I never in my wildest dreams thought I would be raising our kids on my own in fact I made him promise me that he would be with us forever! Just before our second baby was born I grabbed his arm and said promise me you will not leave, promise me you will not have me raise these kids by myself! He looked at me and laughed he said don't be silly I will be right here I'm not going anywhere. I breathed and then we had our son however, when are son was almost three years old he changed his mine and said he was leaving. You know things happen, life changes, we grow in different directions and so I found myself parenting on my own!
I had so many "How Do I?" questions and no matter where I looked or how many books, magazines or internet sites I found everything I read was not good. I felt that this is not true then I started researching what statistics are out there and that is when I said OK that's enough! I set out to create a magazine and I began working with a professor with the Entrepreneur Program at UCLA. He was amazing and he really believed in my vision he helped me create a magazine or a dummy then money was needed and I did not have any nor could I find anyone who was interested.
At the same time as this great idea came to mind I was laid-off from a non-profit organization that I had been with for ten years. At the same time I was introduced to the insurance world and I though "ahh" this is the way I can make my money to get my magazine printed and so on. However, I am very competitive and so when I learned how many different awards were out there I had to go for them and I wanted all of them. So my dream went into a large box and into storage when I had an awesome opportunity to move up to Northern CA with the same company (FYI I was and still am an independent contractor). After six years I chose to come home the large amounts of money I did not make but I did do OK. I was in conversation with some people and ended up signing-up for a six month coaching program with Bob Proctor which was a game changer for me. Things weren't going the way I had expected and anticipated so I really started thinking what else could I do then it came to me my old dream. I jumped into my car and drove out to my storage unit and dug through everything till I found the box.and once I pulled it out I sat down and dusted it off. It was all taped up but there was a piece of paper taped to it covered in tape so it would not be readable when I would get back to it. To be honest I don't even remember writing it but I did. It said:
This is the actual post it note taped to the box!
So, no this is not a magazine only because I wanted to be able to do so much with this that everything would not fit into a magazine and the cost would be so high to produce it and to subscribe to it. While at a meeting in December and while speaking to several individuals who were so excited about what I wanted to create a new idea/dream was created! This is how the idea of doing a website was born.
There is so much to creating a site that will give so much to one parent families that will offer to them suggestions, ideas, places to go to, discounts, and most importantly a different point of view! Instead of showing you all the negative stats that are out there we are going to show you how to grow a happy and successful family with only one parent. For some of you out there you may be a one parent family for a short time off and on for instance... if your spouse is a truck driver, or what if your spouse is in the military and there are other reason that you end up parenting on your own. Our site will give you a helping hand along the way and a group of individuals who are doing exactly what you are doing raising a family on their own.
We will also make sure there are meetup groups out in the different communities so you have a chance to really sit down and speak to someone who is going through the same things as you.
The fact that I now have a new logo is exciting! Though I will be taking it down and putting up the older version till it is complete 100%!
Until we are ready to launch I will continue to let you know what is going on with the site, how it is going and what blocks or hurdles we may have to claim and all of our successes, shh we are looking for more successes then anything else! I will also continue sharing with you some of the trails, tribulations and the celebrations of raising kids on your own!
Please feel free to comment at any time whether it is good or bad or if you have some suggestions please sure! You can also e-mail me at mlopez@parentingonyourown.com
And, so it goes...
No comments:
Post a Comment