Several of my friends (including my boss) have been watching me this last six weeks or so since selling Richmondmom.com. I’ve written a bit about life after entrepreneurship but haven’t divulged much.

I think they’re waiting for me to break down, crack-up or dive maniacally head-first into another project. Full disclosure: The third is likely true-I’m in the midst of moving my family of five during the last week of school. Please send wine.

The truth is: it was time. When I was able to sit at the closing table, sign the idea that became the home to dozens of writers and two hundred thousand annual readers away without tears, it was time. I needed my life back as for a couple of years there it wasn’t quite my own.

The blog, out of necessity when I lost my job became a business of which I was primary sales rep, bill-payer, recruiter, marketer & PR-rep. Even with a great team it came down to me being in two places at the same time & with a demanding family and full-time job it began to take its toll.

Plus, what about those Richmond Rocks books I wrote & barely had time to read in schools as I love to do?

Thousands were donated to charity. Scores of connections were made, ideas shared, lives touched through good deeds on the blog.

Missing the team & our fun advertisers is the toughest part, yet we still email & comment on each other’s posts.

I feel peaceful & hopeful about transitioning my blog to new owners and starting a new chapter (in our new-to-us home!) and excited about new adventures ahead.

Watching my son at a Richmond Squirrels game last Friday was a treat. This is a kid who is Minecraft-obsessed and hard-pressed to leave the creature-comforts of home, so to see him at a local minor-league baseball game touting logos & cheering was a fan to my fire.

What gets us excited about anything? It’s so easy to fall into the everyday/comfort/routine of home that it’s often hard to break out into a world of the unknown (potentially in-fun). But it can surprise us, too.

Breaking out of my role of CEO of the blog I created, Richmondmom.com has been tough yet I’m excited about the possibilities. Even when great friends/cheerleaders continue to share accolades I’m not sure I deserve I know it’s right for me.

After five plus years at the helm it’s time for something new & I’m thrilled that the new owners have some fire behind their excitement for “my baby.”

Sometimes we all need to break out I our comfort zone for the unknown, which may often be more thrilling than we expect. . .

My six-year old daughter is a Girl Scout and last Friday we walked the Richmond Diamond to honor them.

These little, boisterous, exhausting, fascinating wonders joined hands–many of them barely “knowing” each other well after meeting bi-weekly this school year, yet considering themselves friends just the same.

I love the way they held hands. It’s sort of like the way I virtually held hands with my Richmondmom.com team, writing with and for me and having never or rarely met in person.

A friendship that shares a common bond yet not a daily interaction for a common goal, in friendship. How beautiful.

While packing I unearthed this yellowed, paper-thin t-shirt I’d bought from a guy wandering tailgates on a sunny Saturday home-game day. From his stuffed duffel bag he’d trade students twisted-up t-shirts for fifteen bucks.

I never pictured it here in my swollen closet over twenty years later.

As a mom of three its hardly appropriate attire for anywhere but around the house, yet I can’t part with it. All the days spent with those whom I still count among my best friends chanting “WE ARE! PENN STATE!” are as much a part of my memory’s thread as the three days I gave birth.

Every single place we visit, stay, loathe, love, learn becomes part of us in some way, and some leave us with physical remnants, just in case the threads wear thin.

When asked “How did you do it?” As I often am I respond “it’s passion, filling a niche, responding to a need with purpose.”

That is how a show-stopping (200k+ visitors to a hyper-local, unique and award-winning) blog is made, not born.

I love discovering that a writer on the blog I created, Richmondmom.com, was featured in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. A good day!

I found this under my pillow the other night, a sweet hand-scrawled sentiment from my sweet six year-old.

Step back to a couple of weeks ago, after just closing the sale of my blog I had kissed her head before walking out the door to an event while transitioning the sale.

“Mama,” she asked while looking at me with her ridiculously-sweet baby blues, “why are you leaving again?”

I knew the draw to get back to my writing roots–closer to my babies who are no longer babies–away from being the owner of a busy online magazine/blog, mom of three and full-time corporate girl was right for me.

Creativity has many forms and mine is morphing. Adventures to follow.

Who were you before you got the big idea? Bet you won’t believe who you’ll become. . .

Reblogged from CAHOOTS:

A blog is a great way to open up the dialogue between your startup and the online community.  It is something we (Cahoots) have been doing for a few months now while we refine our concept and product.  Our blog has been a fantastic tool, asset, and outlet for us.  We are attracting a growing audience to engage with on a regular basis.

Read more… 581 more words

My mom, pictured above with me last year on Mother’s Day, is a perfect example. Her “retirement career” as a seamstress at Sewinit took off well before she ever pursued formal training.

She’s a sought-after local creator of draperies & home fashions and actually quite busier than she’d probably like to be in retirement. I’m super-proud of her & tell her so often.

Perhaps a more well-known example is the adorable YoungHouseLove.com couple Sherry and John Petersik with whom I luckily moderated a book signing at Barnes & Noble in Richmond this week. (Believe me, no one was there to see me–they LOVE this couple and for great reason!)

Turning the pages of their NYT best-selling book named after their blog I learned that neither of them had any DIY-related training.

They were ad execs who simply had a passion for building a beautiful setting within their four walls & did so creatively & within a budget. A blog–and later a multi-media career–was born.

With 5MM+ visitors a month (yeah, that’s right millions, baby) they are the family everyone loves to watch and the line at their book signing emphasized their killer following:

Bottom line: dream your dream & pursue the life you want. Education is a powerful tool and one not to be cast aside, but passion and energy are always stronger.

Oh, and listen to your mom who told you that you could do anything you imagined, and thank her later when you have.