My Biz Mum Life
This month’s blog post has been contributed by my very dear friend and fellow Biz Mum Jennifer Zeven from Blurb-ology.
I hope you enjoy it!
I’ve been in business for about four months now. It’s a good thing to remind myself of at times – I’m so impatient!
I once marvelled at people who start their own business. The whole getting started part mystified me.
Add being a mother of a soon to be 8 year old, a 5 year old and a 1 year old into the mix: the questions ‘Will this bring my crazy life to whole new level of crazy??’ and ‘Can I really do this??’ came to mind with each new idea. (The answers, by the way are ‘Yes it will’ and ‘Yes you can’.)
If you’re a mum who is mystified on how to get started, here are four little pearls of wisdom just for you.
#1: It’s Not All or Nothing
“You told us we could be anything, we heard we should be everything.” This quote from a woman of my generation to one of her ‘feminist mothers’ really resonates with me. In the early days, when I thought starting a business was what other people did, I still felt pressure to be everything for everyone. News flash: I couldn’t. And neither can you.
I’ve realised since then it was the small steps I’ve taken which got me to the point where I had the courage to start my business. It’s the small steps I continue to take, in and around my role as mum, partner, human woman, that bring me closer to my biz mum/life vision. The juggle is real, and when you drop the balls? The sky doesn’t fall in.
#2: Do the Work
My website was up: check! Facebook business page: check! Then what happened. Well, at first it felt like a whole lot of nothing. That’s when I realised it was up to me to drive this train, I had to keep it moving forward. I blogged. My blogs show who I am and what I can do. I gave myself deadlines and stuck to them.
You need a dream, a vision. But you also need to keep grinding through the ‘grunt work’. When I wasn’t sure what I was doing, I read other blogs on getting started. Listened to podcasts. I reached out to other biz mums, including my high school bestie and business mentor, Mikala from Inspired Office. I’ve enrolled in the Business School For Mums, and it’s already an investment that’s paying off. Information is power.
#3: Collaborate
You know what you’ve heard about women not helping other women, because we’re like sooooo catty and competitive? Well surprise surprise – it’s a myth. I have found groups on facebook where the information exchange is free-flowing and generous, and the other members are supportive and living my reality. I recommend Mums With Hustle Biz Club and Mums Starting Small Businesses (Australia).
At times it seems that groups beget groups beget groups – I’m also a member of a few fabulous writing groups. FB is a data-mining tool; use it to your advantage and mine it to find your own pearls of wisdom, even some gold.
#4: Believe
Mindset is all. We live in the world, but we have words and worlds inside our heads. They directly affect how we see ourselves and what happens in the world around. If we keep telling ourselves we can’t: then we won’t. Everyone has heard that before. Let me tell a little story to illustrate the point.
I’ve always done ‘real jobs’. That’s what responsible people do, right? I learnt quickly writing wasn’t a ‘real job’ – I’ve been telling myself that for years. Late last year, I thought, f@#k it, and broke free of a lifetime’s habit of talking myself down. I started making time to spend writing. I wrote creatively. I wrote stories with beginnings, middles, and ends.
It was only small, but dedicating time to my craft helped me switch up my mindset. I started thinking of myself as a writer. Here’s the groovy part: as soon as I took myself seriously as a writer, other people did too. Believe. When you back yourself, you give other people a reason to think they should too.
To sum up, here are three little pearls you can take with you on your own journey.
To be honest they work in business AND in life:
1. It’s Not All or Nothing – Take small steps, you will get there in the end.
2. Do the Work – Push on, because doing nothing will not help you achieve your goals.
3. Collaborate – Social media groups make it easy to reach out to people in business of all experience levels
4. Believe – mindset is such a big part of succeeding in business, and in life. Say ‘yes’ to yourself, don’t devalue your skills. You’ll find once you start really believing you have something to offer, other people will too!
That’s it for now team. Starting your own business isn’t always easy, but you can do it!
