How One Woman Found Full-Time Work by Staying at Home

How One Woman Found Full-Time Work by Staying at HomePeople work for all manner of different reasons. Usually, of course, the primary motivator is the need for money. Fulfillment, however, is also a huge factor and ideally, the two will go togetherbei. For Huffington Post blogger Stephanie Giese, however, it didnt quite work out that way to begin with. Stephanie lives in central Pennsylvania, and for the past six years, shes been a stay-at-home motherbut notlage entirely by choice.It Was Fun for the First YearWhen her first child was born, Stephanie decided to take a year off to be there for all those fabulous firsts that come with new motherhood. By the end of the year, though, she wasnt feeling quite as fulfilled as she thought she would. In fact, she was horribly bored and longed to reenter the work world. Child number two soon followed, though, and then child number three. By that time, she was actually in the position of not being able to afford to return to work, because daycar e costs would have been ruinous.Finding BalanceIf you think this is going to be another of those How I found happiness and meaning in my otherwise horribly bleak life by opening a daycare in my home stories, youre mistaken. Stephanie did abflug a child-centric business she opened a toy library, and was able to take her kids to work with her. She stayed busy. But then her firstborn was diagnosed with special needs, and she had to close the toy library in order to devote more time to him. She did find a part-time job teaching, though, and began to feel a little more balance in her life.Even so, it seemed as though there should be moreso Stephanie began blogging. As her kids grew older, she began to actively promote her blogand to apply for other writing jobs. She found opportunities for freelance work, and her blog networking led to collaboration on a humor anthology, I Just Want to Pee Alone, that became an Amazon bestseller. Ultimately, she was offered a childrens book contract.Havi ng it AllStephanie firmly believes that it is possible to have it all youre just not likely to have it all at once. And sometimes what you get isnt what you expected. If she hadnt walked away from her job to raise her first childand hadnt ended up unable to afford to return to workshed never have found the fulfillment in her career that she now enjoys, working full-time at home.This article is part of our Hope for Your Job Search Series. My goal is to bring you uplifting inspirational and hope-filled stories, tips and advice to encourage you during your job search.