Waiting is the most difficult thing

Waiting is the most difficult thing

Sometimes we have to wait for things to happen before we can move on in our lives. Usually it’s just one thing we’re waiting for, and we have to be patient.

At the moment I’m waiting for quite a few things to fall into place & I’m finding it hard to motivate myself. I know, not like me is it? I’m always so positive and supportive of others. Well, lacking motivation happens to all of us. That’s life and we have to deal with it!

We’re waiting to move house: We’ve accepted an offer on our house, but the wheels are just starting to turn. It’s been 10 years since we moved house, and that means we’ve got 10 years of rubbish to clear out!

I’m waiting for a legal dispute to be settled: It started over 2 years ago now, and I’m now fed up of waiting and chasing. I know legal cases take time, but when you’re a small business, it has a massive impact on your work doesn’t it?

I’m wanting to sell one of my businesses: I’m ready to move on to focus on the bra fitting side of the Bra Lady business. I’ve put bras4mums up for sale. A ready made business for someone looking for a niche online shop. Despite lots of interest, it’s still up for sale.

I’m ready to put the past behind: My Mum died over 3 years ago, and my Dad changed into someone I don’t recognise about 3 years ago. I’ve struggled with losing the living person I love so much, as well as my poorly Mum. I’m ready to move on, but am finding it hard to let my Dad go.

One of these is challenging I know, but all at the same time? I’m not moaning, I’m just telling you how it is for anyone of us sometimes. Those of us busy Mums with businesses have a lot to deal with. We can only take so much can’t we?

My plan? A holiday with my family to enable me to take a step back and get things back in perspective. I’m lucky to have such wonderful family and friends who’ve supported me over the last 4 very difficult years. I know that all I need to do is get back to basics and focus on the goals I’ve set.

Yes waiting is difficult and we have to be patient. But we can also make the waiting easier by being easier on ourselves, not beating ourselves up when things take a bit longer than we think they should, and revising our plans.

Any other advice you’d give to those who’re being impatient?

Business Mums Blog Carnival

I’m delighted to host this month’s Carnival. An eclectic mix of posts from a wide group of Business Mums across a   range of sectors. The only thing we have in common is that we’re Mums, and we run our own business. Some of these are large, some are quite small. It’s my first time hosting the carnival, so I’d welcome your feedback. My main question is “How was it for you?”, and “How can I improve?”, which I guess are key questions in our family and business lives too.

 

With no theme to the carnival, I think you’ll be delighted, challenged and motivated by the posts that have been entered.

Let’s start with the challenge shall we?

Libby Hill, from SmartTalkers asks us “Are young offenders really born bad?“. Having spent 9 years with The Prince’s Trust I know my answer to this question. But read the text. Is there anything you can do in your area or work to support people (not just young people), who may struggle with life?

Joanne Dewberry who runs Charlie Moos has an interesting post. It’s titled “Coming to a High Street near you“, but challenges us as buyers of goods. Where do you shop & why? Are you prepared to pay for the service you get? I’m very interested in your comments on this one as I work in retail myself!

Some more personal challenges are talked about by Helen Royle. She tells us about her daugther’s first hangover, and how she dealt with it. Whilst Donna Pinnell, Little Lilypad, talks about her SPD (Symphysis pubis dysfunction) and how she’s coping with the pain & joy of growing a baby.

The entry from Become a Mumpreneur is a personal & business challenge. Sometimes we use all sorts of excuses for not doing things don’t we? So they’ve challenged us to think about this. Are you using being a parent as an excuse to stay within your comfort zone? This may be personally, but it may also be professionally. What other excuses do you use? Bet you’ve got some good ones. Please do share them so we can add them to our lists too (so that we can cross them off of course!)

Bronwyn, JupiterJasper, challenges us business owners to target the market for our niche products. Hands up those who’ve answered “Everybody” when asked who your target market is. Yep, quite a few out there! Read this and challenge the way you think about the market you’re targeting.

Starting to move onto Motivated, but still with a foot in Challenge, Ipshita Chatterjee of Minor Edition tells us about a Time Audit. I really like this concept. We’re often challenged as parents and business owners with our time aren’t we? But how better to review our time than thinking of auditing it? Once we’ve done our audit we can then move one can’t we?

When we become pregnant we often wonder how we’re going to cope financially don’t we? Claire Meredith, Zest Payroll, tells us the ins and outs of maternity pay, and how we can benefit, even if we’re self employed, or only worked for a short time. Tie this together with Becky’s, Baby Budgeting, vlog about How to earn money running a franchise and you’ll be starting to get yourself motivated about staying in control during pregnancy and beyond of your finances.

Whether you run a franchise, or decide to set up your own business whilst you’re pregnant, on maternity leave, or just want to, these next 2 entries will be helpful. Helen Lindop, who set up the Business Mums blog carnival, runs Business Plus Baby, helps those of you considering an online business. How do you start to sell things? Helen’s Online Shop guide is a great start to help you understand the pros and cons of each avenue available.

And once we’ve got our online business, what do we need to do? Tell people we exist! Ace Inspire talk about online marketing. If you’re not motivated now to get on with your business & your family life, I don’t know how else to support you!

Maybe just by reading this post of mine. It’s a personal one about Achieving Goals, but I think what we learn personally needs to be put into practice in our business life too. What do you think?

I hope this month’s selection of posts challenges, motivates and delights you. I look forward to hearing of your progress this next month from the articles you’ve found here and beyond. Thanks for reading, and please do leave your comments to help us all learn.

You may also be interested that this month the theme on this blog is all about Business Mums. Lots of lovely Mums in business are sharing their story and/or tips. They’d all love to hear from you too.