be available. What attracts me to this is that Starbucks locations are convenient and hopefully the WiFi quality will be good due to the partnership with AT&T. I have visited many free WiFi locations, and some are spotty if best.

3. Many cafes are now offering free WiFi… One of the Silicon Valley favorites is Coupa Cafe in Palo Alto. 

4. If you are a mom looking for a place that offers WiFi to to use their laptops on the go, WeFi which maps accessible, free Wi-Fi (in hotspots and elsewhere), is now available for phones. WeFi is also now available on Facebook.

5. My old favorite is good old FedEX Kinko’s. Sometimes I work at home and send documents to be printed out using their online service called Docstore.

 

BlackBerry’s – Not Only Yummy But Useful For Moms

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I am happy that my tech buddy Sarah Granger guest blogged on Techmamas about the iPhone. Last year when I first went shopping for a smartphone, the iPhone was not out yet. Which is lucky for me because I would have been very tempted.

To help decide which smartphone I was going to purchase, I talked to the most important experts of all – my mom friends who had smartphones. After shopping around, I decided on the BlackBerry. And recently I just upgraded to the BlackBerry Curve. Yippeee, mama is never offline. Our family is a two BlackBerry family (happens often in Silicon Valley), so hubby and I never have to say "Put that thing away". Well, maybe the kids do say that… 

I am still spending time getting to know the features of the BlackBerry Curve, but here are some of the my favorites. The start-up guide is helpful, and installation is quick and easy. I find the most important functions intuitive. Which is great for a busy mom who does not have time to read the full instruction manual. Not that I would read any instruction manual even if I did have time, I would rather read trashy magazines…  After my kids are all back at school and I have one moment to sit down, I will post with a more detailed review.

My current favorite features: 

Continue reading →

 

Keeping Track of Online IDs with OnXiam

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The wired world has made keeping track on ID’s across multiple applications complicated. Even if you use the same ID, you have to remember what applications you signed up for and even worse – your passwords. Being from an application security background, it is important to have secure alphnumeric passwords, which end up being hard to remember at times.

I was visiting Techcrunch, that posted about a blog called Daily Tech Talk (dTt). When I went to take a look at this blog (very interesting, I added it to my tech sites typelist) I saw the most interesting section on his about page. The section listed all of his ID’s across multiple online apps such as Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and Facebook. The site he used to organize this information is called onXiam.

I decided to add myself. I chose one site that I am just starting to add information to (LinkedIn). All identities added are public by default, but you can choose to have some of your identities remain private. The onXiam FAQ page explains the details.

This is a great service for moms, because just keeping track of your child’s schedule is hard enough without remembering ID’s.

 

A Visit to JobMom

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I was honored to be interviewed by Charlene Prince Birkeland for JobMom, a blog about the journey to find family-work-life balance. I enjoy reading her posts that bring up topics like managing work life balance when a spouse travels, from Mom to Mompreneur and paying the price to follow your dreams.

Being a working mom is such a unique experience, it is great to hear other voices like Charlene’s to see different perspectives on common issues. I completely related to the summer scheduling challenges from her post "Schools Out, What Now". Especially when she said "My flexible, freelance schedule is a dream come true — until summer
vacation hits". I am trying to schedule my three boys in camps they will enjoy so I can also have time to work, yet have still have time for summer roadtrips.  It does give new meaning to the word "vacation". I think I may just use Charlene’s strategy of spending the afternoons together.