The Drive: What challenges have you overcome?
Other than the usual challenges of living without sight, one of the biggest challenges is my own self-belief – actually believing I can do it. The belief that I can make this business work, and generate more income than I’m currently earning, and believing that I’m actually worthy of that.
My mum had a business, and I know she had a whole lot of challenges, so I knew I didn’t want to end up working as many hours as she did. It’s hard to get that balance right, especially when you’re self-employed.
For better or worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?
Pros – I get to work from home, around my daughter’s schedule, so that’s brilliant. Another pro is that I got sick of competing with sighted people for jobs, so I just wanted to do my own thing and create my own income doing something I believe in.
The cons – you don’t know how much money you’re going to make from one week to the next and where and when it’s coming from. Drop shipping doesn’t work well in NZ, so I’ve had to outlay a bit for stock to start up. You have to spend money to make money, but you’ve got no idea when that’s coming back. I’m not completely self-employed, as I do have other support, so luckily I’m able to do this.
Hopes and dreams: What next?
I hope that my business will reach lots of people and make a difference to them. I guess my business has a double-pronged approach. One of the reasons I’m getting the resources on my site that I’ve chosen, is that I think sometimes as a mum you forget who you were, and who you are. You get so caught up in being somebody’s wife, somebody’s mother. So, I want to empower the parents but especially the women to be able to not forget who they are, reclaim their power and hold onto it.
It’s funny because the message probably doesn’t come across like that, but it’s something I’m discovering myself – looking again at who I really am. You do forget who you are, so it’s important for women (and men) to hold onto that – hold onto who you are. If you don’t, you go through these crises of “who am I again?”, “what am I about again?” I’m not just wanting to make lots of sales, and not only reach people in the way of “buy products from me”, but actually be inspired by the resources I have on the website and go on to learn more and be the best they can be.
Do you have a preemie baby? Head over to the Precious Little Miracles site to see what Jess has on offer for your beautiful little baby. You can also be part of her community on Facebook.
