在生活中，每个人都有自己的梦想。美国西东大学2019届MBA毕业生Alissa Lopez，将自己的梦想变成了现实。Lopez是2019年美国西东大学海盗创业大赛的获胜者，她说，她获得的9000美元种子基金为她实现创业梦想铺平了道路。但她知道创业不易，她还有很长的路要走。

毕业后，她参加了一系列地区性和国家性的创业孵化器项目，这些项目旨在通过严格的培训和种子基金奖励来帮助年轻的创业者。她用六个月的时间参加了这些项目并完成了市场调研和客户测试。今年1月，她推出了Families Do，一款创新型数字业务，能帮助父母在照顾孩子和伴侣的同时保持平衡的日程安排，同时也为自己腾出时间。

Lopez从来没有想过，在她短短两个月的创业生涯里，会遇到COVID-19。但她知道，她对家庭和父母需求细致的市场调查，让她做好了帮助他们度过这场颠覆正常家庭生活的危机的准备。Lopez说：“由于许多学校将在2020上半年关闭，许多家长被告知要在家工作。因此，家长们在家教育孩子的同时，还需要承担起每天给孩子准备三餐的责任。现在孩子们需要全天候的关注。家长们感到压力很大，完全不知所措。当下，这些时候需要我提供的全面支持。”

Families Do提供了独特的生活辅导和活动安排工具，以帮助家庭确定目标的优先顺序，从而使父母保持有序和平衡的生活。家长可以在Instagram、Facebook和Twitter feeds上找到Families Do的官方账号（@FamiliesDo），获得有关家庭日程安排和自我照顾的免费提示。在公司的网站--FamiliesDo.com上，家长们可以通过超负荷排毒、8周的现场小组辅导和“为您完成”工具与Lopez一起工作，帮助家长建立家庭平衡，将负罪感转化为自信。

她解释说：“为克服工作量过大的问题，减压专注于三部分：减轻精神负担；创造家庭平衡；给自己一个拥抱，因为你已经做的足够好了。之所以这么做是因为当你更好地照顾自己的时候，你会更好地照顾家庭。”该计划将Lopez在COVID-19危机前提供的所有辅导和工具，通过个性化的辅导和安排一揽子援助计划结合在一起，帮助更多的家长通过他们最具挑战性的育儿经历之一进行调整。超载排毒目前已开放报名，并于5月27日开始实施。

她补充说：“当工作比以往都多的时候，我正在帮助家庭做出调整，为家庭、工作和自我之间的平衡扫清道路。”一个很受欢迎的FamiliesDo工具是一个名为“妈妈7天自理”的工具，这是一种社交疏远版，它帮助父母在最不可能的时候优先考虑日常自理。家庭组织的巨大压力往往落在忙碌的妈妈们的肩上，而妈妈们现在为家庭成员背负的心理负担比以往任何时候都更沉重。”

对Alissa来说，最大的经验教训是持之以恒的重要性，以及适应不断变化的环境的意愿。“作为一名企业家，我正在学习如何适应并坚持下去，因为当你开始创业并每天面对新的挑战时，很容易放弃。”

Lopez向有抱负的企业家传达了一个信息。“不要拘泥于你最初的想法，因为你需要十年甚至更长的时间才能让你的业务蓬勃发展，所以需要不断地做出调整。”学习如何在预算紧张的情况下进行管理，并利用现有资源向前发展，这一点也很重要。她建议道：“做一个有斗志的企业家，然后想办法解决问题。”Lopez以2007年Airbnb的诞生为例，当时创始人Brian Chesky和Joe Gebbia破产，希望筹集资金在旧金山租房。他们决定把公寓里的空气床垫出租给参加会议的人，因为所有的旅馆都订满了。他们称他们的服务为“Air bed and breakfast”，剩下的事情大家就都知道了。

原文

Everyone has a dream in life. Alissa Lopez, an MBA graduate of Seton Hall's class of 2019, has turned hers into a reality. Lopez, the first place winner in the 2019 Seton Hall University Pirates Pitch Startup contest, said the $9,000 seed funding she was awarded paved the path for her to pursue her entrepreneurial dream. But she knew that building a business wouldn't be easy, and that she still had a long ways to go.

After graduation, she underwent six months of market research and customer testing by participating in a series of regional and national startup accelerator programs designed to help young entrepreneurs through rigorous training and seed funding awards. In January she launched Families Do, an innovative digital business that helps parents maintain a balanced schedule while caring for their kids and their partner, and also making time for themselves.

Lopez never thought that just two months into her career as an entrepreneur that she would be dealing with COVID-19. But she did know that her careful market research on the needs of families and parents had prepared her to help them through a crisis that upended normal family life. “Since many schools are going to be closed for the rest of the academic year, and many parents are being told to work at home, parents are expected to home school their kids while taking on responsibilities like feeding their kids three times a day, and kids are now demanding attention 24/7,” said Lopez. “Parents are feeling tons of pressure and are completely overwhelmed. Right now, these times call for the complete support that I provide.”

Families Do offers unique life coaching and activities scheduling tools to help families to prioritize their goals so parents keep their days organized and balanced. Parents can access free tips on family scheduling and self-care ideas on the @FamiliesDo Instagram, Facebook and Twitter feeds. At the company's website, FamiliesDo.com, parents can work with Lopez through The Overload Detox, 8 weeks of live group coaching and “done for you” tools that help parents family balance and turn their guilt into confidence.

“The Detox focuses on my three-part framework to overcome the overload: relieving the mental load, creating family balance and embracing your "enoughness" every day because when you take better care of yourself you take better care of family,” she explained. The program combines all the coaching and tools Lopez offered before the COVID-19 crisis through personalized coaching and scheduling assistance packages into one, to help more parents adjust through one of their most challenging parenting experiences. The Overload Detox is currently open for enrollment and begins on May 27.

“I’m helping families adjust at a time when they have more jobs than ever by clearing a path in their schedules for balance between family, work and self-care,” she added. A popular option, she said, is a FamiliesDo tool called 7 Days of Self-Care for Mom, Social-Distancing Edition, which helps a parent to prioritize daily self-care at a time when they are least likely to do so. “The overwhelming stress of family organizing often falls on the backs of busy moms, and the mental load that moms specifically are carrying for family members right now is weighing them down now more than ever.”

For Alissa, the biggest lesson learned is the importance of perseverance and the willingness to adjust to changing environments. “As an entrepreneur, I'm learning how to adapt and hang in there, because when you are starting out and facing new challenges every day it’s easy to give up.”

Lopez has a message for aspiring entrepreneurs. “Don’t be tied to your original idea, because it can take a decade or more for your business to thrive as you constantly make adjustments and get it right.” It’s also important to learn how to manage on a tight budget and use your existing resources to move ahead. “Be a scrappy entrepreneur and figure it out,” she counsels. As example, Lopez points to the birth of Airbnb in 2007, when founders Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia were broke and looking to raise money to make their rent in San Francisco. They decided to rent out air mattresses in their apartment to attendees of a conference because all the hotels were booked. They called their service “Air Bed and Breakfast.” The rest is history.