Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
It is chaos most of the time in our house with 3 kids 5 years and younger and both my husband and I running our own separate businesses. Routine is the most important thing in our household and this helps keep us on top of everything. I do what I do so I can spend more time with my children or attend school trips and carnivals when they come around. Often this means that I am working when my kids are asleep, however this is how I get my freedom with them throughout the day.
After trading for almost a year now, the business now employs both myself and my mum. I do all the background stuff and she works with the stock and processes the orders. We are a pretty well-oiled machine now that we have processes in place and we have all our daily orders ready to leave by lunch.
The drive: What challenges have you overcome?
Recovering from having a baby, raising children and dealing with running a business is a challenge every day. As a mum, we are all guilty of putting ourselves last and this is something that I have struggled with, balancing my family life and running a business. Over the past year, I have learnt to delegate tasks and try not to take everything on myself, and in turn, this has given me more time for myself. This is still a work in progress as we adjust to a family of 5, but I have realised how important it is to make time for yourself.
For better or worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?
I love that every day I get to connect and help like-minded mums, and I have made some great friendships that I wouldn’t have had without starting Cloth Bums. I also love that if my children are sick, have an appointment or just need me… I can be there.
The downside of running my own business is that I am a bit of a work-aholic. If something needs fixing, I am often up late working to finish what needs to be done. It is a lot of work but the benefits of what Cloth Bums provides to my family and my customers is worth everything I do.
Hopes and dreams: What next?
We are ever expanding, which is super exciting and a little scary at the same time, however I hope to work with my local council to provide more education resources for expectant or new families. We have a new range of products in the works and are looking forward to see where this takes us.
View their range of products on the Cloth Bums website and join their communities on Facebook and Instagram.
