Lately I’ve had so many DM’s over on Instagram from people wanting to know more about my work and specifically how I go about working from home as a mum. I thought it makes so much sense to answer all the questions I commonly get asked in one place! I hope this might help some of you who are interested in starting your own business!
What does my job involve?
I mainly work in social media, so I help my clients create and manage their social media accounts. This can be anything from creating the content, to using pre-made content. I also help with website creation, logo and social media design, as well as video editing, copywriting, blog post creation and content creation (videos and photo). I can also help with marketing strategies and business plans – so a bit of everything really!
How did I get started?
I was working in a 9-5 job and I go so sick of working for a large company who really didn’t care about their staff! For months I tossed around ideas about creating my own business, but it wasn’t until my employer gave me more work with no pay rise that I decided to bite the bullet and do it. It was definitely scary going from salary & wages to not really knowing where your next pay check would come from but I am SO glad I did!
From there I managed to pick up a few clients through a mutual friend and from there it just escalated.
What did I study?
I had no idea what I wanted to do after school so I went to Otago Polytech and did a Diploma in Business and Diploma in Human Resources. I knew business was a good thing to study if you didn’t know what you wanted to do and the Diploma I did covered a lot of areas including management, marketing, accounting, and commercial law. I also did a couple of Certificates in Computing and much of my computer knowledge was self-taught over the years running various blogs.
What work did I do beforehand?
Right out of Polytech I worked in admin at an accountants firm where I quickly realised the corporate world was not for me! I also worked for a big government agency in administration and CSR before starting work at a radio station. There I worked on reception and admin support to the sales team. During my time there I also worked in radio traffic management (scheduling and processing the radio ads) and managed some of the smaller contra radio accounts.
Once the company merged with a few others we started selling digital advertising, video, social media and events. I was responsible for putting together the sales pitches for our clients so I quickly gained a thorough understanding of all things digital! I also started to manage the advertising for some of the larger contra clients we had (including iD Fashion Week and Cadbury Carnival) which involved putting together pitches that included radio, on street activation, social media, video, events and digital. While I loved the work, unfortunately the management were awful and it eventually led to me leaving – I gained so many skills in this job though and couldn’t do what I do now without this experience!
How do I balance being a stay at home mum and also work part-time?
I’m not going to lie it can be really tough. Jack is with me all day, and he currently isn’t in daycare (although that may change next year when he is closer to two – I may put him in a few hours a week). I do as much of my work as I can in the time when he naps, and the rest is spread out during the day when I get a chance. Otherwise Jack sometimes watches some TV in the afternoons while he eats his afternoon tea and I get stuff done. I think it would be impossible to work from home and not let your child watch TV. 😅 It also helps massively that Jack is happy to play independently – if he was really clingy it would be a lot harder!
I try my hardest to not to have to work at night, as I allocate that time for me, although sometimes if I’m super busy I definitely have to.
My honest advice for those wanting to start their own business?
- Do your research and find a niche that you can fit into with your skills and experience.
- Think about what you are good at and then market that as to how you can help clients. You will need to have proven experience as people will likely ask for examples or references.
- Start your business around something you enjoy – don’t just copy what others are doing.
- Don’t think you are going to make a quick buck either, you have to put in a lot of effort, especially at the start to grow your business – it’s not going to happen overnight and you are not going to become rich quick. Believe me!
- Set a timeframe and KPI’s for yourself. For example I gave myself 6 months to make my business work and if it didn’t I would go back to a full-time job. Give it all you’ve got in that timeframe, but if it doesn’t work out, be realistic and know when it’s time to admit defeat.
- As part of that you need to have savings to keep yourself going. For my 6 month example above you would want to have at least 12 months of savings in the bank. There’s a good chance you might make very little in your first months and you still need to be able to pay your bills plus have a little bit extra left over for any emergencies.
- Also make sure you have enough aside for your start up costs – website, stationary, stock, business cards, marketing etc. Each business will have different start up costs and you need to do your homework around what this might cost.
- Work your ass off and do a good job for people. You will then get repeat business and others will be singing your praises to their business contacts. I have not actively marketed my business since I started – all of my clients now come from word of mouth.
I hope this was a helpful guide to how I started my business. I am by all means no expert, I just do what works for me! If you have any other questions you’d like answered, just send me an email or flick me a DM on Instagram!
