Good question!
When I initially started out with this business my two children were aged 3 and 4 months. Obviously I had a lot on my plate! So I guess it’s fair to ask why I thought starting a new business would be a good idea.
To be honest, having young children is part of the reason. For the past few years I’ve been running a children’s yoga franchise. Working for yourself can be fantastic with young children as you can, to a point, work the hours you choose. Also, being on ‘maternity ‘leave’ right now (as much as you can be with a business to run) means that I have nothing to lose. I’m not earning anything significant now, so it’s not like I’m leaving a well paid job to do this. Starting while my baby was is young means I can give it a good shot before my eldest starts school next year and my youngest starts childcare. This gives me a deadline, by which time I need to decide whether it’s a goer and I can keep working on it as my full-time (although I don’t intend to work full-time hours) occupation, whether I need to get a job and do this on the side, or whether it’s just not working and I need to call it a day.
I really hope it does work and I’m going to do all I can to make it. My children are a huge part of why I want to do something like this and why I want to succeed. I want to be there for them, especially when they’re so tiny. I want to do something for myself, so I’m not just ‘mum’ and I’m bringing some money into our home. I also want my children to be proud of me!
I vividly remember the moment I decided I wanted to try something. It was May, we had been at our local carnival, and I was walking home with our baby in the carrier, while my husband stayed a little longer with our toddler.
My husband had been listening to podcasts by a guy called Pat Flynn – and he encouraged me to give it a try. Pat’s podcasts are called Smart Passive Income and they’re basically about setting up businesses that may take a lot of hard work initially but, in time, will make money for you without you having to do an awful lot. Sounds good, right?
So anyway, I listened to the episodes my husband had suggested (episodes 192 and 193, incase you’re interested, which are an introduction to all the ways you can make a passive income) and I was hooked! To the extent that I actually got home and the continued to walk up and down the driveway til I got to the end of the podcast. (To be fair, I did also have a content, sleeping baby, so I wasn’t about to jeopardise that!)
I raced through as many of the podcasts as I could over the next week or so, usually with a sleeping baby in tow, but still wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do, or would be good at.
I then listened to episode 127, which was about two guys who’d built up a physical products business on Amazon. “Aha!” I thought. This is something I could do!
My husband initially wanted to sell mats to go under turbo trainers or other indoor home-gym equipment. But, to be honest, this bored me. So what do I want to sell? Honestly, I didn’t have a clue.