When we decided to move to Austin, there were dreams my head of the fun new Marketing opportunities I would have to choose from. I was glad to be leaving the world of retail (specifically grocery retail) behind and I couldn’t wait to be headed to where things were a little more “happening” than Billings, Montana. The sky would be the limit for me, or so I thought. After all, I have a strong resume full of great work history, community involvement and some great “extras” too.

Flash forward to January and our arrival to Austin. I arrived with what I thought were two solid leads interviews lined up. One was a sales position that wasn’t really what I wanted and the other was supposed to be a brand development position with lots of room to move up. Well, it wasn’t. It ended up being a glorified sampling job at grocery stores. Didn’t I just LEAVE a grocery store? Hmm…this was going to be harder than I thought. I opted to not take the interview for the sales job because we had some time to get established and I didn’t want to settle for something I wouldn’t enjoy. So began the hunt for a good Marketing position.

Coming from a town where I knew people, had connections and had done some networking leg work, I had no idea how difficult it would be to start back at square one. Every job posting I liked seemed to come with the disclaimer that “150 have applied for this position.” Ouch. We’re not in Kansas anymore…or Montana for that matter.

I finally took a step down in the positions I was looking for so that I could at least get my foot in the door of the business community here in town. I started applying for administrative positions. Who knew those were hard to come by too?  Well, I did it. I landed a job with a small company downtown. I would be making about what I was making leaving Montana. Perfect, right? Nope! Now that I had this position and could begin working my way up, I had to find childcare we could afford. And that’s where this story ends up.

I was NOT expecting childcare to cost more than our rent. I had no idea it would cost between $800 and $1,000 PER CHILD. What? My starter job wages barely covered their tuition and I was left with the option of just working (and sitting in commute traffic on MOPAC) to pay daycare. Forget it!

After much discussion and some encouragement from my husband and mother-in-law who had stayed in town to watch the girls while we figured it out, we decided maybe I should stay home. I had been working for just a week and was now faced with going against every fiber of my being to quit before I even got started. It did NOT go over well with my new employer. A scene from “Friends” came to mind when I spilled the beans. Monica saying “Oh my god. My ass is sweating!” And I watched the privileged rich ladies panic…sorry!

So, I looked forward to the next week with the mission to provide structure, discipline and fun for my kids as my new “job”. Easy, right?

To be continued…