Hello! My name is Emma, I am 32 with two children aged 9 and 3. I am happy to say I run my own business, it is hard work juggling it around the craziness of family life, but if you really want it, you can do it too.
Here is my story on how I got started – with some helpful tips and advice thrown in too!
I returned to work after I had my second child and it was from here I realised I can’t keep doing this.
On returning to work, my eldest was put in before and after school club, my baby boy was in full time nursery day care, my other half left for work at 6am each morning. By time we had got home from work and collected the children it was tea and bed for them. As a family we hardly saw each other, but also the money was terrible, the child care was expensive and left me with just £50 a month after working my ass off for a full time 40 hour a week job. I’d had enough!
During the evenings I created my business and set a date of 4 months where I will bite the bullet and hand my notice in and get my business off the ground.
I did just that – I now had a 1 year old at home with me. I worked a lot when he napped but over time this grew harder. He is 3 now and doesn’t nap so I struggle to work during the day time with him and this resulted in me still being awake and working at 3am – but I don’t mind – we have lots of family time, I can take my daughter to school and watch her class assembly’s and spend time with my little man as he grows and learns new things.
Yes ok the late nights are not ideal, but I have so much enthusiasm for my business that it just keeps me going and realistically I don’t want to get up at 7am to start the day but I have to, I am their mum and that’s my job too!
In a couple of weeks’ time my little man would be starting nursery (15 free hours – all children over the age of 3 are entitled to 15 free hours funded by the government, no matter what your home situation is!)
By the time I take my daughter to school, then take my son to nursery and get back home I will have 2 and a half hours of “work” time before I have to leave and get him again. To some of you this might not seem much, but to me that is 2.5 extra hours of work I can plough into my business.
If setting up your own business is something you want to do then I am telling you it is all do-able but you have to be committed!
It’s easy to be distracted at home – Oh I should put the washing machine on, hang the clothes outside and make an early prep on tea – don’t do this!
Dedicate time out of the everyday home life to focus completely on your business. If you worked at an office the other side of town you couldn’t hang your washing out, so don’t think you can do it now.
Careful planning is needed. Schedule work time and home time, but fit it around your family, as long as you are willing to stick to it, you can succeed.
You will also be thinking about money and wondering if I had a shed load of cash to put into this – I didn’t!
For stock, I spent what I could and only bought more as and when I could afford to. It’s all about baby steps, build your business up gradually, don’t just throw all your money into the business as it takes time to grow and develop customers.
I have no loans, no borrowed money, I have not spent unnecessary. If I didn’t know a particular skill – I learnt it. I poured over many free internet resources to learn and develop new skills I needed for my business, by teaching myself I have saved hundreds of pounds and gained so much knowledge. Again this takes time to learn, but saves you money.
As you build your business – get networking with other mums!
Not going to lie – this is really time consuming, but it does get your name out there and with Facebook and Instagram algorithms changing all the time, it’s good to keep networking and some of those mums may even turn into a customer.
Just don’t expect it to happen overnight, I’ve spoken with a few mums who want to give up after 6 months. It takes time and dedication, but if you have the determination to do this – then what are you waiting for?
