WOMEN INSPIRED BY MORE

ARTICLE BY LIBBY O’REGAN PHOTOGRAPHY BY M.KAT

he workplace today is unlike anything we have ever seen. Millions

Tof people lost their jobs or “voluntarily” exited the workforce because of childcare constraints. Women were hit particularly hard with job loss. While the unemployment numbers were roughly equal between men and women before the pandemic, at its peak, the unemployment rate for women was nearly two percentage points higher than that of men. Today, unemployment for women remains 1.9% higher and above pre-pandemic level. In September 2020, when schools resumed (many with remote learning), an astonishing 80% of the 1.1 million people who exited the workplace were women.*

As much as the workplace has changed and the numbers look disappointing for women in particular, what we have found on Hilton Head Island and in Bluffton are women who are not only juggling fulltime careers but who have chosen to add more work to their plate and start a side business. And that is in addition to their family and all that life is throwing at them! These women give us hope. Inspired by more, these women help tell a brighter story about where women are in the workplace and how their ambition can lead the way as we get back to pre-pandemic levels of employment equality.

VALERIE SHYBLOSKY

FULL-TIME JOB: Special Education Assistant with Beaufort County Schools

SIDE BUSINESS: Sign Dreamers of Beaufort County

Passionate about teaching and making people smile, Valerie Shyblosky balances her career as a special education assistant at Beaufort County Schools and her celebratory yard sign business, Sign Dreamers. Born out of quarantine, Sign Dreamers has birthday, baby, graduation, and custom large format signs that appear in the client’s yard—most often as a surprise to the person being celebrated. The excitement and joy that the recipient feels are what keep Shyblosky installing signs in the middle of the night.

On top of teaching full time and her Sign Dreamers business, Shyblosky is a mom of two and a wife to her husband of 23 years. Their eldest daughter is 17 years old with epilepsy and is developmentally delayed. To say this is a challenge is an understatement. And yet, her family (including her younger daughter) is thriving.

It is incredible then, with teaching full-time and a special needs child, that Sign Dreamers of Beaufort County was even founded and that Shyblosky is able to make occasions special for other people. We had to ask: Aside from making people smile, where does one person get that drive and work ethic? With all that on your plate, why add more? Shyblosky says it comes from her parents who recently retired from their 30+ years of teaching in the public-school education system. Supported by her husband and her two daughters, she says without their help, she would be up all night with all the things that she has to accomplish on any given day.

We are amazed by this one woman’s ability to “do it all” plus more.

JULIE RICHARDSON

FULL-TIME JOB: Middle School Math Teacher at Hilton Head Christian Academy

SIDE BUSINESS: Certified Life Coach

As someone who has always loved helping others and as someone who has a passion for working with children, Julie Richardson is fortunate to be pursuing both. She is a middle school math teacher at Hilton Head Christian Academy and is also a certified life coach. She coaches women, often getting them “un-stuck” and living a purpose-filled life. Many of the women she has worked with say that they wish they had done coaching sooner in life and are surprised to learn that it’s small changes that make a big difference. “People think they have to drastically alter their life,” Richardson said, “when really, it’s just about tweaking a few things that aren’t working.”

Married to her husband for 15 years, Richardson has three children. As if life wasn’t “eventful” enough, she learned this year that she has stage 3 breast cancer. She recently finished eight rounds of chemo (for a total of 16 weeks) and has surgery scheduled for this August, after which she’ll undergo radiation and another surgery. Miraculously, it seems Julie is able to find the good even in battling cancer.

“This journey is not always easy, but I continue to be amazed by all of the good that has happened over the last few months,” she said. Her husband and family have rallied around, and she feels stronger than ever. Family members, from New Orleans, have made trips to the Lowcountry to help.

Richardson has also found a unique way to tackle difficult questions. The children each have a journal where they write questions that may be hard to ask face-to-face. They leave their journals for her to write a response. She says the insightful questions have led to positive communication. This has also allowed the children to have a deeper understanding of all that is going on.

Juggling all of this—teaching, owning her own business, family and breast cancer—cannot be easy. And yet, we’re incredibly inspired by Richardson’s sense of purpose, her sincerely positive outlook, her faith in God, and the strength she finds in her family.

Photo by Jenn Beck @jbmariephotography

FULL-TIME JOB: Lead Singer of “Amazing and Good, Too” (Est. 2015)

SIDE BUSINESS: A Nanny

Singing is like breathing to Lalie Mole. She can’t recall a time in her life when it wasn’t part of her day-to-day. Mole never imagined she could make singing a full-time career, but when she started her band in 2015 and they were booking gigs, she felt fueled by the opportunity of fulfilling her dream to do it full time. The road to singing full time wasn’t easy. For years, the only place that Mole felt comfortable singing was in church. Today, her band, Amazing and Good, Too, plays at several restaurants including Calhoun’s, Captain Woody’s, and Southern Barrel, as well as poolside at the Marriott Grand Ocean, private events for corporations, and weddings. As a side business, Mole is a Nanny to several Hilton Head Island children and vacationers. She recently joined “Hilton Head Nannies,” founded by Jennie Krogulski in 2007. Mole feels

CAITLIN SMITH & KELLER WELCH

FULL-TIME JOB:

Realtor

SIDE BUSINESS:

Interior Design & Staging

Caitlin Smith and Keller Welch are Realtors who have spent the last few years in the Lowcountry relocating individuals and families to Bluffton and Hilton Head Island. On the selling side of real estate, like many agents, they have been passionate about helping their clients get the most for their property. Through time and experience, however, they learned they had more success selling their clients’ homes when well-designed inside (or even staged). Because staging and good interior design can yield their clients a greater profit, their side business was born. They’re calling it High Bluff Designs.

Smith and Welch initially sought out a career in real estate for more flexibility in their schedules. Smith was in software sales for eight years in a corporate environment, and Welch was a wine rep who knew that when she had children, she would want to be able to pick them up from school. They both searched for ways to be present with their families and have a career at the same time. Real Estate fit the bill.

Today, Smith and Welch are busy moms (Smith has three children and Welch welcomed her first child in December) and feel lucky to have incredibly supportive family and friends. Their husbands both share in the workload at home, while juggling their own careers and businesses, and are encouraging their new side business. Both Smith and Welch have parents with successful businesses who taught them a strong

fortunate to be part of this phenomenal group of caring and giving women.

Having four children ranging from 4 to 18 years old, she truly loves being with children and being a caretaker. Seeing children grow, thrive, and be happy is what keeps her interested in this side business. Plus, Mole is thrilled that this side business is getting her closer to her financial goals. When she’s “bored,” sometimes she even picks up an Instacart run or two. Another step closer!

Juggling both a singing career and side business as a nanny isn’t a cake walk, but in talking to Mole, she is clearly driven. It’s a drive that she attributes to her mother who passed down a strong work ethic. Her mother taught her to work every job with integrity, to love God, love all people, and treat everyone the same— whether they are the janitor of the CEO. It is with this integrity and hard work that she plans on getting to her dream of building her house.

Mole’s oldest daughter Jada, who graduated from Bluffton High School in 2021, sings part-time with her in the band. This also ignites her soul. “The family harmonies give me goosebumps,” said Mole, who feels incredibly fortunate to be able to sing with her daughter. The support of her husband of 20 years and her four thriving kids, along with the desire to reach her financial goals, is what fuels this driven woman.

We find her goal setting, ambition, and her hard work to get there more than inspiring.

work ethic, which has been valuable as they get started with their new business.

Aside from yielding more profits for their clients, High Bluff Designs was also founded by Smith and Welch because they are passionate about design. They cite the challenges of the pandemic as reasons to fulfill their dreams because “life is short.” It’s something they’ve both gravitated towards and wanted to do. They have started with a few clients and say that the process is creative and exciting. You can follow their journey at @highbluffdesigns on Instagram.

We find it inspiring that these busy moms and full-time Realtors have the capacity to take on starting an interior design and staging business.

This is a short list. These are just four stories and five women we found (and truthfully, there were dozens more we wanted to include). The statistics tell us that, since the pandemic, women have lost steam in the workplace. Whether they have exited voluntarily or not, the numbers are significant. But we know that many women are managing to work full-time, have a side business, and gracefully handle the challenges of life. They give us hope that the workplace future in our area is bright. If we look, we can find many more examples of women in business who have an incredibly strong work ethic and have a story to tell that is equally inspiring.

Share your stories of women in business, side businesses and more with us on CH2’s Instagram & Facebook pages.

Side Hustles Are ‘The New Black’

Article By Hannah Massen

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PUTTING YOUR PASSION TO WORK

Everyone knows someone (either in real life or online) who seems to have it all—and just a little bit more. In addition to holding down a day job, she spends weekends “researching” fabulous destinations, earning passive income while sitting on the beach, or posting about the lux PR pages she gets in the mail. How does she do it? A side hustle.

Side hustles are “the new black,” so to speak, and you’ve probably heard of them before. A side hustle is an opportunity for you to follow your passions or hone your professional skills while making a little extra cash. While they take time to start, and there’s no guarantee your blog, startup, or Etsy shop will blow up overnight, having a side hustle could be a good pathway to becoming your own boss.

You can get a side hustle up and running quickly, but only if you make it a priority. Schedule at least one hour a week, or more if you’re in a hurry to get started. It’s been proven time and time again that organizing and prioritizing is key to starting a successful project of any type.

According to a recent Bankrate study, 37 percent of adults in the U.S. have a side hustle that brings in an average of $700 a month. No wonder another study from the Harvard Business Review shows that two-thirds of Americans would consider diving into the side hustle business in addition to their current jobs, including mothers who are looking to re-enter the workforce or start a passion project from home (just Google “moms” and “side hustles” for thousands of ideas). If you want your next passion project to earn you a paycheck, use these tips to start creating your side hustle: • Review the fine print. Before you start putting together a plan for your side hustle, take a look at the contract you signed for your existing job. It may contain stipulations (like a noncompete clause, exclusivity clause, or nondisclosure agreement) that would prevent you from doing related work on the side. If you’re not sure about what these stipulations might mean for your side business or what activities may or may not constitute a breach of contract, it is wise to talk to an attorney first. Keep in mind that contracts are negotiable, and many employers are happy to remove or adjust noncompete and exclusivity clauses from employment contracts. • Start with your passions. You have a day job, but what about your daydream? If you’re going to put extra time and effort into another professional endeavor, it may as well be based on something you’re passionate about. If you’re a travel enthusiast or in-the-know about local hotspots, why not start a blog? If you have a knack for graphic design or copywriting, how about you sell your services on the side? You have the talent, so why not put it to work? How? Spend an hour with a SCORE mentor; you’ll be surprised by how much knowledge you will gain. • Organize and prioritize. You can get a side hustle up and running quickly, but only if you make it a priority. Schedule at least one hour a week, or more if you’re in a hurry to get started. It’s been proven time and time again that organizing and prioritizing is key to starting a successful project of any type. Create a master list of tasks you need to tackle, like “register web domain” or “research software options,” then schedule specific times on your calendar to complete

Side Hustles Are ‘The New Black’

each task. This will help you make the most of your time (and give you the satisfaction that comes with crossing an item off your to-do list). • Find your funding. Sometimes you have to spend money to make money, but where that initial funding comes from is up to you. Self-funding your business from savings is usually where women start. Funding your business yourself could be beneficial because you won’t be starting your business with debt. But if paying out of pocket isn’t an option, you can take out a bank loan, find an angel investor (or borrow from a family member), or set up a profile on a crowdfunding site. It’s easy to say don’t let a lack of funding stop you from starting, but there are plenty of ways to come up with the money you need. • Treat it like a business. Your side hustle might not be your main gig, but you should still treat it like the business it is, especially if you hope to take your passion project full-time someday. You should have a plan, but it doesn’t need to be 100 pages long. Instead, it should focus on key things you need to know, have, or do to get your side hustle off the ground. When you put your budget, brand guidelines, audience analysis, service descriptions, and goals in writing, you’ll have a clear roadmap in mind and be able to better plan for your business’s future. Speaking of brand guidelines, it’s never too early to decide how you want your side hustle to be perceived. A strong brand will help you gain traction with your target audience, so it’s worth choosing a logo, picking a color palette, and building a website right away.

Starting a successful side hustle takes time, effort, and commitment, but it could be one of the best ways to create options for yourself. If you have a talent or passion that could be making you extra money, it’s time to stop waiting and put it to work. 

Hannah Massen is a content creator for SmartMarketing Communications, LLC.