I am a multi-passionate Osteopath, Lactation Consultant, Coach, Educator and Best Selling Author. I like to live life outside of the box and approach business the same way!
From seeing mothers directly, to coaching and educating other health professionals, the underpinning theme of all of my businesses is easing mothers through matrescence, the period of new motherhood, with support and education.
Motherhood is such a turbulent time. We are faced with physical, emotional, hormonal and psychological change as we discover who we are in the context of the family we are creating, rather than the one we were born into.
The only other time we are faced with something similar is adolescence, and then we have years to navigate that new territory. We are literally birthed into motherhood with mere months to prepare, learn and rediscover our new selves and often in the absence of the 'village' mothers before us benefitted from.
I help new mums:
Knowing my business numbers. So many mums I speak to start a business they are passionate about and wing it when it comes to their business finances and keeping tracking of metrics.
Last year I wrote a book called 'Boobalicious: From Hot Mess to Breastfeeding Success' that became an Amazon Best Seller. When I was eight I wanted to be an author, so for me this book was about fulfilling a promise to a younger version of myself. It was incredibly fun to write but the success came from the enormous self improvement and self awareness I gained from the journey.
I have been harping on about knowing your business numbers, it is because for a VERY long time I didn’t know mine. I winged it. As long as I made enough to pay my bills and meet small mindset financial goals, I was happy.
Once I got these up-to-date and sorted, I was able to see where I could reclaim lost profit and track how my business was growing and where I needed to spend more time improving things. It was about working smarter, not harder.
I think greater access to grants for small businesses run by women would be super helpful. Boot-strapping a new business only gets you so far!
Self care is so important. It doesn’t have to be indulgent (though that is fun). It includes maintaining boundaries, not consuming garbage on social media and being mindful of who I spend my down time with.
Having a business buddy to vent to is also great to let off steam occasionally.
I love the Pomodorro method of time management and find it particularly useful during the school holidays when the kids are home but I still have to work.
Outsource as much as you can in your business and personal life that doesn’t require you to do it yourself. From getting a VA to having a cleaner or meal delivery service, if you can save yourself any time to spend more time with your kids or on your business, DO IT!
I have been following Denise Duffield-Thomas for a while now and the biggest thing I have learnt from her is that you can make money YOUR way. Work to your strengths and what works for you is totally OK. It doesn’t have to be 9 - 5, five days a week!
I am a massive fan of Brene Brown and all of her writing. Being successful in business is the quickest way to self improvement, it requires you to deal with your shit often. You need to have courage and be vulnerable on a daily basis and some days that feeling is awful. Embracing vulnerability and knowing you WILL fail at some point just by 'being in the arena', and that is totally OK is equally sobering and liberating.
... are the face of business in the future."
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