About Lindsey Rowe

I’ve been a professional working mum for most of my life. I grew up in the family businesses owned by my grand-parents; a garage selling and repairing cars and selling fuel and accessories in a village in Devon in England.   My home is in the same village previous generations of my family have lived in dating back to the early 1800‘s and in the same house they all lived in too!

Right from an early age, I helped my grand-father and in later years, my mother who took over the business when my grand-father became unwell.  I’m used to working hard and expect to.  After leaving school, I had three or four different careers (gone are the days of one career for a whole lifetime. You’ll have to think really hard to think of someone you know who has never had to change career. Maybe your grand-parents.  Seriously, think about it).

Jobs I’ve had

I have my B.H.S.A.I (British Horse Society Assistant Instructress), so taught in riding schools in the UK and Germany (4 years), was a travel agent in the UK and Australia (15 years), a business development manager for an advertising agency in the UK (8 years) and was in a traditional marketing and schools’ liaison role for a further education college in the UK (8 years) right up until late in 2010 when I was made redundant. Yes, you heard that right.  Along with 100 or so other colleagues, I was made redundant due to the economic downturn.  At the time I thought it was a disaster but soon realised it was a blessing in disguise. It was the best thing that could have happened to me as I was about to find out.

Some background

I have a husband and teenage daughter (other grown up children all left home) and we’ve paid a small fortune in childcare over the years, particularly for the school holidays including pre and post school care due to the long hours we’ve had to work but the worst part is, we very often found it difficult to spend enough quality time as a family. What parent wants to be at work when their children are off school in the holidays – having to send the children off to a childminder or holiday club all day? And for weeks on end? No thanks.  What parent wants to work for anything from 40 – 80 hours a week so they end up like strangers to their children?

What child wants to be made to rush out of bed early and off to the childminder during their school holidays, being made to rush their breakfast and all in the knowledge they won’t get to spend time with their mum or dad or both and no hope of going off somewhere lovely for the day? Imagine if you can for a second how those rushed mornings impacted on the family with the stress and arguments that deadlines can bring?  Many a day I’ve driven like crazy through built up speed restricted areas late and worried knowing I’ll be late for work and in the knowledge I’ll have to run the gauntlet hoping my boss won’t notice. Fat chance of that happening when you’re late I’m telling you!  Just when you don’t want your boss to see you, they do. That’s no way to start the day is it?

Missing out wasn’t always a lot of fun!

Then there’s the school run….This is a really sore subject. Until recently I hadn’t been able to do that either (until I was made redundant) and always knew that my daughter and I were really missing out. It’s special for a mum to take her own daughter to school and all parents should be able to.  No, I had a job and a boss to keep happy and that’s how it’s almost always been.

If you’re thinking how did Lindsey get to take her daughter to the doctor or dentist then I expect you know this answer to this too. Yes, it was a huge nightmare. It boiled down to a certain level of grovelling to take time off work as holiday or unpaid leave. If I was really lucky, I had an understanding boss who let me make the time up elsewhere – but not always.

 

On top of this, I was also caring for my elderly invalid mother who was becoming more dependant as her needs become more complex due to her failing health and I wanted to be able to devote more time to her but wasn’t able to. It’s not just my husband and my daughter that I’d been missing out on, but my dear old mum too. Mum had advanced parkinson’s and lewy body diseases and she died in December 2012 after a long ten year decline. It was dreadful seeing someone I loved, go downhill and suffer so badly to the point where she could do nothing for herself. And I mean nothing, sadly. You’ve probably gathered that my family are my top priority but my full-time job always got in the way.

Made redundant from my JOB

Luckily for me though, being made redundant from my  job meant I got to spend more time with mum right throughout 2011 and 2012 during the last phase of her life. I’m so grateful for that. And another thing that’s brilliant is that I’m now able to take my daughter to school and pick her up in the afternoon –  a luxury I’m loving and never going to tire of.

I’d always wanted to get out of the rat race – endlessly working for a boss for too many hours each day for barely enough pay to get by on especially as it has always had such an impact on family time and our quality of life.

It’s a situation that wasn’t great. Let’s face it, you know your family are your number one priority but you know your boss has to come first. You most likely feel trapped like I did.

I’d always traded my valuable time for money and had very little to show for it.  I’d always been on that proverbial treadmill that seemed to go faster and faster.  At times, it was demoralising. I’m sure you know the feeling yourself.

My husband I had also invested a huge chunk of capital in our own business selling hot-tubs but the lethal combination of an unscrupulous supplier and a faltering economy soon forced us out of business. That, was a really painful time in our lives.

Travelling to exotic places has been something that’s had to go by the wayside in recent years mainly due to the expense, but also because of lack of time and not wanting to put my dear old mum in a home to be cared for as she would have hated being away from the home we all share.

Accomplishing a long term ambition

 

I recently accomplished a long term ambition of obtaining a degree, graduating in 2011, all done while working full-time and looking after mum and my family. It was something I had felt I needed to do since leaving school.  Always thinking I’d missed out on my chance to gain more qualifications but it’s never too late. No matter what your circumstances are, there’s usually a route you can take – as I found out.

Being forced out of my comfort zone to look for an alternative to a JOB

Hard work has always been the norm for me and being made redundant forced me right out of my comfort zone to find alternatives which is why I instinctively turned to the Internet where I knew the solution would be. That’s when I found two of the very top men in Internet Marketing (Jay Kubassek and Stuart Ross – go on, go ahead and Google them) and they mentored me for a couple of years. Both of them highly respected by the thousands of people from all over the world they’ve each helped and continue to do so. Me included.

Running my own online business has its benefits……..

 

Now, I’m running my own business from home where I’m my own boss at last! My mentors have taught me so much in terms of internet marketing strategies, the importance of branding, social media and so much more.

Now I don’t have to go off to a job leaving my daughter with a childminder all day. I’m actually getting to spend time with her while she’s growing up. That’s got to be the best part and I’m loving that freedom.

It’s great being able to take my favourite horse Jabiru out for a ride when I like too!

My online education continues daily – it’s an ongoing process and I’m implementing the many techniques I’m learning and passing on to others.  It’s challenging for sure and at times I struggle like everyone does but that’s only natural and I’m not going to let that put me off.

 

Being made redundant from my job in 2010 has given me my life back in so many wonderful ways. So you see, it really was a blessing in disguise. It’s enabling me to pursue the kind of lifestyle I always wanted.  As a family we all benefit by spending the quality time that we need  together – when it suits us!

 

Automatic Millionaire Author David Bach has given me some great tips

David Wood has been a huge influence to me too!