Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
My children are much older. Now I have a 20-year-old, an 18-year-old and a 14-year-old, so they’re pretty self-sufficient. But what’s wonderful is that by working from home, I’m able to work around their needs. So I can easily pick someone up from school, take them to and from clubs, get groups of their friends together, etc. But most importantly, I’m there when the children need or want to talk.
But working at home amongst the busyness of children is really hard. So, I’m incredibly lucky to have Oliiki World Headquarters sitting in my garden, aka my shed! It’s so nice to have my own space, and to be able to look out on the garden. I can watch the children playing and hanging out with their friends and just watch them being children. One thing I’ve realised is that although some days in this parenting journey seem REALLY long, the time you have your children around is really short! Working on my own business allows me time with my children and family as they need me. It’s a privilege to be there for my children and my family, which is incredibly important to me. And sometimes it means working weekends or it means working in the evening. And that’s okay, because I can be available for the orthodontist run when I need to be.
The drive: What challenges have you overcome?
There’s been so much learning involved in running my own business!
I never set out to be a business owner. In fact, I call myself an accidental entrepreneur! I set out to help parents feel fabulous in their parenting and help them help their babies reach their full potential; and that still is my main driver.
I’ve LOVED the learning journey that I have been on academically finding out about the brain science and going deep with my knowledge of the first 1000 days of life.
Learning how to run a business and getting to grips with the tech of building and owning an app has been a challenge, but it’s one that I have embraced and it’s been amazing to have such a fabulous team of folks who DO know what they are doing around me!
For better or worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?
One of the biggest cons of running an app business is how unconnected it can be. People can download the Oliiki app and use it and I might never know who they are or how they are getting on with it. I don’t find out about their journey, their challenges or their successes unless the parents choose to either tag me in a social post or email me with their successes or suggestions for courses or app changes.
I LOVE hearing what everyone is up to and the journey they’re taking. I LOVE seeing pictures of the babies and children doing the activities on the Oliiki app. Hearing the things that you have learned as parents through the information given in the app whether it’s from the child development section (the why) or the science section, or even the areas of learning your baby gains from the activities you are doing with them.
But my most favourite thing is watching Oliiki parents blossom and revel in their newfound parenting confidence and their new understanding of their child’s development and their role in it that they get from using the Oliiki app. Hearing back from parents who have been using the Oliiki app for a period of time, how it’s changed their relationship with their child – that’s what makes it all worthwhile.
Hopes and dreams: What next?
Spreading the world about Oliiki! I would so love for every parent (both father and mother) to have access to the Oliiki app from the first day of conception. The reason I’m so keen for this to happen is it changes the conversation around parenting. Currently we get pregnant, we are supported through the birth and pregnancy, then once the baby is out, we are left to work out what to do and how to help our children reach their full potential in the main alone. The first contact we have with anyone with any knowledge of child development is the nursery. It’s no wonder that with the little training and support that we have to become parents that we are always second guessing ourselves. I want to change the rhetoric and make it an environment of success. So as well as offering the Oliiki app to parents, we now also offer site licenses to nurseries and those working with parents and parents-to-be such as midwives, nanny agencies and doulas, etc. Our most recent launch has been into the corporate world as a gift for businesses to give families when they announce their pregnancy.
The next thing on the list is to introduce our new preparing to parent course which is a course specifically to prepare first-time parents-to-be as much as possible for the parenting journey that will last their child’s lifetime and following on from that will be Oliiki Thrive, a membership to support parents from the first day of conception right the way through their child’s development.
I want parents to never feel they are parenting alone. I’d love for parents to have a place to celebrate their tiny wins every day and celebrate their child’s successes along the way. When we celebrate the tiny wins, the big milestones take care of themselves. When parents realise how amazing they are by doing the tiny things every single day, then they feel empowered and confident. We know confident parents create confident children. And that’s what the Oliiki app is all about, helping you feel amazing so you can help your child feel and become fabulous!
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