Wonderful WAHMderful Life workshop

Last Saturday, I was able to attend It’s a WAHMderful Life Workshop by Manila Workshops and Martine of Daintymom, it’s a whole day affair at the Studio SnR in Ortigas. This is the second series of the WAHMderful Life workshop, the first happened last October 2012. This second workshop is more specific and tackles real ways on the road to being a WAHM such as freelance writing and virtual assistance.

Why I attended this workshop even if I’m not a WAHM and still have a regular day job? I just want to know other possibilities and options for me. Though I still love going to work because of my flexible hours and because Jeff and I work together, I’m still preparing myself should Gwen’s yaya will leave us for good. Nagpaparamdam na kasi na mag-aasawa na raw sya… =( Yaya Gladys has been with us for a year, sya na ang pinakamatagal, before Gwen turned one, we already hired about 4 or 5 yayas. I don’t want to deal with another round of stressful training days for a new yaya, so I’m preparing myself to be a WAHM once that happens. Also, we’re planning to send Gwen to school this summer and I want to be with her on this milestone.

I shared the same table with Tyna, Karina and Kaye. Tyna and I are still working moms, while Karina and Kaye are busy mommies managing their homes. It’s funny we were equally divided, our chosen lunch was chicken teriyaki for me and Tyna, and veggie lasagna for Karina and Kaye. At the break-out sessions, Tyna and I went to the VA group while KK went to the freelance writing group. We plan on meeting up again to exchange notes =).

After talking and hearing stories from other WAHMs and WAHM-wannabes, I realized that there are reasons we have in common why we want to work from home and it’s not the monetary gain, it’s about being AT HOME for the family, being there when your child/children need/s you, being in control of your household and being the one to make that sacrifice on giving up a regular paying job to start an unconditional career called motherhood.

At the break-out sessions after lunch, we could choose which one we’d like to attend pre-registration and I chose virtual assistance. I got a part-time online job at Odesk before I gave birth to Gwen. I was hired as a research analyst, my boss owned a recipe website and my job is to copy and paste recipes and make recipe books. It was a fun fun fun job! I love food and it’s a delight to be working on food every night (nakakagutom lang!) After I gave birth and Gwen being a colicky baby and didn’t sleep at night for two months, my boss had to replace me. I think I can do better as a virtual assistant than a freelance writer. I still want my writing or blogging to be just a hobby.

Here are all mommies that afternoon, surprisingly, we also had two daddies who attended the workshop too…

I’m looking forward to more workshops targeted for MOMS! Here’s another one happening on March 2, 2013, one of the speakers is Martine’s dad, Gus Cosio.