The other day I was bombarded with emails and text messages from friends and customers about my invention - the award-winning patemm pad.  They were all congratulating me for being mentioned in BuzzFeed.  I honestly had no idea what they were referring to until I looked it up myself.  To my surprise, my patemm pad was named one of 19 Brilliant Parent-Invented Products To Make Your Life Easier. 

Wow, what an honor!  I was beyond THRILLED!  My product has been around for over 11 years and being included in this "Brilliant" list truly made my day!  Thank you, BuzzFeed for including my product.

My dad and hero - Alfeo M. Rodriguez - is an incredible man!  He and my mom raised 3 daughters and taught us all to be strong, hard-working individuals.  Education was always a top priority in our family and it was discussed often at home.  Getting good grades and being a good student was basically a norm in our household.  And, the dream of becoming a doctor or lawyer was always the topic of conversation for our future careers.

This is common with immigrant families.  My parents are from Bicol, Philippines. They, like many immigrants, who came to U.S. had the same idea - America was the land of opportunity.  My parents didn't have a lot when they came to the U.S. but they knew and were determined to raise a family and provide a better life for their children.

My dad worked hard in the insurance business but eventually became an accidental entrepreneur.  He and my mom bought real estate in Philadelphia, owned a jewelry store, and even owned very popular pizzaria - Spruce Pizza.  I remember back in the day, my parents worked long, hard hours at the pizza shop and even tried to make my sisters and I work there as well.  We, on the other hand, were not thrilled about it but we helped anyway.

As time past, my sisters and I were preparing to attend college and my parents went through many financial struggles, like many families and entrepreneurs do.  It was tough on them but they persevered - through hard work and with many, many prayers. 

Fast forward, decades later, I am not a doctor or a lawyer but I am an entrepreneur.  I remember after I graduated from New York University, I told myself that all I wanted to do is work for a corporation.  The thought of becoming an entrepreneur never crossed my mind.  Well, look at me now - I am a wife, a mom to 4 kids, and have 2 businesses - patemm inc and (g}Collaborative.  I guess becoming an entrepreneur was always in my DNA.  Thank you, Dad for becoming an accidental entrepreneur and showing me the way.  Your hard work, determination, and entrepreneurial "gene" is clearly in me...

Happy Father's Day, Dad.  Thank you for your continued love, support, and guidance.

Entrepreneurs wear many hats - it is part of the life we lead when starting / running your own business.  When I started with my first company - patemm inc  back in 2004 - it was as if I was having another baby.  I was responsible for E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G.  I loved it, I was in control, and I was happy.  I worked my butt off to make sure my business was NOT going to fail especially in the beginning after I launched the company website.

As my business grew, so did the responsibilities.  Believe me, I have had my share of sleepless nights, anxiety, and a whole lot of stress.  Could I be supermom, raise my family, and continue to build my business?  I knew I could and thank goodness for my husband Marty and my parents to help out whenever possible.  However, even with their incredible love and support, there was so much adding to my plate of responsibilities with a growing business.  Everyone was telling me to get some help to ease the stress.  I didn't listen and take action until years later...

During an early growth spurt at patemm, we were so busy with sales, fulfillment, manufacturing, retail inquiries, and all of the media attention, it was hard to keep up.  I was overwhelmed and stressed. My strength in the business - Public Relations and Marketing - were slowly taking a back seat as the "other" mundane business responsibilities that I had took over.  Sound familiar? 

After a lot of convincing from my family and my mentors, and coming to the realization that something needed to be done ASAP, I finally decided to outsource many of the day-to-day responsibilities so I could focus on my strengths within the business.  More importantly, re-focus the #1 priority in my life - my family.

Seriously, what was I thinking and why didn't I do this sooner?  I was stubborn and I thought I could do it all.  Well, I was wrong.  This was a big lesson for me as an entrepreneur:  "Master your Strengths...Outsource your Weaknesses."