Happy and Healthy Mompreneur Blog

Next up on the Hotseat is Holly Reisem Hanna, the founder and publisher of The Work at Home Woman; an online business resource dedicated to helping women and moms fulfill their dreams of working at home and/or becoming self employed. Her site gets 78,000 page views a month, has over 4000 + Twitter Followers and 450 + Facebook Fans. Even with all of the busy activity of her site, Holly remains down to earth and easy to communicate with. If you are a mompreneur or wahm, check out her “Woman Owned” tab on her site. The great thing about “Woman Owned” is that because it is a main tab, the businesses and blogs listed on it won’t get lost in the shuffle like a normal blog post. So without further delay….

Bio: 

Holly Reisem Hanna graduated from the University of Texas with a Bachelor’s Degree in Cultural Anthropology and a minor in Sociology. A few years later she obtained her Associate Degree in Nursing, as well as securing her license as a Registered Nurse. She currently lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband Jeff, her daughter Hadley, and their cat, Alex. Her favorite holiday is Halloween; She loves coffee, the beach, ice-cream, chocolate, amusement rides, traveling, reading, cooking, being outdoors and spending time on the lake! To learn more about Holly, please see: The Work at Home Woman or follow her tweets on Twitter @Holly_Hanna.

Mompreneur 10 Hotseat:

1. Tell us about what inspired you to become a Mompreneur. 

When my daughter was born, I knew that I would not be able to return to my full-time job as a RN Clinical Research Coordinator. With the support of my husband Jeff, I was able to quit my full-time job and become a full-time stay a home mom. During this time I looked for different work at home opportunities, only to be disappointed with many of the resources out there.

Motivated to become a work at home, mompreneur I decided to create The Work at Home Woman and share my research and knowledge with other women who had the desire to work from home and be self employed.

2. What is one thing that you think that all moms planning to start their own business should know? 

Being an entrepreneur takes a lot of time and effort and you really need to love what you’re doing, not to mention you need to believe in yourself. When the going gets tough you will need to keep chugging along, the ones who persist are the ones that end up being successful.

3. How are you able to balance being a mom and an entrepreneur? 

I used to work while my daughter was napping, now that she no longer naps, I have had to modify my work arrangement. My daughter is now enrolled in a mom’s day out program two days a week, which is when I get the majority of my work done. I also can’t live without my daily planner and daily to-do list.

4. What is your opinion on large businesses that seek out moms who want to work at home? Do you think that these are good options or should women just be focusing on doing their own thing? 

It just depends on what you want and need out of an opportunity. If you need health insurance and benefits working for a large company can be a wonderful home-based opportunity. If you want to start your own business or do freelance work, you need to take into account that you will have to pay self-employment tax, as well as out of pocket health insurance if you’re not covered under your significant other’s insurance plan.

5. What is one technological device that you can not live without?

I can’t live without my laptop and wireless internet connection.

6. How were you able to fund your business as a start-up?

I work part-time as a Social Network Liaison for a small publishing company.

7. How were you able to overcome the “glass ceiling”? 

Since I have created my own business, my income potential is based on how hard and smart I work. There’s not anyone over me deciding how much I should make or what I should be working on.

8. Are you able to take time for yourself to focus on your own health and wellness?

Yes, weekends are family time and I don’t schedule any work on these days. I also love to travel and make sure to carve out time for trips, which totally renew and refresh my outlook. My goal for 2010 is to start working out again, which I just need to schedule into my day.

9. Do you think your family life suffered because of your work ethic? 

No, I only work part-time and I’m still able to be readily available for my daughter since I work at home. And because I don’t have a daily commute I save two hours per day – I’m very happy with my work and family life.

10.Tell us more about your product or service.  

The Work at Home Woman is an online business resource and blog for women and moms who wish to work from home or become self employed. It covers everything from finding your perfect niche, to blogging, social networking, home business financing, marketing, work at home scams and small business information. My mission is to help women and moms acquire the knowledge and skills to be able to successfully work from home or to become self-employed while providing support, inspiration and motivation.