Motherhood Monthly – Elaine Lau

Story by Elaine Lau – Motherhood Monthly

I am a stay-at-home mother with 2 beautiful children aged 3 years old and 18 months respectively. I quitted my job in the financial sector 2 years ago (by choice) to take care of my kids as I wanted badly to be an active part of their growing up phase. I wanted to be the person to guide them along and witness every single moment of their toddler years.

Why do I Want to Set Up My Own Home Business

It all started with my blog, The New Age Parents (http://thenewageparents.com). I started the blog to document my parenting experiences. I thought since I am always surfing the net to get more information, I might as well document them down to share them with my friends who are parents and get connected with them. However, I was quite surprised to get quite positive feedbacks on my blog. As I started having readers coming in, I thought it’s probably time to take a step further to fulfil my dream of having an online magazine Motherhood Monthly (http://motherhoodmonthly.com) so as to bring in more to share with my fellow readers and to add more value to them.

It’s probably the law of attraction at work. I have always wanted to do up an online business but did not go ahead with it because of my own mentality that it is hard to do so, it is impossible for normal people like us since I do not have the technical expertise etc. It just happened that I met the right people at the right time and this friend of mine who is in the business offered a join venture to make things happen.

Of course starting a business means more planning to do and lesser time with my kids. My children could not get used to it initially and my son expressed his unwillingness and unhappiness that now I need to get out of the house in the afternoons to get things done without them. But I always make it a point to schedule everything in the afternoon so that I spend the morning with them to get the routine tasks iron out like making lunch for them, bath them and if time allow, watch a cartoon program with them before handing them to my mum. At night, I make it a point to shut down my laptop so that I  join them for dinner and read bedtime stories. Work start again at 11pm when they are fast asleep.

Challenges I Faced

I do not have the technical expertise so learning curve for me is quite steep. I have to take time to speak to people and ask for help. As a new start up, sometimes you do have to face some rejections and the feeling of getting rejections is not very good. Furthermore, I have to sacrifice time with my children and I do hope they understand that it is for a better future. Another thing is I have frequent late nights as I can only start work after my children sleep

What do I Hope to Get Out From the Efforts I Put In?

I hope my magazine will be an informative one for young parents like us. Of course, I have always wanted to form a support group for young parents to let them know that they are not alone on the parenting journey.

There’s a big dream behind the whole business which I hope to fulfil. I myself faced the difficulties of juggling between work and my children and I know that there can never be a balance. It’s either you excel in your career or you take a step back to spend more time with your loved ones. If one day, when business really takes off and there’s a chance of expansion, I hope to create jobs for mothers who want to enter the work force but are having difficulties due constraints.

Who Am I Grateful To?

My husband who has been a great support in all aspects.
My mum who helps to keep watch over my children while I am out running errands.
My children as they are the main inspiration for me to start a business.

Visit my site : http://www.thenewageparents.com
Contact Info : elaine@thenewageparents.com
Online Parenting Magazine : http://www.motherhoodmonthly.com