In Part 1 of this series, I wrote about self-employed women and the issues facing them when trying to get proper compensation from Bituach Leumi/Social Insurance. However, a self-employed mommy faces another significant dilemma after giving birth: how can you just stop your business for three months? Can you afford to lose clients? Running a business involves more than just getting the work done – it means being there for your clients. Loyal clients are very valuable, and part of what makes them happy is that they know that you are there for them all the time. This is particularly true if your clients are other ...

Our eyes play a significant role in our decisions to buy. There is a big difference between a written description of a product and the product itself in all its 3D glory. Salespeople who play to our senses may be more successful than those that rely on descriptions or texts to make their sales. No one wanted dessert until he showed up with the tray of goodies No one wanted dessert. We had eaten our fill of fine café food, and were ready to ask for the bill. But then our waiter arrived with a tray laden with delicate, tempting cakes and sweets, and asked us if we wanted dessert. When my eyes fell upon ...

Business plans are considered standard fare for the budding entrepreneur. Business mentors and guides will tell you that you must have a business plan in order to succeed. Even if you aren't looking for funding or loans, and even if your business already exists, they will tell you that you must put together a business plan in order to create structure and discipline for your business. But do you really need a business plan? An excellent article on Wall Street Journal's "Startup Journal" looks at some recent studies on the effectiveness of business plans. According to a study recently released by Babson College, businesses that began ...

First of all, I'd like to apologize for the growing gaps between blog posts. Babies are great fun and too cute, and along with this privilege comes a lack of sleep, and a sharp drop in available time for activities other than holding and feeding said baby. Bloggers in the blogosphere all espouse the importance of blogging regularly, but I have yet to find tips on how to blog frequently with a week old baby. So blogging frequency here at illumine blog is expected to drop for the next few months, but I will try to make sure that fresh content is published on a semi-regular ...

As I mentioned in a previous post, I've been out of things for a bit because I gave birth on Sunday, Dec. 31. While I was in the hospital, I received an email from Ben Yoskovitz informing me that my submission to his Group Writing Project on "What I Learned in 2006" won a prize! The last and only time I recall winning a prize was when I was in second grade. Our local public library had a contest where kids answered questions through some kind of treasure hunt that involved reading books. I actually won that contest and was awarded a ...

This past Sunday I gave birth to Tifferet at 11:11 pm. She weighed 3.4 kg at birth, and got perfect results on her Apgar test. Tifferet (which means beauty, glory, or splendor in Hebrew) was born with a heart condition called pulmonary stenosis. This condition affects the flow of blood from the heart to the lungs. Pulmonary stenosis can appear at different levels of severity. Tifferet's condition was defined as "severe/critical" and when not treated immediately results in death. My doctor noticed a problem during a routine pregnancy ultrasound, and referred me to a fetal eco-cardiogram, where the problem was diagnosed. Thanks to this diagnosis, we could prepare as needed for the birth, ...