I manage other people’s blogs for a living, yet when it came to sitting my wild web woman butt down to write the first post of my new personal blog, I came up with every excuse in the book not to.  My favorite procrastination excuse was it was probably not a good omen to write my first blog post while I was sick.  This delay tactic seemed somewhat rational at the time and successfully delayed the launch of my blog for another couple of days.  Little did I know that stalling that date with my keypad would shed bright light on why I was taking on this blog.

As I looked back on how I ended up on this “Wild Web Woman®” path, it all began with being sick.

How I grabbed the reins of my personal and professional life is a long story that will unravel in future blog posts, but the short version is that after spending close to a decade working to claw my way up corporate ladders (while going to school at night), I became sick and tired of:

  • Sitting at my desk while all the male executives went to lunch every day never thinking to invite any of their female peers
  • Doing work where I could visibly see the monetary impact I was making but I was never paid my worth
  • Having to commute every day to sit in an energy-sucking cubicle when I could always do my work remote (but wasn’t allowed to)
  • Wasting hard-earned dollars on dry cleaning, gas, work clothes and restaurant lunches when there was no reason I couldn’t do my job from home
  • Working with people I didn’t like or respect
  • Not being able to do things my way (ok, ok, I have control issues!)

In 2005, I had what seemed on the outside to be a perfect life: a “safe, secure” job with a 401k and benefits, a wonderful husband, an ocean view condo in Summerland California (which is pretty much the cleavage of mother nature), no debt, and a great resume.  And I was sick….miserably sick.  I had to look critically at my life and evaluate what I wanted and it came down to:

  • Flexibility
  • Growth
  • Freedom
  • Creativity
  • Excitement
  • Opportunities
  • Travel
  • Challenges
  • Control
  • Passion
  • A LIFE

We can’t have change unless we are willing to change so I had to make some tough choices. It became very clear that my first step into claiming a life I loved was leaving the corporate world.

Being sick was the catalyst that helped me let go of the edge and take the first step into running a virtual web marketing company.  Becoming my own boss gave me the reins of my career, which also resulted in me taking better reins of my personal life.  My next tough choice after launching a web-based career was to let go of a marriage to someone I loved dearly because we wanted different things in life.  Being free both professionally and personally allowed me to take consulting projects in other states.  Someone I worked with on a social media project in Georgia in 2007 ended up looking me up when he was in Santa Barbara in 2009 (thank you LinkedIn for the contact info storage!)  – we fell in love, got married and started a family a year later.  Our party of three has traveled all over the country for work and we have had incredible life experiences…and it’s just getting started!

I don’t have a work life and a professional life anymore.  I have ONE life (and a great one) that allows me to do work I enjoy and spend every day with my daughter (we have never had a day apart in 2 years) and travel and grow.

Being sick while I typed this inaugural post seemed quite fitting in the end.  Being “sick” always turns out to be a gift for me, whether it is being sick of things I don’t like in my life or like now, being physically sick.

Sickness can slow us down, but it can also be the breakdown we need to help us get to breakthroughs.   It took being sick to get me on a path to successful.

Being a Wild Web Woman® isn’t always pretty (I sometimes take client calls while nursing my daughter, may not get a shower for days or may be working amongst a pile of toys) but it’s always pretty wonderful.  There are days that I pinch myself because I can work in my pajamas and take breaks with my daughter and joke with my coworkers (who I LOVE) and call the shots.

I live life with a mission to learn, give, grow and love.  This blog is my raw disclosure of my life, lessons we can all learn from, passions (career, food, health, style) and if I can help inspire anyone in any way to claim a life that they love then my time typing here is worthwhile.

I hope you subscribe to my blog.  I won’t sell you anything, I will just share musings as a wife, mom, entrepreneur and lover of life.

Enjoy……