“My sister Fiona and I thought it would be a good idea to set up our own design company. Had we known the extreme highs and lows of running a business – the hours involved and the pitfalls we would have had to encounter on our way – I am quite sure we would have chosen a different path.
We have been lied to, stolen from, cheated, threatened with closure, bullied, sued and ?ripped off? and that? on a good day. Running our company has been a huge learning curve, a valuable ‘life lesson’ and one we could never have experienced working for someone else.
We have been relentless in pushing the company forward and hanging on when many would have buckled. A sense of humour and the desire to succeed has kept us both sane over the past eight years.
With 4 small young, noisy children between us there is never a dull moment.
On occasion we have been on the phone to clients when one of them has run in to the office after school and shouted ‘I need a poo!’ Our clients…. so far, have understood. Most have found it quite revolutionary, that we have our children at work with us.
As my sister and I get closer to 40, we have come to realise that what really matters is that we do something we both enjoy. We employ like minded, dedicated and friendly staff and never take ourselves too seriously.
We have come to accept that it is all about the ‘journey’. We laugh a lot more now than we did in the early days as we have come to accept that every day brings new challenges. No matter how hard it gets, there are smiley faces waiting for us at 5 o’clock in our nursery and they don’t take too kindly to their mummies being unhappy.
A woman’s work is never done!”
