This Is Me
Welcome to my first blog entry on Flokka. I have to say it is perfect timing to be blogging about business and more particularly being a Mum in business or a “Mumpreneur” as seems to be the new catchphrase I am not exactly sure I like. There are big changes afoot with Mothers Online. I have a new business partner, we are building a new site, we have a whole new strategic plan, I am about to change my live in childcare arrangements and I am really, really, really in the inquiry of what it will take for me to have more life/work balance. (Note I put life first this time!).
So, this first entry is really just to fill you in on what life looks like here as a WAHMIB. We live in a big old house on the Northern side of Lake Rotorua. Our family consists of myself, Dean the lucky man, Harrison aged 8, Molly aged 5, (6 on Friday and we are definitely counting the sleeps), Ashe aged 4, Max aged 2.5, our current Angel (or Au Pair as they are more popularly known), Coco the Labradoodle and Jack the Burmese cat. Also inhabiting our home and sometimes overwhelmingly so is Mothers Online Limited, which I often refer to as my 5th child and am constantly telling myself I should banish from the kitchen.
We moved here 2 years ago after a stint in Westmere, Auckland where our baby was born and Mothers Online launched. While the life of the city is always great,- being pregnant, in a small bungalow in Auckland with no offstreet parking, neighbours within metres and people or cars wherever you looked, was not working for me. So home it was, to what we knew, where I knew I could do children ( 4 under 6 that was) and where the addition of a business to it all would not be quite so stressful. I have to admit as a family we haven’t looked back, but when I arrive in Auckland some trips I wonder what life would have been like if we had hung in there through that first year of Max’s life. Well, hindsight would be torture if we let it be huh?
Anyway, down here we have 5 bedrooms, 3 living spaces, office space, double garaging and sheds and just under 2 acres to race around on. I also get the best of both worlds with frequent trips to Auckland for work and business with enough time squeezed in (hopefully) to shop, eat, drink and catch up with my precious family who almost all live there now.
As a family (the longer I am in business, the longer I think our personal life can be operated like a business) we are working to create an environment where our children first and foremost are nurtured and secure, while giving ourselves the outlets we need to grow and achieve in other areas. Dean works as a Project Manager for a company in Auckland and manages to utilize the home office while travelling around the area. Neither of us think anything of a trip to Auckland and back in a day. It is a regular event in our lives. I am also a Consumer Representative for the NZ College of Midwives in Auckland and BOP/Tairawhiti. We are a very busy household and it does require a good degree of organisation, however, it does not seem all that difficult to manage (most of the time) with the right systems in place. I’ll start on those next time. Please add comments, feedback, jokes or anything you can contribute. I look forward to hanging out with you!
I’m planning to leave you with a thought at the end of each entry that I hope will add something to your day…this week’s thought - “So many fail because they don’t get started - they don’t go. They don’t overcome inertia. They don’t begin.” - W.C Clements Stone.
