I haven’t been updating this site because I’ve been busy lately with Shopperanza, a site for shopping where I post my retail experiences and some select shopping deals. I went to a BlogHer conference in August with the intention of emulating some of the mom bloggers who get to earn money while staying home. I learned a lot and brought home a ton of outrageous stuff for free! I learned that in order to earn money, one must do a lot of work. So on top of taking care of Zam, doing household chores, and doing errands, I have to add blogging into the mix. I try to write daily, but sometimes there’s nothing to report and I skip a day or two. My earnings from the blog has been minimal if not nil, but I get to do something towards my goal of being my own boss. All the activities that I need to do like pitching to brands, writing reviews, connecting with brands etc. brought me back to my journalism days. If I were to really push myself, I would be as busy and stressed as my youngest sister Patty, who works in marketing and advertising for SM, one of the largest department stores in Manila. I distinctly remember one of the bloggers at the conference asking one of the presenters what differentiates a mom blogger from a PR/marketing professional and the answer was nothing. To be considered professional, a mom blogger has to conduct herself like she was a professional business–with a letterhead, with sales pitches, with branding initiatives, and the list goes on. I can almost hear the horrified gasp from the mom blogger who asked the question. Taking care of kids is a job in itself, and you add to it running a household and one would wonder, “How in the world can a mom do a serious business in those conditions?” I know that my sister goes crazy at work, but at least she has an office to go to and no kids to take care of when she gets home. I think I know the answer to how some moms do it: babysitter/daycare/help from a family member. Which is fine with me, but the whole point of staying home with my daughter was so I can be the one to take care of her, which defeats the purpose of hiring help. It’s like me taking on part-time work at the library, but leaving my daughter under the care of someone else, which makes my take home earnings to about $5. Yikes. I have to make a point to interview those successful mommies I met–those with BMWs and Louis Vuitton bags and ask them, “How do you really do it?” In the meantime, I’ll continue what I’m doing and hopefully find a common ground where the income is substantial and the mothering is comprehensive.