Dadpreneurship - Balancing Family, Business and BJ

So I've only had the time to write once on our family blog here. So I decided it was time to "make the time" to give my side of what's been happening so far the past few months :)

(I started this post about 2 weeks ago and like most things that fall into the "BJ" bucket; I am finally getting around to it)

What I like most about this post is that I don't have to do any research, see what types of topics people are interested in reading about currently or make sure I've got keywords present throughout my post; I just write.

What is Dadpreneurship?

Well it seems to be the act of being a dad. Also seems to be about a dad that assembles resources available to him to ensure that he addresses the goals of his family and business, while balancing the organization of his life to also meet his personal goals. Those goals being: 1) staying healthy 2) growing one's knowledgebase 3) being in touch with one's values and so on. The end goal with all these really is balance at the end of the day and if you can achieve that, well then you've got a great formula and I wouldn't mind borrowing it sometime.

Knowing that I've got people reading this who are my family, colleagues and complete strangers; I hope you find little nuggets that may help you or just feel up-to-date on what we've been up to.


What a year I have to start off with ... 1) Started a new business 2) Moved to a new place 3) Watched Helena James learn and grow everyday 4) Helped Sarah start her own entrepreneurial endeavors 5) Discovered that balance was harder than just doing it.

Helena has moved into her big girl bed (I hear Sarah telling her why standing in her bed is dangerous), started saying words like "bubbles", "fish", "kitty", "dada", "mama", "i did it" and "ball" and battled her first real cold that lasted about 2 weeks. The kind of cold your child gets where you can't really give her anything, you give your spot up to her in your bed so she's comfortable, she wipes her nose on everything and she learns that coughing makes mommy and daddy run to see what's wrong ... kind of like strategic manipulation.

Christmas was way different this year for me because not only was I thinking about what I needed to get for my family, I was also thinking about the other 10 people in my business. So this year we did the DOoeys 2009, where each person was recognized for their own special superlative. I happened to get "Mr. Late Night." We had Ryan and his mom make custom wooden-bases with springs that held a corrugated cardboard DO logo. Fully sustainable of course! I think it went off well and we'll be taking it to another level next year. The little things you put into place in your business are what make all the difference in the culture you try so hard to maintain and communicate the importance of to the people around you.

So for 2010 you might wonder?

Well, I'm looking forward to finding a better balance this year to 1) Spend more time with Sarah/Helena 2) Find the right people to put into place at Digital Operative to distribute responsibility 3) Splice out more time for training/exercising for myself and 4) Set goals for my 40th birthday that span both family, personal and career.

That's all for this year! I'm going to go kick my feet up and enjoy my vacation time. Blackberry on silent, unplugged and recharging for 2010.