Mummy Time

The folders and Laptop say: "Social Entrepreneur" 
The Havaianas say: Bludge Time!

In case you didn't know, I was recently selected by Social Entrepreneurs Ireland to be one of their 8 finalists in the Social Impact Program.

By the end of October 2011, three of the Social Impact Finalists and their projects will be selected to share in €650,000 over 3 years in investments, grants and professional support.

Pretty serious stuff. A chance to take Grace App to the next level in my plans for world domination and making sure you all understand that EVERYONE HAS THE RIGHT TO SAY WHAT THEY WANT... Muhahahahahhahah!

But it aint about the chaching chaching - it is actually a process of mentoring that takes you through your current business model - in my case "Making it up as I go along" to something that investors will be interested in, in order to expand your social impact.
Even if you are not one of the Chosen Three - by the end of the process you are fitter, more professional and much more focused on what you need to achieve your goal(s)

As you can imagine - it is really hard work. Especially in July and August when you have two special needs kids who are out of school, out of routine and bouncing around in the 16 hours of daylight that are so helpfully provided at this time of year. Oh and did I mention I work from home??


Luckily I am also part of the CreateIreland.ie programme for Digital Start-Ups and Fred from CreateIreland very kindly organised a hot desk for me in the Digital Cube in Dun Laoghaire.
So, for a couple of hours a day I get out of the mad house and get through my tasks without being interrupted 57 times an hour. (like I am now)

My Hot Desk is on the second floor.

gah, where was I?

Oh yeah, yesterday, I finished the first draft of the O.C.A.P or Organisational Capacity Assessment Programme and nearly fell off my chair at the final questions about "Work/Life Balance" ....


Yes, these guys really care about the quality of life of their candidates - they know that resilience and sustainability are equally valuable in the Social Entrepreneur, but boy have they tested the theory this summer!

I have to confess that during this process I have been so busy balancing the work bit with the Mum bit that the Lisa as an individual bit has just disappeared. Lisa as someone who walks down the street on her own and has a sandwich and a mochacino alone has vanished.

A nice place to sit and have a mochacino - if I had a mochacino....

She will return next month when we take our holidays, hopefully.. but I've not even been much of a fun mum to be honest.

So today I am going to leave the xl spreadsheets and powerpoint business plans and just 'Be' with my Boo. We are off to the Zoo which is a nice place for a long walk without cars and some scripting. Boo has a list of Animals by Continent and Habitat in Alphabetical order for us to follow and I get to walk around in the fresh air a bit.

Will post you the photos later.

And now a word from JesseJ herself....

xx