Oh that I could share what I’ve learned in a way that others really gain something. Hopefully most people learn faster than me but perhaps not, perhaps hearing that at 50 I am still struggling to run my business in the best way will give others a sigh of relief that it’s not just them going through such things.
I’ve no idea if it’s because I’m female, semi-disabled, of a generation whose mothers did not work, an older mum (didn’t hatch my first until late 30s), married, work at home, or what have you. The desire to build a great business, profitable and enjoyable, while being a good mum has overwhelmed me at times. It just is not possible, in the way I somehow think it could/should be. And that’s OK. Only now am I really understanding that while I may have the knowledge, drive, wherewithall to build that successful business, it would be at the cost of other things which are more important. Working at home makes this more obvious. That, and not charging appropriately for my work – that’s a biggie.
Chatting today with a lovely lady, one of my first ever clients, in her own version of this scenario, has given me the “It’s not just me” moment – significant enough after a few weeks of wondering what the goodness I’m doing and why have I not got there yet to make me stop and take a proper look at what I can do, what I want to do, what kind of business I would most enjoy and what I want to achieve with it all. And that is just what I’m going to do. Having finished a very long-running, draining project (that STILL has not been fully paid for!) and with a few smaller projects ticking along without any stress, I can allow some time to work out how to have the best with what is possible. I cannot have it all – there isn’t time for the “all” of my dreams. So perhaps I choose the best of this “all” and work with that…
Perhaps, after all this time of battling to get there I can can find that “there” is simply a step to the left and achievable with ease…
I’ll keep you posted 😉
photo credit: Leshaines123 via photopin cc
I’ve been running my own business for nearly ten years and it’s taken me most of that to work out the right balance. A few years ago I had to take a step back and remind myself that the reason I started working for myself was to work around the needs of my family whereas what I had been doing was putting the business first and family second and getting very stressed. Now I’ve finally learned how to say ‘no’ (or at least ‘not this week’) to clients but it’s taken me longer than it should to learn that lesson.
Something else I’ve learned – you think as your kids get older it gets easier and less time-consuming so working from home will be easier. Oh no – teenagers take as much of your energy as younger children do!