Once upon a time, there was a young lady that thought she could change the world and chose the healthcare field in which to do this task. She took out significant school loans, spent many years in post-graduate school, graduated and then started working an abundance of hours. That lady was me.
Time marched on (as it tends to do) and I became a mother. I never intended for my plans to change because of children but I began to feel a pull, tug, calling, need (whatever you want to call it) to spend more time with my kids than at the hospital. I had worked very hard to get to this point in my career so this was not an easy decision for me. One of my main hesitations for changing trajectory was financial. Decreasing a steady income to stay home with the kids was probably not considered "logical" or "smart" by many bystanders. After many conversations, my loving and supporting husband encouraged me to cut back my hours at the hospital and spend more time with the kids, so I did. That decision has been a great thing for our entire family and eventually allowed us the freedom to home-school (more on that later).
**Disclaimer** - I am in no way participating in the war between the Stay-at-Home-Moms and the Work-Outside-the-Home-Moms. I am simply telling MY story.
I felt an intense pressure to make this work financially because it was working so well in the other parts of our lives. I eventually discovered what many before me already knew; The less that you spend, the fewer hours that you must work to pay for it. So, I changed my frame of mind and started looking around for solutions to my problems before automatically going to the store or placing an online order. This forced me to be creative. Do I pay the $200 for a new dresser for the girl's bedroom or can I take the free one offered to me by a friend and make it pretty for a fraction of the price?
The more projects that I attempted, the better I became and the more my confidence grew. Along the way, I learned that I enjoyed the process as much, if not even more, than the final product. There is just something satisfying about taking something old, useless, and ugly and transforming with your own two hands into something that is pretty, useful and that others may also enjoy.
Eventually, my projects started to overtake my home and spilled over to take over my garage. I didn't need anything else in my home but I still enjoyed the creative process so I continued to produce them.
After encouragement from friends, family and my husband, I started my own small business and PJ's Projects was born!!
Thanks, Jo! It’s great to have your support.
Good luck Pamela!! You will do great!