Have I stumbled upon that elusive “tao” of balance between being a mom and running business? Well, no. But I’ve learned a few things since starting my own baby carrier business in 2006.
I began seriously thinking about a baby carrier business after I bought my first Beco Baby Carrier. It was such a beautiful and functional carrier, I was sure there had to be market. People just haven’t caught on yet. You know what? I was right. And people caught on very quickly!
But I went into this business with very naive and idealistic vision of what life running a little business and tending to my 2 children would entail. In my mind:
1. Running a business would be easy money.
2. I get to stay home and be with my kids while bringing in some cash.
3. Since I don’t have to leave the house, working at home would be so much better for my children than me going to work somewhere outside of our home.
At the time, it seemed to be a perfect option! My husband was finishing up at Columbia and living in NYC was not cheap. The bulk of our savings went to subsidizing our living expenses. So money was tight. Professionally, I’m a teacher. High school teacher specializing in at-risk kids (which means challenging teenagers with various troubled backgrounds). Going back to work in the NYC school system would not yield decent living wages because of the high cost of living. And my son, Tao, was only a baby. So we’d have to hire a nanny to care for him, which would take up 1/3 of my salary. And my daughter, Maya, would have to be picked up from school by someone. I hated the idea of not greeting her after school and missing her big sunshine smile everyday!
So working at home seemed like the perfect solution. We would save money on the nanny cost and I get to drop off and pick up my daughter at school myself. When kids go to bed, I’d work on the business a couple of hours and voila! It was utopia!
A few months after my first wholesale order arrived, reality set in!
First and foremost, even though the orders came in like a steady stream, making a profit was very tricky. If I wanted to continue to grow and keep up with demand, I couldn’t pocket much of the profit. I had to reinvest into future stock and pay for overheads such as advertising, maintenance of the site (once I went online) and PayPal fees, etc. The amount I was able to pocket in those early months amounted to a number much lower than minimum wage! gasp!!! My husband was getting very confused and frustrated why I couldn’t manage to pocket more cash! And let me tell you, I’m still struggling to pocket decent amount of change for myself right now!
It became clear my time with the children became very limited. Soon, customer service calls came in the middle of the day. I’d have to turn on a movie or set out blocks for Tao to keep him occupied. The miscellaneous errands — packing, shipping, accounting, advertising, e-mails, etc — began to take up good amount of time where I couldn’t get everything done after the kids go to bed. I’d have to squeeze in little tasks here and there between cleaning, cooking, and grocery shopping. They say SAHM’s have full-time jobs. Imagine adding the responsibilities of running a business on top of that!
Was it / is it much better for my children that I’m home? Of course. But I’m not “present” much of the time. It’s sad. I’m either distracted by something that has to get done or the usual household chores that’s looming on the back of my mind. My son’s most frequent request is for me to sit down and cuddle with him on the sofa. And ironically, I don’t even have enough time to wear him any more even though I’m in the business of promoting babywearing love!
More and more moms are catching the babywearing bug, which is awesome. And naturally, more moms are catching the business fever, as I call it. Makes sense! If you love your carriers, why not share that passion? And if making extra cash is your cup of tea (who isn’t into making extra cash?), then starting a baby carrier business seems perfectly logical.
I just hope that for anyone who decides to go into the business of spreading babywearing love (or any work-at-home business for that matter), there are realistic expectations in place. It is not a quick, easy money-making deal. Life will be chaotic. You will have less time to spend with your children. And yes, you will feel guilty because you are physically present to witness the amount of time they are NOT getting that one-on-one interaction with you. Finding that balance between being a business woman and a mom is very difficult. But it can be done. With lots of coffee!
You are so right, especially that last paragraph.
For the first 2 years, I swear I worked all day long, 7 days a week, always staying up way past the rest of my family, and took no income for myself. Some entrepreneurs will “arrive” to the sweet spot on the other end of it. I believe I have. But some people won’t make it, and some people will find that give-it-your-all time period goes on way longer than they want, at a tremendous cost to themselves and stress on their family, and not knowing yet if they will survive the intense start-up period and find it was all worthwhile.
I’ve been there. Especially in the beginning years. I was absolutely so obsessed with making my business a success that I put in ungodly hours, many unpaid – and no doubt was NOT very fun to be around.
I’ve felt the guilt too, of not really being present for the kids.
I think there is a point you reach where, even if you still are hand to mouth – you have the confidence and the stream of income coming in that you are able to look at your priorities all over again and get back to the main reason you do what you do.
If I could offer any advice to women just starting out it would be to take every opportunity to hug and kiss those little faces, even if it is the 100th time they interrupted you that morning. Yes, they need to learn the boundaries of your work space – but they are little and won’t be for long!
Thanks so much for sharing this. I have long been considering an online business. Although I have heard similar stories… your’s just hit it home for me for some reason. I don’t know what the right answer is for me, my family, and possible business ventures but I really appreciate finding stories like this that tell how difficult it can be without making it seem like a totally dumb idea to go the WAHM route.
Thanks for the post. I am also planning to start a business on sewing pattern but it seems too difficult cause my kids are not that old and they always need attention from me. Thanks again for sharing this. You inspired me a lot.
Thanks for the thoughtful post. I am already feeling the same things that you are, and I just officially started my company in Feb. As your business grows, hopefully you will be able to find some help to do the little things like packing and going to the post office, cleaning and running errands. Hang in there
If you only took all the ideas I give then you would be a multi-millionaire.