Writing & Media
As a kid, I was a voracious writer and reader. I wrote poems, I wrote stories, I wrote editorials, I wrote for the school newspaper. You name it, I wrote it. By the end of high school, I was the editor of the school newspaper, the editor of the school literary magazine. I wrote all day and came home and wrote in journals at night.
And then I started a business, moved across the world (multiple times) and had three kids... and woke up eight years later, and realized I couldn't remember what I liked to do. Then it hit me, like a lightning bolt- I love to WRITE! So, when I am not chasing kids on the beach, doing yoga, packing for our next trip, or leading the amazing Greenback team, I am writing.
Topics I Cover Include:
Leadership
Particularly in the Context of Remote Teams
When Dave and I first started Greenback, we had an office that no one ever once went to. Literally- not even a desk or a phone. Why? Because in 2009, the idea of a credible, growing, respectable business operating remotely just wasn't acceptable. Gone are those days, of course- businesses need to operate remotely just to keep up now! I enjoy helping newly minted remote teams get up the learning curve by sharing my decade of real experience in how to manage a virtual team. Spoiler alert: if you try to manage your remote team in the exact same way you manage an in person team, you will be throwing your hands up in frustration by the end of the month! Let me help you get up the learning curve.
I am a columnist for INC., where I write weekly on this topic. Read articles here.
I have also written for Entrepreneur.com, FoxNews, Sales-Initiative.com, and more:
How to Manage Work in An Office That Never Sleeps,
4 Ways Your Virtual Business Can Build Customer Confidence and Credibility,
How We Manage Customer Service in a Virtual Company &
Running a virtual business? Use these 5 top sales tips!
Raising Globally-Minded, Entrepreneurial Kids
Dave and I started our business the same year we started a family. If you look at the dates of the earliest Greenback marketing plan, the bulk of the work was done during the 10 days between my due date and the my first son arrived (as an aside, ask any mom about to give birth- they've never been more productive than those last few days before baby arrives).
So, long story short, in the last 9 years, Dave and I have simultaneously (sometimes literally) created and grown a start up, had three kids and moved countries countless times. Seen the video of the BBC interview disrupted by toddlers? That hasn't happened to me- yet. But I wouldn't rule out the possibility- juggling kids and a business can be messy.
I laugh a little when I read terms like "work/life balance" or even "work/life integration". For me, my life and my work happily (mostly) co-exist and co-mingle. I sometimes feel like a new waitress on her first day juggling 12 plates while a customer accidentally steps in her way and her shoelaces are untied. It's a constant balancing act, and things might fall. This pic says it all- 10 minutes before getting up as the keynote speakers for a DCCBKK event, my boys were posing on the stage and throwing paper airplanes. So, here's my philosophy: I don't try to separate, I try to integrate.
I like writing about our attempts to raise global, entrepreneurial minded kids:
How to Raise Entrepreneurial Kids & Raising a Third Culture Kid
Home is Where the Heart is
If you ask my kids where they're from, they honestly don't know how to answer the question. I once got called in at the YMCA in my home town (where my then 5 year old was doing a summer program) to talk about his "confusion" with geography: he claimed he was born in London, his brother was Argentine, his grandparents lived in Brazil, and he lived in Bali. And that he had spend the last week in Barcelona and Paris. And yup, that was all true!
I believe that travel is key to my soul being happy. I inherited the travel bug from my parents early on, having grown up in Mexico City. And have been going strong since. Dave and I have been living abroad since 2001, and the list of where we want to visit, live, experience is growing not diminishing. So, watch this space- many more adventures to be had (and written about)!
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