Thank you to Karen from EcoMum for sharing her experiences.
Karen with her daughter
My name is Karen, I’m 35 and a single parent. I had a bit of an unusual pregnancy. After a difficult split with my ex I was stressed and felt a bit under the weather and bloated for a few months. It wasn’t until I did a pregnancy test at 5 months that I got the good news!
Baby Katheryn Eliza was born on 3rd March. For the first few months, I went to stay with my parents and didn’t think about much of anything except my little girl.
Before having Katie, I had a good job as a design engineer with a very understanding boss and we had arranged that I could probably work from home to a large extent. Unfortunately, due to the downturn, when wanted to start work again at 3 months, there was no work for me to do. I decided to ask for redundancy and go it alone.
Choosing a business
So, shortly after my first ever visit to the job centre, I was scouring websites looking for something which would catch my interest and I found an advert for company looking for independent distributors for eco-friendly household products. This motivated me to enquire as I had already been researching this area myself. I wanted to do my bit for the environment and also take the best care of my daughter. I wanted her to grow up with consideration for the planet and to be accustomed to a natural healthy way of living. I’d also researched brand household products a bit and didn’t like what I found. The company is called Wikaniko (We Can Eco) and basically uses independent distributors for all its sales. I’d spent a lot of time reading about being successful, getting motivated, overcoming barriers etc. and Wikaniko used a lot of the same principles. One of the strong recurring pieces of advice I kept coming across was that the first priority is to do something you enjoy then it doesn’t even feel too much like work. This was a winner!
There was a small initial cost and from there you can take it as slowly or as quickly as you like. I’m currently in the process of going door-to door with the catalogue. With baby on board I’m getting a really good reaction from people. I’d always hated the idea of face to face sales but I don’t feel that I’d doing that with this job because I believe in the products and it makes sense to me. I plan to do parties, stalls, hold talks, approach companies and any other similar routes I can find. This also provides me with an excellent opportunity to get used to working with groups so that when I qualify with my EFT I have more confidence for group work with this too and can benefit LOTS of people.
I realised a couple of weeks ago that being at home I’d gotten in the habit of procrastinating, so I got a friend involved and decided I was doing a procrastination detox – no more! I send my ‘to do’ list to my friend every night and check in with the tasks I’ve completed from that day. It’s really working for me. I have set myself targets, I work on my new venture every day, I take my little girl out in a baby carrier several times a week which she enjoys, and it’s keeping me fit too! I can put all that reading about being successful to use now. What could have been a very scary situation has actually taken me onto an exciting new path and I’m really enjoying myself! My website is www.ecomum.org.uk. My plan is to build up a customer base so that I can work regular hours during the week and put Katie in a nursery for a few days and get a little time to do things for me.
At the minute, I have Wednesday nights off to sing in a choir which I love and it gives grandma and granddad time with their granddaughter. I have to go out early evening as that’s when most people are home so come rain or shine, I’ll be out walking several nights a week. I think it’s good to push yourself through the tough times as you learn so much and have much more appreciation for what you achieve. I don’t really care that it will be hard work and slow starting, I’m doing it for me and as long as we’re both healthy and happy that’s all that really matters. I can spend my free nights building up my business for our future or I can spend time doing other things. There’s really no contest for me. I take some time out for relaxing but otherwise keep myself pretty busy.
My top tips for getting motivated and starting something new:
1) Find something you believe in and enjoy. Its the easiest way to get motivated.
2) Write your ‘to do’ list the night before. I aim for 5 items per day, even if its just phone calls and doing a bit of on-line research.
3) Read motivational books and listen to interviews etc. There are some excellent teachers and examples available at really low cost or even for free.
4) Set yourself clear goals, short and long term, then think what you’d have to do to achieve them
5) Try to organise your time so that you can have quality play time with your little one(s) and let yourself enjoy the moments while they last.
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