Keepin' it Real is Not Always Pretty

Working in the family business definitely has its perks but it can definitely be stressful.  It often feels like you are working 24/7, 365 days. We all work together, live close to each other, and ALL family functions have some work-related conversation.

We all bring work home. 

In our business, there are not that many holidays we can take off (to be exact, only Dec 25th, and January 1st). All other holidays are either non-existent or half days. We get 2 weeks off, but there’s no such thing as getting disconnected, after all, it’s the family business. We are slaves to our iPhones, checking emails, answering emails and phone calls, working remotely if it can’t wait until we are back from the so-called-vacation.

And it’s in this scenario that I laugh when someone asks “when are you going back to work?

What do you mean? I haven’t stopped working!

I know I wrote an out-office-reply which said I was in maternity leave, but that didn’t mean I stopped working. I answered all kinds of e-mails while I was in labor. My laptop was one of those “must” bring with me to the hospital. The morning after my daughter was born, I was at it again, answering e-mails, opening purchase orders, creating new item codes, following up on our marketing collateral, etc.  The days following her birth were no different. I kept up with the e-mails, the work, the conference calls…

Granted, I’ve been working from home and on a slightly different schedule, but the work is getting done between diaper changes, and breast feeding, and the one nap I may “squeeze” in if the night before I only had 3 hrs of sleep because baby had gas and woke up every hour, or stayed awake from 1 am to 5 am….

The point is: The work is getting done. 

And I hear, “you have to sleep when baby sleeps.” But when baby sleeps, I work, pump, take a shower, or eat, or clean, or just take a break from it all…. and every now and then, I get to squeeze a nap, but only if I’m totally useless and can’t function otherwise…

Unfortunately my work cannot be measured. My performance is not quantifiable. I’m asked to “produce, produce, produce,” but this “production” cannot be measured. I am not in sales.  What I do, from trouble shooting computers, iPhones, and e-mails (yes, I’m the in-house tech person too), to sustainability, presentations, marketing, inventory and operations, etc., cannot be physically measured.

Luckily, my mom and husband help me with the kids. Otherwise I would definitely be either completely useless, or at the end of my rope.

And I’m not complaining; this is how being in the family business is. We all sacrifice one way or another, and whether my work or my sacrifices are acknowledged, I know the truth of how I’ve tried to be able to do it all- be a mom, a wife, a career woman.

I’d like to believe more often than not, that I’m a “Super Woman.”  Who says I can’t do it all? If I can be in labor and answer work e-mails; nothing can face me.