Bossing babies and business!
I read somewhere once not to let your ‘why’ be your reason why not to, so here I am, knee deep in nappies and about to close on Iconic Resourcing’s first month of trading.
A month really isn’t a long time, yet I feel I have already learned so much about myself, starting a recruitment business, and what it means to juggle babies and business. My ‘why’ ultimately is my 2 young children, alongside the desire to run a successful business offering first class recruitment solutions to the Scottish market.
I’ll admit it was completely daunting and scary, especially reading blogs from founders on how exhausting and around the clock the early days of their businesses were. Starting a business and being a full time mum aren’t dissimilar; both require love, focus and bucket loads of patience. I now truly believe that in many ways the start-up life can be more flexible than going back to work in a large corporation. Starting Iconic Resourcing has given me the opportunity to create a progressive work culture which offers a flexible, agile environment measuring performance on forward thinking metrics.
It’s still early days but I wanted to share 3 of my lessons learned so far:
1. There is never the perfect time
“You must be crazy starting a business with 2 young children…”
– Various
Yes, I am a bit crazy but most definitely not for this decision. Define right time? There is never the perfect time to act. There is never a perfect time to launch a project, start a new hobby or change an existing habit, once we realise this, we can move towards making each day more productive.
The biggest hurdle for many of us is simply getting started; making that important decision to take the first step. For me, it’s about mindset and trusting in myself and my abilities to step outside the “safe zone” and pursue a long-lived dream of running my own business.
“You’re never going to be 100% ready and it’s never going to be just the right time, but that’s the point. It means that every moment is also the right moment. If you want it, you just have to do it.”
– Unknown
2. Be strict with your time
“Where will you fit in “quality time” with your children?”
– Various
I have already learned I can sit on my laptop easily until the early hours working, which might seem like hard work and dedication but in reality, I then make myself more exhausted the following days and ultimately don’t fully achieve what I had planned to.
Life for me is a balance. A balance between my work, children, husband, family and friends (never mind the housework!). One of my early business advisors gave me one of the best pieces of advice I have had so far which was not to waste time on tasks that either I wasn’t good at or had no desire to do, and instead to focus my time and efforts on what will make the business successful – candidates and clients.
Paying up front for services can be tough for small start-ups, such as accounting fees and website design but my Business Partner and I agreed early that this investment would be worth it for us to spend our quality time on the success of the business activities and leave the rest to the experts.
There has only been one night so far where I haven’t managed to bath and put my children to bed. This was a decision I made when I started and one in which I am not willing to compromise.
“Productivity is not an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focussed effort”
– Paul J Meyer
3. Kill the excuses
“What if it doesn’t work?”
– Me
But, what if it does? My excuses included: I don’t have the time, what if it fails, it isn’t the right time, I don’t have enough money… I am now so glad I realised these were only excuses, and it was always going to be easy to justify not getting started in my head.
There are many people in the world who will admit to not stepping out of their comfort zone in fear of the unknown, but it’s exciting to witness the rare few who dare themselves to step out of their personal bubbles to make a change. I love reading articles and advice from successful entrepreneurs who did just that.
“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing”
– Walt Disney
Lessons that didn’t make the cut:
- Your heels might cut your feet to shreds after wearing trainers for 10 months straight
- Celebrate every win, even the smallest ones
- It’s ok to drink 3 coffees before 9am
- Reach out for help when you need it
- Game of Thrones is not a priority
- Your ironing load might get so big it takes up a full room of the house
- Your children will stop sleeping as soon as you go back to work
- Oh, and they will get sick
If you work within HR or Accountancy & Finance in Scotland and are keen to explore your next career move, or some advice recruiting your next team member please reach out to Iconic Resourcing. I am always free to talk, even at my kids’ bedtime.
Lauren (HR) at lauren@iconicresourcing.com or 07759 640 344
Hannah (Accountancy & Finance) at hannah@iconicresourcing.com or 07759 646 232
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