Work at Home Mom – Dawn Billesbach of Menu For The Week
Tags: Interview, Menu For The Week, Work at Home Mom
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Do you work at home?
I work inside and outside of the home. I work outside of the home part time as a Geology Technician and I run my meal planning website from my home.
How many children do you have?
I have 2 daughters. They are 5 and 7 years old.
How many hours do you work a week?
As a Geology Technician, I work 15 hours a week and I average 20 – 25 hours a week on the website.
How do you balance all of your business and personal activities?
I find that a very structured schedule helps me balance work and family. I try to set aside specific time for work and specific time for play. My favorite family activities are outside, biking, camping and hiking. I like that I can’t sneak over to check my email when we are outside.
What was the inspiration behind Menu For The Week?
My inspiration behind Menu For The Week comes from my very structured personality and my love of cooking. I’ve always planned our meals by the week. It’s been my biggest sanity savor in the juggles of domestic life. I’ve also always shared my weekly menu with my sisters. It was a Sunday in October when I looked at my husband and said, “I’m going to make this available to them (sisters) online, so they can just go look it up.” Within minutes, I had purchased the domain name “menufortheweek.com” and posted my first week of meals and a grocery list. It quickly became a business when I realized just how much need there is for busy moms to have someone take the guess work out of dinner.
What has been your biggest business struggle?
My current business struggle is finding the time to do everything I want to do for my business and accepting that there are only so many hours in the day.
Starting a new business really added a lot to my already full plate. I’ve had to learn to move things around and just let some things slide in order to make time for my business. Let’s just say my house isn’t nearly as clean as it used to be and it’s been a struggle for me to let some of those small things go. I am blessed that my family has helped me pick up some of the slack.
What are your 3 favorite websites or blogs?
I did not know what the term social media was 6 months ago and now you will not find a bigger addict. Twitter is my favorite site because it’s helped me so much with my business. I love The Mogul Mom because she is all about helping momprenuers like me. And I really like Mile High Mamas because these are mom bloggers from my neck of the woods and they are all hilarious.
What advice would you give to a new entrepreneur?
I would tell mom’s starting a new business to look for other mom owned businesses for support and advice. I’ve found amazing support out there from moms who are just like me. Use social media to form these relationships. I think I love social media so much because it makes the world such a smaller place. I would also say, consider spending resources on PR instead of advertising. It’s been my experience that PR gains so more business than paid advertising and with a little research you can do a lot of it yourself.
For more information on Dawn Billesbach, see Menu For The Week.
Follow Dawn on Twitter: @MealPlanningMom
2 Responses to “Work at Home Mom – Dawn Billesbach of Menu For The Week”
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July 14th, 2009 at 7:28 am
Thanks for sharing my story. Your website is an awesome resource for moms.
.-= Dawn´s last blog ..Home =-.
July 15th, 2009 at 3:26 am
Thanks for sharing my story. Your website is an awesome resource for moms.
.-= Dawn´s last blog ..Home =-.
Sorry… forgot to say great post – can’t wait to read your next one!