Originally, I was a midwife and I loved my job. However, after I had Luke in June 2001 work-life balance was a problem. I am a staunch supporter of the NHS (so no negatives please!!) and they do try to implement work-home balance policies as best they can. However, this is difficult when the area that I had chosen was 99% female staff with a large percentage of staff with children. I realised that it was only going to get more difficult to juggle shift work as he got older and went to school.
When Luke was 6 months old I therefore started to consider the possibilities of starting my own business. I had never really considered it before and thought I would be a midwife for the rest of my life. I obviously knew quite a lot about the transition to motherhood and the enormous changes that this can make to a woman?s life from all my midwifery theory and with speaking to all the women I had looked after. For me, after managing to produce probably the most demanding baby I?d ever seen, it was a huge shock. People presume that you?re going to sail through it if you?re a midwife, but it doesn?t matter who you are you will experience some effects of the change.
When I look back I wonder how I could even have contemplated starting my own business with Luke so young, still breast feeding and working shifts. However, I was determined to get to a place so that by the time Luke got to school we would have flexibility.
My partner Matthew was an IT man and therefore I wanted this to be key element to the business as we had to utilize the skills that we had between us. Mine, I thought at the time, were a little more difficult to transfer to a business. However, we looked at what we enjoyed doing (getting outside and going places with Luke) and where there was a niche (we found it difficult to get the gear to do this) and brought the two elements together to start Little Trekkers – the only place to get all your outdoor gear for kids. For the first 2 years I worked both as a midwife and on building up and developing Little Trekkers. I called on Matthew?s skills for anything IT related that I needed. It was hard to give up midwifery but after much consideration I decided that I had no choice as Little Trekkers was growing and needed even more of my time.
I was then really determined to take Little Trekkers forward to ensure that we reached a stage where Matthew could then join me in the business. I achieved this a year later and, after another leap of faith, he handed in his notice at work.
Five years after starting Little Trekkers we have a dedicated team of staff, a warehouse, a showroom and a loyal customer base to our website www.littletrekkers.co.uk.
After 18 months of careful research and development we have just launched our own range of children?s outdoor clothing, Spotty Otter (www.spottyotter.co.uk), which is going down a storm with all who see it.
I never thought that I could be a business woman and felt that the business world was something so alien to me and my principles that I could never even work within that field, never mind have my own business. What I have learnt is that being in business does not mean that I have to conform to the many stereotypes that exist about businesses and business people. We have a really dedicated team of staff who genuinely love working at Little Trekkers and Spotty Otter, and genuinely care about giving our customers the best products and service that we can. I understand what it feels like to have a new family or to be juggling the demands of working and looking after a family and I make sure that all our staff do too. It is important that Mrs. Smith from Coventry gets her child?s snugsuit in time for the weekend and if she doesn?t it is a big deal.
I have also learnt that of course I was, all along, in a business environment. When you work for one of the largest organisations in the country it has to be business like in many ways. I was always dedicated as a midwife and always believed that each and every one of the women in my care deserved to get the best possible care. My views on this have not changed now that I am working within Little Trekkers and Spotty Otter, and we ensure that high standards of service are achieved on an ongoing basis. We get a great deal of satisfaction from knowing that, in our own small way, we are helping families to get out and about together. To us this is the most important thing in our family and, judging by the feedback and photographs that we get from families, it is for others too.
It is an exciting time for us as we launch Spotty Otter onto the market. Everyone loves Spotty Otter and the feedback is overwhelming. We are positive about the future and we have never regretted taking some risks to reach our family goals. Our view has always been that the most important things were me, Matthew and Luke and even if we did not succeed and lost everything we had (which admittedly wasn?t that much!) there would still be me, Matthew and Luke – Somebody would take us in so we could start again. For us it would be much worse to have decided not to take the risks and be sat here years later regretting not trying.
Pros
- I work far longer hours than ever before but as I love what I am doing it doesn?t feel so much like work.
- I have the flexibility to adjust those hours for the needs of our family. One of us always takes Luke to School and picks him up, and we always attend any events at his school.
- There is a great sense of achievement in having created a successful company and one that people love to work for.
Cons
- Our house is not exactly the tidy, peaceful and organised den of tranquility that it could be!
- When you are starting a business you do have to be prepared to take risks and this can be stressful at times. You do also have to be prepared to go without luxuries and to take only what you absolutely need to get by while you are growing the business. If you can?t live without your new car, 2 holidays a year, new clothes each month, it may need some careful consideration!