The NakedLaw series “Bootstrapped” explores the challenges small business owners face as they blog about their experiences starting and running a small business. The series will cover a variety of topics: challenges and successes, tips and advice, trends and insights, and more, as these small business owners share their journeys.
This segment is a short interview with Kristi Gorinas, founder and CEO of the Kristi G Company, about the challenges of handling her business in the summer. We met Kristi during an entrepreneurial segment on The Meredith Vieira Show.
NakedLaw: Summer is in full swing! It must be challenging to deal with the demands of your business during the summer, when your kids are out of school. What kind of adjustments are you forced to make?
Kristi: Summer is quite honestly unmanageable with five kids, camps, and summer jobs (and the kids can’t drive). They all have social calendars as well, along with very different ages (5-17) and interests. Being the summer cruise director, referee, taxi driver, maid, and cook, I forget who I am sometimes! Try managing every aspect of 6 people’s lives…it’s more than a full-time job. Their jobs are my jobs, their events are my events and I must attend their every appointment and meeting. With no regular routine to the summer days, I focus on a short list of personal and business goals to attain every day, otherwise it’s bedtime and nothing has really been accomplished.
NL: Are you planning any family activities or vacations this summer (assuming the word “vacation” is even in your vocabulary)? If so, where are you headed?
K: With a new puppy in the house and teens with jobs, scheduling a summer vacation this year was next to impossible. I took a few kids to Indiana to visit my only sister whom I haven’t seen in almost 12 years and my husband will take a few kids back to Chicago to visit some family. Living in Atlanta, we enjoy the pool and activities close by, and escape during the school year if we can swing it.
NL: How do you manage your summer calendar? Any apps or services you’re using to stay organized?
For apps, I use a simple and free calendar app that includes all of my business, personal events, kids’ appointments, school, work schedules and more. My social media apps and email on my phone allows me to keep up with business demands while out and about with the kids. I try desperately to take a break, but any spare time is usually spent on some kind of device doing work or registering for school and activities.
Your question gives me a good segue, actually: Although I use electronics often for my work, I am frustrated with the amount of screen time my kids have each day; from the TV, to iPads/iPods, smartphones, computers, Wii, Nintendo, etc. It drives me crazy. They are “bored” if they literally have 3-miutes of downtime, and then the fighting and arguing begins. It requires constant awareness of everyone’s device time and once again, becomes unmanageable. My personal and business motto has always been to ‘Simplify Life’ and I need help simplifying the management of device time.
So as an inventor I came up with an app of my own called the “Anti-Device” (I’ll keep the functionality a secret). My goal over the next year will be to launch an entire Anti-Device Movement along with the new app, with a website that will support parents and kids in order to reduce the length of time on their devices. I already own the URLs and have pages ready to go on social media platforms, as well as many supporters of this worthy cause. #AntiDeviceMovement #AntiDevice
Kristi G
