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This short utter summarizes why I do what I do in just over a minute. If you've ever wondered what my motivation is for serving, this utter sums it up. Click the orange button with the arrow to enjoy my Utter!

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I recently discovered a wonderful new tool called Utterz. It allows you to easily record short audio messages to people in your circle of influence. You can also add video. I tried it for the first time this morning and am hoping to make it a regular part of my week. My goal is to provide another way for me to connect with you and let you know what's on the radio show, what's new in the newsletter, where I'll be traveling, etc. Click the orange button with the arrow to enjoy my first Utter!

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How I'm Preparing My Kids For Indie Business Ownership

Yesterday, I Twittered about my 4-year old son scrambling his own eggs. A few people thought that was a little young. I used to think so, but now that I have children, I am constantly amazed at the things they can do when we give them a chance. A few private conversations started on the topic so I thought I'd share my motivation for making sure my kids, ages 4 and 6, learn good home management skills while they are young. As you can see, that includes doing some of their own laundry.

But first, I have to tell you about my homeschooling mom friend and mother of 3 boys, Beverly Lucas. Beverly and I have known each other since 1998. At one time, we met by phone on Monday mornings to encourage each other and talk about the week ahead. Toward the end of our time together, every Monday, her boys knocked on her bedroom door and I heard them say, "Mom, we finished our chores. Is there anything else we can do for you?"

Her oldest son was 6 at the time.

I was astonished. Did they even make kids like that anymore? Of course, as a mom now, I know that kids like that aren't made. They're trained.

Over the years, I have looked to Beverly for all kinds of mom encouragement and parenting advice One of the things Beverly helped me do is start teaching my kids solid home management skills as soon as they could walk. I have been amazed at the things they can do, even starting as young as 2 years old.

Like transferring trash from a small trash can into a bigger one, putting their plates on the counter after they finish a meal, sweeping the floor and picking out clean underwear from a pile of laundry and putting it away. These are things a child can do at a very young age. I would never have known had Beverly not taught me.

It's a challenge, I admit. I can sweep the floor much faster and better than my 6-year old daughter. Instead of asking my 4-year old son to take out the recyclables, I or my husband could do it. I could also sort all of the laundry in less than half the time it takes them to do it. I let them do it, and takes much longer. But I do it because I want my kids to have more than just book smarts.

Home Management Skills Are Easily Transferred To Business

I know lots of grown folks with plenty of book smarts, who are incapable of managing a home. I don't want that for my children, and I don't want it for my future kid-in-laws either. My friends and I laugh when I say that I don't want some sad new bride calling me up in the middle of the night in 20 years, complaining that the man I raised can't scramble her an egg. But I digress.

Because I tend to be on the impatient side, it can be painful to supervise my childrens' chore progress. My son always walks through the pile of trash my daughter is sweeping, inevitably starting a fight. He also hates making two trips to do anything, so becomes especially frustrated when he can't carry all of the recyclables at one time. And I'll never forget the time when me and his sister were busy cleaning up the kitchen, and when I reminded him he was supposed to be helping, he said, "But it's just not fun enough for me." (By the way, that was the last time his father ever left me and his daughter in the kitchen to clean it up by ourselves. Sorry, hon. I have to tell it like it is.)

When they load the dishwasher, I always have to go back and re-load it (without them knowing) so more dishes can be washed at one time.

All the while, I praise their achievements, keeping my eye on the ultimate prize of children who are equipped to be leaders in a 21st century world that will not be nearly as welcoming as the 20th century one in which I came of age.

They'll need more than a good resume, a good education and a few summers of volunteer work. They'll need skills. They'll need to demonstrate multi-tasking abilities and be able to engage in quick deductive reasoning under pressure.

And whether or not they have a traditional job, they will need to have at least one income stream of their very own. They will need to be Indie, so their father and I work hard to ensure that they master both home management and business ownership skills.

Three guiding principles help us do it.

1. Home Management First, Then Business Management

When you're Indie, especially if you're also a mom like me, your heart must be in your home first. That doesn't mean that I always choose giving a bath over signing a speaking contract, but it does mean that I check my heart daily to make sure that my home has first place.

Sometimes, this is a tough juggling act. I have to admit that it's often made easier by the fact that my husband is here with me all day and we can trade off on work and business. But as in most homes in America, I am the one managing the home day to day. I decide where and how the money will be spent and I make most of the scheduling decisions. I want both of my children, not just my daughter, to be able to do that when the time comes. I want both of them to be capable of leading a home and a business. And I want them to understand that, if home and family don't come first, then ultimately there may be little to show for your efforts as a business owner.

2. You Get Paid For Business Management, Not For Home Management

Most families these days have some kind of small business at home. When my kids were just 2, they started emptying the trash in the home office for a quarter. This money goes into their money jar right away. I make the chores age appropriate, but remember that they don't really have to accomplish much to teach the lesson.

If my son empties a trash can with 2 sheets of balled up paper in it, or my daughter does something as simple as wipe off the window sills or put all the pens in the pen holder, they still get paid. This teaches them that they have to work for money. If you connect the task to your business, it also teaches them a little about entrepreneurship. (You may also be able to deduct these payments on your taxes. Check with an accountant first.)

We do not compensate our children for doing chores around the house, because life doesn't work that way. Chores are a part of your contribution to the family. Mommy doesn't get paid for sorting the laundry, and neither will you.

But mommy does get paid in her business, and you can too.

3. Because I Said So

Not enough parents say that these days. At ages 4 and 6, my kids are too young to understand everything their father and I have to deal with as we co-lead our home. Yes, you have to clean up your room to my satisfaction before you go outside to play, and yes, the reason is because I said so. I don't have to make my son understand that taking care of his home before he plays with his friends builds character and instills responsibility. He doesn't care anyway at age 4. All he wants to do is ride his bike.

But he can understand unwelcome consequences if he doesn't do what I say he needs to do. That may sound strict and I suppose it is. But we feel that it prepares him for a life where each day starts at zero, and where he and he alone is responsible for whether or not he makes any money.

There will come a time when he will be able to comprehend the big picture. But for now, go take care of business. And yes, because I said so.

My children will not have the job options I had when I finished college and law school. They won't be able to rely as much as I did on a good resume to launch their parachute. They'll need good home management skills.

If you can manage a home, you can do anything, right?!!

What say you?

I'm sure you have some good tips to share to help me and others do a better job of preparing our kids for Indie Business ownership. Please share yours in the comments section below.

For more inspiring tips for home managers and business owners, subscribe to Indie Business Blog today. I'd love to get to know you better and know that you're coming back for more!

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From One Career Mom To Another, You Go Girl!

The news has been out for over a week now. The shock is starting to wear off. But the insults continue, and I guess that's OK. That's how it is in politics. Yet I feel constrained to put my .02 cents in on the topic of Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin, and not about her politics either. In fact, I know little about her political views except that she's against abortion, that she favors drilling in Alaska and that she doesn't seem to be particularly pro-small business. I don't like that.

Not only that, I think she took lousy, repulsive, cheap, underhanded and unprofessional shots at Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama, in particular by characterizing his community organizing work as anything less than a valuable and noble example of what all Americans should do. I don't like that either.

Having said all that, regardless of our political differences, I have a lot in common with Sarah Palin. We are both married to our high school sweethearts. We are both professional career women. We are both mothers of very young children. We have a loyal group of family members and girlfriends who have our back no matter what we say or do, win or lose.

And we love our families and our careers, and are determined to serve both well, simultaneously, in a world that makes it nearly impossible to do so.

I am weary of the editorials by other mothers criticizing Palin for returning to work 3 days after her child was born. When my first child was born, I scheduled an inducement so I could maintain my business and not miss publication of my weekly newsletter. I took pain killers, did not give birth in a pool and ended up having a Cesarean. And not only that, I gave an interview to a newspaper on a business related topic within 24 hours of giving birth. (Made some money as a result too.) I even gave the reporter my cell phone number so I could call her back quickly if she called while I was delivering my daughter.

Other mothers would not have made the same choices. And I took some heat for my choices, even to the point of being criticized for them on a television show once last year.

And so I support Sarah Palin for doing what she thinks is best for her life, at this time in her life.

At the end of the day, as mothers, that's all we can all do. Instead of criticizing her family choices, let's be collectively grateful that we live in a country where she has them in the first place. That, in America, a married woman can chose to: run for public office, wear whatever clothes she wants, have a career of her own, own businesses in her own name and purchase real estate without her husband's permission.

Sarah, if it was right for you and your family for you to return to work 72 hours after your child was born, then you just go sister. 72 hours after mine was born, I was sitting at my desk revising my website and learning how to breastfeed at the same time. Why? Because I felt my newborn needed the benefits of both my breast milk and my business acumen in order to have the best life possible.

I believe that a rising tide lifts all ships. And regardless of my political views where she's concerned, Sarah Palin's nomination, especially when coupled with how far Hillary Clinton came on the Democratic ticket this year, is a rising tide for women and mothers from all walks of life.

I don't have to agree with another professional mother's choices to celebrate the fact that she has them.

And regardless of the political differences I have with Sarah Palin, I'm going to ride her wave.

What do you think?

Other moms? Dads? Indie Business owners? What do you say?