I love having my own business. On wet dreary days in England, especially after having dealt with some problem or other, I often dreamed of having my own little business and spending all those long hours working on my own project rather than someone else's.
One of the disadvantages of having your own business, as I'm sure many other owners will tell you, is that you are never really off duty. No matter how big or small your business is there is always a number of tasks that you will have to do yourself and even the most efficient delegators are not able to pass everything over and walk away without having anything to do.
People asked me when I was pregnant 'when are you off on maternity?' and 'how long will you have off?' and while I would to have loved to have said I finish next week and I'm off for 3 months I realised that was unrealistic. As a small business owner you are the head of customer service, the buyer, the accountant, the marketing department and the sales rep. So when you go off on maternity, so do all of your departments.
I guess we have to deal with the challenges that all working parents face - it's just perhaps sooner than most. Navigating parenthood can be a daunting undertaking and the partnerships and supports are vital and necessary to get us through. The traditional African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child” has been widely quoted and our “village” has never been more necessary now. I am blessed and thankful to have support from family and friends that makes navigating this new family life a lot easier than many others have it.
So at the moment I'm working on developing a range of new skills that I never imagined. Aside from the usual how to change a nappy and all those things I have learnt how to cuddle my little lady while completing tasks such as paying invoices and placing orders. I now have to divide my work into very short tasks as I don't know how much time I will get before a nappy or feed.....speaking of which - got to go!
Just to say thank you to everyone for their good wishes, cards and gifts. She is one lucky little lady.