I am a wife and
mother, working out of
the home. September 1, 2006 I
found myself faced with
a job offer and 2
children who said they
would rather sell our
new
house than lose me to
another job. I
compromised by starting
a consulting business
and revisiting becoming
more active in my kid’s
activities. I could
arrange my schedule
around the 2 youngest
kid's sports, social,
and school activities
schedule. Their dad
lives in Boston, so for
the basics of day to day
life,
it is all me. I also am
the Brownie Girl Scout
Leader, occasional team
mom, and the house where
all the kids love to
play. We have 2 yellow
labs and 3 orphaned
kittens. My oldest son
is 25 years old and
lives in Seattle. We are
all happier with this
new life balance.
Back to the beginning, I
grew up in Ann Arbor
Michigan. My stepdad was
a Professor of Business
at University of
Michigan and our Sunday
dinners and holidays
were always full of
visiting professors and
graduate students. When
I babysat, it was for
professor’s families.
When I served food at
cocktail parties,
it was to the most
brilliant people I ever
met – to this day. Ann
Arbor is often referred
to as the Midwest’s
version of Cambridge and
Berkeley and with that
comes a sense of self
well mixed with exposure
to the world.
After high school, I
attended several
different colleges, had
my 1st child at 21,
lived in many states
around the country and
fit a lot of life in
before I was 25. During
this time, I worked at
several banks,
bookstores and Merrill
Lynch before
I settled into the
career that would define
me at Charles Schwab &
Co., Inc. I started as a
broker and went on to
manage branches in
Michigan and Boston.
The peak of my career
was as the Regional
Director for New
England. Finally, in
January of 1997 I
retired. I went to
Simmons College School
of Management in Boston
and earned my MBA. For
the next 10 years I
focused on my family,
stock trading and
various remodeling and
construction projects
and ultimately building
my current home.
My stepdad, an
incredibly brilliant and
accomplished man who
along with his position
as Professor of Business
University of Michigan,
also spent time teaching
at Stanford, Yale,
University of Virginia
and other places. He has
3 degrees from Harvard
and I am privileged to
have constant access to
him as my key career
advisor. With his
assistance, I created my
consulting practice, MBA
Moms Consulting.
I found that there are
lots of wonderful moms
working diligently in
their kids schools and
still have energy left
over to help more
people. I sent an email
out to everyone I know
announcing that this was
my new endeavor. The
response was
overwhelming. Many
responded that they
wanted to join the
practice but weren’t
moms, weren’t women or
their Masters was in a
different area. With
this feedback, I created
Jill’s Consultant List.
After spending a few
weeks reviewing the
options out there, I
found that there were
many directories
available for specific
areas of expertise but
nowhere was the one stop
shopping for help. In
addition, I was reading
many articles on
starting businesses.
But, I didn’t feel that
the authors had invited
me to contact them
directly for more
individualized help. I
searched out a
programming company that
understood what I was
trying to achieve and
Byte Technology has
become my partner in
this dream.
We started programming
in October and making
changes all along the
way. Whenever one of us
comes up with something
we like in another site
from resources to
navigation, we
incorporate it into our
site. Now, we are all
proud of what we have
created.
As people join up, I
realize the wonderful
difference we can make
in people’s lives.
People are joining who
are settled in their
field and can energize
themselves by helping
others. People who want
to go out on their own
but don’t have the
marketing resources can
find customers. People
who have successful
careers but want more
balance can test the
waters. If you are
looking for a change,
join us and start small
or start big.
I also realized along
the way, that I had
excluded many types of
wonderful consultants
whose practices were
already established and
people who had longer
contract type businesses
as well as high, but
well earned fees
schedules. I recently
altered the original
goals of the site to be
more inclusive of all
experts, regardless of
billing and contract
conditions. I realized
it is up to the
customers to find the
consultant who is right
for them.
I cannot describe to you
the feeling of inner
peace and satisfaction
that comes from helping
these people. Some
consulting work I do
now, I do for free just
because I listen to
people’s dreams and
cannot resist helping
them even if they do not
have the resources. It
turns into the old “pay
forward” concept, as I
help them, they help
others.
Now all we need is you.
Please consider joining
us on this adventure.
Use the “recommend us to
a friend” to send this
site to others that
would enjoy and reap the
benefits of this project
too. Without you, we
cannot succeed. With
you, we can change the
world! |
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