“I know. Let’s start a business!” Megan and I jumped into starting our own business a little naive I guess you could say. We thought if we run our own business we could be our own boss, choose our own hours and with that would come increased flexibility and we’d have more time with our little ones. Sounds amazing doesn’t it? You know, like it seems to be for everyone else out there running their own business?!
How wrong we were.
Starting our own business was possibly the hardest thing we’ve ever done. Aside from having children. So…mix the two together, and it can be a real struggle at times. There’s a huge difference between running one booth for pocket money and turning it into your full time gig. The fear of the unknown as you quit your day job and throw everything you have into your business. The computer is always open and the kids are always fighting for your attention. Oh, and making a phone call – wow. Kids really know how to turn it up when you’re on a business call. Thankfully, most of our clients ignore it just like we do! There’s so much work behind the scenes which people don’t see and so many sacrifices you have to make. You can never switch off. It consumes you. I hate to think about the amount of unpaid hours we have each put in. But, it’s what you do. And it is because of this, we are fiercely determined to succeed.
Then there’s the mum guilt. Feeling guilty you should be spending more time with your children. Would they be smarter if we spent more time with them? Would i spend less time yelling at them if I wasn’t so busy trying to run a business? Every time we pop our work shirts on to go to an event, the conversation in our house goes a little like this…
“You’re going to work AGAIN Mummy”
“Yes sweetheart. Do you know why Mummy and Daddy work so hard?”
“Yes Mum, so we can live in our new house, do fun things like to go Adventure Park, have a snow house and go on holidays together – so who will look after us while you’re at work?”
The flip side to this is that I hope to instil a strong work ethic within my girls. I want to teach them to become strong and independent women who work hard to achieve their goals. Life can be hard at times and they need to learn things just don’t get given to you. Megan and i were taught this growing up, our parents have always been (and still are) very hard workers
Megan and I couldn’t do this on our own. It really is a “family” business. We are extremely lucky to have an amazing support network. Working long hours over weekends is made even harder when my husband works away. Thankfully we have an incredible family who are willing to help out so we can reach our goals. The same goes for my husband. Every time he walks in the door, i literally walk out on my way to work for what feels like the duration of his time at home.
So every time we receive another booking, it is as exciting as our first. We get all warm and fuzzy inside knowing we are one step closer to achieving our goals. So thank you to each and every one of our clients who have faith in us and the service we are working so very hard to provide.
Caley Lister
