One Entrepreneur's Journey: Jill Hart of Christian Work at Home Moms
Nov 25 in Smart Management 
This is part of a series called "One Entrepreneur's Journey," where I'm talking with solo entrepreneurs about their successes (and failures) along the path of entrepreneurship.
In this interview, I spoke with Jill Hart, founder of Christian Work at Home Moms and co-author of the book, So You Want to Be a Work-at-Home Mom. Jill has worked from home since 2000 and started her own home-based business to assist other Christians who desire to work from home.
Let's start by talking a bit about your business and how you got your start as an entrepreneur.
I run a website for Christian work-at-home moms, CWAHM. I got married January 1, 2000. My husband was a systems administrator, and I realized early on that either I figure computers out or, literally, I would not be able to understand him for the rest of our married life. He started teaching me more about computers and how to design websites. By the end of that first year, I had designed the first version of CWAHM. It was right about the time that Google kind of came into its own, so people were starting to find me on Google and other search engines and contacting me about CWAHM. At the time, I had just been stocking the site with information about working from home, simply because that's what I wanted to do. It wasn't that I thought it would ever be anything. It was kind of an accident.
What made you decide to build an actual network?
Well, there were a lot of other work-at-home mom sites out there, but I had just graduated from a small Christian college here in Omaha, and I couldn't find anything else faith-based out there. I just started stocking it with information that I was looking for and thought was valuable, pretty much thinking no one else would ever see it.
I actually had to go back to work in 2003. Thankfully, it only ended up being for a few months, but I didn't know that when I first went back to work. We had a one and a half year old at the time, and I balled my eyes out on the way to work every single day and pretty much on the way home, too. I was absolutely miserable, and I think that's when it fully hit me that, "There are women that live like this and have no options." I realized at that point that I was really going to make this a resource that would help other women, and that's when the doors really sprung wide open, when I really understood that not only was this a good business option for me, but this was truly something that could help women.
How did the book come to be?
My faith played a big part in that as well. I woke up in the middle of the night one night with the idea for this book in my head. Three years later, four years later, I had like nineteen pages done, and I was at the point, "I'm either going to do this, or I'm going to get rid of it." I sent it to a good friend of mine, Diana Ennen who runs Virtual Word Publishing and is my co-author. I knew that she knew what she was talking about, both in working from home and writing books. I sent it to her and said, "Should I bother with this?" Being the very gracious person that she is, she said, "Oh yes, this is wonderful!" I asked her if she'd be willing to co-author it with me, and she agreed. We were able, within the course of about two years, to finalize things. Then I got a scholarship to a big Christian writers' conference out in California. I got the guts up to talk to one publisher who about a year and a half later bought the book. The journey was amazing.
Shifting gears, what do you think you're getting right so far as an entrepreneur?
I actually just started doing social media last December, and it has really changed and help grow my business, as far as building true relationships with people. Social media is really the name of the game right now. It helps me be more flexible. They say that one of the next big things is video, so I'm experimenting with that now. Last year, we went live with our podcast. Rolling with the punches and really making the changes is something I do well.
What's your best advice regarding social media?
When you're getting started in social media, follow some of the leaders in your industry. See what they're doing, how they're using it.
What are the things that you struggle with as an entrepreneur?
Balance is always a struggle, especially when you're working from home. As a work-at-home mom, I think that's always going to be my struggle, balancing it all. Last year, I dealt with some pretty serious health issues, and I had to ask for help, and that was really hard for me. I think that's a struggle, too, knowing when to outsource and when to let go of things. Once I did it, I was like, "Wow! I really wish I would have done this a long time ago."
What do you wish you would have known before starting a business?
I wish I would have known how closely I really needed to keep an eye on my income, as compared to how much I paid in taxes. With the first few years, your business is growing, your profit is growing, and I was still paying in the same monthly payments to the IRS that my accountant had set for me at the beginning, not realizing that I myself needed to be keeping an eye on that and upping my own payments. I wish I would have kept a better handle on my taxes from the very beginning.
I also wish that I would have known how much harder it can be at times, not only to be a solopreneur but also to work from home, especially with kids. I assumed that because it was a choice I made that it would just work. Unfortunately, there's a lot of planning and help needed. There's a lot to think through. You have to think, "When am I going to get my work done? How is this going to work for my family? How am I going to make this work?" There's a lot of details that go into it. When I first started out, I was still in that dream land state, "This is going to be so much fun."
What's your best advice for new entrepreneurs?
First, be honest. Be honest with yourself about what it is that you want to do, how you're going to do it, when you're going to do it, how you're going to pay for it. Think through all of that stuff, and just be as completely and utterly and painfully honest with yourself as you can.
Second, don't get so caught up in making an income or promoting yourself that you're not helping others. My very first advertiser told me early on, "What you give out in business comes back to you." I really took that to heart. When you're out there doing social media, look for ways you can promote other people. How can you help other people? The people that you help generally want to help you back in some form or another.
Reader Comments (3)
One quote struck me as I read this article:
I actually just started doing social media last December, and it has really changed and help grow my business, as far as building true relationships with people. Social media is really the name of the game right now.
Jill is so correct about that. What many entrepreneurs don't realize is that even if they don't enjoy social networking on a personal level, they have to get "out there" and be where their clients and prospects are. It's a valuable lesson to learn and can make a huge difference between having a good year and having a great year!
Julie
www.jadcc.com/blog
I agree, Julie. While social networking can be hard to understand, it's very important to put ourselves out there and start interacting with fellow business owners online. Thanks for commenting!
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