If you’re in my Facebook group which is a supportive like-minded community of over 15,000 business mums (click here to join us) you may have seen that I don’t just post about business.
I also post a lot about mental health and I even created this business self-care daily planner (free download with no email required)
Ask me how my day is going and if I am hating on motherhood in that moment I am likely to tell you or you’ll see the real truth of it on my Instagram where I share warts and all (check it out here @hellofromnat)
For the record, I have 4 kids including toddler twins so there are plenty of days where I feel I can’t do all the mum things successfully.
I know that I am pretty god damn lucky to have 4 beautiful healthy children but that doesn’t mean it has to be mutually exclusive with loving every second.
We are all allowed to experience our own realm of struggle.
This too shall pass is a brilliant mantra, it really is. But it can also be somewhat invalidating.
Like, can we not gloss over that sometimes motherhood actually really does break you and what if that is ok? Yes it will pass but I am in it now.
While we are talking of that moment; how good is it when someone says ‘me too’ or ‘I am here’ or ‘I get it’ or ‘I know that pain’.
The solace and comfort of those words is everything in that moment right? To really feel like someone gets it. That we are heard and understood. Acknowledged and important.
It is the essence of those feelings that somehow I learned about during PND and then went on to weave it into my business. This is why Business Jump is what it is today. Because it is built on emotion. Feeling. Rawness. Truth. Connection.
As the days pass, we watch our little people growing. We see the things we are teaching them manifesting, we are lit up by the sound of their giggle. Their little personalities shine and they take brave steps into the big wide world and the ride smoothes out in ebbs and flows.
Same with business.
When we help mums just like you start a business we are doing it because we have also done it first-hand and I am here to say if I can do it, absolutely anyone else can do it. I am really not that smart. I do have grit and determination in spades though and thats what counts.
I’ve done the blood, sweat and tears. I’ve been really bad at it. I’ve had the failures. I’ve had the setbacks. I’ve had the embarrassing mistakes. All this stuff, the stuff that makes us feel really uncomfortable? It is part of the journey. You can’t go around it, you need to go through it.
The beautiful thing about that is the law of polarity is alive and true so if you do your time, face your fears, muster the courage to follow your dreams you’ll also get to enjoy the perks.
I know the internet wants you to believe those online world perks are all flashy cars, stacks of money and mums spending all their time with the kids while they work one hour a week but that is a dishonest mirage being projected. I’ve been in business 16 years and I know that for sure.
The perks actually range from person to person but in my business the ones I love the most are being able to start my day however I want. Our routine changes on the reg but for the moment I wake up at 5am and go to yoga and then start my working day at 7am while my husband does school and daycare drop off, I then do pickup, dinner, bath and bed.
The mornings are my time. Where I release. Where I reflect. Where I grow and where I surrender. And, some days where I also put myself back together on my yoga mat. It is where I allow my breath to be louder than my thoughts and I re-centre myself.
Work for me isn’t ‘work’ It is {mostly} joyful and fulfilling and I know I am doing what I am best at. I always say business is just as much a personal development journey and that is absolutely true. I’ve had some amazing highs and incredible achievements.
But sometimes everything still gets overwhelming and stressful, so when I get stressed out I put down the tools and go and sit down the beach in my car. Just to have silence. It restores my soul and then I head back to work and work from a state of peace and flow instead of overwhelm. I really love being my own boss in these moments. Where I can do what I want, when I want.
Every now and again, I will need to go to school to watch my older children do sport or be present for them. Sometimes my daughter needs to have a mental health day so I work around her. And, sometimes my twins are sick so I work off my phone. It is this flexibility that helps me make up for all my mummy sins.
It is these moments that are the most valuable to me; of which my online business affords me.
But it didn’t start out this way.
And I think a lot of people sometimes have a false belief of business and what it entails so I am going to share with you how I got started and the advice I share with the Business Jump Family.
Start Small and Simple
One of the most common excuses I hear for people not starting an online business is that they don’t have time.
Do you know the other day I was looking at my running app and it said I had accumulated over 230kms.
It sort of shocked me for a second.
Because I never set out with the intention of running 230kms.
I actually never even feel like running.
So I trick myself. I say to myself I will just go for a walk around the block. I make sure I am wearing my running gear though.
Pretty much every time without fail once I get out of the door into the fresh air my mind flips to I’ll just go for a little jog and before I know it, I’ve run 5kms.
What does it feel like when you ask yourself if you want to go for a 230km versus a walk around the block? Doable right? What does your brain start to do when something feels unachievable? It makes excuses to make you try and feel better about not doing it.
If I never started small, I never would have accrued 230km. If I never took just one step in the direction of my business I never would have been able to look back at the successful business I’ve created.
You don’t need to give up your job, invest 40 hours a week or know every single thing. Just get started however and wherever you can, even if it is just ten minutes a week. I promise you with consistent action in 12 months time you’ll look back and blow yourself away with just how much you’ve achieved when you thought it was impossible.
Start With Being Kind To Yourself
When Business Jump hit its first million I didn’t stop to celebrate, you know what I was doing instead? Worrying about what other people were thinking of me. Worrying about all my little mistakes. Worrying that I wasn’t good enough. Worrying that I was an imposter.
I felt like this when I started too. It didn’t go away because I let it take up resistance in my soul.
Crazy isn’t it?
I had these big massive achievements and I was self sabotaging all the way from day 1.
How much further along could I have been if I had the right mindset from day 1? How much happier would I be? Prouder would I be?
So if I had my time over…
I’d be so much kinder to myself. Like a mum is on her child’s first day of school. Compare what impact that has on a child as opposed to berating that child for not being ‘good enough’ Think about the impact those words will have on the child’s ability to learn, adapt and develop.
It is the same for you, you know. And, your inner child.
What I know for sure is it is absolutely ok to let yourself be crap at all the things when first starting out. As long as you are crap and kind to yourself.
So instead of shaming and judging yourself for it and setting unrealistic expectations, how about telling yourself of course it is going to feel overwhelming and scary because it is your first time doing it and that is ok.
How often do we start something and are amazing at it straight away? Pretty much never right? Unless you’re a freak of nature.
The reality is I was crap when I started and you might be too. But I promise you this, no one else cares or is watching as closely as you.
It takes practice, it takes persistence, it takes willingness to learn and it takes compassion and kindness to nurture ourselves through the journey. As you go, you’ll get better and better. Just like a toddler learning to walk. Wobbly to start with and then running freely once they’ve learned and mastered the skill.
Start By Learning How To Work Smarter
Now here is the inherent trait we teach at Business Jump that not everyone is privvy to. You know that ten minutes a week you might only have that I chatted about a few paragraphs ago? I’ll show you how to turn it into 60 minutes at no extra cost or tax.
Once I started to recover from the blackness of PND I realised I could not work 24/7 and stay sane. That there had to be a better way.
And as Business Jump evolved, I found it.
Working smarter not harder despite what you may think is actually about mind, body and soul.
It is learning that business is actually holistic just as much as it is strategy.
It is understanding our energy levels, what lights us up, what comes most naturally and understanding how to align your business within your zone of genius and also doing things outside of business to clear the mind and make space for clarity.
When I nailed this everything flowed down hill from there at a really beautiful pace and I was able to scale my business past hobby, past start up and into fully fledged, legit business and breadwinner of my family via the path of the least resistance and where I can somewhat live mostly in the perks my business affords me.
