How have my first 4 months gone starting my own business?

I think it’s time to tell you all the reality of what it is like in my new world. Firstly it’s going to help me to get it written down and out of my head and secondly it’s going to help you if you are thinking of taking the leap and doing it yourself.  I won’t sugar coat it, I never do with my blogs. I will tell you the about the rainbows, sunshine and thunder clouds to steal my middle child’s reward chart from school 😉 I will start with the ‘sunshine’

Control

I am finally in complete control of my destiny. I make all the decisions and do exactly what I want. I spend my time as I see fit. I write a to-do list and I get to prioritise it based on my own world, not my bosses, or my director or my company. And when you are a bit of a control freak this is a great feeling. If I want to work 12 hours in a day I can..and if I want to work 2 hours in a day I can. Ultimate control.

Time with my children and flexibility

I get to do the school run every day. Mornings are less stressful with me up and downstairs at 6am.  I do some work, and we all get ready. We leave the house at 8:30 for a nice stroll down to the school,  normally with my neighbour. So I also get to chat and download and listen on the way to school. And I get exercise….to and from school is 1.6km☺.

I get to do pickup 3 times a week as I still have some childminder help. And I get to go to as much of football training and games that I can. Bit of a mission with 2 boys playing for Cambridge and for Knebworth but we are doing okay.

I get to make proper friends with the mums. My mummy friends are really interesting people who give me ideas, help with my creativity and tell me when I am getting carried away. Normally over wine.

Time for my body

I have plenty of time to myself. The big boys are at school 9 to 3:15 and Jack is at pre-school or childminders Monday and Thursday. I get to exercise. I walk everywhere I possibly can. I can go for a run on a Monday morning around the local rec. I can cycle down to school. I could even go for a swim ..although I don’t its far too much hassle. I get to eat whatever food I want. I have a fridge full of healthy snacks. I can make my own coffee for 30p with a Nespresso capsule rather than £2.50 for a costa skinny latte!

Excitement

Everyday is exciting….and I don’t really know what is going to pop into my inbox…or what inspiration will strike. I have meetings with incredible people who inspire and motivate me. I stay engaged with my social media a lot of the time and love getting notes from happy customers who have followed my advice and saved money. Or people who have got crafty ideas from me or ideas for a great day out with their family. It’s exciting and satisfying. I am ticking boxes that working in the corporate world have never been able to do. I am actually helping people.

Incredible people helping me

I am very fortunate from my many years in the corporate world of building a huge network. I use linkedin for maintaining these relationships. I have worked for a few huge companies and have been lucky to work with some amazing people. So I have cherry picked the handful over the years whom I think are brilliant and have reached out. All have given me time, encouragement and advice. In fact very recently my business plan and financial were torn apart by a very successful business man. But yet he made me feel valued, like I have a viable business idea and set me on track to make improvements and become more successful quicker. He encouraged my ambition and questioned my beliefs and risk profile. I am very fortunate.

So the thunder clouds, the not so great stuff…..all the above sounds all very rosy and lovely..you might even be thinking well if she can do so can I….especially if you happen to know me. Well let me share the bad and then you weigh it up.

Loneliness

So I work alone most of the time. I sit at my laptop or my tablet or my phone tapping away. Creating content and doing admin and creating spreadsheets by myself. I don’t have team members to chat to. I could try to talk to my nearly 3 year old who is often at home with me..but to be honest he is more interested in watching paw patrol. I chat to people on whatsapp,  but they are mostly working in scary corporate jobs, so are mega stress and don’t always reply straight away.

I have to make decisions all by myself. Like just me..no one to bounce ideas off. And sometimes that decision is wrong. I just have to live with that and hope that my decisions don’t cost me much money!

Overwhelmed

So I am often over whelmed. It’s the only word to describe how I am feeling. I have so much to do…like my to-do list is about 50 hours worth of work. And when it’s all in my head and not written down its properly stressful. I have all these thoughts whirling around my head. I have to write them down. I have learnt this new techniques recommended by my beautiful friend @RidleyWrites to prioritise my list in terms of importance and urgency. I am then to do all the important stuff first. When that is done work on the urgent stuff. To be honest I never get to the urgent stuff, but as long as the important stuff is done I am fine.

Red Tape

Oh my gosh the amount of hoops you have to skip through to set up your own business and company are astounding. There is insurance, company’s house forms, accountants to find, solicitors to get advice from, and bank accounts to open. I have just achieved a biggie and have opened a business bank account. This took such a lot of time, a 2 hour appointment with lots of forms signed by not only me but also my shareholders. And then a credit check and an investigation into the legitimacy of my business. Insurance is scary…there are so many things you can get insurance for. So I am in the hands of a local broker there, who has taken interest in my business and is trying to find the best offer for me out there. I am getting there.

The Guilt

I feel guilty every day. Mainly for not achieving what I had wanted to on my to-do list, really not helped by me making my to-do list unachievable. I feel guilty about putting off the admin tasks that I really should be doing but can’t be bothered to do. I feel guilty about sitting here at 9:30pm tapping away at my laptop rather than talking to my husband. And I feel guilty about the 2 hours I sat here this afternoon watching Nashville when I should have been writing content or doing my books or doing something on my Mrs Mummypenny to-do list.

The Lack of Income

This is a stressful one that I think about a lot. It’s the first thing I also comment about when people ask how the business is going. I hear myself say it so often.’I am loving running MMP, but its not making enough money’..so firstly I just need to basically shut the **** up and focus on doing things that will make some money. And get real Lynn, I have been going for 4 months…realistically how much money was I going to be making in my first year? My cashflow forecast number I am already behind target. But I can do this. I can make money from this business, I can make a lot of money. I just need to be focussed on achieving particular KPI’s and keep driving with those agencies and companies who will pay me to blog about their products and services.

So there you have it…my sunshine and thunder clouds of running my own business. As you can see it’s not easy….but is it worth it? ABSOLUTELY.