You Are Not Alone!
by Donna Maria

As a business owner and a home manager, you're never lacking for a new beginning. Whether it's moving a toddler from diapers to training pants (as I am now with my 2-year old son) or taking a picture to commemorate your latest product or service sensation, there is always something new and exciting to look forward to. In our worlds of home and business, it can get isolating. Moving skillfully between making our products to doing the laundry to preparing something edible for dinner to picking up toys to nursing a baby, it can sometimes seems like we are lost in a world all our own and it can be lonely sometimes.

But for the women who attended the Lifestyle CEO Conference a few days ago, all of this multi-tasking now has a whole new meaning. We are not alone! Instead, we represent a new kind of woman who is proactively managing her life, her talents and gifts, her income potential and her family for the benefit of everyone involved. She benefits because she is fulfilled and challenged professionally -- from the comfort of her own home. Her children benefit from watching her create something from nothing, employing innovation and ingenuity to contribute to the family financially, and they too are challenged to make a contribution and to understand how to make money work for you rather than working for money. Her husband benefits by helping to create new revenue streams which could someday take him from working for someone else to working in the family business. Her customers benefit because she is offering an alternative to the ho hum products and services provided by corporate giants. While it was women who attended the conference, rest assured that our families were there with us.

In my case, that was literal! My dear husband (who forbade me to include his photo in this article, but whom you can meet here) worked all day to ensure that speakers were properly "miked," no one tripped over wires, the right video and still shots were taken and everyone in the room could enjoy the event. My children, who arrived in time for the Lifestyle CEO Launch Party, helped present the flowers, eat the cake and clean up. My daughter even added some drama with a surprise nose bleed (and by the time that was taken care of, all that was left of the cake was the scraps!). I was able to honor my parents, aunt, husband and brother, each of whom made significant contributions to make the conference a success.

Our Keynote Speaker, Lisa Price, founder and president of Carol's Daughter, inspired all of us with her story of going from bankruptcy to millionaire, all because she followed her passion to create unique bath and body care products. And she started the company when both of her sons were nursing and shortly before her husband lost his job when his employer's business folded. How's that for a reminder that, no matter where you are, you are not alone?!

And if that was not enough, we had a lively panel discussion where five Lifestyle CEOs shared from their hearts and their daily lives about how they manage home and business without compromising either. The rubber really met the road in this session where we discussed everything from maintaining spousal relationships in the midst of building a business to distinguishing between time we spend doing things with our children and time we spend doing things for them. (Thanks Patricia!) It got a little intense at times, but we used it as an opportunity to lift each other up.

And we topped it all of with the Lifestyle CEO Launch Party, complete with a branded cake made and decorated by hand by Connie Boswell (my husband's aunt) of Connie's Cakes in Herndon, Virginia. (Email me to find out how you can get your logo beautifully emblazoned on your own launch party cake!!)

So in case you stopped by this article feeling a bit discouraged, let me remind you that you are not alone! Lifestyle CEO is here, and so are the models and examples of thousands of Lifestyle CEOs around the nation who are paving the way to lives of financial freedom, flexibility, fun -- not only for themselves but also for future generations. And if you missed this year's conference, plans are already underway for next year's conference, which will be even better!

Can't wait until 2007? I know the feeling! But in the meantime, you can click here to visit the 2006 Lifestyle CEO Conference Photo Gallery.