Welcome to my weekly mompreneur series. A space to support, encourage and empower other mom’s who are thinking of or are already running their own business.
YEAR 5
Doesn’t seem real…four years under our belts and now we head into year five. I can’t believe it’s been five years since the birth of my first business baby.
I read someplace that 96% of small business will fail within the first 10 years. A little more than half will make it to 5 years and not many will last past that point, let alone celebrate 10 years.
My business is at the 5-year point and we are doing better than ever. Our outlook is very positive and there are a few things that I can attribute to this. What makes our program a success? Well just like any successful business there are some key things that we believe is what keeps the business growing strong. But that’s not what you are here for…
You are here because you’re thinking of starting a business. You are a busy mom with so much already on her plate, but something keeps bubbling inside of you and you are really considering the prospect. You can’t say no to that little voice inside your head, and the idea of being an entrepreneur, your own boss, the CEO, gets you really excited.
You spend hours doing research about starting your own venture…I know cause that was me 5 years ago…and now I am here…and so can you be!
However, REALITY CHECK, let’s start at the beginning because without a strong foundation things can crumble quickly. So today’s posts I want to share a few things to consider that may help your decision when you are thinking of starting a business.
“We started from the bottom now we’re here” to sorta quote Drake?? Passion… My business partner and I worked in the field prior to opening our own venture. We were very passionate about what we did. This was really important as we strongly believed in what we were doing. We also did every possible job along the way working for and learning from strong leaders who taught us well and supported us when we decided to open our own business. We went from the front line staff, quality control and all the way to directors, we had a lot of experience. Before you knew it, we wanted to lead…and this became the first key to unlocking our success. The same goes for you. You need passion. When you think about the business you want to start you need to ask yourself these questions; Are you really passionate about it? Do you really believe in it? or are you seeing someone else doing it…and think…hmm I think can do that too and make an income!? What past experiences and skills do you have that can support you? and where can you look for support and seek advice? who can be a coach or mentor you can reach out to when you are just starting and have questions? We all start someplace and truth is we don’t know it all.
The desire to spend more time with family. Find your personal drive. For myself, I knew I wanted to create a business that would allow me to spend more time with my family. That meant that I had to be creative and smart. Our service allows us to close down during the summer months but that means I have to work double hard over the other times in order to bridge my wage to spread it over those summer months. This was a personal choice and was the main driver behind being able to spend summers (my absolute favorite time of the year) with my boys. I also wanted to be in control of my time and my schedule. If I want to be at my son’s soccer game, I can. Traveling with my family was also important to me so starting my own venture gave us way more freedom to do this. What is the driver for you? What is motivating you to want to start something new? Outside of the passion to do something you believe, what will it give back to you other than an income? For me, it was time. Time with my family. Time to live. The ability to control my time myself.
Getting over the fear of doing what you really want to do. Once you do…you fly. The idea of starting a business was so exciting, thrilling and scary AF. I would sit back and be writing the business plan completely immersed in it when suddenly a wave of uncertainty would rush over me. I felt sick. I was so worried I would fail but I was wrong, see the thing is…you don’t ever fail. Regardless of the outcome, you need to know that you are going into this taking a risk and if you are willing to take that jump, then you will fly, no hitting the ground here. There is so much learning that will take place in your weakest moments and your greatest successes and even if you fail. The journey will be full of learning, regardless of the outcomes and BELIEVE ME…If you have something you STRONGLY believe in and that you want or need to share with the world, how could you not! Nothing worse than bottling that up and living with regret. So if you are ready to jump, don’t close your eyes…it’s not that scary…just get ready to fly!
Starting a business is not an easy task, but it’s so rewarding. I don’t ever once look back and say I regret leaving my secure job with benefits. I am always looking ahead and so proud of what I’ve built. So, the question remains, are YOU ready to fly?
Take a moment to leave a comment or share your questions! What is holding you back? What are you most afraid of? Or maybe you have already taken the leap and want to share your journey with other readers. Nothing beats a little support from other moms in business…
till the next post,
moveplaymom