14th March 2017.
I am sat in my living room with my 10 month old son. He is on the floor happily playing with a toy and I am on my laptop. This is not a situation I could foresee not so long ago.
A year ago I had a career in London and was days away from the start of my maternity leave. I found my job quite stressful at times and had fleetingly thought about what I would do when the time came for me to return to work.
Fast forward to November 2016. I had a 6 month old. I hadn't had any real sleep in what felt like forever. I had looked in to starting my own business but found the whole process overwhelmed me. I had also looked at buying a franchise and came across Pink Spaghetti PA Services. I couldn't stop looking at their website. I spent a lot of time researching them and decided to meet them to learn more.
Fast forward to this week. I've had my own company for about…7 weeks! It's not been easy. I found out quite quickly that I need to time-box in order to be productive. I also don't want to ignore my son while I work, as the main reason for taking the leap in to the world of self-employment is to have more time for my family. I mainly work while he is asleep. I have learned to ignore the dishes. (Okay, I can't completely ignore them but I can leave them until a suitable moment arises to do them. I want to give thanks to my dishwasher. I love you.)
Last night I found out that I was a winner of the latest #SBS Small Business Sunday competition run by ex-Dragon, retail magnate and entrepreneur Theo Paphitis. My phone has not stopped. I went to bed last night only because my phone battery was down to 3% and I realised it would take more than one evening of Twitter to realise what this means to my business. All it took was one tweet. One.
There is always someone out there who has more on their plate than you. How you chose to divide and use your time is what makes you able to achieve your goals.
——-
Hannah lives in Surrey with her husband, son and two cats. She is the proud owner of Pink Spaghetti Mole Valley, Reigate and Epsom. The 25th hour in the day for small businesses and busy people.
www.pink-spaghetti.co.uk @hannah_pinkspag #SBS winner www.facebook.com/psmolevalley
