One of the stories I share from the stage is my own story. In 2010, I was a single mom with two young boys, and I had a job I loved. The income was great, as was the insurance, and it was filled with perks! It was the week before Christmas, and I was stressed. It's typically a very busy time of the year, which requires longer than normal hours, but this time the stress was multiplied. The company I worked for acquired a competitor, and we knew that some of us would lose our jobs at the beginning of the year.

This particular day, I was home - doing laundry and cleaning the house, when my youngest son came running in with excitement - "Mom! Mom! I know what I want for Christmas...AND it's only ONE thing."

For some, this might be good news, but not for me. It was the week before Christmas, and my shopping was done- and if a 10-year-old only wants one thing the week before Christmas, it's the most expensive thing in the world, or it's impossible to find.
I'm sure he felt my frustration when I looked at him and *probably said in a stressed-out mom voice* "What? What do you want???"

I was so irritated and already thinking of how I'm going to find time to find this one thing, not to mention buy my older son something else to make it fair.

He looked up at me, with that joy still in his eyes- he couldn't wait to tell me...
"Mom, the ONLY thing I want for Christmas is one day home with you where we can sit on the couch, watch a movie together and have hot cocoa"

My heart broke. I called my other son in the room to hear where this was coming from and they didn't hold back sharing all of the things I was missing and they wanted me there- their baseball games, school concerts and open houses.

They were right, but I was one person trying to pay the mortgage and give them everything they wanted- vacations, the latest video games and trendiest tennis shoes.

They looked at me and said that none of that mattered to them. They wanted me.
I tried to explain what life would look like without my current job.
They kept telling me that they didn't care- They wanted me.

I promised them I wouldn't miss another event. I quit my job, started a business out of my home and have never looked back.

After I quit my corporate job to launch my business- I had NO idea what I was doing. I turned to social media to promote it- because I was broke. My budget was a whopping $0! During this time, there weren't many businesses using social media, but it was all I could afford. I painfully learned how to build my own website and, a year later- was honored by being one of the winners of Top Moms in Business by Discover Card and Startup Nation.

I received a lot of media attention and women began to reach out to me and ask how I did what I did. I would meet with them one on one, and then as the groups grew- I hosted workshops. One day, i realized that what I had was something real and something I was truly passionate about- I launched CarbonSIlk and was invited to speak at conferences, sharing my story and knowledge with business owners.