As I was driving around making some deliveries, I realized that my staff needs some attention! We made IT through the day, got IT all done, but IT could have been done better, more efficiently, and more effectively. And the thought of making IT better, makes my blood pressure skyrocket and my heart race. There is nothing more stressful than managing the people that work in my business. But when those people have been managed well, IT makes work a breeze and enjoyable for all.

So where to start: making sure everything from keys to printer paper are where they belong, that we all have the same process for completing orders, and that the follow up procedures are consistent from the top (me) down. And I must work with my employees enough to make sure that they are following my procedures and see that they actually do work most of the time. I love a good system. I love a system that works like a well oiled machine. And until we can get the feel of a well oiled machine, I’ll continue to suffer from the stress of managing people.

Today has been a good start to my 2011 work year.  The office is quiet because my student workers don’t come back until Monday and I hope to have some productive thinking and planning time until then.

This is definitely one of those days when I’d like to be a Walmart greeter–I’d be so good at that–and I could just walk away from my work, worry free. And did I mention that our house is a mess?

I think when I walk today I won’t take my cell phone – wow!  That’s living dangerously!  It’s not the safety issue, but the accessibility issue.  I get tired of feeling like I am chained to my Blackberry.  With three email addresses to manage, it vibrates ALL the time!

Bones doesn’t seem to be stressed out today and that’s good.  Actually, I don’t think that Bones understands stress at all.  He’s had a wonderful breakfast of chicken, rice and chicken broth and he is sacked out under my desk for at least the next six hours.  Oh, to be a dog!

So today seems to be shaping up like this:  walk, online class, work with printer, submit business proposal to CLC and Greek Licensing, order product for Fall Semester, work on benefit concert for Interfaith Hospitality Network and continue to respond to football parking customers for girls’ school.  Very productive day shaping up!

These next few days will mark the first time in several (actually more like 6-8) months that Paul and I will be home alone!  It’s almost like a vacation – but, of course, I have to work and so does he! But it will be a nice break from preparing (I had typed “fixing” and realized my Southerness was coming through) breakfast and lunch.  I have a pretty good attitude about making breakfast, but I LOATHE lunch!  I don’t like to make it, eat it, etc. for myself so you can imagine that my feelings for the children’s lunch are about the same.  So. . .yippy skippy, I don’t have to make lunch for anybody for three days!

At the beach on our yearly vacation I began to see the possibilities of a new business forming one afternoon when I wasn’t really into a book.  I had finished about five on our trip at that point and was plowing through the Elizabeth Taylor Vanity Fair.  It was hot and I went to sit in the water and found my mind wandering.  Totally blank – this rare feeling was so nice and relaxing.  Well, we’ve been home from the beach almost two weeks now and this new business is actually happening.  I forgot how involved a new business can be! The focus of this business is licensed collegiate merchandise and the process with the CLC is long and detailed.  I am not a detail person (more big picture) and I am struggling!  So, I guess that is at the top of my to-do list – at least until 8:30 when the children wake up.

If you’ve made it through the first two paragraphs, hopefully you have surmised that I am actually part of a “we”.  “We” are a family of five.  Me, my husband and three girls ages 10, 8, and 5.  My work is done at home in an office off our living room.  It’s not a totally ideal situation–working at home is great, but there are downsides, too.  However, one of the upsides is that the girls can hang at home during the summer.  We haven’t all been home together for about a month–so we really only have a few weeks left before school starts (way too early!) to enjoy being home together.  I must confess that I (even at age 40) can’t get myself off a school-type calendar, internally speaking.  I find that by May I am just over it – over lunches, over folders, over bedtimes and in need of life without a schedule.  And secretly, this also applies to my work life though not quite as badly.  Is there something wrong with wanting 12 weeks off from work, from life?  While school starts back for them August 9, by Labor Day, I should be back in the swing of things, mentally speaking.