1. I have learned never to put all my eggs in one basket. I signed up as an employee for a company with a non-compete clause. I gave up my 2 other positions to work only for that company in that field of work. The company was stable, but a year later they were bought out and the new company decided to send the work overseas. It was like starting all over again when I thought I was set at least for a while. Plus I had just had a new baby. I will never do that again.

2. The best tip I have learned and utilized is to be flexible but at the same time try to have one main area of focus. In the past I had worked with many clients and realized I giving less and less of myself. I was giving 20% here, 15% there, 30% there etc. No one was really getting the full potential of the quality of my work since I was spreading myself so thin and trying to please everyone. I was working way too much with little to show for it. Now I still work for more than one company but I try to focus mainly on 2 of them. One is doing calls so I can only work while my spouse is here. The other is coding and that allows me to work with children in the room. The coding will also come in very handy when my spouse goes into the hospital for his transplant.

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"Don't worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you."
-Robert Fulghum