Natashen
As a mom, starting up a small business can be very challenging, it takes a huge amount of determination combined with an ample amount of diligence. Being a mom isn’t easy, let alone being a mom with a business.
I don’t claim to be an expert in business, in fact I just recently launched my own line of beauty and skin care products and I’m still taking one baby step at a time. But I am at a point where I am financially comfortable and I have the freedom of deciding whether I should do some freelance work for the week or not and that’s already saying something.
Getting to where I am today took me a lot of wrong turns and made one too many mistakes. What I did in order to get through daily expenses and still pursue entrepreneurship is I created a list. I listed all the steps I took and crossed out the ones that weren’t helping me make a progress. Here are the things I did to reach where I am today.
-
Be passionate
This is important because if you’re not passionate, you will easily get disheartened. Passion is what drives you, if you want to get into business solely for profit, I personally think it wouldn’t take you anywhere.
-
Choose a business within your interests
If you choose a niche just because it is highly profitable, you are going to have a hard time in the process. You have to choose a business that you love, that you’re inclined to. Let’s say if you’re into cosmetics, you should start a business selling makeups.
-
Take it one step at a time
This is probably where I struggled the most, at first I was very eager to see results and wanted to get things done fast. I tried to get all things done at once and it compromised the quality of my business. So I hit the restart button, redid everything one at a time.
-
Do your research
Before I decided to start with my online business, I had a couple of business ideas prior to that. All these business ideas seemed brilliant at the time, but after a month of thorough research, it doesn’t look too good anymore. Take your time and see if the business is worth investing.
-
Create multiple strings of income
Don’t stick to one source of income. For my case, aside from having a business, I also do a bit of freelancing. Aside from that, I am currently on the planning stage of selling digital products. So if you have extra time, might as well put it to good use, right?
-
Be Resourceful
I use a dslr whenever I shoot photos for my products but guess what, I don’t own one! I simply reached out to one of my friends who’s a photographer and he lend me his camera for free. I seldom use a dslr so I don’t really think it’s worth to buy one so I borrow instead. As a startup business I think it’s best to minimize expenses and let the business grow first, don’t buy something for your business if it isn’t a necessity. Photography equipment are also very expensive so if you can create one, do it. There are many DIY tutorials online. I just made my own lightbox and that alone saved me a huge amount of money!
-
Avoid Going To The Baby Section
Last but definitely not the least. When I’m at a mall I always go to the baby section. Always. The salesladies and I are already on a first-name basis. And I always end up buying something for my baby. Who could say no to a super cute pink fluffy dress? Apparently not me. So I avoid it altogether to stop myself from buying.
Those are what I did and still doing until today. I’m still far from my goal but the good news is I’m getting there. I had many doubts and roadblocks as well but I overcame all of it by constantly pep-talking myself and of course with the support of my family and friends.
