Mother's Day is just around the corner! Having become a mother just 17 months ago Mother's Day has taken on a whole new meaning for me. To coincide with Notonthehighstreet's #MaverickMum campaign I wanted to share some of my experiences of motherhood, in particular combining motherhood with running a business.
Two weeks after my daughter June was born I was back in the office with her in tow. Maternity leave is tricky when you are running a small business. It wasn't just about our livelihood though, being involved and not feeling disconnected from my business was important to me. Ever since then June has been joining myself and my husband in the office. It's a fairly unusual situation, but June has truly made Alphabet Bags a family business.
In the early months June slept a lot while I worked. As she grew she spent time playing next to my desk, and sat on my knee to supervise emails. Now she's a toddler with bundles of energy we have to be more inventive with ways to keep her happy when work needs to be done. As in business, every day of motherhood is different so we're just making it up as we go. Things are going well so far, even though occasionally June screams or sets off loud musical toys when I'm on the phone to a customer, or pulls pouches out of their drawers when we're packing orders.
Motherhood has completely changed me and the way I think about things. I've learnt to not sweat the small stuff and to not get too upset when something goes wrong at work. It's really not the end of the world if new products aren't ready when we hoped or when our email goes down for a few hours. I only have to look at June's little face to know what matters most.
I'm excited for what the future brings and involving June in the business as she grows. I hope that having her with us in the office will act as a great example for her when it comes to understanding the importance of hard work and dedication.
I love what I do and I love being a mum. I am so grateful I can do both. I know some days I won't get much work done and that the office is usually a total mess and June's socks never match but so what? All I can do is my best, and that's good enough.
