There is a reason for the season.

I had heard the term cottage industry in and around business articles and segments on the Today Show but I had left the e commerce boom feeling a little resentful and confused. Money is something that people grow up developing very strong feelings and beliefs about and for me growing up in a 'blue collar' home, it was almost looked down upon. People who had a lot of money do not have a strong work ethic or everything in life came easy to them. My dad had his own plumbing and heating business and my mom kept his books and managed his calls throughout the day and late into the evening. I rarely saw my dad when I was little.

I accepted a position at a new technology start-up company just feet away from my previous job at a Health and Fitness Portal partnered with USA Today. It had already taken on a life of its own and when I came into the picture there were close to ten vp's and a team of close to sixty employees. The start up was part of a technology incubator on the west coast. Sky Dayton, founder of Earthlink, was one of the originators of the incubator. The energy was amazing and there was an incredible amount of talk about what we were all going to do when the company went public. With 10 million in seed money, the company was destined to be a huge overnight success. Flash forward a little more than a year, I'm now seven months pregnant and our company still has not perfected its product. In fighting between the vp's has reached an all time high and the destiny of the start up is written all over our cute ikea furniture. I remember walking out of my exit interview with the co-founders with my lamp and laptop, belly bulging, thinking I'm never going to work for someone else again. I had survived to the last round of layoffs but hardly felt comforted by the fact it was the first time in my life I had ever been let go from a position at a company.

Steve looked at my severance check and then my belly and said why don't you just stay home with Aaron and the baby and we will see if we can make it. It took me off guard. I had never thought about not working. The idea of being able to stay home with my baby started growing on me and looking back it was the best thing that could have happened. Anna was born and then just a few months later I was nursing her on the couch watching the Today Show, Michael Jordan was coming back to the NBA when news broke about the Twin Towers. Aaron was at Mitchell School and I was truly afraid. I had just been let go from a job where I traveled from Boston to LA, to Florida for the day, and appointments all over the country. I was never so thankful to be out of a job and sitting on my couch holding my baby.

With each of my children, not on purpose I have started a business. I think the creative energy that flows through a mom after experiencing childbirth is nothing short of amazing. Anything is possible - I wrote two childrens' books, started a basket business, a cookie business, and a little hat company. All of which were never intended. One act led to another and before I knew it I had a logo, some business cards, and a website. There were other businesses that I started thrown in between all of this: jellybeans interactive (a self publishing content site), a landscaping business, and a marketing consulting business but none of them seemed to stick for more than a couple of years. That is except for one, The Little Hat Company. I had heard the term Cottage Industry many times, but had not realized that I had been living within the Industry for more than ten years.

Looking back on my career: Forbes Marketing Group, Copier Sales, Swedish Herbal Institute, Franchise Solutions/Be HealthyNow.com, PrimeCare, and eFavorites then sprinkled and mashed with my own start up companies I'm starting to see stepping stones to my future. When I was knee deep in the mix of all these crazy insane little companies I constantly questioned "what am I going to do with my life?". It didn't feel like I was on a path that made sense. As The Little Hat Company began growing at warp speed I was able to take different pieces from all of my experiences and make sense of what was happening to us at LHC. It was often familiar territory in the weirdest sense of the word. Each business is unique like a child but certain experiences and new faces at LHC seemed oddly familiar.

All of this rambling to say when you find yourself in a situation or place in life that you just can't seem to dig in and make sense of try to stay open to all of the experiences it brings. You may not know why or what is the purpose now but believe you me friend there is a reason for the season. Embrace it!