Helping Moms Juggle: Juggling Mother Sara Sutton Fell, CEO of Flexjobs (Part 3)

SM: You made that transition right before the bubble. When did you actually sell JobDirect?

SS: The deal closed in July of 2000. It was hard to go from such optimism; it was a very difficult time. I was dating my husband at the time. We decided that after four rounds of layoffs at the company that it was time to leave. We then moved to Boulder, Colorado.

SM: Is your husband also in tech?

SS: He is a civil engineer. He has a very different background and he really wanted to buy a house. We decided to get back to basics. We both loved the Bay Area but we had to look at quality of life. We made the move and landed in Colorado. I took some time off and traveled a bit. It was nice to take a step back and reconnect with what I really wanted to do. I had stumbled into the Internet; it had never been my plan to go that direction.

SM: You had a nice ride even if it was not intentional.

SS: It was fantastic. It was absolutely exhilarating. A little later on I started to wonder if I had peaked at age 25. I was not sure if I would find that fire again. It was optimistic fire. Every employee in our company felt empowered to share ideas and collaborate. Even if the timing was not right for every idea, at least you knew it was listened to.

I then took a detour at a local culinary school. I ran their home cook programs and corporate events. I have always loved cooking, and it is something I am passionate about. It was a very balancing 9-5 job. It allowed me to see what my non-work life was like as well.

I then went to another startup. I was recruited to help start an Internet site in the US for a UK-based company. We were going to do a spin-off of a company that had been very successful in the UK. Two weeks into my first month the relationship went bad. Everything we had in place to get the operations running was gone. I was the only employee in the US. I scrambled as much as I could and got the company up and running.

Within six months I knew I would not stay with the operation. I was the VP of Operations and Sales and it was very challenging, which was good, and it did get my foot back into the entrepreneurial realm. The business ethics were the problem. The investor was more like a used car salesman, and I had a really difficult time with that. For me integrity at work is first and foremost in a lot of ways.

At the same that I realized I did not want to stay there I got pregnant. I started looking around for new jobs and was amazed at how difficult it was to find anything.

SM: Were you thinking of going part-time?

SS: I was very excited about being a mother but I knew that I needed a work aspect. I needed something part-time which would fit. I figured I would take three to six months off after my son was born.

SM: But you did not want to give up your career?

SS: Absolutely not. My husband and I discussed a lot of options and we both wanted a balance between work and home. I wanted something where I could work from home part of the week or have flex time hours and work three or four long days. I wanted something that would allow me to have balance at home.

SM: Did you feel peer pressure from people around to quit your job and become a full-time mom?

SS: No. It was the opposite. My mom has lived vicariously through a lot of what I have done. She has always loved being a mom but has a part missing. Seeing her oldest daughter take the education and business path I did has let her see what is possible for women. She does not understand how I can do it all, and it is very difficult to do this juggling. You always struggle to be the best worker you can be and to be the best mom you can be. For me I realized that although it is a struggle to do both, I would be struggling more if I were not working. I would have a loss of identity and a loss of challenge in my life.

This segment is part 3 in the series : Helping Moms Juggle: Juggling Mother Sara Sutton Fell, CEO of Flexjobs
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