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Friends

18th Mar 2013
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I went to a friend's baby shower last weekend and we started talking about what we all wanted when we were younger. We all agreed that a career and a family was high up on our list. Fast forward about 15 years and the reality is slightly different than what we had imagined.

One of my friend doesn't want any kids yet and is more interested in her career but she's worried that if she leaves it too long, it will be too late. She might not be able to have any kids and then she will regret it.

Another friend was more interested in having a family than a career but struggled to get pregnant and after going through several rounds of IVF has become pregnant naturally.

Another friend had become pregnant easily with her first child but is struggling to get pregnant the second time round and will possibly need treatments.

Another friend is very career oriented but now coming to the end of her maternity leave is dreading going back to work and leaving her child at nursery.

Maybe we will all get there eventually - kids and career but I don't think any of us, 15 years ago had appreciated how much of a struggle it was going to be and how being a mum would change our priorities in life.

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FT
By FirstTab
18th Mar 2013 12:54

New perspective

Please keep blogging Liliac1. Your blogs give me a perspective that I don't have.

 

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By Wiganer Elaine
18th Mar 2013 14:51

Glass Ceilings

This just goes to show that all the so called surveys carried out to determine why there aren't "enough" women in the boardrooms completely ignores the fact that a woman's priorities are generally just not the same as a man's, especially when she has had a child.

To make things more complicated, there can also be huge differences in outlook between individual women.

No-one "has it all" - everyone has a choice and there is always a price to be paid for whatever choice you make. Unfortunately, you sometimes don't find out the "price" until you are several years down the line!

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Man of Kent
By Kent accountant
18th Mar 2013 20:35

Choices

It all seems to come down to choices and these change over time.

When Mrs KA had our first child I was an FC for a big property group I use to leave for work at 6am and get home at 8.30pm, so Monday to Friday I never saw my daughter.

Role on 10 years, I now work from home and using today as an example, took my eldest to school and picked the younger two up from school and had dinner with the whole family, something I could never have done if I had stayed on the so called corporate ladder.

I can then use the evening to catch up on work after spending some quality time with my family.

Money isn't everything, but as it happens by having my own practice I do have an opportunity to make a very good living - as well as spending lots of time with my family.

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Replying to johnjenkins:
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By LMP
22nd Mar 2013 11:20

Home practice.

 

 Good for you !

 Did you find it easy to set up your own practice ? How long was it before the work was enough to be a reliable income.

 

 Thanks, lmp

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By A mum and an accountant
22nd Mar 2013 13:04

Not there yet
Hi lmp, I'm not yet at a point where the work I get is a reliable source of income. Hopefully in the next couple of years I will be at a better place to see whether I can carry on being self employed or not...

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By avlarkin
22nd Mar 2013 14:24

Keep it up

Hi Lilac1,

Keep up the blogging, its good to hear from people in a similar situation to me.

I used to work as an SM in one of the big4 until I recently changed my focus to spend more time with the family. Being a sole practitioner certainly gives me flexibility. Its all good when I've got work but I've not yet grown to like business development!

Hoping that will change or I will get lucky....

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Sarah Douglas - HouseTree Business Ltd
By sarah douglas
24th Mar 2013 21:08

 

 

Hi 

As a mum I am motivated and love having my own practice and office.  But at the end of day I don,t need much to live on.  Everyone is different but it is easy to become a slave to material things.   

I must admit I do love socialising  and I have never changed that as a mum maybe not as often but still try. 

At the end of the day though I find I get distracted at 3 O clock which is when my son comes home so I must admit I do come home and then go back to the office later after tea which is only 20 mins away .

He is nine and loves having either my husband or myself at home straight after school.  We both own our own businesses so it can be done.  He already walks to school on his own and it only a matter of time when he does not need or want to be around us as much.  So I just want to enjoy it now as you never get the time back and personally no client or money is worth losing that time with my son. I did learn my lesson.

  I have done it in the past and put a certain client before our time and worked weekends.  After years of experience  your client does not care and it just better to try and be more focused in the hours you do.  Which is why I went for new offices this year and have clear cut work and home time. 

 

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