My life as a Shelf Reliance Consultant

Are you considering becoming a Shelf Reliance consultant?  Do you wonder if you would be able to fit it into your life and be successful in this business?  You can read more about becoming a Shelf Reliance Consultant if you'd like to learn about it.

Recently, I have had many people ask me questions like the following:

• How do you "do it all?"
• How do you fit this into your life?
• When do you find the time?

Funny, it seems I'm not the only one getting these questions.  My Shelf Reliance trainer (also a stay at home mom with 4 kids) answered similar questions on her blog a few days ago. I'd encourage you to go check out her answer as well.

First, I want to make it clear that I don't do everything.  If you want to succeed at this business, you can.  I am certain of that.  But, you will have to sacrifice at times.  You will have to say "no" to some things so you can put time into your business.  You will not be successful unless you treat this as a real job and "go to work" every day.

However, this opportunity offers so much flexibility that I am convinced anyone with a little determination, passion and dedication can fit it into their life and create a successful business.

Below is my daily schedule.  Over the past few months, I've slowly switched most of my resources (time and money) from in home tasting demonstrations to this blog.  I don't do much for this business outside my home now. 

Please note, there is never a day when I stick to this schedule completely as something always comes up: a customer with a need, a consultant with questions, a sick child or a sleepless night etc.  Also, this is just Mon-Fri.  Saturdays are completely different and consist of mostly family stuff, yard work and deep cleaning.  I check and respond to email, but do not write blog posts or do any serious work as a Shelf Reliance consultant until the kids are in bed.  I do not do anything for my business on Sunday.

• 6:00 am: Up; feed Hanna; personal scripture study; get dressed (most days...haha)
• 6:45 am: Get kids dressed
• 7:00 am: Breakfast (usually cereal although I do try to make something else at least 2-3 times a week) & family scripture study
• 7:30 am: Bkfst cleanup; cleanup whatever was left messy from night before
• 7:45 am: "Morning jobs:" Kids make beds.  I do one "major" cleaning job (clean appliances or clean bathrooms etc...depends on the day).  Dinner pre-prep (chop veggies or make a sauce, just anything I can do ahead of time to make the crazy dinner hour easier)
• 9:00 am: Hanna's nap.  Three other kids watch 1 hr TV.  I try really hard not to turn my computer on until 9:00 am every morning.  I check and respond to email, update facebook, read and comment on other blogs that I follow and start a blog post.  On a good day, I actually finish the post, but often, I just get it started.
• 10:00 am: Snack for kids. Start getting ready to go out.
• 10:30 am:  Feed Hanna. Leave.  Mondays = Library, Tuesdays = Gym, Wednesdays = Gym, Thursdays = Grocery shopping, Fridays = Park
• 12:30 pm: Lunch.  Get girls down for naps
• 1:00 pm: Girls sleeping. Boys in quiet room time (occasionally consists of a Disney movie).  I work for 2 hours.  Check and respond to email. Finish blog post.  Prep for trainings.  Send training emails or work on training website. Work on blog upgrades, advertising, relationships with other bloggers.  I also often get lost on Pinterest  (-:
• 3:00 pm: Reading time, outside play time, go for a walk, "preschool" time (work on writing, coloring, fun projects etc).  My goal is to keep the computer off during this time, but I don't always do it.  So, occasionally, I am also responding to emails as they come in during this time.  Occasionally, we will go to the gym during this time.
• 4:30 pm:  Snack for kids. Clean up playroom, clean kitchen from lunch. Clean off table. Vacuum.  Finish up morning cleaning job if needed (especially if it was laundry...I hate laundry).   Finish dinner.
• 5:30 pm: Eat dinner.  Family time for 20-60 minutes depending on how happy the kids are.  Cory will occasionally take them to the park or out back to play baseball or soccer.  Family night (an LDS religious practice) on Mondays.
• 6:00 pm: Hanna in bed
• 6:30 or 7:00 pm: Samantha in bed
• 7:30 pm: Boys personal quiet reading time.  Lights out for them at 8:30 pm.  Time alone with Cory until about 8:00 pm most nights.
• My evenings:  Evening work time usually starts around 8:00 pm for me except on the nights I do team trainings.  
• On Monday and Saturday, I check and respond to email, update facebook, read and comment on blogs I follow, make recipes, try to improve my photography skills (they are currently awful!) and work on my blog and all that goes into that (and it is A LOT) until about 11:00 pm.  
• On Tuesdays, I do team training from 6:30-8:00 pm while Cory puts the kids in bed.  Once the training is done, I spend some time with Cory and then work on my blog until 11:00 pm or so.  
• On Wednesdays, I do team training from 7:00-8:00 pm  while Cory puts the kids in bed.  Once the training is done, I spend some time with Cory and then plan our week's menu and my grocery shopping plan.  
• On Thursdays, I try to do something completely unrelated to Shelf Reliance: Scrapbooking, writing in my kids journals, reading, etc.  Depending on how busy things are with the business, this isn't always possible.
• On Fridays, I have a date night with my husband.  Sometimes our date night is working on Shelf Reliance stuff together....haha

Micah and Noah (my almost 4 yr old twins) actually just started a mother-taught preschool yesterday.  So, every Tuesday and Thursday they will be gone from 8:30-11:00.  And every 9 weeks, I will be teaching 10 kids from 8:30-11:00 am on Tuesday and Thursday.  I'm sure that will change things up a bit.


Again, no day actually ends up exactly as listed above, but that is my goal and for now, I feel comfortable with how being a Shelf Reliance Consultant fits into my life.  It is my outlet.  I really enjoy this business.

The best part about the above schedule is that it is also full of lots of the following:

• "Mom, I just made my name!"
• "Mom, I'm thirsty."
• "Mom, watch me!"
• "Mom, can I help you wash the doors?"
• "Mom, I'm done going potty!"
• "Mom, is it my turn to help with dinner?"
• "Mom, will you read me a story?"
• "Mom, how do giraffes bend their necks?"
• "Mom, why did God make sidewalks?"
• "Mom, I just gave you a smudgeroo!"
• "Mom, can I have a kiss?"
• "Mom, I love you THIS MUCH and THIS HIGH!"

I absolutely love being home with my children.  I love that I am a part of almost every minute of their lives.  I love that they get to watch me do something I enjoy.  I love that they get to watch me work hard for our family.  I love that they are learning to work with me.  I love when they imitate me (even when they "check their email and mess up the computer).  I love their smiles, kisses, hugs, even their tears.  I love that they adore me (at least for now).

I have always wanted to do two things: (1) Be a Mom - a good mom, and (2) own my own successful business.  For a long time, those two ideas seemed almost incompatible, but this opportunity to be a Shelf Reliance consultant has allowed me both.

If you have questions about how it might fit into your life, please let me know.  I would love to help you get started and support you in any way I can.  I have been very surprised, very pleasantly surprised, with how well this business has done financially for our family.  While it has taken hard work and hasn't happened over night, we are starting to hope that some of our financial dreams may come true.  Things like owning a home, or quickly paying off our student loans (we had 3 kids while in law school) are looking possible.  Being a Shelf Reliance consultant is truly helping our family to be more self reliant and even prosperous.


You can read more about becoming a Shelf Reliance Consultant if you'd like to learn about it.

I am an independent consultant for Shelf Reliance; a company with a mission to empower others to become self reliant, prosperous and charitable.  You can learn more about Shelf Reliance, buying their products, earning free products, or selling their products on my Shelf Reliance website.