Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
Family is my number one, Tobi is only little for such a short time. So I work when he’s sleeping and it’s usually late into the night. There are nights when I accidently fall asleep with him when I’m putting him to bed, so on these nights I forgive myself and know that I must’ve needed the rest. While I do have huge goals and ambitions for where I see the business heading, I also go with the flow and don’t put massive pressure on myself to grow Milk Mate really quickly for the moment. There are years ahead of me to grow and expand organically and sustainably.
The drive: What challenges have you overcome?
A wise friend once told me that ‘your business is a reflection of you’. So where your business has struggles, is usually where you struggle or have lessons to learn in your own life. This was very true for me. I love to feel in control and do everything myself. So my biggest challenge was surrendering control over doing everything myself and allowing others to help. Although I outsourced a few things like designing my packaging and creative content, I ensured that I stayed true to the values that I’d built my business on, of mums supporting mums. So all of my branding and creatives that were outsourced have all been created by other amazing working-from-home mums.
For better or worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?
The pros far outway the cons. I also see cons as an opportunity for self-improvement. If it’s feeling uncomfortable, there’s usually a lesson to be learnt and when we are uncomfortable is where we have the most growth, so cons can also be looked at as pros in the long term (sometime it just doesn’t feel that way at the time).
My number one pro has definitely been being able to be a stay-at-home mum and the ability to spend every day with my son while he’s so little. I also love the fact that I’ve now found what makes my heart sing and when you love doing and creating a business so much it never feels like a job and it just feels easy.
Hopes and dreams: What next?
I have a list as long as my arm – actually it’s probably longer than my arm – of all the things I’d love to achieve with Milk Mate. My main goals are to help support, empower and educate mums on their breastfeeding journey by providing quality, safe, sustainable products and continuing to build an inclusive and safe community. I’m also striving to give back to other not for profit organisations that also support mums and bubs. I currently donate $1 from every breast pump sold to the Mothers Milk Bank Australia and hope to increase donations as the business grows. I’d also like to grow big enough to provide local jobs to our rural community and employ mums on flexible working hours, as well as providing a safe workplace where they can bring their babies with them if they wanted.
Visit the Milk Mate website to view their full range of products. You can also join their supportive communities on Facebook and Instagram.
