Updates, Disclosures, and a New Employee... Oh My!

So, as you may know, I haven’t blogged for a while. In fact, I’ve been pretty quiet on all of the social media fronts lately. Not that long ago, I posted about being important and in that post I mentioned the importance of valuing our time with family and trying to avoid the social media whirlpool when it becomes overwhelming. I’m working on that while I am facing some big life changes that are coming up for our family. My oldest will be a Senior in high school next year and I am feeling the pressure of getting him ready to leave the nest. Of course the next two are pressing hard behind him and like every mama, I want to make sure they are ready to fly when the time comes. Still, I have so much to say and share with all of you. We’re in the full swing of family reunion season (hooray!) and we have been able to make some really fantastic charts lately (a future blog post, I hope). And we have two big conferences coming up, so that’s a pretty big mountain I am staring down at the moment. But I made a New Year’s goal to get a real handle on the social media side of things. It hasn’t quite come together like I was hoping though, as testified by the many scraps of paper, full outlines, and stacks of ideas facing me down from my desk. So what’s a gal to do when something isn’t working? Well, try something else, of course!

 Enter Michelle Phillips. Michelle is our newest employee here at Family ChartMasters. I think I can fairly say the excitement is mutual over this new partnership. Michelle is joining the team to help me get a grip on all of the social media and writing that needs to happen around here while I am still trying to balance every aspect of our business, as well as the promotion of my Zap the Grandma Gap book series. Michelle is a happily married mother of four who loves the written word. She recently finished her Associates of Science in English at Utah Valley University and is chipping away at her Bachelors of Science in English with an English Literature emphasis. School is just a part-time gig for her though, as she spends most of her time focusing on her family. In her spare time, she reads and writes (excessively), runs (not as excessively as she wishes her aging bones would let her), and takes a college course here and there (she’s happy with that balance). Some cooking, cleaning, and laundry get done in there somewhere too! Her biggest passion however, aside from her family, happens to be writing. Which is why we’ve asked her to join our team. She’s essentially stepping in as our new “staff writer” and social media manager. 

And that is where the disclosure comes in. I love being a small business owner. And I love having direct contact with all of you. So, with Michelle’s addition, you may be worried I am tossing all of that to the wind. Not so. Michelle’s main purpose is to get my ideas into complete sentences and published on our blogs and other social media sites. We’ll be working as a team, writing and editing together, but the ideas that will be presented from here on out are still mine. So when you see a post, just know that it’s me behind it and Michelle is just stepping in to be the conduit for it to make it to the web. Occasionally, in the future, you may see a piece from her and those will be marked with her name and credited to her. She’s new to the whole blogosphere, so when she does make an appearance, give her some love! In the meantime, it’ll just be status quo but with greater frequency. We’ll spend the next few weeks working out the kinks and hopefully shifting into a higher gear around here. So here is to seeing you all a little more often!