When my best friend, and business advisor, asked me to be her birthing partner I couldn't help exclaiming, on several occasions, how excited I was to be a part of the birth of her new baby! On one such occasion she responded that she felt just as excited to be a part of the 'birth' of my business. That got me thinking - is starting a business really like having a baby?
Sure there have been a few potentially painful moments, like when the quote for the website came through (ouch!) and the hours and hours of intense concentration in the development of my new version of hypnobirthing. But nothing that a bit of deep breathing and relaxing music couldn't ease (so far).
Many of you will know how long this business has been gestating - waiting for the right moment to burst out into the world. Now that we are 'nearing completion' the task at hand appears daunting - there is certainly some adrenaline involved in the birth of this business and the common fears that surround the birth of a baby are in no short supply: 'This is going to change my life completely - am I ready for it?'; 'Will I have the skills I need to do a good job?'; 'What if something goes wrong?'. But interspersed with these fears (and if I'm honest, completely overwhelming them) is the excitement of doing something that feels completely right to me and knowing that I'll have something amazing to show for it after the hard work is done.
Of course, once the 'baby' is here I'll need to let everyone know, start settling in and getting used to a new way of doing things with a strange, new and delightful thing in my life. I'm sure there will be a few sleepless nights and a lot of surprises that I never would have expected despite all the dreaming and planning. The rest of the family will have to get used to having something else demanding mummy's attention. I imagine that a new business is quite needy, with a lot of demands on my time and energy, and this is when I will start to realise that the birth is just the beginning, the hard work starts once the business is started. Sure it gets easier as time goes on. I nurture the business, the business grows, the business starts to give me something back. Small things at first, like a little profit or a sense of fulfilment, then altogether much more important things - a sense of purpose and contribution to society and not to mention a little love!
