11 Questions with… Jane Wilson. @PoleFitNation #bdk11Qs
16 Nov 2020
Welcome to “11 Questions with…”. This edition’s guest is Jane Wilson.
I have known Jane Wilson for several years. We were on the same speaking bill at the 140 Conference, September 2011 in Waterloo, Ontario. She is energetic, inspirational, always smiling, and super friendly!
Enjoy!
11 Questions with… Jane Wilson
1. Elevator pitch… tell us about yourself.
Hi, I am Jane Wilson. I own a company called PoleFit Nation, in which we teach people how to get strong and fit through pole dancing for fitness. I started in 2008, while I was home with my children. Prior to that, I was an Early Childhood Educator, working at the Region of Halton and Sheridan College. I am an energetic person, who is constantly learning and sharing her knowledge.
2. Your spouse… tell us about him.
My husband, Michael and I have been married for 20 years. We married young – 20 and 25 years old – crazy in love with each other. I ran away with him, and we had only a couple bucks in our bank accounts when we started out. Total dreamers. Since then, we have both created businesses and been entrepreneurs together. Michael’s company is called Proforma Prime Marketing Solutions, and has been in business since 1999. We are very different – opposites attract for sure. While he is organized and detailed, I am spontaneous.
3. Your kids… tell us about them.
Matthew is my eldest – he is a routine guy, early riser, studious and loves his student theatre group. He loves to play Dungeons and Dragons, and building models. He likes to find ways to make money – whether it’s selling freezies from the driveway, working his paper route or selling books.
Brendan is is my youngest – he’s very sporty, friendly and outgoing. He loves to play hockey, his position is goaltender (there’s nothing scarier than seeing big kids take hard slapshots on your child) Brendan, pretty much, birthed himself (we never made it to the hospital), taught himself how to dress, toilet trained himself – our roles as parents is to make sure he has a roof over his head, food and clothing. Such an easy guy.
4. Do you have any pets? Tell us about them.
We have a cat and a dog. Our cat, Nermal, keeps to himself and we believe he is secretly plotting our demise.
We are crazy over our dog Odie. He’s a Beagle from Kentucky and we adopted him in 2014. I wanted to have another baby, so Michael had to act quickly and brought home a dog.
Did you notice the Garfield name references? Yes, we have a Garfield obsession in our home. Thank heavens we don’t have an orange cat.
5. What have been your biggest challenges as a parent?
Parenting my boys without having my own parents around. My mother passed away in 2013 and my father passed away this year. All that is left is my immediate family, is my brother and I. And he lives in Alberta. That’s sucks, to be honest.
6. If you could pick any career in the world for yourself, what would it be, and why?
I am doing it. I’ve always been a teacher and a dancer. I’m living my dream.
7. Growing up, who inspired you the most?
Fred Astaire. Gracie Allen. Fanny Brice. I lived in a dream world and had a fascination with vaudeville and musicals.
8. How do you balance work life and family life?
We have intentionally created a lifestyle so one of us can be available to the boys at any time. When the boys leave for school, one of us sends them off. When they return home – one of us is here. Having two entrepreneurs in the family is not always the easiest. We don’t have the same financial stability as people who are employees, however we have made it work.
9. What advice would your “current self” give to your “just about to have my first child” self?
Chill out and please stop wearing those blue overalls.
10. Has there been a piece of advice you were given about parenting that really stuck with you?
“Find enjoyment in each stage of development”. We have definitely enjoyed having children – every stage of their development has been fun.
11. What advice would you give to new parents?
Embrace the new normal.
Get social with Jane Wilson!
Be sure to follow Jane on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Stay tuned for our next “11 Questions with…” feature.
Thanks for reading!
Cheers,
Big Daddy
“11 Questions with…” is an on-going feature. I will be interviewing parents with the same 11 questions, who like me, live in the digital world. The goal is to examine different perspectives, advice, challenges, and experiences from how people parent their children, and live a successful work / life / online balance.
There will be no specific frequency for this feature. It will be on-going, and filed under the “Lifestyle” tab, then “11 Questions with…” subtab, so it is easy to find.
With all the challenges of parenting these days, we could all use stories from fellow parents, who may have already gone through a similar experience, or were offered advice that you could use.
If you would like to be interviewed for an upcoming edition, please contact me at craig@bigdaddykreativ.ca.
Craig Silva
Craig is a husband, a father, team leader, travel and food writer, senior youth group coordinator, designer, brander, community builder, volunteer, and social media strategist. Craig likes to travel, go camping, go on road trips, watch movies, build stuff, operate the grill, and sing with his band. Craig is a member of the Travel Media Association of Canada. In June 2017, PR firm Cision identified Craig as one of Canada’s top 10 most popular male bloggers in the parents and family space.
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