Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
Over time I have been able to really set firmer boundaries, systems and processes that allow me to run a thriving and successful business, whilst still being available to my two young children. If ever I start to feel overwhelmed or stressed, I come back to the core reason of why I work for myself. I want my kids to look back on their childhood and remember that they had a mama who worked hard, but she was still emotionally present and available.
The best thing I did was have set work days – like a real job! Making it clear that I was not available 24/7 and clearly telling people when I would respond to their emails or phone calls has been really effective. Moving out of the house was also a complete game changer for me. It has completely elevated my business to another level and improved my state of mind dramatically. Running a business is a lot like teaching. The list of things to do never ends, and you just have to get better at prioritising and understanding that the world won’t end if you don’t respond to an email until Monday.
The drive: What challenges have you overcome?
The isolation of small business was really crippling for me. I mean honestly so many women struggle with being isolated at home with a baby too. The silence is deafening. My brain needs more stimulation. I really battled with being at home in the first couple of years in business, especially as I had been fortunate enough to already have been home for three years with my first child. I was climbing the walls – literally. I felt like my whole life was in my house and it started to feel suffocating. I learnt fairly early on that I needed to keep connected to other women in business and to lean on them for friendship and support. I am so fortunate to have an incredible community of business women around me who genuinely understand my challenges.
For better or worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?
Honestly, after five years in business there aren’t many cons, and plenty of pros. My husband also runs his own business, so I have a partner who fully understands the small biz life. We are so available to our kids and as a family we spend a lot of time together. We take holidays when the kids are off school and we arrange date days together during the week. I meet a lot of families who are just not enjoying life with their kids. They work long hours and really only get the weekends together, so we know that this is something to be really valued for us. But it is certainly not luck. Lots of our friends look at us with admiration. They see firsthand the life we have created. They see being your own boss and time off when it suits you. But the truth is we still work incredibly hard and the entrepreneur life is certainly not for everyone
Hopes and dreams: What next?
With the launch course of my four-week online course – Calm Connected KIDS – I am now able to reach families globally. I have had families from New Zealand, Canada and England access my insights, and that is seriously just the best.
Putting all of my knowledge online means that I am now able to reach people from all over the world and share my positive approach to understanding and raising children.
I really just want people to understand that accessing education about their kids should be as common as changing their underwear each day. It should never be seen as failing or that you are not good enough when it comes to raising kids. I’d like to think that education about our children starts right from childbirth. We only get one chance to hardwire our kid’s brains – we’ve got to give it our everything right from the time they are born. After all, growing a human brain is an epic job – and all children deserve parents that understand just how important their role is.
To find out more, head to the Chaos To Calm website, and join Chrissie’s supportive Facebook and Instagram communities.
