Recently I've been reflecting a lot on the last few years of my life, how my children have shaped me as a person and the choices I've made in terms of financial gain and emotional nourishment. Being a mum is probably in one fell swoop, the single hardest, yet most enriching experiences I have yet had the pleasure of partaking in. A journey of both wonderful emotional highs, and desperately crushing lows. Without my children, I would not be where I am today, and they continue to shape how my life is unfolding.
Currently going through a tough time health wise myself, I've come to reflect a lot about the choices I've made in the past, and as they say, hindsight is 20/20. I'd like to break down some aspects of it that I think I could have possibly tackled better, and provide productive strategies, in both business, and in emotional support, to help mum's better navigate the business world. I'll introduce myself, and my business a little below.
Hey Penny Designs began more than three years ago now when I was in the later stages of pregnancy with Loodle, our second child. I was 22 years old, my pregnancy cut my retail occupation days short, it was not unexpected, but it was still a bad time, I was in pain, and I wanted something to take my mind off it. I started crafting.
For the most part it just gave me enough money to turn it into a self-sustaining habit, I was able to make pretty things, and bring new pretty things in to play with. Ultimately though, there was a financial pressure to return to work and I didn't want to do that. I looked at the community around me, what the other mums were doing, and at the time, there was a wide open playing field of endless opportunity for 'custom fabric'. When I began the fabric printing facet of Hey Penny there were less than 5 of us. The possibilities were endless, but it was also terrifying. What if it didn't work out and no one liked what I liked? But more real, what if I wasn't taken seriously because of my age? That part I have never really disclosed in an open forum.
I think there's a lot of real, persistent, negatively perpetuated stereotypes surrounding the 'young mother'. There is a lot of intense pre-judgement of character, we're irresponsible, probably because it is considered a lot of us have had our children unintentionally. We're financially unstable, because we don't have fifteen years of 'career life' under our belts. Because we hear this around us be it from friends or family, if you have a more toxic environment, or just simply as you go about your day, or to what is constantly pandered about the media; it will eventually bore into your psyche, and you will eventually cease to even try. I also think we even unfairly think this of our own peers, which just speaks to how deeply ingrained the prejudice is.
I'm 25 now, Hey Penny is more than 3 years old and she reached the GST threshold last year. That's more than $75,000 of money in a year coming into the business, from a humble $5,000 the first financial year I started. In this time I've also worked part and full-time, been sick (I haven't been well since the birth of Loodle), and finished my under graduate degree with a GPA of 6.1.
I feel if we as individuals can get past ourselves as our biggest hurdle to beginning something in the first place, there are tools we can use and develop over time to help ourselves thrive. Using this blog as a medium, I'd like to write through them to hopefully help some women, thinking of starting their own venture from home, avoid some of the things I did which made my life harder. These will range from practical strategies from starting and implementing business practices; to turning to the self and you, who as an individual who is already so greatly needed, and gives so much of yourself, needs to manage your expectations and emotional health.
Until next time <3