I am a woman, and the daughter of a lifelong entrepreneur. One who on her own raised 3 girls, ran multiple businesses and only raised institutional capital once in her life – to finance a project.
The project in question? A retirement real estate investment that would provide cashflow for her to finally enjoy the fruits of her labour. After all, her three children were now adults who no longer needed feeding or school fees.
Becoming an entrepreneur myself is a reflection of a childhood influenced by my mother and several other female entrepreneurs. But while I admired them, I also couldn’t help but notice that they built businesses at the expense of ever creating room to enjoy day to day life.
For them, business was a game of survival. It was a means to put food on the table and keep their families afloat, and growth and scale rarely came to mind as viable options. After all, they were never really celebrated for being entrepreneurs. No one invited them to podcasts or asked them to share their entrepreneurial journeys. And with very few support structures they had to figure out most of it on their own and on the go.
Not much has changed for most women entrepreneurs. The juggle of growing a company while managing the other important parts of your life and societal expectations is still a very real day to day experience. And consciously or sub consciously these elements impact how we think about and pace our growth.
I share some of these experiences. I was the primary care giver for my mother through 2 years of illness until her passing. I’ve had several surgeries to remove fibroids that have had a debilitating impact on my day-to-day life since I was 15. And most recently, I’ve been dealing with the impact of perimenopause at the height of my career while raising a wonderful son.
All this while building 3 ventures, setting up a farm, writing a book and trying to be all the things I need for myself.
How do I do all this?
- I have learnt to set only realistic expectations for myself
- System, Systems, Systems
I’ve had to learn that the chaos of entrepreneurship (from the endless demands on your time to the pressure to show up everywhere and the loneliness of decision-making) doesn’t simply go away with time. You get better at creating structures that hold it and you learn to build support that isn’t another form of survival.
If you’re a female entrepreneur and any of this sounds familiar, our office hours support may be just what you need.
Office hours is a safe one on one space where we listen and guide. These are the sessions that allow us to unpack the work together to bring your challenges into a system based thought process and provide actionable guidance.
The business challenge you’ve been avoiding, a decision you’ve been second-guessing, a financial model that doesn’t quite make sense, an investor conversation you’re dreading…. We talk it through and you walk away with an action plan that fits your reality.
It’s also accountability-based. We’re not just having a nice conversation and wishing you well. We follow up on your action plan because the whole point is to move you forward and not simply make you feel good for an hour.
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