Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
Balancing family with a home-based business is an everyday challenge, especially as I wear all the hats and manage most aspects of the business myself. I certainly have had my fair share of very early mornings and late nights. I’m fortunate enough to have amazing support from my husband, and he happily dives in whenever things get too overwhelming. Lately I’ve also engaged my daughter a bit more in what I do for the business. She has been “helping” pack orders with me, so if you ever find a Duplo block in your order, that will be why!
The drive: What challenges have you overcome?
I think the biggest challenge for me was knowing when to take leaps of faith. I’m naturally a very risk-averse person and sometimes find it difficult to take risks and lose sleep over all the possible outcomes. I’m reminding myself constantly that a lot of growth and personal development can come from taking reasonable risks and will bring me closer to the vision I have for this little business.
For better or worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?
When you run your own business and manage every aspect of it, it all starts and ends with you, and this can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, it’s sometimes difficult to maintain boundaries when it comes to your work as the outcomes depends solely on you “making it happen”. But on the other hand, it’s so incredibly rewarding when something goes right, and knowing that it was your hard work that made it possible.
Hopes and dreams: What next?
My mind is constantly tossing up new ideas for our little business and I always have a handful of research tasks and projects in the mix. My long-term dream is to be able to design and create our own branded products that mums or mums-to-be will fall in love with. I have been workshopping a lot of ideas, but haven’t quite put a finger on a specific direction yet. That would be the icing on the cake for what is already such a rewarding venture for me.
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