Why I started MY business and why YOU started YOURS
Written by Julia Bickerstaff // May 12, 2014 // Daily Juice // No comments
Fancy doing something fun and useful?! Here’s a little exercise from one of the recipes in our Healthy Income Program. It’s great pick-me-up if you’re feeling a bit flat about your business PLUS it’s an all-round FAB reminder of why you’re doing what you’re doing!
Have a go at the “recipe” and then, when you’re done (or need inspiration, but not before you’ve had a go!), take a look at this list by Victoria Green of Joanouk Fine Art and Prints. Victoria is doing the Healthy Income Program and she shared her ‘Twenty’ on the lovely Janouk blog. Such an ace list! Hurrah!
What you do
1. Grab a piece of paper and write the numbers 1 to 20 down the side
2. Now ask yourself “Why did I start my business?”. Write down all your reasons on the piece of paper. Put down EVERYTHING that springs into your head – even the small silly thoughts. Don’t chop any of them. Quantity is better than quality right now!
3. When you’ve written everything you can think of ask yourself “Why wouldn’t I quit my business?”. Again, just write everything down that comes into your mind.
4. How many points have you got written down now? We’re looking for about twenty reasons (although if you have more keep writing them down!)
5. Once you’ve done as much as you can put the piece of paper somewhere handy. Go about your normal day but keep the two questions “ Why did I start my business?” and “Why wouldn’t I quit my business?” in your head. Whenever another reason comes into your mind, write it down.
6. If you find yourself writing down something broad like “I love cooking” try to work out what it is about cooking that you love so that you get a deeper sense of what the love is!
7. At the end of a couple of days take a look at your list. How many points have you got written down? If it’s less than twenty take another 10 minutes and see if you can come up with any more. If you do that and you still have less than twenty, don’t worry. You’ve done the work and you’ve got enough.
8. And that’s it. You should be feeling much more buoyant! Now pop your piece of paper away for safe keeping as this is a great list to refer to when you’re having an off day!
Twenty reasons why I started The Business Bakery!
I wasn’t going to put these on here as I’m really quite shy about this stuff. But then I loved how Victoria had gone all public with hers. And I thought I should be a bit braver too. So here are mine. Cobbled together from a list I first did in a hospital bed with a ruptured appendix, nine years ago!
I started The Business Bakery because……
1. I wanted to do something truly useful with my work life.
2. I wanted to flex my work around my family (4 children, a husband, and a dog).
3. I wanted to help other people flex their work around their family.
4. I wanted to help small businesses succeed because I’ve always felt they are super-important to the way we live.
5. I wanted to turn things around for the friends who cried in my kitchen because they couldn’t make a decent income from their businesses.
6. I wanted to help women build business that gave them a good financial alternative to paid employment.
7. I wanted to help people enjoy, and feel in control of, the business-side of having a business.
8. I wanted to wake up in the morning and feel I was doing some good.
9. I wanted to put the stuff I learned in my first career (as a Partner at Deloitte) to good use.
10. I wanted to make a healthy contribution to our family’s finances.
11. I wanted my children to see me enjoying my work.
12. I wanted to put my love of learning to good use.
13. I wanted to create something that was bigger than me.
14. I wanted to prove that running a business while being a hands-on Mum to a large family is totally doable. It is!
15. I wanted to see if I could create business-recipes that were fun and doable and worked (I think I have!)
16. I wanted to build, and be part of, a community of women running homemade, homebased or boutique businesses who help, support and have fun with each other (we’re getting there!)
17. I wanted a business that I could run from anywhere in the world (living back in England has always been an option)
18. I wanted to escape from corporate life (true!)
19. I wanted to help women value their work (rather than sell it for tuppence!)
20. I wanted to be able to say “I helped”
Oh goodness, do give this a go! Now that I’ve re-looked at mine I’m bursting with energy! YAY!
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