Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
This one has been hard! Fiona is a single mum of three children.Her baby has a disability so is usually by her side. Anna works full time as well as having two children who are still young. Anna’s husband works away regularly so this adds an extra challenge to her. Balancing everything is easier some weeks than others but we are really lucky to have each other.
There have been weeks when we have achieved absolutely nothing and weeks when it feels like there have been 10 of us working on the business. We take the rough with the smooth and always remember to be kind and patient with ourselves and each other! The good thing about running our own business is that we can set our own timescales.
The good thing about running a business that is supporting mums is that a lot of our content has our babies in it. That means we aren’t having to search for time without them to work. They are included front and centre and that makes our resources more relatable to mums. We don’t pretend they aren’t there or that it isn’t a struggle some days. That is the reality of being a mum, and we love it.
At the start, we established really clear boundaries on how we would always prioritise our children ahead of the business. We work on things when we can and make sure our time is used well. Juggling home life, work and the business has made us super efficient. You can often find us working evenings and weekends when the kids are in bed. We are sacrificing some down time, but we both find working on the business enjoyable, so it isn’t so bad.
The drive: What challenges have you overcome?
Well…where do we start? Firstly, we had no idea what we were doing! We had never run a business before or tried to launch something from scratch. We didn’t have an established brand or a social media presence. Everything we have done has been a learning curve and has challenged us to think differently. We thought we would be up and running in a few short weeks, but the reality was very different.
We have also had to face looming deadlines with children who are sick and need our attention. Add on top of that, the sleep deprivation that comes from having a baby. It has been tough!
Then there was the technology. We had never created a website or built a membership site. We had no idea where to even start. We had a few false starts with software but have ended up finding something that works really well for us and our community members. With limited funds, we have done the technology side of things ourselves, which has meant it took longer, but now any changes we want are totally within our control so it was well worth it.
Despite the challenges, we were determined to make this work though, and to help as many other mums as we could, because we knew how valuable the membership would be to them. So we have kept going and never even considered giving up. We have learned, worked hard and been open to any support, advice and guidance we can get. That is the only way to get ahead and the only way to succeed.
For better or worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?
The biggest pro for both of us is looking at our business and being ridiculously proud of what we have created while raising young children. Running the business gives us a legacy we can hand to our children and we are showing them every day what you can achieve with passion, determination and a solid work ethic. Focusing on wellbeing for mums has also massively improved our own wellbeing and we definitely practise what we preach. A positive mindset has got us through a lot of tough times.
The con has to be the time it takes to establish and how much resilience you need to keep going. Finance has been challenging as we are self-funded, and this feels really uncomfortable at first because all you are doing is paying out for things with no return. Being comfortable with this is really important when you first start out. We decided that we would do this for us and if it was successful then that would be great, but if not, we have created something we are really proud of and that would be enough.
Hopes and dreams: What next?
Oh my goodness, we have so many! We want to help as many mums as possible and dedicate more and more time to the business. We want to launch other memberships focused on real challenges we have experienced: the IVF journey, being a single mum and navigating being a working mum, to name but a few. We want to work with employers to help them understand the challenges mums face and how they can support them in the workplace before they leave for maternity leave and after they return.
But our ultimate dream is to start moving the needle on the perinatal mental health crisis we are facing as a global population. We want to be a resource that can be prescribed to mums rather than just defaulting to antidepressants or counselling. We want to give mums the resources, toolkit and information they need to not only survive being a mum, but thrive and discover the new life they wanted. And finally, we want to continue building something that makes us proud every day and stays true to our values and principles by remembering those sisters who sat on the floor having a cry – and why it all started in the first place.
Visit the Mum Coaching website to find out more, and check them out on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
