Alright yall, one thing I didn’t share in the last blog was the timeline of my business. I started to build my business in early 2019 to launch during Fall 2019. At the same time, I was expecting my firstborn. What possessed me to plan my business while pregnant, do a soft launch during the summer when he was barely 2 months, and plan/attend pop-up shops at the same time? Who knows.
What I do know are a few things:
1. Don’t use it as an excuse: being a mom comes with its own set of skills, some of which can be transferred to entrepreneurship. In addition to these skills, there’s this greater feeling to provide for your children now more than ever. Use all of that as your toolbelt and fuel to keep going.
2. Planning & time management are a MUST! Yes, you’ll have to sacrifice some things in order to get this done. As a new mom, I tried sleeping when he slept, used every minute I could to do everything that needed to be done. I rarely watched TV, and when I did it was because I was sitting on the couch doing something from the computer while my husband watched something. You also have to allow time for yourself, you’re not a robot and you will burn out. I do not believe in obtaining balance, but in the game of balancing. Thinking of a small ball sitting in the middle of a plate, and now you take that plate in the palm of your hand and start walking with it. The ball will begin to move around and you will begin to move your hand to adjust the plate so it doesn’t fall off; that’s what I mean by the game of balancing. The balance would be the ball sitting in the middle of the plate, not moving, inactive, boring. Quite frankly not real life.
3. Set realistic goals and expectations: you may not be at the same performance level you were before giving birth, I know I wasn’t. Yet I held myself to the same standards which almost led me to stop. I gave birth late April 2019 and by mid June - I was planning - yes planning pop-up shops. Recruiting other vendors, building partnerships, and then carrying them out. Most of these took place during the weekend and although my husband has my back 1000%, he worked overnight on the weekends. So watching the baby during the day or in the evening for me to do a pop up was not practical.
4. Build a support system...even if you have to pay them! So you figure as the event coordinator I’m at the pop-up shop making sure all the vendors are set, that the business owner is at ease, that everyone is compliant...who then is tending MY business? Clearly not I, at least not all the time. Thankfully I knew responsible young women who handled this for me at a reasonable fee. Let’s not forget my son was also with us.
5. Focus on the positive! There’s already enough guilt going around. Mom guilt is a real thing. Am I doing enough? Am I not doing enough? Am I spending enough time with my child? Is my home taken care of? Have I abandoned my husband in this relationship and turned him into a roommate? And so many more to go around. You have to, for your health, your family’s progress, and the growth of your business, FOCUS ON THE POSITIVE. Don’t compare yourself, celebrate your small wins, and go from win to win. Acknowledge the setbacks and failures to learn from them, but do not, I repeat, do not give them life. This also includes the people around you. Watch your circle, ban toxic people, it’s not like you have tons of time anyway so why are you letting these negative individuals into your life? Let them know you’re busy, keep being busy, and eventually, they’ll stop coming around.
I ended up taking a break from promoting/growing my business due to COVID-19 this year. At the time of this blog, I’m happy to share my son is 16 months old, I’m 4 ½ months pregnant with twins, and we relocated to another state during all of this. That’s a topic for another time.
Would love to hear from you, share your thoughts in the comment
#BYSALWAYS
Mercedes Ninoska 💜
