Changing careers is hard. Sarah and I have both gone through various pivots over the years, but nothing as intense as today’s Best of Both Worlds guest, Ahlia Kitwana.
Long-time readers might recognize Kitwana from I Know How She Does It — she was the engineer with two young kids whose master-level logistical skills allowed her to continue her work flow in the middle of a blizzard. She has since had another kid, and after some soul-searching in her engineering career, elected to go out on her own to start a company devoted to career transitions. Little Black Buddha (we talk about the significance of the name in the interview) helps people through their own soul-searching process but, true to Kitwana’s background, she’s developing software to make the process more broadly available. She’s got lots of advice for new entrepreneurs and others about finding people to help you through the early days — plus a look at her in-the-pandemic schedule now.
We open the episode with a discussion of my house purchasing decision — and Sarah’s decision to rent for the long haul — and end with a listener question we get frequently: is it worth going back to work if the cost of childcare will rival your salary?
Please tune in, and as always, we appreciate a rating/review, or being recommended to a friend.
Re: Nanny Shares in the question of the week-We did this for awhile. We had another family in the neighborhood (3 kids total) and we each paid a certain % of her salary and were responsible for the taxes associated with our prescribed hourly rate. We had one contract that outlined all of this for her as well as things like holiday pay, vacation time, and the responsibilities associated with the role. As far as our relationship with both the nanny and the family, it was excellent. I mistakenly thought that payroll firms were charging outlandish prices so we bought software and did that part ourselves. It was….a nightmare .So, my advice is this: nanny shares are fantastic, but outsource the payroll/tax portion (turns out those prices are actually a steal).